Twelve Out of Ten: An Ode To Jojoba Oil

In 2017, I committed to fully going natural and ceremoniously marked the occasion by doing the big chop. It was my first time since childhood being natural again, and since I used relaxers and perms in my hair for practically my entire life, I started my journey by religiously wearing “protective” styles like braids and twists to avoid learning how to manage my 4C hair.

However, in between protective styles I inevitably had to wash and detangle my hair before my next hair appointment. So now that I was fully natural, I maneuvered my way through finding effective moisturizing shampoos, conditioners, and detangling lotions so as not to show up to my hair appointments with my hair too dry and hard for my stylist to manage.

I began to seek out natural oils to help me detangle on wash days: Black castor oil, Rosemary oil, almond oil and more, but everyone of them proved to be ineffective. They were either too thick and made my hair stick together or too thin and dried up quickly before I could even make it to my stylist’s chair. It wasn’t until I tried moisturizing with jojoba oil after a shower one evening that my life changed for the better.

Now, I use jojoba oil religiously to conquer just about everything. For the past four years, jojoba oil has effectively and consistently helped me detangle my 4C hair, which is challenging work in itself. Jojoba oil makes the detangling process so much easier by adding moisture into my hair as well as detangling any knots before I even go through my hair with a comb.

I also use jojoba oil as a chapstick before bed, especially when I have those weird days when my lips are super dry. So I can wake up with the softest of lips. Seriously, what other product can you think of that is durable enough to manage kinky 4C hair and light enough in weight to moisturize lips? Did you think of any? Exactly.

I’ve long used jojoba oil as moisturizer on wet skin after I shower in the evenings, sometimes to give my skin a deep moisture while I sleep. Just two to three times a week to keep my skin balanced and hydrated. And since my scalp tends to be dry, I also use jojoba oil to add moisture to my dry scalp when wearing a protective style like box braids or passion twists, which I wear often. This particular usage of jojoba oil is my second most favorite because personally, my scalp can get so dry and using jojoba oil regularly literally saves it.

It has the perfect amount of thickness to allow it to moisturize effectively, but also not feel too heavy on the skin or in the hair. It doesn’t weigh anything down or make anything stick together. It’s one of the only products to almost entirely and efficiently satisfy a Sunday’s night routine in one go. At this point, can you tell I'm obsessed? Overall, it’s a twelve out of ten for me.