The anti butter/oil movement

I stopped using butters/oils and the LOC method about 2 years ago. My hair is flourishing and my wash n gos have never looked better.

I thought my hair was healthy before, but it is definitely in better condition now.

But I also think butters and oils can be used as long as you wash your hair with a shampoo strong enough to remove them so that water can penetrate your strands.
 
I wish there was scientific research on this topic So I could know the best haircare for my type hair.

Shoot depending on who you ask the science is interpreted differently. I just remember being frustrated with my hair. I'd baggy, I'd do hot oil treatments, I'd prepoo, I'm loc-ing, I thought wash and gos weren't for my hair type. It would grow but then get stuck at a certain length so I'd get it cut and start over. Then I went to a stylist who was saying almost the total opposite of what I'd read or see on YouTube. She had the receipts so I figured why not. It's not until recently where I see other people/stylists say and do the same. Which honestly is nice cause I didn't feel like there was a space to share lesson learned, products used, techniques or what not because it's not the most popular way of doing our hair. You say you don't use raw oil or butters and people hit you with the "Okaaayyy" like Craig's mom from Friday.
 
As someone who's hair has absolutely hated butters from the beginning, I am so glad that others are coming to the conclusion that butters don't work for everyone!! It's still hard to find butter-free natural hair products, but it used to be so much worse :cry: . Products with oils work for me as long as there are actual moisturizers like (glycerin or aloe vera juice) high up on the list. I used to get so frustrated because my hair would suddenly become very dry and rough, and it was because of inevitable build up. Once I took all of the butters and oil heavy products out of my routine, I can now cowash and use sulfate-free shampoos. Protein/moisture balance isn't even something I have to think about anymore.

I hope that this anti-butter/oil movement will mean that I'm going to have more product options in the future :laugh: !
 
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As someone who's hair has absolutely hated butters from the beginning, I am so glad that others are coming to the conclusion that butters don't work for everyone!! It's still hard to find butter-free natural hair products, but it used to be so much worse :cry: . Products with oils work for me as long as there are actual moisturizers like (glycerin or aloe vera juice) high up on the list. I used to get so frustrated because my hair would suddenly become very dry and rough, and it was because of inevitable build up. Once I took all of the butters and oil heavy products out of my routine, I can now cowash and use sulfate-free shampoos. Protein/moisture balance isn't even something I have to think about anymore.

I hope that this anti-butter/oil movement will mean that I'm going to have more product options in the future :laugh: !

I wouldn't be surprised if its in the works. I've seen a proliferation of no oil/butter YT videos from popular influencers. Once the hair care companies get wind and figure they can cash in, they'll be producing more of these products in the future.
 
I wouldn't be surprised if its in the works. I've seen a proliferation of no oil/butter YT videos from popular influencers. Once the hair care companies get wind and figure they can cash in, they'll be producing more of these products in the future.
:yep: If any Black-owned product companies are lurking, please take note of this opportunity to create a comprehensive line. We need:
-Clarifying shampoo
-All purpose shampoo
-Moisturizing shampoo
-Emollient rich conditioner
-Base gel with humectants
-Medium hold gel for fluffier looks
-Hard hold gel for longevity
-Moisturizing wrap foam with hold
-Extra credit points: shine serum or shine spray to scrunch out crunch and add shine
-Extra extra credit points: a satin lined buff for nighttime

make sure it smells nice. Please give the rice water and clay a rest and give us the above. Thanks! :look:
 
:yep: If any Black-owned product companies are lurking, please take note of this opportunity to create a comprehensive line. We need:
-Clarifying shampoo
-All purpose shampoo
-Moisturizing shampoo
-Emollient rich conditioner
-Base gel with humectants
-Medium hold gel for fluffier looks
-Hard hold gel for longevity
-Moisturizing wrap foam with hold
-Extra credit points: shine serum or shine spray to scrunch out crunch and add shine
-Extra extra credit points: a satin lined buff for nighttime

make sure it smells nice. Please give the rice water and clay a rest and give us the above. Thanks! :look:

:lachen: at the bolded, but I LOVE this list.

If I could switch out my products to only use Black owned brands I would :yep:
 
:lachen: at the bolded, but I LOVE this list.

If I could switch out my products to only use Black owned brands I would :yep:
I’ve been working on switching to all black owned products. Some products have to wait because I have a good quality product in my stash I have to work through first

  • Clarifying shampoo - Kinky curly come clean
  • All purpose shampoo - Trepadora Gojiberry (I haven’t tried this yet)
  • Moisturizing shampoo - Bekura Fatty coconut (I haven’t tried this yet)
  • Conditioner - Briogeo Curl Charisma
  • Base gel with humectants - Uncle Funky Curly magic
  • Hard hold gel - Ecoslay jello shot (Trepadora also makes good anti humidity gels)
  • Foam wrap with hold - The Doux Mousse Def
  • Volumizing foam for fluffy sets - Be Kekoa Rose Water Mousse ( I haven’t tried this yet)
  • Silk lined sleep protection - Grace Eleyae Slap cap
 
I’ve been working on switching to all black owned products. Some products have to wait because I have a good quality product in my stash I have to work through first

  • Clarifying shampoo - Kinky curly come clean
  • All purpose shampoo - Trepadora Gojiberry (I haven’t tried this yet)
  • Moisturizing shampoo - Bekura Fatty coconut (I haven’t tried this yet)
  • Conditioner - Briogeo Curl Charisma
  • Base gel with humectants - Uncle Funky Curly magic
  • Hard hold gel - Ecoslay jello shot (Trepadora also makes good anti humidity gels)
  • Foam wrap with hold - The Doux Mousse Def
  • Volumizing foam for fluffy sets - Be Kekoa Rose Water Mousse ( I haven’t tried this yet)
  • Silk lined sleep protection - Grace Eleyae Slap cap

OK. I didn't know some of these brands were actually black-owned!!!
 
I’ve been working on switching to all black owned products. Some products have to wait because I have a good quality product in my stash I have to work through first

  • Clarifying shampoo - Kinky curly come clean
  • All purpose shampoo - Trepadora Gojiberry (I haven’t tried this yet)
  • Moisturizing shampoo - Bekura Fatty coconut (I haven’t tried this yet)
  • Conditioner - Briogeo Curl Charisma
  • Base gel with humectants - Uncle Funky Curly magic
  • Hard hold gel - Ecoslay jello shot (Trepadora also makes good anti humidity gels)
  • Foam wrap with hold - The Doux Mousse Def
  • Volumizing foam for fluffy sets - Be Kekoa Rose Water Mousse ( I haven’t tried this yet)
  • Silk lined sleep protection - Grace Eleyae Slap cap

Great list!

To add:
Adwoa Beauty as has nice all purpose shampoo
Camille Rose Honey Mousse is nice. Design Essentials has a good one too. I keep these two plus The Doux in rotation (whoever is on sale at the time I need it wins).
 
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I’ve been working on switching to all black owned products. Some products have to wait because I have a good quality product in my stash I have to work through first

  • Clarifying shampoo - Kinky curly come clean
  • All purpose shampoo - Trepadora Gojiberry (I haven’t tried this yet)
  • Moisturizing shampoo -
  • Foam wrap with hold - The Doux Mousse Def
  • Volumizing foam for fluffy sets - Be Kekoa Rose Water Mousse ( I haven’t tried this yet)
  • Silk lined sleep protection - Grace Eleyae Slap cap
:bookworm: Where do you use foam wrap in your regimen? I have an old OLD bottle of Motions from my relaxed days that I should probably throw out if I'm not gonna use it.
 
:bookworm: Where do you use foam wrap in your regimen? I have an old OLD bottle of Motions from my relaxed days that I should probably throw out if I'm not gonna use it.
I use the foam for a few things
  • if I want a wash n go with lots of volume I only use foam. It’s looks great but only lasts a day or 2
  • I use it on my edges when I brush my hair into a puff
  • if I were going to do a twist out or braid out I would use it (but I’m too lazy for these styles)
 
I think most, if not all the people advocating for no or low oils and butters have low porosity hair and do mostly wash n go’s. You wouldn’t need to seal anything if you washing your hair every 2-3 days. Most twist/braid outs look dusty without some type of oil or butter, especially on kinkier hair. imo.
This is interesting to me… my hair is low-porosity, and using butters and oils changed everything, in a good way. Any time I stop, usually when running low on supplies, my hair is a terrible mess. I have never been able to do wash & go styles though, unless I cowashed every day.
 
This is interesting to me… my hair is low-porosity, and using butters and oils changed everything, in a good way. Any time I stop, usually when running low on supplies, my hair is a terrible mess. I have never been able to do wash & go styles though, unless I cowashed every day.
I used to do wash n gos with my DIY mix of shea butter and aloe topped with wetline. They looked really nice but only lasted a day or 2. I’m pretty sure the shea butter was interfering with the hold from the gel.

with my current no butters/oils routine my hair lasts at least 5 days and if I don’t mind a little frizz I can last a whole week.
 
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I used to do wash n gos with my DIY mix of shea butter and aloe topped with wetline. They looked really nice but only lasted a day or 2. I’m pretty sure the shea butter was interfering with the hold from the gel.

with my current no butters/oils routing my hair lasts at least 5 days and if I don’t mind a little frizz I can last a whole week.
For a while, I also experimented and used my DIY Shea mix on my hair for wng, using diluted KCCC as my gel. I enjoyed the addition, and didn't notice less longevity. Thankfully, I've been able to get my wngs to last for a while. But I did inevitably notice more buildup on my strands, from lint and product.
 
I wonder if the anti butter and oil movement may have some correlation to the surge of successful natural hair care lines created by black entrepreneurs who use natural ingredients including oils and butters and they are getting supported by the black hair community . Is it that mainstream companies and cosmetologist dislike it because the mainstream products such as Aveda, etc might be seeing a decrease in sales or a decrease of black women going to the hair dresser to get theit hair done because they are self sufficient using hair own self made products With the oils and butters . I could be far off base . What are your thoughts ?
 
So I'm noticing that some people on social media when talking about no oils/butters are differentiating between "no oils" and "no carrier oils". What's the difference?
 
The fact that many people are having success with no oils/ butters does not surprise me. I think that oils and butters don’t always mix well with commercial products. Also some commercial products that advertise butters aren’t always great for hair. That is part of the reason why some people see great results when switching away from them.

Ex. Commercial Detanglers and shampoos that don’t contain oils and butters work best for me. Most commercial conditioners that advertise Shea butter as an ingredient usually just fit on top of my hair. My hair loves natural Shea butter. But if I used Shea moisture’s Shea butter heavy line then followed up with real Shea butter to seal then I would have a dry oily hair problem.
That being said I am a oil/butter lover. I’ve been listening to my hair from day one and picking products that work well with natural oils /butters. The last year I leaned heavily on commercial products that don’t have lots of oils/ butters but make my hair look good in the moment. My wash days grew shorter with each no oil product that I adopted. My hair did ok. It even grew a little but it wasn’t living up to its potential.

I switched back to utilizing more Ayurveda diys that use natural oils/butters to add balance and sealed with natural Shea niolitca. My hair feels like it is on a Whole Foods diet and finally getting real nutrition. My hands on time is actually even shorter than before because my hair is so happy but I have to let the different natural products soak in for much longer.

Commercial products have ingredients that accomplish 1-2 results near instantly. Natural ingredients often accomplish many things at once bc of the hundreds of compounds in a single plant but they need time to fully soak in and often build results over time. Many commercial products that jumped on the natural train weren’t formulated correctly and so sealing with a natural product at the end isn’t going to do much for our hair health.
 
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The fact that many people are having success it’s no oils/ butters does not surprise me. I think that oils and butters don’t always mix well with commercial products. Also some commercial products that advertise butters aren’t always great for hair. That is part of the reason why some people see great results when switching away from them.

Ex. Commercial Detanglers and shampoos that don’t contain oils and butters work best for me. Most commercial conditioners that advertise Shea butter as an ingredient usually just fit on top of my hair. My hair loves natural Shea butter. But if I used Shea moisture’s Shea butter heavy line then followed up with real Shea butter to seal then I would have a dry oily hair problem.
That being said I am a oil/butter lover. I’ve been listening to my hair from day on and picking products that work well with natural oils /butters. The last year I leaned heavily on commercial products that don’t have lots of oils/ butters but make my hair look good in the moments. My wash days grew shorter with each no oil product that I adopted. My hair did ok. It even grew a little but it wasn’t living up to its potential.

I switched back to utilizing more Ayurveda diys with use natural oils/butters to add balance and sealed with natural Shea niolitca. My have feels like it is on a Whole Foods diet and finally getting real nutrition. My hands on time is actually even shorter than before because my hair is so happy but I have to let the different natural products soak in for much longer.

Commercial products have ingredients that accomplish 1-2 results near instantly. Natural ingredients often accomplish many many things at once bc of the hundreds of compounds in a single plant but they need time to fully soak in and often build results over time. Many commercial products that jumped on the natural train weren’t formulated correctly and so sealing with a natural product at the end isn’t going to do much for our hair health.

The bold made me laugh! I love it!

You bring up a lot of good points. Like I think about how many commercial products don't work well with each other and the idea that you should stick to a particular product line for that reason.

I'm starting to look into it because I'm open to trying, but I'm a DIYer and I would prefer to use my own products instead of store bought.

More questions (to the general populace)

1. Is the no oils/butters generally intended for wash n go'ers?

2. If the oils are not sealing in the moisture, then what ingredients are? I'm assuming that they're being replaced by something synthetic/plant derrived/(can't figure out the right term)

3. Are people out here using this method without doing a wash n go?

4. Is the ability to seal found in the gels and mousses?
 
One of the products that people seem to be using for this method is Uncle Funky's Curl Magic Curl Stimulator. I'm assuming that it's one the "approved" list by Black Girl Curls, however, I also noticed that Jojoba oil is the 4th ingredient, not 6th plus. Is anyone following their program? I'm curious to know if people are using it because they like it or if it's actually on their list.

Also, to anyone who has used this before, what is the consistency? Looking at the ingredients, I'm assuming that it's quite watery or that the oil and water parts would be separated?

Uncle Funky.jpg
 
@snoop
some people like to seal with aloe or the gel to keep the moisture in.

I only use oils and butters in the fall/winter. I dont need to use them in the spring/summer. When Im doing a washngo I dont use a leave in conditioner or seal. There is no need because of all the moisture in the air. During the fall its different for me. Ive been doing that for almost 10 years. My hair loves oils and butters in colder weather. If I lived in a humid place, I would never use them because it wouldnt be necessary.


When I wear a washngo I use the UFD as the leave in, and then a heavier styler on top.
 
I only use butters to seal for my dry styles - braid, twists, etc.

I use oils as a sealant for my wash n' gos particularly using baobab and jojoba oils. My go-tos are Phyto Baobab and Pattern Jojoba Oil. I also use Yaya's Chebe oil on my scalp in between all styles.
 
One of the products that people seem to be using for this method is Uncle Funky's Curl Magic Curl Stimulator. I'm assuming that it's one the "approved" list by Black Girl Curls, however, I also noticed that Jojoba oil is the 4th ingredient, not 6th plus. Is anyone following their program? I'm curious to know if people are using it because they like it or if it's actually on their list.

Also, to anyone who has used this before, what is the consistency? Looking at the ingredients, I'm assuming that it's quite watery or that the oil and water parts would be separated?

View attachment 476233

I recently signed up for the BGC digital salon and yes, UFD is heavily promoted by them.

My bottles of Uncle Funky purchased from Target and CVS don’t have jojoba oil or wheat protein listed but those ingredients are listed on the UFD website. I recently mentioned it to my stylist who is BGC trained because my hair has been starting to feel a bit hard and tangled after I started using a recently purchased bottle of UFD. I know my hair is sensitive to protein which is why I brought up the UFD controversy to her.

My stylist said she believes wheat protein has been in the product the whole time even though it isn’t listed on my bottles. Regardless, we agreed that I would skip UFD with my next wash (which was yesterday) and my hair did not feel dry or get tangled.

I have been following BGC methods and seeing one of their trained stylist every month for the past 4 months and at first UFD was working ok for me but either something about the product or my hair has changed and it isn’t working as well for me right now. I plan to take a break from UFD and see what happens.
 
The bold made me laugh! I love it!

You bring up a lot of good points. Like I think about how many commercial products don't work well with each other and the idea that you should stick to a particular product line for that reason.

I'm starting to look into it because I'm open to trying, but I'm a DIYer and I would prefer to use my own products instead of store bought.

More questions (to the general populace)

1. Is the no oils/butters generally intended for wash n go'ers?

2. If the oils are not sealing in the moisture, then what ingredients are? I'm assuming that they're being replaced by something synthetic/plant derrived/(can't figure out the right term)

3. Are people out here using this method without doing a wash n go?

4. Is the ability to seal found in the gels and mousses?

I just want to reiterate it's more like no raw butters/oil versus no oil/butter at all. I can't speak for BGC because I don't follow them but i'm fairly sure they, similar stylists, and my own are in line with this versus saying don't ever use anything without oil or butter in it. Cause that would be nearly impossible.

To answer your questions (these are just my opinions of course):

1. I still do twist outs and recently did some mini twists. I used a cream based product and that was it.
2. I don't need to seal in moisture. I style my hair pretty wet so for me the water and conditioner are my moisture.
3. Same as #1 - I still do the occasional twist out
4. I'll say yes on this. I don't refresh/re-moisturize during the week. I might reapply mousse to my edges if I'm going to throw my hair in a puff and I don't feel like washing just yet.
 
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