Using Aloe Vera on Natural Hair - Tricky as a fox

Despite all the glorious information about Aloe Vera, it is one of those things your hair either really adores or absolutely detests. I am sure that had I not had a first-hand experience, I would have joined everyone saying Aloe Vera lays down hair cuticles. Aloe vera is a very strong humectant, and at the same time, of acidic ph. If you use it on your hair, there are two things that can happen. It would either lay your cuticles down, giving you a smooth look, or it would act as a humectant, and do basically what humectants do. Please, note that many naturals have said Aloe vera dries out their hair, while some others say their hair thrives after using Aloe vera. With all said and done, I will share, in this post, my experience with this wonderful natural resource.

It all started when I twisted my hair, with the intention of achieving a twistout for a photoshoot I did for a fashion magazine interview.

I read a long time ago that a great recipe for leave-in conditioner is your regular leave-in conditioner + Jojoba oil + Aloe Vera gel (the famous kimmaytube recipe). So I tried this on my hair before doing the twists. The plan for the photoshoot was for me to have about three different hair style. (Well-defined curls, loosely defined curls, and a giant fro).

The Aloe Vera I used was raw Aloe Vera Gel directly from the plant. As you know, we manufacture hair products, African Naturalistas hair products, so I have my own small Aloe Vera plantation.

I did the twists, and three days later went for the shoot. By the time I got to the venue of the interview, and undid the twists, I knew something was definitely wrong, and the culprit was the Aloe Vera. Compare pics below.

So all that talk of Aloe Vera being acidic, thus laying your hair cuticles flat was arrant nonsense for me. It caused my hair to swell, be very big, and undefined. As a naturalista, since we are versatile, I found a way to make the epic fail work to my advantage. And I then noted that I would never use Aloe vera on my hair again, if the intention is to do a twistout in the end.

After the shoot, I got home, and retwisted the hair. Exactly, a week later, I was at a venue of another photoshoot. I untwisted the hair again, hoping the effect of the Aloe vera would have worn out, since it was almost 2 weeks. The picture below is what my hair looked like after I untwisted it: Still not defined, but not as bad as the previous week. We had like five sessions of shoot this time.

With all the photoshoot and manipulation of hair, I felt this would set me back in my hair journey, cos my hair doesn’t like being left out. I lose more hair when it is not in protective styles. So that same day, I did some corn rows. As the stylist was making the hair, I noticed I was losing a lot of hair. A week later, when I took down the corn rows, deep conditioned, and washed, I lost a lot of hair, like twice of what I lose on a normal day. I moaned and blamed it on the photoshoot, and the manipulation we had to do two weeks in a row.
After washing, I applied the Aloe vera leave-in recipe again. I did this because I did not plan on doing twist outs. Two days later, I had my hair in corn rows, and then two weeks later, I took it down.

Oh my gosh. My hair was the driest ever. It was terrible. Again, I lost a truck load of hair. I lost hair so much than I have ever lost since I started measuring my hair loss. I compared the loss to when I had twists on for 4 weeks, travelled out, took four flights, and used sulphate shampoo, and the Aloe vera had a worse effect than the former situation. My hair was as hard as a rock. I began to wonder who sent me message. It was then it occurred to me that even the previous massive hair loss was caused by the dryness due to Aloe Vera, and not the phantom manipulation I pictured in my head, cos all I was doing to my hair was pinning it to achieve different looks for the shoot.

Aloe vera causes my hair to swell, dries my hair, and causes me to lose all the hair on my head. It is not good for the kind of hair on my head, though it might be good for you.

I am done with Aloe vera. If I want the benefit, I will be content with the fact that it is already an ingredient in most of the products I use, which is enough for me. But to add it directly on my hair again, God forbid. It means I will go bald in about six months.

Now, I have to be looking for ways to undo the damage Aloe Vera did to my hair.

Have you tried using Aloe Vera on your hair? What was your experience?

P.S: This post was written first week in March. The damage occurred February/March. I have since cut part of my hair last week. Yea, the damage was that bad, but there's one more reason I cut it. I will upload the post in the next couple of weeks.

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