Pre-pooing : Under the Microscope

Hello Ladies,

I have written many educative blog posts about hair.  Over the years Hairducation has grown and a lot of its new readers may have missed some informative posts.  I will be revisiting some of these posts to give the new readers a chance to catch up and also to share visuals I wasn’t able to prior to me getting my hair microscope.  This way my day-one reader can still benefit from the topics I am revisiting.

I figured a good place to start would be at the beginning with pre-pooing.  If you don’t know what pre-pooing is, didn’t read my first post about it or would like to read it again please click here.  It will help you make better sense of the rest of this post.  In this post, I will share a reminder of the benefits of pre-pooing and show you pictures that prove these benefits.

Side Note Since I decided to begin sharing microscopic pictures on Hairducation I’ve learned something new about myself.  I feel uncomfortable sharing up close and personal pictures of my hair.  Why? Because it feels too personal, I feel over exposed and somewhat vulnerable.  However, I am also able to get over myself and out of that state of mind when I remind myself of the purpose of this site: to educate.  If I have to be the guinea pig then so be it :).  I am happy to take one for the team.

 

Benefits of Pre-Pooing

  • It helps to soften dirt and debris on hair fibres so that it slides off easier during the washing process
  • Applying the pre-poo whilst detangling will lubricate your hair which will make removing the knots and tangles easier. It reduces breakage whilst detangling by softening the hair fibre and making it more elastic.
  • Helps reduce cracking and damage to the hair cuticles. When our hair is being washed, it absorbs water and expands/increases in size. After washing our hair returns to its normal size however when doing so the outer layer (the cuticle) can crack as our hair dries.  Over time and several washes, it can result in damaged and roughened hair cuticles..  This is called hydral fatigue. Applying coconut oil as a pre-poo can help to reduce how much water our hair absorbs as it is being washed.  This reduces how much our hair will swell during washing and thereby reduce the risk of the cuticle cracking as our hair dries.

 

Microscopic Pictures That Show The Benefits of Pre-pooing.

  • The picture on the left was taken on my wash day after I had moisturised my hair. I had not yet applied any oils to seal.  You can see the tiny specs of hair products on my hair fibres.
  • The picture on the right was taken a week after my wash day, I had moisturised sealed several times during the weak and as you can see, it  had become greasy from the accumulation  of products and oils.

2018-02-13 13.42.58

 

For clarity, I have circled and pointed out the lumps and bumps of the product residue in the pictures below.

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After taking the picture on the right above, I applied coconut oil to a small section of my hair and analysed it with the microscope.
The first image below was taken with a regular camera and as you can see my hair is oily but not dripping with oil

 

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It was amazing to look at this same section of hair under the microscope video, I could actually see the tiny droplets of the oil dripping and running up and down on my hair fibres.  You can see a droplet of the coconut oil in between the two hair fibres in the left picture below.

2018-02-13 13.44.07

 

As you can see in the picture above,  the lumps and bumps of product residue have been melted by the coconut oil and the hair fibres are now smooth.  This will make it much easier for the dirt to slide off the hair when it is being washed.

You can also see that the hair fibres are very well lubricated and oily, this will make detangling a lot easier because the hairs will slip past each other  easily rather than catch/latch unto each other like dry hair tends to.  Also, any tangles in my hair will also be much easier to unravel than if the hair wasn’t oily.

 

Pre-pooing is one of the hair care practices which technically isn’t essential, but I hope these pictures help you see its benefits of pre-pooing.  I am not able to show how pre-pooing helps prevent hydral fatigue which was benefit 3 discussed above.  I need a much more advanced microscope for that.

 

I have some major, major, MAJOR announcements to make soon.
So come back soon to see and read all about it.

Happy valentines, happy hair journey.

x

Lade

Learn| Change| Grow|

 

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10 Comments

  1. Christabel
    February 13, 2018 / 11:22 pm

    Hi Lade, I’m Christabel I pre-pood my hair with coconut oil and did notice the benefits in regards to griminess and shine. However I’ve now switched to deep conditioning my hair before shampooing and then using a rinse out conditioner and on and on. I’m wondering what your thoughts are on DC before shampooing. Also isn’t pre-pooing kind of a deep conditioning treatment? Thanks

    • Lade
      Author
      April 25, 2018 / 11:38 pm

      Hello Christabel,

      I’m am glad you noticed the benefits of the coconut oil prepoo.
      Personally I am not a fan of deep conditioning before shampooing although many ladies do this and their hair seems to do well. Shampoos clean the hair and scalp, potentially removes some of our hairs natural oils and leaves the hair with PH level higher than its normal level. Conditioners help to nourish the hair after shampooing, replace oils it may have lost as well as leave the hair cuticles smooth and making the hair more manageable ( easier to comb and detangle) Its good that you use the rinse out conditioner after shampooing but I prefer to complete a deep condition after shampooing. I hope that helps.

  2. February 14, 2018 / 12:59 am

    This is really cool! I never thought about how pre-pooing helps to soften product build-up and debris so it comes off easier. Thanks for sharing.

    • Lade
      Author
      April 25, 2018 / 11:38 pm

      My pleasure : )

      xx

      Lade

  3. Babalola yinka
    February 14, 2018 / 2:12 pm

    Wow!!! So informative and exciting. Can’t wait to see more of this.

    • Lade
      Author
      April 26, 2018 / 12:04 am

      I am looking forward to sharing more
      🙂

  4. February 18, 2018 / 3:10 pm

    Wow! This is such a great post! And it definitely motivated be to get back to my coconut oil pre-poos.

    P.S. Looking forward to your announcement. I’m so curious 🧐

  5. Jenny
    February 24, 2018 / 12:12 am

    Hi, my name is Jenny, im new to your site! I really love your texlaxed/relaxed hair it’s beautiful. I find this article very great! Im a beginner to hair care routine and stuff. I have a question it’s been 3 weeks now that i had a relaxer i was at 5month post and decide to texlaxed my hair for the first time so i choose a mild relaxer and
    i add some olive oil to slow down the process and reduce the time. After that i notice that it’s like i leave too much texture it’s just like the back of my hair was never get a relaxer and the front as less texture and i love it. Now it become difficult to manipulate the back and i had breakage. What should i do to correct that and still continue to texlaxed my hair??? Please i need help!!

    • Lade
      Author
      April 26, 2018 / 12:08 am

      Hello Jenny

      Thank you for the compliment and well done on starting healthy hair care. You can do a corrective relaxer on the back section 6 weeks after the one that left your hair too under processed. You can do more research about corrective relaxers to help you learn more about it.

  6. February 27, 2018 / 12:08 pm

    Great pictures it looks like you are using your new toy 🙂