If you are a black or brown woman, I bet you can remember getting your hair greased to the scalp back in the day.
Hair grease has been used in the black hair care community for centuries. I can remember when my mama used hair grease on my scalp after blow-drying my hair on wash days.
No matter how tender-headed I was growing up, getting my scalp greased was the best part of wash days. But in 2010, things began to shift in the black hair community when online natural hair gurus declared that hair grease was canceled.
Everyone on YouTube stated how hair grease was too heavy, it clogged up the pores on our scalp and prevented future hair growth.
I think the idea of canceling hair grease came about when everyone was more mindful of the ingredients they were using in their hair.
Hair brands noticed the change, removed those harmful ingredients from their products, and swapped them with “natural-like” ingredients.
Hair grease ingredients didn’t cut it, and it changed the game in the black hair community. But are those ingredients bad for our hair? Let’s continue this read to find out.
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What Is Hair Grease?
Hair grease is made up of petroleum jelly and mineral oil that helps seal in moisture, give our hair shine, and promote hair growth.
Back in slavery times, African American slaves would use leftover fat oils and butter to manage and style their hair. Since it was the only resource they had at the time, the idea of using oils seemed to work.
But in the 1900s, Madam C.J. Walker made the practice and use of hairdressing popular when she invented a hair care product that helped with dry scalp and hair growth. The term ‘hair grease’ wasn’t used yet. It was referred to as pomade or hairdressing.
Afterwards, the word-of-mouth marketing worked because it was marketed as a product to grow black hair. It became so popular, that many African American women wanted this particular product to help grow their hair.
Other hair care entrepreneurs saw what this ‘hair grease’ was doing for others, and hopped on the hairdressing train.
As a result, the birth of conditioning the scalp was born, and it’s been a staple in the black hair care community ever since.
How Is Hair Grease Made?
Most hair grease is made of two main ingredients: petroleum and mineral oil.
It’s mostly petroleum jelly, which reminds you of the texture of Vaseline, Vicks Vapor Rub, and other medical ointments.
Depending on which hair care brand you use, hair grease can have few or many other ingredients, such as lanolin, shea butter, jojoba seed oil, castor oil, Indian hemp oil, aloe barbadensis leaf extract, and more.
Since it’s made of petroleum, let’s explore this ingredient with a magnifying glass, shall we?
What is Petroleum Jelly?
Petroleum jelly, or Petrolatum, is a waxy, thick ingredient that comes in the color of light yellow or white. It’s mainly used as a protective dressing in the industrial, medical, and cosmetic industries. It has hydrocarbons, a compound of hydrogen and carbon, which become refined into an odorless, smooth-like solid product.
The purpose of petroleum jelly is to seal, lubricate, and protect. That’s why the cosmetic industry uses this ingredient. It helps seal in moisture for the hair and scalp, lubricate dry and chapped areas on the skin, and protect skin and hair strands from any outside elements.
The medical industry uses petroleum as an ointment to seal and protect a cleaned burn or injury from contamination or further infection. This ingredient is so popular because it is one of few that will seal, lubricate, and protect our hair, scalp, and skin longer, compared to oils and creams in other related products.
What Is Mineral Oil?
Mineral oil is a liquid form of petroleum and paraffin oil that is odorless, tasteless, and mostly clear. It can come from a synthetic form, which is the purest form of their production.
Or it can come from a refined form obtained after the purification of fossil materials, such as coal, crude oil, or natural gas. Mineral oil is highly refined, so it’s in its purest form when added to cosmetic products.
Although mineral oil has a bad rep, it’s in a lot of hair and skin care products we use daily. Similar to petroleum, mineral oil forms a barrier to protect our hair, scalp, and skin.
Both have large molecules, which is awesome for hair and scalp protection to create a great barrier. The biggest myth about both is that they can clog up your pores.
But petroleum jelly is classified as non-comedogenic, which means it will not clog your pores alone. However, it is important to note that it can trap other comedogenic ingredients inside the pores.
So watch what products you use on your hair and scalp before applying hair grease. Remember, its job is to seal, so whatever is underneath will be trapped.
Benefits Of Using Grease On Your Scalp
Seals In Moisture
Since hair grease’s main ingredient is petroleum, which has large molecules that create a barrier between your scalp and the outside environment, it will help seal any moisture on your scalp.
It’s important to keep your scalp moisturized, along with your hair strands.
But be careful when using hair grease on your hair. Depending on your hair density and texture, it could weigh it down.
So when you want to apply it to your hair, use a small amount.
Help Soothe An Itchy, Dry Scalp
If your scalp is itchy or has dry patches, greasing your scalp could soothe and lubricate it. When my scalp gets dry, I lightly mist it with water, massage it, and then apply my grease.
Afterward, if I am home, I put on my hair bonnet and go about my day.
This will help keep your scalp hydrated and protected, and away from the outside environments that will dry it out faster. Though it isn’t necessary, I do it out of habit.
Adds Shine
When your scalp is dull and ashy-looking, applying hair grease on your scalp gives it a shine. Even though I have locs, I apply the smallest amount possible on my locs to give it a longer-lasting shine than what castor oil will offer.
I know some people with locs will disagree with me, but doing this to my locs on occasion helps seal in the moisture and creates a softer feel on my hair.
Important NOTE: After some time, I stopped putting hair grease on my locs due to the product buildup over time. If you insist, use a heavy-duty clarifying shampoo or African Black soap to cleanse and clarify the hair grease off your locs.
May Help In Hair Growth
It has been a historical theory that hair grease helps hair growth. Though most popular hair grease brands say it helps hair growth, I honestly believe it helps prepare and condition your scalp for hair growth.
Since this hair and scalp conditioner seals in moisture and protects the hair from breakage, your scalp is in better condition to promote healthy hair growth.
Does Hair Grease Make Your Hair Grow?
As we just mentioned, I believe hair grease better prepares the hair and scalp for more hair growth. If you are drinking your water, taking multivitamins, eating healthy, and taking proper care of your hair, your hair will grow anyway.
But when we aren’t doing these things, our hair is more prone to dryness and breakage, which causes mechanical and chemical damage to our hair. When you create a routine of greasing your scalp on a weekly or bi-weekly basis, it will create a barrier and protect it against breakage.
Some hairstylists advise that their clients put a little hair grease on the ends of their hair to protect it from split ends. Honestly, this works better than using oils and creams, because they don’t have large molecules to protect the hair as long as grease will.
This is why we tend to oil our hair and scalp more frequently because it dries out faster than grease.
Can I Use Grease On My Hair?
Yes, but the best way to use hair grease on your hair is after moisturizing it. You want to first add moisture to your hair and scalp with water or a leave-in conditioner so that the hair grease will have something to seal in.
If you apply hair grease on your scalp or hair first, you are sealing in nothing. As a result, your hair and scalp will feel drier because there is no hydration. Although hair grease is like a conditioner, it cannot properly hydrate your scalp and hair alone.
Grease On Different Hair Types
For Locs – spray your locs with water or your favorite water-based moisturizer first. Then grease your scalp. Massage your scalp to distribute the product evenly.
For Loose Natural Hair – depending on your hair type and density, you can follow the same steps as if you have locs.
Spray your hair with water or a leave-in conditioner, and then grease your scalp. Or you can grease your scalp after towel drying your hair, then twist or braid your hair.
For Relaxed Hair – depending on the look you are going for, you can grease your scalp LIGHTLY immediately after styling your hair. Or, if you are opting to sit under the dryer with a roller or rod set, you can lightly grease your scalp after sitting under the dryer.
NOTE: For those with relaxed hair, thin hair, or low-density hair, hair grease can weigh your hair down.
It’s important to grease your scalp very lightly so that you won’t have limp-feeling roots. Or, it could be best to use oil as an alternative.
Is Blue Magic The Best Hair Grease?
Blue Magic Hair Grease has been around since God knows. So it is one of the most popular. I can remember my momma using this hair grease on my hair when I was in Kindergarten, so I know that was over 20 years ago.
But recently, everyone has grown tired of trying this product and that product which claims to seal moisture… Blah, blah, blah…. So they are jumping back on the hair grease train.
Including myself, I wanted to try something I knew worked from back in the day, so I went searching for a good hair grease. I bought what I knew was true, blue magic hair grease, because it was the only grease that lasted up to a week on my scalp.
I use Blue Magic Conditioner Hair Dress, The Original on my hair and my daughter’s hair. It’s because it has helped stop breakage on my hair and my daughter, who is a toddler.
Does It Help With Hair Growth?
I can confidently say that it also helped during my postpartum hair loss by slowing down the breakage stage. During that time, my scalp was very tender and ached for some odd reason.
When I greased my scalp with this hair grease, it soothed my scalp, and I saw less hair in the tub during wash days. I still use it on my daughter’s hair. But now, I use Blue Magic Super Sure Hair Growth on my hair.
I love this one because it has a lot of my favorite ingredients, such as shea butter, coconut oil, aloe barbadensis leaf extract, clove flower extract, and green tea leaves. At the time, I can’t say if it’s making my hair grow, but I haven’t seen much breakage from the roots of my locs. Two months ago, I was stressed out and saw where some locs were thinning at the root.
This is when I started to grease my scalp once a week faithfully to see if I would see a difference. And yes ma’am. I can see a difference. One of the main impacts I’m seeing is that my locs are not marrying (merging) together like they used to in the past.
If you have locs, you know how irritating and painful it is when two or more locs merge together in between retwist maintenance. When I start greasing my scalp regularly, I notice that my locs aren’t merging, AND I can go up to 12 weeks of no retwists and can still see my parts.
Best Hair Grease For Natural Hair
Blue Magic Hair Dress, The Original
The holy grail of all hair grease, Blue Magic The Original is the go-to grease for all curly and coily hair households. It comes it only 7 ingredients which includes Lanolin which is said to aid in hair growth. When you put it on your hair, expect to have soft, conditioning hair for days.
Blue Magic Super Sure Hair Growth
Up next is the sibling of the original, the Blue Magic Super Sure Gro grease is perfect for promoting hair growth. Why? Because it contains ingredients such as shea butter, jojoba oil, and Japanese tea that promotes healthy hair.
You can see the natural herbs in the grease, which is one of my favorite things about it. I also love that it helps care for split ends and prevent further breakage.
Sulfur8 Anti-Dandruff Hair & Scalp grease
When you have an itchy scalp that seems to never go away, the classic Sulfur8 Medicated Grease is an anti-dandruff conditioner for the scalp.
It helps control dry, itchy scalp and dandruff and leaves a tingling sensation on your scalp. So if your scalp is always irritated, this is the one you need to grab.
Dax Pomade
The other classic, DAX Pomade is the GOAT for soft hair and moisture retention. Because it is so thick, (in a good way), it holds in any moisture that’s applied to the hair. So this is a great sealant to use on the hair and scalp.
It also minimizes frizz and controls further hair breakage.
Camille Rose The Gro Hair Grease
One that many may not know about, the Camille Rose Gro Grease is perfect for moisture retention and promoting hair growth.
Inspired by the late and great Madam C.J. Walker’s original product, it uses some of the same ingredients such as castor oil, hemp oil, and sesame seed oil.
It also contains sulfur, which will help control dandruff and dry, flaky, itchy scalp.
I hope this helps love.
– Much love, Ash ❤️
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