Softer Hair All Week, in Three Steps

No matter how much product you put into your kid's hair, we've all noticed the pattern: Monday, soft and styled. Thursday, dry. It's not that your kid's hair doesn't have enough moisture; it's that eventually, it dries out. But thanks to the internet hair fairies, we have two methods, LOC and LCO, to combat this: just three products, applied in a certain order, to help hold on to moisture a bit longer.

Same three products, different order

As their names suggest, both methods start with a liquid (water or a leave-in) and finish with a seal. The only difference is the order of the last two steps, which just switch places.

• LOC: liquid, then oil, then cream.
• LCO: liquid, then cream, then oil.

There's no "correct" order. The one that works best depends on how your kid's hair takes in and holds moisture, which is its porosity.

LCO: for hair that has a hard time absorbing moisture

It's a fight to get water into low porosity hair, but once it's in, it holds on. The trick is getting it past the hair cuticle: you apply the cream immediately after the liquid, and the oil last to seal everything in.

1. Liquid. Either freshly washed hair or hair that's been well-misted with water or a leave-in.
2. Cream. Apply in sections to hold in the moisture and style the hair.
3. Oil. A bit of oil to seal everything in. (Lighter oils for fine hair.)

LOC: for hair that soaks up moisture fast and loses it fast

High porosity hair does the opposite: it readily absorbs moisture, but then quickly loses it. So for this type, you apply the oil immediately after the liquid to help lock in the moisture, and the cream to seal everything off. Many stylists recommend this order for hair with tight coils (mindbodygreen).

1. Liquid. Wet the hair with water or a leave-in, but don't saturate it.
2. Oil. Common choices at this step are olive or coconut oil.
3. Cream. A cream to seal the moisture and the oil in.

Not sure which one? Try both

The acronyms make it sound more complicated than it is. Go with one method one week and the other the next, and see which one makes your kid's hair feel better on day three or four. And if your kid's hair varies with the season, you may need to switch back and forth.

The takeaway

It all boils down to this: is it harder to get moisture into your kid's hair, or to keep it there? Start with LCO if it's the first, LOC if it's the second, and adjust from there.

Further reading: mindbodygreen on the LOC method · What Porosity Tells You About Your Child's Hair