When you hear the words “hair” and “slug,” there’s a good chance you wouldn’t assume that they’d go together, especially when talking about caring for your hair. While flaunting a rather unglamorous name, this new 2022 trend called hair slugging seems to have some pretty glamorous effects when it comes to moisturizing your hair.
What Is Hair Slugging?
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Hair slugging is a deep hydration treatment for your hair, and it is meant to seal and lock in moisture to give it a silky, soft look to your hair. This is especially helpful if your hair is damaged, dehydrated, or if your hair is just in need of some tender loving care.
How Did Hair Slugging Become A Thing?
As with most trends these days, hair slugging became popular on social media, particularly from TikTok. Users adapted the South Korean “slugging” skin care technique (where people would use various products to moisturize their face) into their hair care routines, and it became a way for everyone to try and achieve that perfect healthy hair.
Hair slugging is for everyone. But, it is most helpful towards those with dry, fragile hair regain its texture, and to improve how your hair feels and looks. The thicker your strands of hair are, you are going to want to slug your hair a few nights a week. Those with finer strands of hair can leave the slugging to once or twice a week.
Vaseline And Hair Slugging
Some hydrating products that can be used for this process are hair masks, oils, serums and leave-in conditioners — all great products designed to lock in that moisture for your hair.
But, the most popular hydrating product that’s been used for this trend is one that’s not typically associated with hair care: this product is none other than vaseline. Yep, you can put vaseline in your hair! Though this begs the question, is vaseline good for your hair?
Vaseline is an occlusive. An occlusive is a substance that forms a protective layer around your hair (and your skin) that seals in, and prevents loss of, the existing moisture in your hair. While vaseline does not directly moisturize your hair, the barrier it forms to keep that moisture in is one you’ll definitely want to have. So, you’ll need to experiment to get just the right amount of product in your hair to make sure you reap the positive effects of vaseline on hair.
Remember that there’s also such a thing as doing too much! So, don’t slug your hair every night, as that negatively affects your hair’s natural production of oils in your hair and can actually make your hair even drier — something you definitely don’t want.
While you’re mostly going to be applying the vaseline (or whatever product of your choosing) to your ends and not as much on your scalp, you want to be mindful of how much product gets on that head of yours. Too much product that isn’t properly washed out can clog pores and hair follicles, leading to buildup of bacteria, breakouts, and other BS that you probably don’t wanna deal with.
What is the Process of Slugging Your Hair?
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The process of hair slugging is fairly simple, so grab that jar of vaseline and let’s get started!
- Step 1: At nighttime, apply the vaseline, or product of your choice, on washed hair (make sure that it is completely dry or mostly dry before applying!), concentrating the product on the ends of your hair.
- Step 2: Put your hair in a cap or sock (basically any protective wrapping that can work for your hair) and secure it so it’ll stay on as you are sleeping.
- Step 3: Sleep. You need it.
- Step 4: When you wake up, rinse out the vaseline using a mixture of baking soda and water, or just your regular washing routine (the vaseline may last longer in your hair). If you opted for a lighter product, your regular wash routine should be just fine.
Alternatives to Vaseline Hair Slugging
Vaseline can be good for getting a healthy shine to your hair, but maybe you don’t like how heavy it feels in your hair, the vaseline isn’t agreeing with you, or some other reason that pushes you away from lathering a chunk of vaseline in your strands. Fear not, we’ve got some hair oil and mask alternatives that you could try to still get that slugged hair shine.
OUAI Hair Oil
This is a lightweight hair oil that is for all hair types. Its baobab seed oil helps to hydrate your hair and give it that extra shine. This hair oil is also made with borage oil and reduces any frizz you might have on your hair.
amika Soulfood Nourishing Hair Mask
If you haven’t read Marissa’s amika article yet, be sure to check that out, as it goes in depth about different hair masks, which you could definitely incorporate into your slugging routine! This hair mask in particular is great for all hair types, and is great for hydrating and softening your hair. Its jojoba oil will do wonders for your hair as it is packed with antioxidants (fights unstable molecules that can damage your hair).
Bumble and Bumble Hairdresser’s Invisible Oil Shampoo and Conditioner
Or you know, maybe you wanna say “fuck it!” and not add that extra step in your hair routine and stick to regular shampoo and conditioner. We got you, here’s a shampoo and conditioner set that’s great for medium to thicker hair that hydrates your hair and adds that shine. Its combo of almond, grape seed, safflower, and coconut oils plus other fantastic ingredients will help deeply hydrate your hair, soften it, and will give shine that will make people think you’re a pro at hair slugging.
BUY NOW – $34 (shampoo) & $35 (conditioner)
Have you tried hair slugging? Do you want to, or do you think it’s kinda…. ew? Tell us in the comments!
Read More Haircare Articles:
I Went Suds-Less With Hairstory’s New Wash, And It Was Rough (At First)
Mermaid Marissa: I Tried Three of Amika’s Hair Masks
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