What Are The Differences Between Waxes And Oils / Butters? Are Waxes Okay To Use On Natural Hair?

Waxes are actually very similar to butters but the slight difference in their structure makes waxs extremely water-hating (hydrophobic). Many waxes occur naturally in the environment:

• In plants, a thin layer of wax covers the stem and leaves to reduce water loss to the environment
• In humans, ear wax protects the ear by stopping foreign objects from entering and damaging the ear canal.

Clearly then in a hair product wax can be used to seal hair better and prevent moisture loss to the environment. This is why I use a little wax in some of my DIY Hair Products especially hair butters.

Note that some waxes are synthetically made and others naturally occur in the environment. Natural waxes include beeswax, jojoba wax, hemp wax etc. 

Waxes are derived from:

• Animals, e.g. beeswax, lanolin (from sheep)
• Plants, e.g. jojoba wax, hemp wax, castor wax, rice bran wax
  
• Petroleum, e.g. paraffin wax, petroleum jelly

I use jojoba wax and hemp wax in my DIY Hair Butters and not beeswax because I find beeswax a little hard to work with. The beeswax I have begins to solidify so quickly that you end up having a hair butter with tiny bits of solid beeswax here and there. Not good.

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You might also like: 

• Neno Natural's Free DIY Hair Recipes
• Free Whipped Butter Recipes

Ref: infoplease.com (waxes), wikipedia (wax), swiftcraftmonkey (waxes)

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