In the vast and often confusing world of natural hair and skincare, few topics spark more debate—and more disappointing results—than the role of oils. You’ve likely seen the social media posts: someone slathering raw oil onto dry, parched hair in the hopes of bringing it back to life. It seems intuitive. Oil is slick; it feels nourishing; therefore, it must be moisturizing.
But here is the hard truth that can change your entire routine: Oil is not moisture.
To understand why, we have to go back to basic chemistry. Moisture, in its purest form, is water (H2O). Our hair strands and our skin cells are thirsty for water. When they are adequately hydrated, they are elastic, plump, and resilient. When they are dehydrated, they become brittle, dull, and prone to breakage.
If moisture is water, then what is oil? Oil is a lipid. And as we all learned in grade school science class, oil and water do not mix. They repel each other.
This is where the magic—and the misunderstanding—lies. Because oils repel water, they are fantastic sealants.
Think of your hair like a sponge. When a sponge is dry, it is hard and scratchy. When you run it under the faucet, it absorbs the water and becomes soft and pliable. But if you leave that wet sponge sitting out on the counter for a few hours, the air will evaporate the water, and it will return to its hard, dry state.
Now, imagine you wet that sponge and then immediately place it inside a Ziploc bag and seal it shut. When you come back hours later, the sponge is still soft and wet. Why? Because the plastic bag prevented the water from evaporating into the air.
In this analogy, the water from your faucet is the moisture. Rooted Treasure Jamaican Black Castor Oil is the Ziploc bag.
Many people make the mistake of applying JBCO to bone-dry hair or skin, hoping it will hydrate them. It won’t. In fact, it might make things worse by creating a barrier that prevents new moisture from getting in. You end up with hair that is greasy on the outside but crunchingly dry on the inside.
The correct way to unlock the power of Rooted Treasure is to always apply it after a water-based product.
For your hair, this is the foundation of the popular L.O.C. (Liquid, Oil, Cream) or L.C.O. methods. The "Liquid" can be plain water, rose water, or a water-based leave-in conditioner. Once that hydration has entered the hair shaft, that is the moment to apply your Rooted Treasure. The thick, rich viscosity of authentic, ash-filled JBCO creates a robust barrier—a heavy-duty "lid" for your hair shaft. It locks that precious water inside for days, rather than letting it evaporate in hours.
This principle applies to your skin as well. Applying oil to a dry face feels heavy. But applying a few drops of Rooted Treasure over damp skin, right after cleansing or applying a hyaluronic acid serum, changes the game. The oil traps the water in the skin, resulting in that deeply hydrated, "glazed donut" look that doesn't feel greasy, just nourished.
Jamaican Black Castor Oil is an exceptional sealant because of its unique fatty acid composition and density. Lighter oils like jojoba or almond can sometimes evaporate too quickly or be absorbed too easily. Rooted Treasure has staying power. It sits dutifully on the cuticle, guarding the moisture you’ve worked so hard to put in.
Once you understand that you need to hydrate first and seal second, you stop wasting product and start seeing real retention. You realize that Rooted Treasure isn't there to do the job of water; it’s there to make sure water can do its job for longer.