TikTok is a leading platform that continues to discover trends, and Hair Slugging is its newest rave. Hair Slugging has become a viral beauty hack, but what exactly is it? As always with these “trends”, Black women have been ahead of the curve.

What is Hair Sluggling?

TikTok’s Hair Slugging is a hair care process that involves coating the hair in your preferred hair leave-in oil or conditioner to amp up the moisture content of your hair overnight. TikTokers who have followed this hack have said that it is effective to use a fuzzy sock or hair bonnet to  wrap the hair in, so that the moisture from the hair products soaks into the hair overnight.

Photo Credit: Tony James-Andersson

Is It New?

People who have left reviews online have stated that TikTok’s Hair Slugging produces dramatic results that leave the hair feeling nourished, ultra-shiny and less brittle. Although the significance of Hair Slugging is real, the process itself is something that Black women have been doing for ages. Because of the complexities of Black hair, Black women have historically had to improvise and find  creative ways to cater to their hair. The hair bonnet is just one of the tools that many Black women used to preserve moisture in their hair. The  “Hair Slugging” may be a hot, new TikTok trend, but since it’s original inception, Black women have know it as good old moisturizing. Indeed, Black women have made many waves in hair care over the course of time.

Black women have been the original engineers of many trends, but many of these trends continue to be reframed and repackaged to remove that fact.  Although many times society tries to rebrand, refurbish and rename phenomenons that have already been known to Black women, the bottom line is our struggles have inspired us to lean more into our creative ingenuity. It is good to know that Black hair hacks, and everything else from fashion, style and slang work for other people from time to time, but many would agree that the undertones of appropriation also get mildly annoying over time.