Learning About Your Hair: Hair Density

Hello beautiful people! It's finally Fall and i'm super excited. This is my favorite season of the year. the cool weather and the clothing. With this cooler weather approaching it is important to learn specific things about your hair to help you take care of it better.

Hair density may be something pretty easy to tell. but can sometimes be misjudged. Hair density is classified into three levels: Low, Medium, and High. In some studies if someone has thick hair they will more than likely have a high density level, but like DNA it can differ from person to person.

You could go the professional route to discover your hair density and get a phototrichogram. Which is a close up photo of hair strands so that the doctor can count your hair strands to figure out your hairs density "Ain't nobody got time for that". You can easily do it yourself at home, in the car, at work, pretty much anywhere you have a pony tail holder and a tape measure.

Now let's get down to the test.

1. Smooth out your hair as much as you can with your fingers, brush or comb. Then gather it all into a ponytail

2. Measure the circumference of your ponytail

If your hair's circumference measures to be under 2 inches. You have Low density hair. If it measures out between 2 inches and 3 inches than you have Medium density hair. If it measures to be 4 inches or more than you have High density hair.

Why is this important you ask.

Hair density is an important factor to consider when planning your hair regimen and hairstyle. If you have low density hair, consider using light products that won’t weigh down your hair. Use a mousse with a voluminous agent to give the appearance of thicker hair, and consider leave-in conditioners that contain thickening agents. When deciding on your next hairstyle, look for styles that are simple or rounded. You curls will naturally fall into place and give the appearance of more volume.

If your hair density is high, you want to stick to heavier products that will help hold your thick curls together. There is an abundance of curly hair products for styling, including gels, creams, butters,etc. Utilize these to help your curls stay in place.

If you fall into the medium hair density you may be able to use both of these tips. Since everyone's hair is different see which one will work better for you.

I hope this helps you a little bit more. Btw if you're wondering what my hair density is, I have High hair density. 6 inches if that isn't some thick hair I don't know what is lol.

To help with a visual I will post a ponytail of someone with straighter hair so you can see it better. Measure around the area the arrow is pointing to. Until next time..............

What Are Your Hair Goals?

Today I'm coming through really quick to talk about hair goals. Do you have any hair goals? Just like anything else in life I have goals for my hair. I'm not a perfectionist or anything but my number one goal for my hair was to perfect my regimen. This comes with trial and error trying different products. Which ends up finding products your hair doesn't like. This brings me to my number 2 of my short term goal, learning my hair. There's a few products that my hair completely hates. Such as Shea butter, Shea Moisture's Coconut & Hibiscus Curl Enhancing Smoothie just to say a few. That product is weird to me because my hair loves both coconut and hibiscus lol.

  Third on my short term goals was to reach Arm Pit Length(APL), then Bra Strap Length(BSL) and Mid Back Length(MBL). Though I was eager to reach these three goals. MBL took me the longest, for some reason it seemed like everything changed on my hair. Like something over night. Products changed for my hair, my texture even changed towards the back. The front of my hair seemed like it was Spring all year long. I had so much new growth. It was a good thing because it seemed as though it was thinning slightly. Then my edges mostly around my temples started looking a little scarce. Then for 3 long years it seemed like I could not retain my length passed BSL. Wheew!! It was a lot but luckily I didn't lose hair like crazy or ending up with even shorter hair.

 Pretty much this article is so that you will if you haven't already write down your hair goals. Stick to them and make sure you stay motivated and take great care of your hair to reach those goals that you have set. Well that's all for now see you later...............


Short Term Goals:
1. Perfecting my regimen
2. Learning my hair
3.To reach APL- Achieved May 10
4. To reach BSL- Achieved  Oct 10
5. To reach MBL- Achieved Aug 13


Long Term Goals:
1. To have healthy hair
2. Let my hair grow to its full potential
3. My hair to touch my shoulders in it's shrunken state
4. My fro to get bigger than Aevin Dugas

Hair Diary #11 Is Your Hair Experiencing Protein Overload??

Hello everyone! I'm back again and already I'm doing better than the past by keeping my blog updated. So today's hair diary is talking about Protein Sensitivity. I will start with my story first and add some information along the post.

Okay so last year around maybe October-ish or even September. I went on YouTube and watched a lady's video on how to tell if your hair is damaged or not. Now I haven't ever had a situation with damaged hair but I figured you know what I'll give this a try just to see, because I'm on a healthy hair care journey and I want to keep it that way. On her video she shows how you take a strand of your (clean) hair, either from your head or shed hair on your comb or whatever and place it into a (glass) cup almost filled to the top with water.

In the video she says if your hair sinks it is damaged. Later on I figured out she didn't give complete information, because after a while your hair may sink. I didn't think of that at the time though. So when I took a few strands of my hair (not all at once) and placed it in the water. By the time I returned back to the cup my hair was at the bottom. I really didn't know what to do when I saw this. She mentioned that it meant your hair could be weak or it's time for you to get a protein treatment.

So I thought to myself "Dang! I've been natural for 4 years now and I don't ever remember doing protein treatments like that." Maybe just a few times and I actually didn't know they were protein at the time. So I looked up homemade protein treatments and my cousin did avocado hair masks. So I was like okay I will start there. So I get everything I need and I literally did a protein treatment on my hair every week that I washed my hair. It was my deep conditioner for the week.

After about 4- 6 weeks I did the test all over again. This time around my hair didn't sink I left for about 5 mins and it didn't sink so I was like I'll wait for an hour. I came back and my baby was still floating lol. I was so excited I said I will keep doing my protein treatments from now on. I could feel that my hair became stronger so I continued. 2013 came around and I continued down the weekly protein treatment path.

Around March or April I noticed my hair was starting to feel hard. I didn't think anything of it I just figured it's getting stronger. Since it only felt hard after the protein treatment I just shunned it away because it became a little softer after my hair dried. I continued again, until May came around and my hair remained feeling hard even after it dried and just blah!! Felt like a big mess sitting on my head. I just wasn't feeling it so I kept it in twists or covered.

I did some research on protein overload and protein sensitivity. I went to websites like Curly Nikki http://www.curlynikki.com/search?q=protein+sensitive for "protein sensitivity" and http://blackgirllonghair.com/2012/01/10-reasons-your-hair-isnt-soft/ for "10 Reasons Your Hair isn't soft." I kept researching more sites but I can't remember right now. These sites have a good amount of information on them so I won't really go into detail unless you have some questions for me.

After going to these sites I came to the conclusion that my hair IS NOT protein sensitive but I did have protein overload. I realized that my hair produces a normal amount of protein already. My hair has Average porosity (Normal Hair). The protein overload was affecting my hair's porosity which made it High porosity (Overly Porous). This caused my hair not to hold on to moisture and become dry and brittle. Even though I moisturized my hair once a week because that's all it takes for my hair. I did not switch that up during the very frequent protein treatments. I should have been moisturizing a few more times just to combat the protein overload. Curly Nikki has a few good articles on hair porosity, here's the link: http://www.curlynikki.com/search?q=hair+porosity .

So I completely stopped everything protein to my hair for a little while and focused on moisturizing and sealing my hair. Just to be safe sometimes I will add a little extra moisture during the week. That's just a precaution though. As soon as I stopped the protein for a while my hair went back to its nice soft self :). Additionally moisturizing my hair with water and glycerin. I already had some conditioners that are protein free (I'm a conditioner junkie) so once I co-washed my hair, my hair fell in love. It grasped onto that conditioner and water like it was a long lost lover or something lol. It's funny because I just bought that conditioner maybe 2 weeks before. It's definitely going to be a staple of mine now. Pictures below (Herbal Escapes Pomegranate & Grapeseed Extract and Tea Therapy Vanilla Mint Tea

They're cheapies as well VO5 baby!! Now I'm already and fan and lover of the Tea therapy but I ran out and just haven't bought more but the newbie to the team is this Pomegranate. LOVE LOVE LOVE it. Now back on the protein treatments. I still do them but now I know I'm good with just using it once every 6-8 weeks and I'm good. I hope this helps anybody that's hair is acting different and they don't know why. Life has now returned back to my hair and I'm all smiles :) Until next time...........

Hair Diary #10

Hello, hello everyone! How is the summer treating your hair? Good I hope, as for me my hair is doing well. Beginning on the end of last year I've mostly had my hair in a protected style with buns or types of updos, instead of braids and twists. Its a little challenge I've given myself and it ends around October. Even though my hair is in a protective style 98% of the time. Sometimes I will allow my hair to be out for a week or less. Either trying new things or just seeing how different or the same my hair is acting or changing opposed to the previous years.

So since it's summer time I told myself I couldn't let the whole summer pass by and not have a wash and go at least once lol. I also had bought a new gel earlier this summer to try out for my wash and go's. So I gave it a try. Since I could only find a pretty small container I didn't use a lot also the fact that I never tried this gel before I didn't want to have flakes all over my head. It's summer not winter.  So I sprayed my homemade leave in conditioner on my head then applied a small amount of gel on some pretty chunky sections.

This time around I didn't feel like spending too much time so I was trying to hurry up and get it over with. I was rushing like I really had somewhere to go smh, but since I wasn't feeling to well I was trying to get it over with A.S.A.P. With my laziness and small amounts of gel my hair came out really nice. I wore my wash and go for 5 days. I could of gone longer but it was time to protect my hair again.
                                                                Day 1- still wet

 Day 2

Day 3

  Day 5- forgot Day 4

                                          - This gel is also protein free for those of you that are protein sensitive. Enjoy! Until next time...............

MOISTURE vs. EMOLLIENTS

Moisture vs. Emollients

Hello you all! I’m back yet again and late smh, but better late than never. So today’s post will be on moisture yet again, but a little different than last time. So I’ve noticed over the years when I was looking for a good moisturizer since my old one is no longer sold. I went online and everybody kept throwing out shea butter, shea butter, shea butter and some very few that threw out oils. First off my hair completely hates that stuff (Shea Butter) and doesn’t want it anywhere near it lol. Well those weren’t correct answers because neither Shea butter nor oils are moisturizers. It took me a little while to learn this with research and a few tries with my Macadamia nut butter (my hairs BFF) alone, with no avail.

The reason why is because butters and oils are in fact emollients. What are emollients you ask? They are sealers to help the hair maintain its moisture.

The definition of emollient is

1.     1.   Making soft or supple; soothing especially to the skin or mucous membrane

2.    2.    Making less intense or harsh:  Mollifying

Resulting in this softer feeling it can have on your hair people confuse it with their hair being moisturized with it alone. Now let’s look at the definition of Moisturizer

1.  

  1.   1. A lotion or cream used to prevent dryness in the skin

Or Moisture:

1.      

        1.  Liquid diffused or condensed in relatively small quantity.

Now we all know what the best moisture for us not just our hair is right? If not I’m telling you lol, WATER!! If you said it you got it right. So with that being said a moisturizer is a liquid or cream with water, and water should be the first ingredient. If you don’t feel like going to search for a moisturizer you can make your own at home. With only 2, YES only 2 ingredients WATER and Vegetable Glycerin. 

 I only use a few drops of Vegetable Glycerin and it still works like a charm. Glycerin is also great because it is a humectant, which means it takes moisture from the air too. So during the hot and very humid summer months don’t use too much of it if you plan on wearing your hair out. Well unless you like frizz. If you do go wild with it! In your spray bottle with ¾ or more water you will be fine. Give it a try and see how your waves, curls, coils and kinks will love you. Well you guys this is the end of this post. Until next time…….

Hair Diary #9 Jamaican Black Castor Oil

I’m back you guys! This post won’t be that long though. I’m just coming through to tell you about a new product I bought. Now as you saw in the older posts I’ve been using castor oil. I mentioned how I wanted to try Jamaican black castor oil. Well I got it and I’ve been using that in my hair for about a month and a half now. I’m definitely starting to see the difference already. My roots have become a lot fuller in the front. For a little while the front of my hair was becoming a little scarce because of my BC especially in the temple area. My hair was breaking off in the front leaving a lot of short hairs in between my long hairs. I’m so glad it’s starting to grow longer for me so it can start matching my longer and the back of my hair again.

 I’ve been applying it all over my scalp and when I remember I massage it into my scalp as well. I would like to massage it into my scalp at least 3-5 times a week. The only thing is this stuff doesn’t smell too good lol. Like it smells like burnt wood or something. How I’m able to counteract this smell a little is the peppermint oil that I have in my daily spritzer. Overall I really like this product; I’m even using it as a sealant mixed with jojoba oil for my hair after I apply my KCKT. Afterwards I apply a little bit of my macadamia nut butter and my hair is in business.  Have you ever tried Jamaican Black Castor oil? If so what is your thoughts on this product?

                                          

Hair Diary #8 Hair after flat iron

Hello, hello, hello!  Okay before you say anything I know I should be ashamed of myself for being away for so long. I really am too. I’ve planned on coming back a few times but then I got distracted with more things. I will try to do better this time around. So on the last post I talked about how I straightened my hair for the first time. Well I let that style stay in my hair for 2 weeks. A few months before I saw some videos talking about beer rinses and how to wash your hair with a beer rinse once you’re ready to wash your straight hair. I got the non alcoholic kind the cheapest one in Walmart. I don’t really remember the name but I was feeling kind of lazy that day and sarcastically asked my boyfriend could he wash my hair lol. To my surprise he said yes and was willing to wash it for me.  I thought this was a good way he could see all I go through to wash my hair. He knows it takes me hours to my hair on wash days. So he did everything for me but put my DC in (I chose to do this one myself).  After that he washed the DC out for me, I’m so thankful for him helping me out so much wheew!! I wasn’t feeling like dealing with my hair that day.

Results: NO HEAT DAMAGE, YAY!!!  I wasn’t feeling it that day and forgot to take pictures of my hair lol. So after my hair was completely washed and was clean I applied my KCKT(Kinky Curly Knot Today) leave in conditioner to my hair and literally put in like 8 twists in my hair. Two twists in each of the four sections. That was it no moisturizer or oil, I told you guys I was feeling lazy that day lol. I wrapped my hair up and went to sleep, with good intentions to put a better style in the next day. I didn't they stayed in for a few days and I wore a beret  to cover the big parts and look stylish at the same time. After a few days I took those twists out spritz my hair a little just slightly damp and applied my Macadamia nut butter and put my hair in mini twists.

lazy big twists 

my mini twists 

I wore those twists for 2 weeks and co- washed them after the first week trying something new. I don’t normally wash my hair while it’s in mini twists but I didn’t hurt anything. Co washing them did make them look really refreshed. I didn’t have my macadamia nut butter on me so I used some of a friends beautiful textures moisture butter. Ummm…. I didn’t really care for it much, but then again I don’t know if it was completely bad for my hair because I just applied it on top of my twists. I think I still should have had better results but needless to say it didn’t keep my hair moisturized long. So I don’t think I will waste my money on that product. Good to know because I was considering buying it lol. I applied my Macadamia nut butter again and my hair was finally happy and moisturized again. Have you guys ever tried the Beautiful Textures moisture butter before? What was your take on it? Well this is all folks…. Until next time! J

Hair Diary #7 Flat Ironed Hair

Hello, hello….. So as I explained in my last post I straightened my hair for the first time. It actually wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be. Maybe because so many years of watching other naturals straighten theirs on YouTube. Or simply because I did the roller set first, which made it easy because I already had parts sectioned(I used about 35-40 rollers).  Next time whenever that will be I think I’m going to do a flexi rod set first. My main reason for that is because my roller sets pretty much suck lol and my flexi rod sets come out looking GAWgeous!! Lol. They’re also smaller sections which will be even easier and I don’t have to worry about the roots not being smoothed.

Why did I roller set my hair instead of blow drying my hair you ask? Well I’m not too big on heat with my hair. I want to keep my hair as healthy as I can. Blow drying is a direct heat and all the tugging with the brush or the comb on the flat iron can be a little hard and can cause some breakage and excess shedding if you’re not careful. Roller setting is the healthier alternative it’s not direct heat and you wouldn’t have to worry about the heat damage.  Even though heat damage isn’t a problem with roller setting I still applied a little heat protectant all over my head before rolling just as a precaution.

Now with that being said about heat, once I took the rollers out and sectioned my hair in four big sections to work with.  As I pull sections within the four sections I applied a little more heat protectant (Grapeseed oil). You’re probably thinking that’s a lot huh? Well I would rather be cautious then sad at the end because I have to start all over.  I then passed the flat iron through the sections I only used 1 or 2 passes. Some sections in the back I passed the flat iron through twice but the whole front of my hair only got one pass through. I also used the lowest heat setting possible. When I tell you I’m cautious I am so serious lol. I don’t need a bunch of passes on each section or a lot of heat anyways because I never really cared for bone straight hair on me.

During: Back Finished  I don't know why I had a black shirt on while I was doing this lol

Finished whole head and stretching it to it's full length: (Excuse my face I was tired and you can see by these pictures my hair wasn't bone straight)

I put my hair in a low and loose bun and went to sleep. The next day I took it out the bun put my hair in pin curls for body which is how I normally wear my hair to sleep. I didn't ever learn how to wrap my hair lol Don't judge me! If you don't know what pin curls are here is a video that I did the last time my hair was straight.                                                                 

So I took them out out and this is what I had 

 Can you believe I didn't even comb the curls out yet and it was so pretty. So what do you guys think? Well ladies and gents if their is some reading until next time......

Hair Diary #6 Hair Consultation

So it's been about a week and a half since my last post so I thought I would come check in with you guys and tell you what's been going on lately. So this week I set up an appointment for a consultation with a natural hair stylist.  I went to my appointment and the lady was so nice. I was still wearing my bun from the last post and she takes it out and is like "WHOA!!! you have a lot of hair" lol. I thought she was going to just stop or barely look at my hair because of that, but nope. She felt my hair, looked at my ends, looked for build up etc. Then she tells me that my hair is in great shape. I was glad to hear that as I was hoping their wasn't something I was missing. Then she starts asking me questions about what I use in my hair and what I use as a DC because my hair felt very moisturized as she takes the little bit of it from off her hands and starts to rub on her arms like lotion lol.


From their we talked more about my regimen and she told me a little bit of hers. She said she was suprised how healthy my hair was from only doing it myself with no help and that I gained a lot of length in such a little bit of time. I then told her a little of my natural hair story and how I'm pushing for even longer hair. Is it just me or during the first year or two of your natural hair journey did your hair grow crazy fast? Mine did and even though it's still growing it has slowed down a little. I'm starting to think it was because of my Mirena but I don't know. I still will retain my goal of having WL (Waist length) hair.

Anyways now back to the story so during the rest of my consultation we started talking and it seemed as though we had been friends for a long time that's funny how something just as simple as hair can do that. So to all of you out there that are having problems with your hair or are just curious to know how your hair is doing try setting up a consultation appointment with a natural hair stylist. There really is nothing you can lose from this experience because it's free but you can gain a lot about the state your hair is in or if you're on the right track with your hair. So try it out and see how you like it, I would advise it to be a natural hair stylist as some others may have a biased opinion.

P.S. Before I forget their is also something else I forgot to mention I'm going to straighten my hair for the FIRST time ever......I paid somebody to do it for me when I was relaxed just because I knew nothing about hair whatsoever at the time. So this is a warning so PLEASE DON'T JUDGE ME (Chris Brown) If it comes out looking a horrible mess because i'm trying. I don't really get practice at this because I hardly ever use heat, but i'm sitting under the dryer now as I type. So stay tuned for my next post which will be in the next few days to see the results. Until next time.......

Lazy Hair Day!

Hello again! How is your hair journey going thus far? Good I hope. Well today I’m just popping in for a little to talk about a lazy, low maintenance style. These are for the days you just really don’t feel like doing much for your hair. So as you know before I do a style for my hair I deep condition and co-wash my hair (in that order) but whatever way you choose even if you choose shampoo. Then I apply a leave in conditioner than style it. Sometimes I want something really different then on those many lazy days of dealing with my hair I decide to do a bun.  If you’re a newly natural and have a TWA (Teeny Weenie Afro) this style won’t work for you.  This style is for medium to long length naturals and transitioners with enough hair to fit in a puff or bun. Just simply moisturize your hair making sure to pay close attention to the oldest part of your hair (the ends). There you have it, also for some of you that don’t like to wear braids, twists or weaves a bun is considered a protective style.  As for the puff the ends are still exposed so you would have to cover that to make it a protective style.Until next time…

Hair Diary #3 Black Tea Rinse

Hey you guys!!! How’s everything? I know it’s been a long time and sorry to keep you hanging, but now I’m back. On my previous hair diary post I told you guys I twisted my hair up and besides my Knot Today leave in conditioner the only other product I had in my hair was Coconut Oil. Below I will post a video I did the next day of my Coconut Oil only twist out results.

So the twist out lasted longer than expected. There was a death in the family and the funeral fell around my hair washing day so it didn’t happen lol. I actually wore the twist out for a full two weeks. That’s long for me because I’m the wash my hair every week type of girl. Believe it or not though I liked it, it gave me more time of a style and a break from a whole day or half a day of washing my hair every week. So lately I’ve been washing it every 2 weeks instead of weekly. I think this may only last during the colder months.

Besides that I continued to DC (regular homemade) on dry hair and still LOVING it. I’m actually quite mad I stopped to do it on wet hair. Uggh!! It is such a breeze.  I finger detangle a little bit before I apply the DC to my hair. After it is fully applied to my hair I add my black tea rinse. This by the way is making a tremendous difference to my hair shedding. I will post pictures below showing you how much shed hair I got detangling while my hair was dry and also detangling in the shower every 2 weeks.

I keep the black tea in two of these bottles so it's easy to pour out without the mess

This was the 2nd go around after the trimmed ends and this is my shed hair of  the week (L-R) Dry, In the shower

This is the 3rd go around the hair in the hair stopper is shed hair of 2wks in the shower and on the side is dry

Shed hair from the hair stopper taken out and the dry detangling

I also added another new thing into my regimen. I did it on my last wash it is called the hair smoothie. It consists of Avocado, Banana, Coconut Milk, Egg and Honey. I will be using this hair smoothie probably once a month so I will use it again when I wash my hair next week. It is like a medium protein treatment so if your hair loves and needs protein give it a go, If not this may not be for you. I will post her video where she shows how to make the smoothie and the benefits of each item included in the smoothie.

Hair Diary # 2

Hello everyone so this post will be another hair diary of whats going on with my hair right now, and what i'm doing with it. Well my main thing to do this week was for me to trim my ends. WHEW.....!!! those things needed to be seriously done lol. I think it's been over like 6 months since the last time I've done them. I know bad right? I know I told you guys that I started a 20 week protective styling challenge in May and it just ended the first week of October. What I should of done was trimmed my ends before I started. That's the smart thing to do right? Yea so I had a dumb moment.

So just by thinking about how long my ends hadn't been clipped and remember I said over 6 months. I could definitely tell it was time to get rid of those babies. Mostly because they felt horrible, pretty much hard. I was also starting to get more Ssk's (Single strand knots). I hardly ever get those things, if I do it's mostly because I had my hair in kinky twists, Senegalese twists etc for 2 months. It would basically be in the spot where my hair met up with the braiding/twisting hair. I have a video on Youtube showing how to easily take care of these I will post it below.

 

Also normally when the months start to get colder my hair sheds more than normal so I am currently rinsing my hair with black tea to see how the results will be. So currently I am keeping track of this I've been doing it for 2 weeks now. If this does help out with shedding it will be something I keep in my regimen. I will talk more about this after it has been a month. That should be close to enough if not enough time to see a real difference.

Onto deep conditioners now I started applying my DC (deep conditioners) while my hair is dry again. A few months after I became natural I was doing this until about a year ago. I don't know why I stopped but I just did. It's not a huge difference but your hair takes a certain amount of nutrients each day. Since i'm applying the homemade DC while my hair is dry my hair is sure to suck up all of everything it needs. After about 4 or 5 hours with the DC in my hair I co-washed it out.

Then I put my hair into about 12 twists put my turban microfiber wrap on my hair to dry a little faster so when I trimmed my hair it wouldn't be soaking wet, and I fell asleep lol (not intentionally) Since I fell asleep with the turban on my hair completely dried. So the following day I spritz a little water into each section of my hair (splitting my twists into 2). Even though I am doing the CG method I used my wide tooth comb to detangle my hair some more. Since I was trimming my hair in it's natural state I wanted to make sure my hair was very detangled to get an accurate cut.

pic of hair trimmed off 

Then I put my favorite leave in conditoner Knot Today (Kinky Curly Knot Today) and coconut oil into each section and twisted them up again. I stretched them by braiding the twists back. For a few days following I will re-twist or braid to get the hair as stretched as I want. Currently my hair is braided at the moment. Until next time you guys. :)

Natural Hair Tip: Maintain Moisture in hair

Curly hair is more prone to being dry. It is easier for straight hair to maintain moisture because the moisture only has to travel straight down the hair shaft. When dealing with curly, coily and kinky hair the hairs have certain patterns like S, O, or Z’s. Having these patterns makes it hard for the moisture to flow down each strand. So if you have these types of hair you may notice that your hair will get dry easily if you don’t put anything in it, some more than others.  It is also easier to see on hair in its natural curly, coily and kinky state.

Now I’ve read statuses on facebook, twitter and have even heard some guys out loud talk about how they didn’t like natural hair because the girls hair looked and felt dry. So I’m going to help some of you newly naturals and or old naturals that are struggling with this situation. This is something that I am really big on which is keeping moisture in my hair. Luckily I don’t have the driest of hair but it can still get dry.

Water is the BEST moisturizer for your hair. It is also so very important, so important that when buying new products you should make sure that the very first ingredient on the label should is WATER. Now on to fixing the problem of having dry hair. Every morning & night you should spritz your hair with water. You can add any oils you would like to your water as long as the majority is water. This should help you with your dry hair problem.

Another option is to spritz your hair with a little bit of water before bed (make sure your hair isn't soaking wet). Put a shower cap on and tie your hair up as you would normally and go to sleep. I would advise if you are to choose this step that your hair is in a style that won’t get ruined like a wash – n –go or  a bun etc.

 If those two don’t work for you another option would be to co-wash (Conditioner only wash) in between your regular washing schedule. For an example I wash my hair every Sunday, so if I wanted more moisture on my hair I would co-wash my hair around Thursday. I hope these tips help for you. If you have any questions make sure to comment below, until next time. 

Transitioners Tip #1

Hello everyone I'm back again. This time it's to help out the relaxed women transitioning over to natural hair. My #1 tip is to stop treating your hair like it is relaxed and now treat it as though it is already fully natural. That means a little more work in taking more time with detangling.

Here is a picture of a semi long term transitioner. Since now you are treating your hair as if it is already natural. That means washing your hair with less harsh shampoos and/or conditioners. You will deal with a good amount of tangles.

A way to avoid breakage and a lot of shedding is not to start detangling where the relaxed hair starts. BAD IDEA you should still detangle from the ends of your hair sectioning your hair if you need to. Hold the hair taunt with your fingers while detangling and work your way up slowly to the natural hair.

 I advise having the hair FULLY covered in which ever conditioner you prefer. This will allow slippage of the tangles or knots and make it easier for you to glide your comb through. Hope this helps you!! Good Luck on your Transition!!!

Hair Diary # 1

 Okay now that I have told you guys about CG method I will tell you how I just recently did my hair. First off I will mention I haven’t used shampoos since after being natural for 6 months before I found out about CG. I found out that your hair can get just as clean by washing with only conditioner or sulfate free shampoo without losing all the natural oils and leaving your hair too dry. The reason shampoo was invented was to totally strip everything (dirt, oils, moisture) from your hair so you can get the “squeaky” clean feel. Conditioners were invented to help put back the moisture and nutrients (life) back into your hair. 

Conditioner only wash (Co-Wash) can clean your hair just as good without fully stripping it. I have sulfate free shampoos that I use on my hair maybe 4 times a year. That’s mostly because I bought it so I’m trying to finish it off lol.

Anyways……. Back to how I did my hair so I Co- washed my hair with TRESemme Naturals Nourishing Moisture Conditioner with Aloe Vera & Avocado.  Then I put my hair into 4 sections and with the conditioner still fully in my hair I detangled each section.  I then rinse a little of the conditioner out each section and put in my deep conditioner.  I made a homemade deep conditioner containing.

Deep Conditioner:

-1 whole Avocado

-¼ c. plain yogurt

- 4 drops of avocado oil (you can use any type of oils you want)

- ¼ bag of Hesh Amla Powder   

Most of the time I will let my deep conditioner sit in my hair over night and wash it out in the morning, but I was in a rush so I let it sit in my hair for about an hour. If you have a hooded dryer you could cut that time in half. After I washed the deep conditioner out of my hair and put a little more of my TRESemme in my hair as a leave in and started to style my hair. Below I have pictures of my hair after it was completely dry. Enjoy!!