NAIJA HAIR CAN GROW

Hi ladies,

If you are visiting hair blogs like mine, chances are that you are very interested in starting to take proper care of your hair or at least thinking about it...if you literally just stumbled on my blog and sieved through the articles and pictures thinking, this can never be me!! All this fuss about hair? Nahhhh!!

Well my dear, I am here to give you 5 reasons why this 'fuss' is necessary especially for us African women who had been fed lies about our hair!

1. Your hair WILL respond!! Put two ladies in front of you- one who cares for her hair and the other who doesn't. Take a close look at the hair they have on their heads, it won't take you too long to figure out who cares and who doesn't care for her hair starting from just the look of the hair, the sheen and the smell ( a huge indicator)! Once you start caring for your hair, your hair strands become more manageable and malleable, they start cooperating and styling becomes easier...notice I didn't mention length, your hair will not grow long overnight but your strands will be stronger, more resistant to breakage and ultimately that leads to longer hair!!

2. You will preserve your edges!! As we age, our hair follicles tend to shrink which leads to production of thinner looking hair, this process can be greatly controlled and even delayed if you start caring for your hair early enough...studies show about 50% of women develop some kind of Alopecia (hair loss) later in life, ages 50 and above!!

3. Promotes a healthy lifestyle!! Just like with weight control, healthy, long hair thrives with a good diet, lots of water and regular exercise. Ladies who have honed the skill of balancing diet and exercise will see very successful results on a hair journey!!

4. Products are organic and safe!! It's a great time to be on a hair journey!!! The absolute best time because, now more than ever before, hair manufacturers are taking conscious note of the ingredients they are putting in their products, they are avoiding harsh chemicals, parabens, sulphates and all the bad stuff...if you are not on a hair journey, chances are that you are not taking note of the products with harsh chemicals that sip into the bloodstream which you may be using on a daily basis.

5. You get to be part of an amazing industry! This last point is just the entrepreneur in me speaking. Think about how all the numerous curl puddings and souffles, hair gadgets and accessories, would have been invented if not for hair journeys! The answer is plain and simple, we the consumers are the manufacturers and as a need arises, one of us steps up to the plate and executes! I think back on when I started blogging in 2011, my trip to a store like Walmart did not include browsing the hair care aisle because there were barely any products I could use, but now? The options are numerous, the access to these products endless and that's what I'm talking about!!

I hope someone is encouraged out there to start a hair journey TODAY! :)

Xxx

Dabs

Hiya,
Hope you are all well! Two months left and the year is over!!! Who is retaining length!!! We will soon know the verdict!

Back to my topic, who like me has felt using an oil to seal your ends before you apply heat(blow drying, straightening, roller setting) is enough? You can imagine my reaction when I was browsing instagram the other day and came across a post that simply read in bold letters- OILS ARE NOT HEAT PROTECTANTS! I was like what?!

Went straight to consult with my friend google and to my greatest shock, the online resources were all saying the same scientific proven facts- using hair oils alone will NOT protect your hair from heat damage!

You see for the longest time after reading about smoke points of oils and how the higher the smoke point(meaning-the temperature at which an oil begins to break down into glycerols and free fatty acids and inevitably produces smoke) the better the oil's ability to tolerate heat, so for example Grapeseed oil and Olive oil have a smoke point of 485F and Avocado oil's smoke point is as high as 520F thus they have been advocated as great oils to prevent heat damage SOURCE.

So you'd think that'd be enough protection no? NO!Apparently it's not enough for the following reasons;

Every good heat protectant should help prevent full heat transfer to the cortex of hair, preventing degradation of the protein bonds that largely lead to split ends and breakage.
While oils are great as lubricants, apparently they slow down drying so that if you are using say a flat iron, you have to pass it through more times when using oils and could end up doing MORE damage than protection!!

You want to know what a good heat protector should have?

1. Silicones- yeah cones, I know?!! Apparently Dimethicone and Cyclomethicone are must have ingredients in any good heat protectant because they are both thin, water proof and heat resistant man made compounds that when applied on the hair strands, coat the strands then evaporate while allowing the oils and nutrients on the strands to absorb, Demithicone is also known to have detangling properties- SOURCE

2. Hydrolized protein/silk amino acids- heat breaks down the protein bonds of our hair strands as mentioned before so a good heat protectant should have protein fill in any broken protein bonds and strengthen the hair to withstand heat damage.

3.Glycerin or any form of humectant to help attract moisture to the hair as the heat is being applied.

4. Propylene Glycol is also a chemical compound that attracts moisture to the hair strands.

5. Cetrimonium Chloride to increase tensile strength- SOURCE

6. Then your carrier oils for all their nutritional goodness!

These above products should be listed among the top 5 to 6 ingredients on any good heat protectant's ingredient list.

I did my home work and found this to be true, most heat protectants have most of the ingredients listed above; CHI silk Infusion, Tresemme Heat Tamer and in Naija I've found Organics Olive oil extra virgin smoother and polisher serum

Of the 6 must haves mentioned above, it has Dimethicone as the first ingredient, it also contains Phenyl Trimethicone, olive oil, hydrolized oat protein and silk amino acids #winning!!! I think it costs less than a thousand bucks for this 6oz bottle so that's a plus...Now there is NO EXCUSE again, a perfect heat protectant can be found in Naija and I dare say other parts of Africa!! European and American residents, you are spoilt for choice and have no excuse.

If you decide you want to use heat directly on your dry hair with no protection whether its blow drying, flat ironing, thonging, crimping, rollersetting....what you are doing to your hair is what too much sun does to leaves, it dries the heck out of them, so that when you touch dry leaves they simply crumble to pieces....Do you want crumbled hair? I don't think so, note to self I vow not to use heat on my hair ever again without a proper heat protectant!!

Of course the safest option will be avoiding heat totally but when you want to give into the craving of silky straight hair or bouncy robust curls, then you know what to do!!

P.S You guys, I have been really into chemicals and stuff lately, next week I'll dedicate an entire post to all that I've learnt, till then have a wonderful weekend!!

Thanks for stopping by!!

Xxx

Dabs

Hiya Ladies,
How's everyone doing?! Hope well.
The other day I was moisturizing the back of my hair and felt a single strand knot(SSK) and was reminded of one of those Saturdays at the hub, there must have been about 5 or 6 NHCG readers that day, we were just chatting on and on about HAIR!lol then a lady called Chinedu(hey girl,where have you been!) brought up the issue of single strand knots, she was like how crazy is it that a hair strand just decides it is going to knot itself into the tightest, smallest knot making untangling impossible and forcing you to cut it off!

As crazy as that sounds, that's what our hair does!! The curlier the hair, the more prone to SSKs it is that's why naturalistas tend to be the main bearers of this cross. But we relaxed/texlaxed folk deal with it also especially like I said if your hair is curlier or more textured and that's why I've noticed them more in the back area of my hair which is the kinkier, curlier fully texlaxed part of my hair.

So how do we deal with these darn knots....well we have to know the main cause so we can avoid aiding and abetting(Lawyer lingo :)

Dryness/Friction- think of your hair like a sponge or towel fibers, the drier it is the more likely it is to curl/ scrunch up and just a little friction, from clothes, the air, your hands can make it curl up so much it just knots and tangles up- as much as I'm trying to reason through this explanation, I'm as confused as you probably are as to why the knots are so perfect...but try it, rub your hand against a towel that has threads sticking out, you'll see knots form after sometime and you didn't knot them, the dryness and friction did!

So now we know the cause what can we do to prevent them;

SSK's usually happen around the last 4/3 inches of your hair strand so it will help if you take the extra pains to reapply a sealant like oils or Shea butter to those very ends especially if you are prone to dryness.

Avoid allowing your hair deal with any kind of friction like rubbing against clothes, leaving it out in rough air, hand in air syndrome( note to self), all these cause even more dryness that lead to SSKs.

Protect your hair while you sleep with a (Savvy Chic luxury satin sleep cap-*wide grin*). I think the fastest way to get SSK's is from sleeping! All the rubbing that takes place as you toss and turn on your regular cotton sheets without your hair covered will do you no good, by the morning, even if you moisturized and sealed before bedtime, your hair will be back to square 1- dry tangled hair! Especially if you sleep with air conditioning.

Finally, get your ends trimmed, those untrimmed mostly split ends are the biggest culprits for SSKs, I got an inch of my ends trimmed off yesterday to prevent SSKs because as I stated, once you get those knots, you have no choice but to cut your hair off at the knot and as tempting as it will be, please don't just snag them off with your fingers, use hair cutting shears and snip right above the knot.

With that this post is complete and will hopefully help those out there dealing with this issue, remember, the culprits are dryness and friction.

In other news, I texlaxed my hair and will be coming at you ladies with an update post tomorrow, I've had a major revelation and can't believe I'm just noticing it!! Have a great weekend ladies, for those in Lagos, stop by the hub let's gist hair and everything in between :), I'll be there for a few hours today!

Xxx
Dabs

Hiya,

How's everyone doing! If you are staring at the title of this post and are like WHAT? Did she mean transitioning to natural hair?! As that's the popular practice now, I understand but believe it or not, more and more Naija naturals have reached out to me in recent time asking me to help them as they decide to stop being natural to having healthy relaxed hair.

Most ladies that have approached me have been on both sides of the coin, they were relaxed became natural for a few years have gotten tired or too busy or whatever the reason and now want to be relaxed again and that's completely fine by me but where they go wrong is failing to realize that they have to prepare their hair for that change. Erroneously, people think you only need to transition to natural hair and don't need to transition to being relaxed, you just decide one day, buy a relaxer and put it on your hair and that's it! The issue with that approach is that you completely alter the texture of your hair in a few minutes, forever and your hair is left SHOCKED asking what just happened!

Right now I am on a top secret mission to transform one NHCG reader's hair...She came in to relax her natural hair and I have put her on a regimen to ensure that this time she gets it right!

Think about it, the whole premise of 'TRANSITIONING' to natural hair is really about managing two hair textures and in so doing, you get to know more about your hair, what products it likes and doesn't...same thing I'd recommend with going relaxed!
So here are a few tips for those of you who want to become relaxed (again :)

Before you transition, you'd have to be on a regimen and know what products your hair likes and doesn't. You know I'm of the school of thought that relaxed and naturals can mostly use the same products, my hair is living proof! So know what YOUR hair likes first and stock up on it.

Give your hair at least a month of intense deep conditioning every weekend and make sure you have trimmed ends( take out all split and uneven ends).

On relax day, don't go and grab a super strength relaxer because your hair is 'stubborn' oh! This time, we are changing things up, you should get a regular relaxer; no lye or lye-your choice. It's better to have under processed hair than over processed hair.

The relaxer should be applied STRICTLY according to the instructions written down for virgin hair relaxing. This is the only time you can relax to the tips and comb just ONCE preferably with a medium teeth comb not a small tooth comb. Apply to your edges mid way if you have a full hairline or later if you have thin edges, smooth with the back of your comb only. Wash out thoroughly once the time is up!

Follow the the relaxer treatment with a protein based deep condition after washing and conditioning the relaxer to infuse strength into your strands.

Once you are done, dry your hair in a roller set or straightner (without smoke and flames! Lol)-this step is so your ends are straight and can be further trimmed if necessary.

And with that, the journey continues!! Nothing much should change, go on with your regimen, trim when you need, touch up advisably after 12 weeks.

As for styling, that's where the main adjustment is, your twist out won't look quite the same, your braid outs or updo's too so know that before you take the plunge...

Please, please and please, don't relax your hair and think, well I'm not going to bother with all the things I used to do as a natural and expect your hair to flourish...nope, sadly it won't and you will be back to square one and will blame the relaxer and go natural again, get tired and go relaxed again only to get it damaged and the cycle continues...whew! My head is aching from just typing that!! Please don't do it to yourself!

Hair care is a life long dedication that if we were taught when we were little girls, will be absolutely no big deal now, but since we weren't we think it's more work than it really is, I'm begging you to change that thinking and put in some effort, no matter how little and you will see the difference.

With that, I have come to the end of my post, hope it helps those who have reached out to me about becoming relaxed.

PS. Our magazine is fully loaded in Calabar, off to Jos, Osun, Ebonyi and Benin, Fully loaded in Abuja, Port-Harcourt and of course Lagos!! If you reside in other States and are interested, what are you waiting for, becoming an agent is super easy!! Email me to find out how!!

Also if you have spotted our magazine at your salon, take a picture with it, send it via email to me with the subject SPOTTED! And instantly win a gift from the hub *this offer is for a limited time*

Thanks again for the support, everyday I am putting more faces to the names of you my dear readers and I cannot tell you how exciting it is for me, so please keep stopping by the SAVVY & CHIC HAIR BEAUTY HUB for some hair gist, hair products and hair services!!!

Xxx

Dabs

Pages

LEARN MORE ABOUT OUR PRODUCTS

THE 100% COLLECTION BY NHCG

ABOUT AUTHOR

Categories

Advertisement

Follow us

FOLLOW US @ INSTAGRAM

About Me

Popular Posts

Advertisement