Hiya,
The weekend is here in a flash! Wow! I was browsing through different hair blogs over the week and came across a very interesting, informative blog that has had me hooked all week. It's called curlynikki.com and is run by an African American lady called Nikki with beautiful natural hair, she also has ladies with natural hair that often contribute to her blog and one particular post caught my eye the other day.

Basically the post talked about a new method of ensuring your hair is well moisturized and the moisture sealed in for longer than the regular moisturizing and sealing I have been doing. This method is called the LOC EASE METHOD.
LOC stands for Liquid, Oil and Cream; these are the products you will put in your hair in their appropriate sequence
EASE stands for Edges, All over, Sections and Ends; listing the sequence in which the products are applied to the hair.
 The lady went ahead to post a picture of her hair before and after using this method and I must say, the difference was clear! So I decided to try it and to be honest I didn't need much convincing as it makes sense, sometimes we moisturize and seal our hair without focusing on vital, sensitive parts and they remain neglected and before long become problem areas.

Okay let me elaborate a bit more on this method;
L- First you use a liquid based hair product, my liquid of choice was my Glycerin/Water mix in a spray bottle, your's could be leave in conditioner.

SCALP HEALTH
Hiya,
I have been meaning to put up a post focused on Scalp health for a while, I have finally gotten the chance to put my thoughts together so here goes;

The Scalp is like the soil of your hair, crops depend on how conducive the soil is before they can grow. Let me take you back to Agric class for a minute; from what I can recall, the best soil for growing most crops is Loamy soil because it contains more nutrients and hummus and can retain more water and manure compared to sandy or clay soil. Likewise the scalp is the foundation of your hair, healthy hair depends on the state of ones scalp.

Beneath the scalp are over 100,000 hair follicles which are responsible for distributing oils and nutrients from root to tip.  Failure to care for your scalp can result in the following; thinning hair, dry brittle strands, slow hair growth, scalp dryness, itching and dandruff!!

Most people that have any of the above conditions affecting their hair fail to blame their scalp health; to them it's  either the fault of a hair style, stylist or  hair product!

So how can you ensure your scalp is healthy;

Keep it CLEAN; Not SQUEAKY CLEAN though! The first foundation for a healthy scalp is cleanliness. A good shampoo preferably without sulfates should do the job. But washing your hair 5 times so it is squeaky clean is not necessary for a clean scalp, depending on how dirty your hair is all you should need is one wash concentrating on your scalp, leave the ends alone because shampoo can be drying. If your hair is piled on with a lot of product you might need a CLARIFYING shampoo, it will break down all that product build up.

OIL IT ; Don't  GREASE IT!  There is a difference, oiling your hair with light natural oils versus petroleum based oils allow your scalp breath and be infused with nutrients  rather than be clogged from manufactured petroleum oil! Clogging means your scalp cannot breathe and thus hair growth will be stunted.

PROMOTE CIRCULATION; your scalp needs proper blood circulation to thrive and the best way to stimulate circulation is giving it a good massage at least once a day preferably after oiling it. Massaging is not only good for your scalp,it's a great way to relax and put in a nice workout for your arms.

AVOID PUTTING STRESS on your scalp through hair styles that will pull hair out of it. Once Alopecia( nearly irreversible hair loss) takes place it's another battle altogether, so allowing your hair to be held so tightly till bumps show up is the worst idea ever. If you are already suffering of Alopecia and baldness in parts of your hair you might consider getting a scalp analysis from a trichologist.  The Gentle Touch Hair Institute has trained trichologists who can use their technology to find out what's going on with your scalp.

I have come to the end of this post. Hopefully with these tips you can put your scalp in check, remember you only have one scalp so take care of it. Thanks for stopping by and catch you in my next post.

Ciao,
Dabs