Educative Posts – Page 18

Lade September 9, 2015

HOW I CARE FOR MY LEAVE-OUT HAIR

Hello Ladies
I hope you are well. I’ve been looking forward to writing this post and it has been in high demand for a while. From the title, you will know it is all about the leave out hair.
Prior to my hair journey I loved my weaves. I never installed the full ones though; I always had some hair left out to hide the tracks at the front. When I moved on to wearing wigs I wore (and still only wear) u-part wigs. Basically I always have hair left out to blend with my extensions.

Majority of us will have experienced or seen ladies whose leave out hair seems to be suffering and breaking drastically whilst the rest of their hair hidden under the tracks or wig gets longer and longer. I have even seen ladies whose leave out hair has become so thin you can actually see the tracks or the hair is so short from breakage that it is struggling to hide the tracks.
It doesn’t have to be this way ladies. My leave out hair is growing fine now or should I say I am retaining a lot more length now. I have a super easy way of caring for it.

How My Leave out Hair Used To Be

My own leave out hair was short and remained short for a while when I initially started wearing u-part wigs because I didn’t have a plan for caring for my leave out hair. I used heat on the leave out hair regularly and brushed and combed it daily to blend with the wigs. My leave out hair would become damaged and I would need to trim it very often.
I did not mind because at the time my favourite wig had a half fringe/bang and I was hooked on that style so I didn’t mind cutting my leave out hair regularly so that it would be the same length as the bang/fringe of my wig.
When I got over that particular wig style I realised that unless I changed my habits my leave out hair was not going to thrive and I couldn’t have that.
I looked at the hair and noticed the two biggest issues with my leave out hair was chronic dryness and damage from a lot of combing and brushing.

How I Care For My Leave Out Hair

I decided about two years ago to take a few steps to care for my leave out hair properly and hoped to see an improvement in how it felt and its length. The questions I get asked about my leave out hair are answered below.

How Much Hair Do I Leave Out?
My leave out hair is always on the left side. This is where I always part my hair. The hair left out is 3 inches deep and 1 inch wide.
The length of my leave out hair is 15 inches long currently. It was about 6 inches 2 years ago when I decided to start taking care of it properly.

What Do I Do to My Leave Out Hair?

On weekends I wash it with shampoo and condition it.
I use a sulfate free shampoo and I do not deep condition the leave out hair as it is such a small area. I simply apply the conditioner, leave it on for 10 to 15 minutes then rinse out. I apply my leave-ins and air dry.
I co-wash it in the middle of the week.
This literally takes me 5 or 10 minutes at the most. I detangle the leave out hair and massage some moisturising conditioner on it. Leave it on for a few minutes then rinse out . I believe that this co-wash is what really helps to keep breakage at bay. Because the leave out hair is spread out over the tracks of the wigs that I wear, it exposed to the elements (sun and wind) and it dries out very quickly even though it is moisturised and sealed daily.

I have conditioner in my leave out hair in this picture
I moisturise and seal it daily
I use my mixture of cantu shea butter and s-curl to moisturise. I seal with a few drops of olive oil or coconut oil.

Thats it. Nothing fancy at all. Nothing complicated. I just boosted the moisture levels and it seems to be working well.

What I Stopped Doing To My Leave Out Hair – Tips To Prevent Breakage

As I mentioned above the key issues that were causing the damage to my leave out hair was extreme dryness….I am talking about crunchy dry and a lot of physical damage from combing and brushing.

I was able to reduce the breakage and damage by doing the following:

Cut Out Heat and Being Smart About Blending
I stopped pressing my leave out hair (unless it is a extra special occasion)

I focused on using hair extensions which blended with my texlaxed texture without the use of heat. So I either wear yaki hair extensions, textured hair extension like my Nazuri Curls wig or curly/wavy textured wigs.

My hair blends really well with the wig I made using the Nazuri Curls “straight” texture

I can blend my hair with curly or wavy textured wigs by simply wetting the leave out hair and putting a roller in it over night.
This cuts out the need for heat straightners. Direct heat evaporates our hairs internal moisture and with regular use makes our hair chronically dry and brittle…and you can say hello to hair which will split and break and need trimming very often.
Rather than trying to make my hair blend with the extensions i make sure the extensions works with my own hair.
If you happen to like a kind of extensions that does not blend easily with you own hair you can always wear a closure wig which my wig company Hair By Type 4 also make.

Reduce Manipulation
I try to avoid combing or brushing the leave out hair excessively. Usually I comb it with a small sized comb in the mornings before heading out and that is it. I no longer use fine tooth combs or brushes on my leave out hair.

I hope this post has answered questions you might have had about my leave out hair. What do you do to take care of your leave out hair? I am sure some of you will have great methods which may be different from mine but works well for you. If yes, please do share.

My next blog post will be the final in the How To Buy Hair Products series. I will be sharing tips on how to choose the best sealants and styling products like gels and edge smoothening products. I hope you’ll be back soon.
Ps I am trying to catch up with replying all my emails and comments left here on Hairducation. I promise I am not just ignoring them.

Happy hair journey

Lade
Learn | Change | Grow

Lade August 25, 2015

MY NEW TEXLAXED WIG: My first impression of textured hair extensions by Nazuri Curls

Hello ladies,

It’s no secret that I love wigs. I have owned many wigs over the course of my hair journey and I am so excited about a new addition to my collection: a texlaxed textured wig.

With the rise in the number of ladies with afro and texlaxed hair, it’s great that there are now hair extensions created specifically to match our hair texture. Over the last year or so I have been noticing a type of textured hair extensions which I thought would blend very well with texlaxed hair. I decided to get my hand on some from a company called Nazuri Curls and I have made a u-part wig with it. I can sum up my first impression in one word: love!!!!

ABOUT NAZURI CURLS

Nazuri Curls is a hair extensions brand which produces textured hair extensions and closure pieces. They are based in the UK and have a distributor in Nigeria however their wefts can be shipped worldwide. There are four types textures created by Nazuri which are Afro, Kinky, curly and Straight.

I first noticed the brand at a few hair related events last year. I attended a small hair care gathering a few months ago and noticed the organiser had some beautiful textured hair extensions. I asked her what brand it was and when she said Nazuri I was sold.

I was about to place my order when I received an email from Nazuri asking if I would be interested in reviewing their extensions and off course I jumped at the opportunity. I was given a discount on my purchase and one of the main reasons why I accepted the offer is because Hairducation readers get a discount too.

THE HAIR
I chose to buy two bundles of the straight texture in 18” and 20”. Nazuri Curls advise that the hair is low maintenance and sent me a very detailed care guide. As a wig lover and more importantly as a wig maker I have come across many types of hair extensions over the years so I recognise great hair extensions when I get my hands on it.

Some of the things I love about the straight texture include it’s:

Softness
For some reason I expected the hair to feel dry and a little scratchy. I was pleasantly surprised by how soft the hair felt.

Density/fullness
Normally when making wigs with long hair extensions you are advised to buy 3 bundles. I decided to buy just two and as you can see from the pictures the wig is so full. At some point I was even concerned it would be too full.

Weight of the wefts
Now this point is really important from a hair care perspective. Wigs and weaves can be great protective styles but if they are too heavy, they will do more harm than good. The Nazuri Curls Straight wefts are light……super super light weight. When I wear a wig I don’t like to feel the weight or tightness of it on my head. Having worn the wig for the first time it certainly scores 10 out of 10 on this point.

Smell
Yes, you read right….. smell. I have come across hair extensions from some brands that smell unpleasant and this can be a little off putting. The Nazuri hair smells sooooo lovely. On the day I received the wefts, I was playing around with my mum and had the wefts in my hands, I covered my mum’s face with them and waited for her to say something like “get it off”…but she said was “oh that smells nice”

Texture
Its crazy how much the kinky straight hair matches my texlaxed hair texture. It looks so much like how my own hair does on my wash days. The extensions are however more lush looking, fuller and certainly feels softer than my own hair. It is also thicker at the ends than my own hair.

The pictures on the right are of my own hair on at the end of my wash day. The picture on the left is the texlaxed wig made with the Nazuri Curls straight hair extensions. Don’t they look so similar???

I have was seen the hair on a natural haired lady (her hair was blow dried), it blends well with my texlaxed hair and if the extensions are straightened, will blend well with relaxed hair. Talk about killing three birds with one stone.

ROCKING IT

I have only begun wearing the wig this week and I can’t wait to style it in a multitude of ways. I am glad its low maintenance because I don’t want to spend too long looking after the wig, after all it is supposed to be a mini break from hair care responsibilities.

There are only two little cons I have noticed at this point. One is that the top part of the weft has a slightly different texture to the rest of the length. I think the top part looks like a braid out whilst rest of the hair looks like texlaxed hair. When I actually put the wig on it wasn’t an issue at all.

I am not quite sure if this next point is a con…the hair is full. I am a slim woman so I was a bit concerned that the hair would be so big it would wear me rather than the other way around. However now that I’ve actually worn it, I don’t think it’s too big….and its fullness is growing on me more and more.

I will write another post soon to show how well my own hair blends with the wig and how the hair is holding up. Don’t forget you can get 10% off Nazuri Curls hair extensions by using the Hairducation discount code.

You can see their other curl types by clicking here.

My next post will be about how I care for the hair I leave out when wearing u-part wigs. I have learnt how to prevent my leave out hair breaking and thinning out and will share my secrets in the next post. Come back soon ladies.

Lade

Learn | Change | Grow

Lade August 24, 2015

HOW TO BUY HAIR PRODUCTS : Leave-in Conditioners

Hello Ladies

I hope you are all well. This blog post is the 3^rd in the series on How To Buy Hair Products.
Today’s post will focus on leave-in conditioners. I intend to explain the uses of leave-in conditioners, the types of leave in conditioners that you need and what ingredients to look out for when buying them. I will also share a flow chart which will help you decide which leave in conditioner to use on your wash days and through the week.

What Are The Uses of Leaves-in Conditioners

A leave-in conditioner should be used after you have rinsed out your deep conditioner.
Leave-in conditioners helps to smoothen our hair and boosts its flexibility and strength. A good leave-in conditioner should also give your hair slip which will make detangling easier. Most leave in conditioners can also double-up as moisturisers for use in between wash days

What Types of Leave-in Conditioners Do You Need

On a hair journey you need two types of leave-in conditioners.

A protein leave-in conditioner – for strength
A moisture leave-in conditioner – for elasticity and softness

Although both protein and moisture leave in conditioners are needed, I should point out that moisture leave-ins tend to be used/needed more often than protein ones.

How To Buy Leave-in Conditioners

As I have mentioned in previous posts in this series, when buying products it is best to be familiar with the product ingredients rather than relying on what is written on the front of the product or in the description at the back . This is because many products claim to have many benefits for our hair but by being familiar with product ingredients, you can tell which ones can actually do what it claims.
Ingredients to look out for in a Protein Leave-in conditioner

Look at the ingredients at the back of the bottle or jar and see if the following ingredients are listed. Preferably one or more of these ingredients should be amongst the first 5 items found on the ingredient list. Keratin
Collagen
Pathenol
Soy protein
Silk protein
Oat protein
Wheat protein
Amino Acids

Please note that some of these proteins may start with the word hydrolyzed, eg hydrolyzed wheat protein or hydrolyzed soy protein.

Ingredients to look for in a Moisturising Leave-in Conditioner

Look at the ingredients at the back of the bottle or jar and see if the following moisturizing ingredients are listed. Preferably one or more of these ingredients should be amongst the first 5 items found on the ingredient list.
Aqua(water)
Cetearyl alchohol
Cetyl alchohol
Stearyl alchohol
Urea
Glycerine
Please note that there are many more types of moisturising ingredients that may be found in moisturising leave-in conditioners. Those listed above are some of the most popular ones which are commonly used by product manufacturers.

How to Decide which Type of Leave in To Use

My Personal Favourite Leave-in Conditioners

A) Cantu Shea Butter Leave-In Conditioning Repair Cream (protein)
B) Aphogee Pro-Vitamin Leave-in Conditioner (Protein – with this product, I suggest that a very little quantity should be used and it is NOT suitable for daily use)
C) Elasta QP Feels Like Silk Leave-In H2 Conditioner (Moisture). The ingredients of this product has now changed but I haven’t tried the new version.
D) Luster’s S-Curl No Drip Activator Moisturizer (Moisture)
E) Herbal Essences Beautiful Ends (Moisture – called Long Term Relationship in the U.S)

That’s the end of this post ladies. Knowing when and how to use moisture vs protein is something that so many newbies struggle with so I hope the flow chart/table helps.

I have a couple of really exciting posts coming up.
One is about a highly requested topic: how I care for the hair I leave out when wearing u-part wigs. This will also super helpful for ladies who wear weave-ons with some of their hair left out and are experiencing breakage of their leave out hair. It is going to be a great post and I hope you’ll be back soon to read it.

Lade

Learn | Change | Grow

Lade August 10, 2015

Texlaxing Vs. Texturizing: A short comparison

Hello ladies,

I hope you are all well. As a hair care blogger, one question I get asked a lot is “what is texlaxing?” This is usually followed by “oh is this the same as texturizing).
In this post I will explain what texturizing it and how it differs from texlaxing. Happy reading!!!

What is Texturizing

Texturizing is a chemical process which is designed to loosen the curls/coils in afro hair. Relaxers ( which are used to texlax) on the other hand are designed to remove the curls/coils in our hair.
Texturizing is achieved by using a purpose designed kit/product (ie designed specifically for texturizing). The texturizer is a creamy consistency and is applied to the hair/new growth in the same way as a relaxer.

This shows the type of results than MAY be achieved with a texturizer

Please note that texturizing will not change your curl/coil pattern. It will simply loosen your existing one. Texturizing will not create curls/coils in your hair if they do not already exist. For example if your natural texture has a zig zag pattern, texturizing will not change the zig-zag to a curl. Texturizers will permanently loosen your curl pattern and if used incorrectly can lead to over processed hair, damage and breakage.

What Is Texlaxing

Texlaxing is deliberately under processing hair during a relaxer procedure. The relaxer is not allowed to fully straighten the hair. This enables the hair to retain more of its elasticity and thickness than fully straightened relaxed hair.
Texlaxing is achieved by using either a lye or no lye relaxer which is weakened by adding a little amount conditioner or natural oils (eg, olive or coconut oil) to the relaxer. The relaxer can also left in the hair for a shorter period than recommended by the relaxer manufacturer. All this is done to prevent the relaxer from making the hair 100% straight.

Texlaxing creates a look of natural hair that has been stretched out or blown out with a hand drier. Like texturizers, relaxers permanently alter your hairs pattern and can lead to over processing and damaged if used too often or incorrectly.

The Problem of Inconsistent Textures with Texturized and Texlaxed Hair

Texturized Hair
Because there are readymade texturizing kits available for purchase, a lady who texturizes (and/or her stylist) only has to figure out how long to leave the product on to achieve the results she desires. Please note however that results may vary because the lady might have

different curl/coil patterns on her head, some sections may have looser or tighter curls/coils than other sections.
Varying porosity levels: the degree by which each strand of hair absorbs and reacts to the chemicals can vary from strand to strand.

Please note that every lady’s hair will react to the process differently. For some ladies it can result in straight hair.

Texlaxed Hair

Texlaxing can result in a wide variety of looks.

Some texlaxed ladies hair looks as though it is still natural and some looks more relaxed.
Because there are no readymade texlaxing kits on the market currently, most ladies (and /or their stylist) have to figure out their own personal texlax formula or method.
The formula/method is basically knowing what amount of texture she wants to leave in her hair and then figuring out

how to much oil she needs to add to her relaxer
how long to leave the weakened relaxer in her hair for to achieve this desired result.

There is a degree of experimentation required and this can result in different textures. For example, over the years I have learnt that to achieve the texlax result I want, I need to weaken my relaxer with 1-2 teaspoons of olive oil, cover my new growth with castor oil and the relaxer should not be left in my hair for more than 17 minutes (this includes application and smoothening).

Throwback picture of my damp texlaxed hair. You can see some straight fully relaxed strands near my shoulder.

Please note that factors such as the varying curl/coil patterns and porosity levels on a lady’s head can further contribute to the problem of inconsistent results.

My PERSONAL Reason For Preferring Texlaxing to Texturizing

Sticking with the same chemical
I choose to texlax because I am already familiar with relaxers so I know how my hair will react to it.
I feel like I am on familiar ground. I don’t want to start experimenting with a new product that I am not used to which will create permanent changes in my hair that I can’t predict.

As the saying goes, better the devil you know…

It may not work well for my hair type.
From what I have dug up online from professional stylists and ladies who texturize their hair, most advise that texturizing will work and look better on ladies whose hair naturally has curls or waves. It appears as though your natural hair type should be a deciding factor on if texturizing will be a good option for you.
Well my hair (my natural new growth) has zero curls or waves so based on the recommendations of professionals hair stylists and texturized ladies I do not think it will work well with my hair.

I hope this post has cleared some things up for anyone who had questions about texturizing versus texlaxing.

My next blog post will be about how to buy leave-in conditioners (which double up as moisturisers for use in between wash days). I will also share tips on how I achieve moisture and protein balance during the week. Come back soon ladies.

Lade

Learn | Change | Grow

Lade July 31, 2015

How To Buy Hair Products : Deep Conditioners

Hello ladies,

When its comes to a hair journey, your deep conditioners should be the products you get through/finish most quickly. Our hair loves and needs regular deep conditioning to thrive. Conditioners can be a little confusing to buy because there are soooooo many types and most claim to be repair damage, stop breakage, moisturise, strengthen, repair split ends etc.

So how do you avoid becoming too confused when trying to decide which deep conditioners to buy ?
As I mentioned in the How to Buy Shampoo post, to make product buying easier it is best that you know what you need and get familiar with product ingredients

What Do You Need: Conditioners

You need two types of conditioners on a hair journey:
1) – A protein deep conditioner – strengths our hair
2) – A moisturising deep conditioner – softens our hair and makes it elastic

I have written a very detailed post about the functions of protein and moisture conditioners and how to use them. If you are not familiar with protein and moisture balancing, I encourage you to read it. You can find that post here.

How To Buy Deep Conditioners

A Protein Deep Conditioner

Products are usually grouped together by brands, eg, all of Organic Roots Stimulator products usually be grouped together, from their shampoos through to their styling products.
Start by looking at the conditioners of the brands you are familiar with.
Look at the ingredients at the back of the bottle or jar and see if the following ingredients are listed. Preferably one or more of these ingredients should be amongst the first 5 items found on the ingredient list.
Keratin
Collagen
Pathenol
Soy protein
Silk protein
Oat protein
Wheat protein
Amino Acids

Please note that some of these proteins may start with the word hydrolyzed, eg hydrolyzed wheat protein or hydrolyzed soy protein.

A Moisturising Deep Conditioner

Start by looking at the conditioners of the brands you are familiar with.
Look at the ingredients at the back of the bottle or jar and see if the following moisturizing ingredients are listed. Preferably one or more of these ingredients should be amongst the first 5 items found on the ingredient list.
Aqua
Cetearyl alchohol
Cetyl alchohol
Stearyl alchohol
Urea
Glycerine
Please note that there are many more types of moisturising ingredients that may be found in moisturising deep conditioners. Those listed above are some of the most popular ones which are commonly used by product manufacturers.

My Personal Favourite Deep Conditioners

Protein: Vitale Olive Oil Hair Mayonnaise

This contains a lot of great ingredients and most of the proteins it contains are hydrolyzed. Hydrolyzed proteins are better at being absorbed by our hair than non-hydrolyzed protein.
This conditioner also has more slip than other brands I have tried and my hair just seems to react well when I use it. The only con for me is that it can leave a lot of residue in our hair as it is quite thick so thorough rinsing is essential when using it.

Moisture: Motions and Herbal Essences

I can’t pick one, I love my Motions Moisture Plus and I love my Herbal Essences Hello Hydration. Both of these have a thick consistency which my texlaxed hair loves and both really boost my hairs elasticity.

The Motions Moisture Plus contains mineral oil, a synthetic oil which isn’t the best for hair ( natural oils like olive or coconut would be better). For a long time I kept fighting the fact that my hair seemed to do well with this product. I kept trying to find a better alternative but I always came back to my motions. I decided to listen to my hair…and we are both happy.

motions_conditioner_13oz

The Herbal Essences Conditioner contains a lot of silicones and can sometimes make my hair feel a little weighed down but it the elasticity it gives my hair is worth it.

Herbal essences

Tips for Buying Hair Products in Nigeria

Have a Side Chic

This is probably the only scenario in which I will encourage having side chic
If you have been on a hair journey for a while, you will have found products you use and re-purchase regularly because they work well with your hair ( ie your staple products….your main chic).

In Nigeria, sometimes particular products can become scarce or difficult to find. It is best that you have a back up product which works well enough with your hair so that you can use it as a substitute until your staple is back in stock. For example my staple protein deep conditioner is Vitale olive oil hair ,mayonnaise but if I cant get my hands on it I am happy to use Aphogee 2 Minute Reconstructor.

I hope this post will help buying your deep conditioners a little bit more straight forward. Again, if you are new to deep conditioning I recommend that you read the post on deep conditioning which explains the functions of each type of conditioner and why we need both.

Ladies what are your favourite deep conditioners? Do you have a side chic conditioner?

Lade