Happy new year ladies

I hope you have all have a great start to the year. I pray that 2015 brings us all good health, happiness and God’s blessings. When I reflect on all that has happened in the first few weeks of the year it makes me realise just how much I have to be grateful for.

As this is my first post of the year I will share a quick recap of 2014 and some of my plans for 2015.

2014 Was…..

My Hair

I can honestly say that in 2014 I became 100% happy with my hair. I always had a love/hate thing for my ends and hoped to trim them off gradually which I did. After my impromptu relax and trim in December I realised that I now liked my ends and was happy with my hair from root to tip. This does not mean I think my hair is perfect…I could still list out all its flaws but I am now pleased with the state of my ends that I finally feel contented. So yay to 2014!!!

The Hairducation Consultation Service

By far the biggest dream come true for me in 2014 was the launch of the Hairducation Consultation Service.

A few years back I would never have imagined that I would be doing half the things I do today and I could not be happier despite the ups and downs of being a serial entrepreneur. I thank God first and foremost and then I thank you all for your kind words of encouragement, your support, your patronage and for making my dreams come true…..thank you.

It has been such a pleasure for me to get to know my clients and their hair.  One of my clients was kind enough to share her progress with me and gave me permission to share it with you all.

When I met with her she was already on a hair journey but found sometimes felt confused by the vast amount of information on various sites. She wasn’t always sure what she was doing was right or wrong for her hair and wanted me to guide her through it.

I met and consulted with her, created her hair regimen and followed up with her regularly. What I loved the most about working with her was that she played her part. She followed the regimen HOWEVER she had a few suggestions for tweaking the regimen which we discussed and agreed on.
For me the best part was of the whole process was her sending me her pictures and saying “ we did it together so I thought I should share my progress with you.

The difference might not seem outstanding to some but I certainly see progress. Her hair is thicker and a bit longer. Now imagine what it will look like 2 or 3 years into her journey. I don’t offer instant hair growth and fortunately all my clients seem to have realistic growth expectations. I look forward to taking on more clients in 2015.

In 2015 I will…….

My hair plans for 2015 are twofold

1)  I would like to maintain my current hair health and length of my hair, this means I really have to stop skipping wash days…..a bad habit I seem to be developing.

2)  I would like to reduce my shedding rate by focusing on hair care from within i.e. eating better, exercising regularly, getting more sleep and drinking more water. I do all these thing already but I am so inconsistent and this is what I need to work on. One month I am good…next month…..not so good.

I am so excited about what 2015 has in store and hope more of all our dreams become reality. What goals did you reach in 2014? What are your 2015 goals?

The next blog post will be about the shoulder length hump, why many ladies seem stuck at this length and how to grow past it.
Come back soon ladies.

x

Lade
Learn | Change | Grow

I hope you have had a lovely Christmas ladies.

There comes a time when you just say to yourself “ okay that’s it, I am done”. That was me 2 weeks ago when I decided to end my stretch at 16 weeks!!!! So as a surprise I have a relaxer update for you….it was a surprise for me too. I wasn’t supposed to texlax until early January.

WHY I ENDED MY STRETCH EARLY

Some of you may recall that my hair was under processed after my last texlax in August. At first it seemed okay but a few weeks down the line I literally still had a mini afro. My new growth wasn’t texlaxed …it was blown out very slightly.

As even more time went by, I realised that I could not tell the difference between my blown out hair and my new growth. I considered doing a corrective relaxer but felt that I would be able to cope because I had many years experience of managing different textures. I decided that I would stretch for 18 to 20 weeks.

At 16 weeks post, I had a wash day and was panicking at the thought of the time and arm strain it would take to sort my hair out. I said to myself “ Lade, what the heck are you doing”. It suddenly dawned on me that I had been ignoring my own advice. I always champion reviewing your hair and tweaking your regimen if necessary and there I was ignoring the fact that I had 4 months of new growth and 5 months worth of blown out hair…that is 9 months of almost natural hair added to 20 inches of texlaxed hair. It was TOO MUCH for me. So I knew….it was time.

Happy my ponytail is thicker than my neck. I trimmed off an inch and half after taking these pictures.

WHAT WENT RIGHT ON THIS TEXLAX

I am back to my happy place……texlaxed hair.

I am no longer juggling three different textures. I am very happy with my overall results and the state of my hair. I am glad I was able to stretch for as long as I did because my hair is certainly a lot thicker feels healthy. I am actually happy with my ends now bearing in mind that I have trimmed 1.5 inches off after taking these pictures.

My hair is a little longer even though I know it doesn’t show in the pictures. I am way past waist length but don’t think I am tailbone length. After my trim, when I pull my hair forward it touches my belly button and I would say it is currently lower back length ( i.e. it touches the end of my back). I intend to keep it at this length. I intend to trim off 1.5 to 2 inches every time I texlax in the future……lush and even thicker ends here I come)

WHAT WENT WRONG ON THIS TEXLAX

The only thing that went wrong was that some of my new growth ended up becoming relaxed instead of texlaxed.  I would say 30 to 40% seems relaxed in my opinion. Relaxed hair is great but because I am texlaxed it is important for me to try to achieve the similar results when I texlax so that I have a even textured hair. I knew exactly what caused some part of my new growth to become relaxed…I deviated from my usual routine in three ways

• I usually cover my new growth with olive oil when I texlax to prevent it from become too straight.   Well because my decision to texlax was sudden, I didn’t have enough olive oil at home to cover my new growth and hair so I used coconut oil instead. Coconut oil is lighter/thinner than olive oil so the relaxer was able to access my hair and straighten it quicker than normal. I should have realised this but didn’t until after relaxing.
• I used an ENTIRE jar of relaxer….normally I use two thirds of a jar but because I had a serious amount of new growth I had it use the entire jar. It was surreal…and heavy. The relaxer felt heavy when it was in my hair and the weight of relaxers contribute to their straightening effect. The more and heavier the relaxer is on our hair, the straighter our hair is likely to become. This wasn’t my fault…I really needed the whole jar.  Going forward I will texlax at 20 weeks so I wount need a whole jar of relaxer.
• The biggest cause however for the partial relaxed hair is that I left the relaxer in my hair for 3 more minutes than usual. Normally it takes 15 minutes to apply relaxer to my new growth and then I wait 5 minutes max before washing out the relaxer. On this texlax however because I was scared my hair would come out underprocessed again and because of all the new growth I decided to wait an extra 3 minutes. This normally wouldn’t have been a big deal but because of points 1 and 2 above I ended up with partially relaxed hair.

I am probably making a big deal of nothing because the next day I was consulting with a client at the salon and a lady who is natural asked how long I had been natural for……so it really can’t be that bad.

So I have learnt a lot of lessons with this texlax session and I am already looking forward to the next one…just to make sure I don’t make the same mistakes again.

Has anyone relaxed, texlaxed or big chopped their hair recently? How did it go? Have you made mistakes with your regimen recently and what did you learn from it?

I have done the pictorial I promised however I cant get the database I use to create collages to work at the moment so the next blog post will be an educative one. It ‘s about why a lot of ladies hair seems to stop growing at shoulder length and how to move past this length.

Come back soon ladies.

X

Lade

Learn | Change | Grow
 

Hello ladies

As promised I am working harder (and a little smarter) to make sure I update Hairducation more regularly.  It’s all about planning really.

I am currently following my wig regimen and my hair has been hidden under my wig for a few weeks now.  I had a wash day last weekend so it was the perfect opportunity for me to write a hair update post.
I will also use this opportunity to share a new method of air drying that I have fallen in love with .

Hair Update

I am currently 16 week post relaxer.  My hair was under processed (more than I intended) during my last texlax.  It is actually very hard for me to distinguish between my new growth and the under processed hair.  I thought about doing a corrective relaxer but felt confident I could manage the two textures for a while.
I usually stretch my relaxers for 20 to 25 weeks but I most certainly will NOT be stretching for that long this time.

My hair is not doing bad at all.  I have been working hard to take care of it under my wig and I believe this is paying off.  I also have very little tangles and breakage because I am doing everything in sections.

My ends certainly need a trim.  They are really old and weathered and damaged and there are a few split ends in there too.  I am actually looking forward to trimming them.

New Air Drying Method

I used to air dry my hair using the scarf method, i.e.  hair detangled and combed back with a satin/silk scarf tied at the front to make edges smooth.

This method is great for my when I don’t have too much new growth.  I find however that with my hair getting longer and thicker over the years, the scarf method isn’t always ideal for me.

Some of my hair would get a little matted at the roots and I would experience a lot of shrinkage.
On my last two wash days,  I decided to try something which I hoped would prevent or at least reduce the matting and shrinkage.

My wash day was as follows

• As usual, I washed and deep conditioned my hair in braids, (I did 14 box braids this wash day).
• After rinsing my hair thoroughly, I unravelled one braid, detangled and applied my leave in conditioners and combed through gently.
• I secured the base of the hair with a small hair band.  The hair was secured firmly but was not too tight.
• I repeated the above steps with each of the box braids.

Pros of Air Drying In Sections

• It prevented my roots from matting
• I experienced less shrinkage of my new growth
• My hair was very fluffy and bouncy when it dried
• My roots dried A LOT FASTER in comparison to the scarf method
• Because my hair is left in sections when it is dry, It makes it easier for me to put it back in the box braids I wear under my wig

Cons of Air Drying In Sections

• If the bands are too tight at the base, it will pull, snag and break a few stands when you try to remove them.  A couple of my bands were too tight and broke a few strands.
  The others slid off smoothly when pulled them off gently.

I plan to air dry my hair with this method going forward.
What is happening with your hair ladies?  Have you tried any new techniques recently?

The next blog post will be a hair style pictorial.  Please come back soon.

X

Lade

Learn | Change | Grow

I was looking through some of my really old (and mostly blurry) hair pictures and was reminiscing about the ups and downs my hair journey.

I found myself thinking about the practices that I believed truly made my hair journey a success and decided it would be a good blog post.  I hope this post will serve as a reminder that hair care techniques are way more important than hair products for a hair journey to be successful.

My Top 7 Changes I Made To My Hair Care Habits

Please note that this list is personal. These techniques may have different effects on your own hair but as always I am only offering up my own experience as a guide.

No 7 : Air Drying

Pre Hair Journey:
I knew regular washing was supposed to be good for black hair so I would wash my hair weekly and I would blow dry on a high heat setting. I would drag the comb attachment of the blow dryer through my hair. Unbeknown to me a lot of things I was doing on my wash days were making my hair break and was actually causing damage.
Blow drying on high heat always left my hair feeling extremely dry and brittle…aka crunchy. I would lose sooooo much hair but thought that was expected for black hair.
I had read in so many magazines that blow drying wasn’t great for our hair but I always thought “common, once a week can’t hurt”.

Post Hair Journey:
I decided to give the air drying thing a try. What I noticed firstly was that I didn’t have tons of hair breaking off each weekend and that may hair was did not feel as brittle. Although I did miss the swing that blow drying gave my hair.
With time I noticed a vast improvement in my hair and blow drying weekly became ancient history for me. My hair was getting fuller (because it was growing and I was getting less breakage) and it absorbed and retained moisture better.
After a few months of air drying, my hair looked so much healthier and had better elasticity. With time I have learnt how best to air dry my hair so that it feels bouncy and fluffy.

No 6 : Combing Only on Wash Days

Pre Hair Journey
I would comb my hair every morning before styling it because it seemed like a regular morning ritual…like brushing your teeth.
I would drag the comb through my hair and loads of hair would break off.

Post Hair Journey
I finally understood that our hair is fragile and realised that daily combing was not advisable for black hair. Combs tend to cause breakage when dragged through matted or tangled hair. Combing regularly also physically stresses and contributes to the damage of our hair fibres over time.
Weaker damaged hair = higher risk of breakage

The less often we comb our hair the better. This does not mean we should allow our hair to tangle and matt. Finger detangling and finger combing is a better option. Also you can locate and remove tangles better with our fingers.
I initially switched to combing my hair a few times a week and eventually began combing it only on wash days. I noticed less breakage and less thinning of my hair at my ends.

No 5 : Moisturising and Sealing

Pre Hair Journey
I used to use greasy products to “moisturise” my hair. I thought at the time that moisturising my hair was something I need to do to make styling my hair easier. Applying a form of hair crème or grease and then combing my hair was just another morning ritual. I never ever sealed my hair before my hair journey.
My hair always felt coated but dry.

Post Hair Journey
I finally understood why black hair tends to be drier than that of other races and that this was why ensuring our hair is moisturised is important to minimise breakage. I began to experiment with a few “truly” moisturising products and picked the ones I felt worked best with my hair.
I learnt about the benefits of sealing with an oil to help lock in moisture within our strands for longer.
My hair felt soft through the week and was not weighed down with grease. I also noticed that I had less breakage when my hair was due for a relaxer touch up. This was because I had learnt the importance of keeping my new growth well moisturised.

Texlax Result December 2010. This was 1 year and 3 months into my hair journey and I could see that all my hard work begining to pay off.

No 4 : Working in Sections

Pre Hair Journey
I knew nothing about caring for hair in sections. I thought hair only had to be sectioned for processes like relaxing or perhaps trimming.

Post Hair Journey
I learnt a lot from other ladies who had started their hair journey before me and inspired me to start my own journey. These ladies often talked about applying product in sections to ensure even distribution and to have better access to their roots.
They also discussed combing and manipulation their hair in sections to reduce the risk of tangling and breakage. I tried it and experienced all the benefits I had read about.

A huge benefit that I would like to add is that working in sections will help you get to know your hair a little better. I was able to identify which part of my hair grew faster or slower, which parts sheds more, which parts were sensitive at the scalp, which parts needed more or less products, which parts tangled more, etc. I think it’s the best way for you to learn how to understand YOUR hair so that you give it what it needs.

No 3- Protective Styling

Pre Hair Journey
I knew before I started my hair journey that regular heat styling should be avoided and that leaving my hair down every day could lead to dry frizzy and split ends. I ignored these facts and did whatever I liked with my hair. On some days if I was bored at home I would use a curling iron to create various styles in my hair just for fun and would be at it for over an hour.
When I started experiencing severe breakage I cut down the heat and wore my hair in ponytails (not buns). My ends were still exposed to the elements and would rub on the back of chairs, clothes and scarves, etc which led to split ends.

Post Hair Journey
I realised that the mistake I was making was not fully grasping the concept of protective styling. I was only going half way…I was wearing protective styles but did nothing to care for my hair whilst it was in those protective styles. So even though I began hiding my hair under wigs my hair continued to suffer from neglect.
Some of my styles were low manipulation hair styles like the ponytail but they were not completely protective because my ends would get dry from exposure to sun and wind. They were also sustaining damage and wear and tear. I would need to trim very regularly as I always had split ends.
Now when my hair is out I ensure that majority of my ends are hidden in the styles I choose to wear. Off course I can leave it down occasionally if I want to.
I created my wig regimen which I still follow to ensure my hair would not become damaged from neglect when wearing wigs.
With my wig regimen, I was able to retain more hair than ever before and as I have always said, this was the regimen that took me from shoulder length to bra strap length and beyond.
This was my own personal formula for growing (retaining) hair.

Texlax Result January 2012. This was 2 years and 4 months into my hair journey. I saw this picture and then I really believed that my hair could groooooow just like all those ladies I had seen on YouTube

2- Balancing the Use of Protein & Moisture

Pre Hair Journey
I knew absolute zero about whether a product was protein based or moisture based or how it affected my hair.
What I did know was that my hair always felt dry, brittle and crunchy like dry hay or straw leaves. I had no idea that using my hair products incorrectly was the cause of this.

Post Hair Journey
On starting my hair journey, I would often notice write ups about protein and moisture balance but always ignored them. Finally one day on a long commute to work I read about it and suddenly EVERYTHING (on a hair front) made sense. It was the missing piece of the puzzle for me.

With protein and moisture balancing I could “choose” how I wanted to make my hair feel but most importantly I understood what my hair needed to thrive. My hair was no longer a mystery.
I understood why my hair had been feeling dry for years…….90% of my products were protein. I remembered times in the past when my hair felt mushy and limp and over stretchy and realised that that had been caused by using too many moisture products.
Its like my eyes were finally open and I felt like Neyo in The Matrix.

Now my approach to selecting conditioners and leave in conditioners is always guided by whether the product is moisture or protein based. My hair thanks me for this by thriving.

Please see this post for more information about protein and moisture balancing.

No 1 : Washing in Braids

Pre Hair Journey
I always washed my hair together as one and was usually left with very matted and tangled hair on most wash days. Every wash day felt like a mini set back. I would lose tons of hair.
The worst thing is that when I wore weaves or braids, I would sometimes try to wash and deep condition my hair a week before relaxing because I read in a magazine that it would prepare my hair for relaxing. However, when I followed that advice I often suffered from major tangling and locking which would result in major setbacks.
I decided to begin relaxing my hair the same day I removed extensions which obviously caused its own set of problems and I would still lose a lot of hair. It was a lose-lose situation.
My wash day tangles were one of the major reason my hair never really grew past shoulder length.

Post Hair Journey
I am not sure when exactly on my hair journey I learnt about washing hair in box braids but I can say that for ME without a doubt this is the ultimate technique. It stopped completely what was causing ME to have minor and major setbacks with my hair. So for me it is number one because it was the solution to MY biggest hair problem.
Although my wash days became significantly more time consuming as have to put my hair in box braids before washing, it is worth it. I always ALWAYS wash my hair in braids.

Ladies whatever challenges you are facing on your hair journey, do a little research on what that problem is and see how other ladies have overcome it. Remember what works for someone may not work for you but if you don’t try then you will never know.

This post was waaaaay longer than I planned but I hope it has encouraged someone out there to not give up on this mini lifestyle change we call a hair journey.
I still have my challenges but hey….its not called a journey for nothing….. I am still learning, changing and growing…..
What issues are you having on your hair journey ladies?  What have you tried to overcome them?

The next blog post will be a hair update and a hair style pictorial.  I really wasn’t keen on the last ones I did and I am determined to do better on the next one.
See you soon

x

Lade
Learn | Change | Grow