Lade September 7, 2014

WASH & TRIM DAY FAIL

Hello Ladies
I washed my hair last weekend and intended trim my ends. It all went a little wrong….

It all started with my moisturising deep conditioner running out. I was out of both my Tresemme Nourishing Conditioner and Motions Moisture Plus. On a whim I decided to try a new conditioner I had heard good things about, Herbal Essences Hello Hydration.

MY WASH DAY GONE (SORT OF) WRONG

I put my hair in 14 large box braids after detangling with a “generous amount of olive oil. I covered the box braids with a plastic shower cap and went to bed.
The next day I shampooed and deep conditioned my hair. I had followed using my usual technique of mixing my protein and moisture deep conditioner together. However I was trying out a new moisture conditioner I did 70:30 mix instead of my usual 50:50.
My deep conditioner mix was 70% of the Hello Hydration and 30% of Vitale Olive Oil conditioner. I mixed in one teaspoon of olive oil. I used this ratio because I wanted to see what effect the Hello hydration would have on my hair.
After washing my hair I noticed that my hair felt a more slippery than normal but didn’t think much of it. I deep conditioned and after rinsing out the deep conditioner I was happy with how my hair felt.

As I detangled and dried my hair I thought “oh wow my hair is really shiny”, then I thought ”hold on, my hair is clumpy”. That was when I realised my hair was actually super oily, limp and weighed down. When it dried and I touched it, it actually left my hands oily.
I wash not a happy bunny. It felt like I had wasted a wash day and I could not proceed with trimming my hair in its greasy state.
I simply cut very tiny bits off my ends and will trim properly next wash day. What I find most annoying is that I am stuck with thin oily hair for a week +.

Would I use the Herbal Essences Hello Hydration again????? Absolutely!!

The minute I realised my hair was oily I thought about want went wrong and quickly realised it was the temperature of the water I used to wash my hair. The conditioner was not the problem.

Normally I shampoo my hair with warm water and rinse out the deep conditioner with cool-ish water.
On this wash day however, I shampooed and rinsed with coolish water. The hot water was a running a little low and I didn’t think washing with cool water would make much of a difference to how my hair turned out. Boy was I wrong. Because the water was cool the olive oil I used to pre-poo did not come off completely. Remember I said my hair felt slippery even after I had shampooed it. Also I don’t think I rinsed out the conditioner well enough.

Despite all my complaints my hair had really good elasticity and felt soft so I am soooooo eager to try it again next wash day. Hopefully if next wash day goes well I may be on to a winner with is conditioner.

Hair Care Technique Update

I try to advise ladies to review and update their regimen from time to time. This is something I did over my last stretch and I believe it helped me reduce tangling and matting tremendously. I definitely credit this new technique for helping me minimise breakage.

What is it??? Sectioning!!! I know I have always been an advocate of working on hair in sections, ie washing, deep conditioning, detangling, moisturising and sealing in sections. What is new is that I keep my hair in sections permanently now.

Previously, during the weekdays, my hair would be in a bun majority of the time, now what I do is keep my hair in 6 to 10 rolls when I am at home. If I am heading out, I let the rolls down and put it up in an up-do.
The key is that I don’t merge the hair into one before styling. I simply shake the hair down and style it. So at the base of the style, my hair is still sectioned.
When I get back home I put my hair back in the rolled sections and because the parts at the base of my hair are still there, it only takes a few minutes to detangle, moisturise and seal and roll up each section.

I hope the above makes sense. When I used to keep my hair in one single bun, I would have to create new parts every time I wanted to detangle and moisturise and seal. Now the parts are created after my wash days and are kept in and re-used through the week.
I find that my hair matts and tangles less. The tangles that do form are easier to locate and detangle. It saves me a lot of time and it my hair seems to be thriving with it. I don’t think this technique is necessary but it seems to work for me and you are welcome to try it out.

The only downside is that this may not be ideal for ladies who like very sleek hair. As I like my hair looking a little messy it works well for me.

Have you had a wash day gone wrong? What happened? Anyone experimenting with a new technique? Do share, lets all learn from each other.
Coming up next, some hair style pictorials and a guide on how I finger comb my hair.

Lade
Learn | Change | Grow

Lade June 21, 2014

THE HAIRDUCATION CONSULTATION SERVICE

Hello ladies

I hope your hair journeys have been going well. I am certainly enjoying mine at the moment because I am fully settled into my wig regimen which means less work for me. My hair seems to be doing well and we are both pleased. I will do a hair update post after my next wash day.

This blog post is all about the Hairducation Consultation Service. It is a project that is really close to my heart as I have invested so much time in preparing myself and figuring out the best way to offer the service. In this blog post I will share how the consultation service will run, details of the salon the service is offered within and other essential information.

THE CONSULTATION SERVICE

The service will consist of three consultation meetings and 5 weekly communication sessions to be completed in the following manner:

Meeting 1 – The Assessment
I will carry out a detailed assessment (including some tests) and liaise with the client to establish the client’s hair type, the current state of their hair and scalp, their hair care history, problems they might have with their hair and their hair goals.

Meeting 2 – Presentation of The Regimen and Implementation
I will meet with the client to discuss the client’s hair type and characteristics. I will also discuss pros and cons of the client’s current hair care/styling habits.
I will then present and explain the personalised hair care regimen created for the client. The regimen will be very detailed but easy to follow. Consideration will be given to the client’s lifestyle to ensure the regimen is practical.

Implementation
a) The regimen may be implementation by the client if they wish. I will complete some practical “how to” demonstrations where necessary to ensure the client understands and can complete hair care techniques in the correct manner.

B) For ladies who do not wish to do their hair themselves, the regimen will be implemented by the head stylist at the salon. There will be some very minimal at home actions to be completed by the client. I will carry out some practical demonstrations where necessary.

Weekly Communication – On-going Support
After the second assessment, I will liaise with the client weekly for a five week period to ensure they are following the regimen and to address questions they might have.
For clients whose regimen is implemented by the salon, I will liaise with the client and the salon to ensure the both understand what services are to be completed during the client’s salon appointment. Any questions will be addressed.

Meeting 3 – The Review
The third and final meeting will be arranged to review the progress of the client’s hair, the effects of the regimen, make adjustments to the regimen if necessary and to address any further questions the client may have.

THE SALON – OREOLA HAIR STUDIO

The consultation sessions will all be held at Oreola Hair Studios.

I found the salon when a family member I had discussed the consultation service with told me about a friend who had opened a new salon and might be interested in the service. I met with the owner of the salon and the head stylist and was very pleased with the set up.
I was fortunate and blessed to find a salon that understood the vision of the service I was trying to provide but also met my expectations in terms of quality of service, experience and products.

The salon might be new but the experience is not. The head stylist, Mrs Jolade (who will be working on my clients’ hair) has over 20 years hair dressing experience and has worked in some of the most high profile salons in Nigeria. I met up with Mrs Jolade several times over a few months to review hair products and to discuss and practice hair care techniques. I wanted to be certain she would be able to implement regimens I created.

I am very happy with her skill set and awareness of correct hair care practices. I was relieved to have found a stylist who understood that hair care was more important than hair styling. A huge bonus for me is that she is VERY skilled in working with natural hair as well because the consultation service is open to relaxed, texlaxed, transitioning and natural ladies.

Oreola 2

Oreola Hair studio is located in Fola Osibo, Lekki Phase 1, Lagos. It is open from Tuesday to Saturday (9am to 6pm) and Sunday (1pm to 6pm). The salon operates on an appointment basis. Walk in clients are welcome, however propriety will always be given to clients who have made appointment. The salon uses high end salon products such as kera Care, Syntonics, Affirm, Elasta QP and many brands popular with natural ladies such as As I Am and Miss Jessie’s hair products.

OTHER ESSENTIAL INFORMATION

Please note the following,

1) I cannot diagnose or treat alopecia, other scalp diseases or hair loss caused by health problems, medical conditions/treatments or hormonal imbalances.
The consultation service is designed to help women resolve damage and breakage issues and to provide hair care and hair styling advice to prevent hair loss

2) Please note that for ladies who would like a salon implemented regimen, the regimen should be implemented at Oreola Hair Studio. This is because I have assessed the hair stylist and I have had several sessions with her to ensure she can implement regimens correctly.
Please note that I do not get paid a commission when a client has her hair done at the salon. Therefore my reasons for saying that clients regimens should be implemented by Oreola Studio are not financially motivated. It is to ensure that regimens I create are implemented accurately.

3) Payment for the consultation and support service is made by the client.

4) The service is geared towards ladies who are dedicated to improving their hair and are realistic about the time frame for growing it to longer lengths.

I hope the above information sums up the Hairducation consultant service clearly. I believe some of you may have thought I was going to become a hair stylist but that was never my intention. Not that there is anything wrong in being a stylist, but I simply wanted something different.
My goal was to become a hair care educator or a personal hair care coach as somebody once put it. I literally wanted to convert Hairducation from being just words on a blog to a hands-on advice and support service which I would personalise for each client.
I also wanted a system that would make it possible for clients to enjoy healthier and longer hair without tons of research and with minimal work on their path.

If you would like to book a consultation with me or you know someone who you think may benefit from the Hairducation Consultation service please send an email to rehairducation@gmail.com for further information.
I am really excited about the service and I hope it will make a positive difference for ladies on a healthy hair mission. I am so happy the service is now live and thank God for the opportunity. I hope you think the above structure makes sense and would really love to know what you think.

The next blog post should be a really interesting one. It’s about them and us. Have you ever wondered why our Caucasian and Asian sisters can grow their hair quite easily whilst we have to make “special” effort to grow ours? If yes, please come back soon and you’ll see black hair in a whole new light.

Lade

Learn | Change | Grow

Lade May 24, 2014

PUT A BOW ON IT: Hair Style Pictorial

Hello Ladies

I hope everyone has been well. It’s been a little busy on my end hence the delay in posting this pictorial. As always thanks for putting up with me.

I was in two minds about putting up this pictorial because I thought it would have looked much nicer if it had been created on freshly washed or combed hair. I created the style on my hair 4 days after I had washed and combed it. So my hair was not very smooth because as you may know, I only comb my hair on wash days.

I reviewed the pictures and decided they were okay enough to show how to create a bow bun with your own hair. And that is the point of the pictorial.

I have seen pictorials of this style on soooooo many websites and I thought most people knew how to create it. I was surprised that whenever I wore the style out I would get asked how I did it.
It is so easy to create; it is a low manipulation and protective style which I always encourage. Also, it takes less than 5 minutes to create which is a big plus in my opinion.

THE PICTORIAL

HAIR LENGHT REQUIRED FOR THE STYLE

You should be able to create this style with your hair if it is shoulder length or longer. I decided to use my training head with shoulder length hair as a model for the style. I think the bow on hair of this length looks really cute.

The funny thing about this style is that every time I wear it…..and I mean every time, I have a lady say “that is a really cute style, my daughter (or niece) would love it”. I plan to keep wearing the style though, because I like it. The question is would you wear this style?????

HAIRDUCATION NEWS

I was featured on a really cute blog called Folasoasis. Fola, the lovely lady behind the blog is a natural head but features both relaxed and natural ladies which is awesome. To see the feature and to check out her blog click on this link.

I have some great news to share. I have been working on a hair related project since the inception of Hairducation and at last everything is set up and ready to go. It’s a new chapter for me, for Hairducation and it may be a new chapter for your hair too.
I hinted about it in this post but will break it all down in my next post.

So see you again soon

Lade

Learn | Change | Grow

#bringbackourgirls

Lade April 27, 2014

47 ROLLERS: MY FIRST ROLLER SET

Hello ladies

I hope you have been well and had a good break over Easter.

I know I am a little overdue for a blog post. Unfortunately I was a little unwell over Easter (tummy bug, cold and fever), when I got back into the swing of things my laptop went weird (apparently my OS has been corrupted). I am using my mum’s laptop for the moment and was getting on with part two of the texlax series. I always do a first draft of blog posts on paper and had just finished writing out the texlax post. I left the room for a second and returned to find my dog eating it…yes the dog literally ate my blog post.:)
I’ve thrown in the towel and will try to get part two up in a few days.

In the mean time I thought I should share some pictures of my first ever roller set since I began my hair journey. I can be a little lazy with styling my hair. I’ve always wanted to do a roller set but the thought of the time it would take usually put me off. I had a photo shoot about two weeks ago for an upcoming project and decided it was now or never.

I washed my hair the day before and deep conditioned overnight. In the morning I rinsed out the deep conditioner and unravelled the box braids (aka calabar to us Nigerian ladies). I applied my leave-ins and blow dried with cool air.
I sectioned small amounts of my hair, combed through gently, sprayed it very lightly with some water, applied a little bit of Cantu Shea Butter conditioning cream and rolled up the section. The reason I blow dried my hair and re-wet it is because I avoid sectioning or manipulating my hair when it is wet. I get loads of tangles and breakage if I try to work on my wet hair, so I am better of handling it when it is dry.
I used my soft hood drier to dry my hair. Because my hair was semi dry already, I only kept the hood on for an hour. I started working on my hair at 9am that morning and took out the rollers at 3pm. Yes it took me 6 hours to rinse, undo box braids, detangle, apply leaves, dry, re-wet in sections, roller set and re-dry my hair!!!!! This is why I love buns. It takes me 30 seconds to put my hair in a bun.

At the risk of coming across as narcissistic, I LOVED the result. I had been eager to see what my hair would look like with a roller set and I truly loved how it turned out. When I took out the rollers, the curls were really springy, I jumped up and down in front of the mirror for a while, then I went and found my mum and jumped up and down for her, then I went looking for my sister and jumped some more.

The shoot went well although I felt really silly half the time, despite how these pictures look I really hate posing for pictures. My mum and sis were there and we all had a bit of a laugh until the Lagos heat took its toll. The curls started dropping quite quickly and we called it a day. When I got back home, I took some pictures of my hair when the curls had dropped, then did what I do best: put it in a bun.

I am glad I finally got the roller set out of the way and think I did okay even though it was my first attempt. Will I do it again soon? Probably not but only because I am a lazy self stylist. But who knows, maybe I will for a really special occasion.

What have you been up to with your hair? Has anyone tried something new recently? Please share and please come back soon for the second half of the texlax blog post.

Lade

Learn | Change | Grow

Lade December 6, 2013

HAIR BY TYPE 4 – THE “R” COLLECTION

Hello Ladies

I am so happy and excited to write and share this post. At last I can show a few pictures of some of the wigs in the R Collection.
I can also share the news that Hair by Type 4 is featured in the current issue of Exquisite Magazine Nigeria.

Back in August, a writer and stylist for the magazine wanted to set up a photo shoot titled “Proudly Nigerian”. I loved the perspective of the article which was aimed at showing that Nigerian design was not limited to “Ankara, tribal designs” or clothes. The article would then feature some Nigerian designers whose work dispelled this stereotype and showcase some of their work.
My sister and I are so happy and honoured to be featured.

So the shoot was held at the end of August however, the issue we were featured in was only published at the end of November. Clearly I could not share any of the pictures until the issue was out. As a matter of fact, we did not see any of the pictures till we got our copy of the magazine.
We are very pleased with how the pictures turned out. Our only minor concern was that the lighting on some parts of the wigs could be brighter, especially at the top /crown areas.

We are currently setting up our independent shoot that will show the wigs up close and in more detail. After the photo shoot, I will put up our official pictures and the price list of the wigs in the R collection.
Thanks for all the support and interest you have shown as my sister and I embark on this entrepreneurial journey.
A big thank you also to the clients we have made custom wigs for.

Top row left – The “Racy” wig
Top row right – The Romance wig
Bottom centre- Wig created for the shoot (this may be added to the R Collection in the future)

Top left – my sister, Tayo and I.

Tayo (in the blue dress) is wearing a wig made with Brazilian hair. Her wig is over 5 years old and is still going strong.

I am wearing the Romance wig, at the time of the shoot the wig was a year old. I washed and conditioned it. Put some bendy sticks in it and it was good to go.

Well so there you have it, a sneak peek. Let me know what you think.

Lade

Learn | Change | Grow