Rehairducation

Why Relaxed Hair Needs More Care (part 1)

Over the last few years, there has been an increase in the number of ladies who have returned to relaxing after being natural for some time.  A reason many ladies give for making this change with their hair is that they want “easier” hair care and more manageable hair.
Thinking relaxed hair is easier to care for or requires less care than natural hair  is a mistake that is made too often.
This error or misunderstanding of what chemically altered hair needs has led to so many ladies having hair that is in terrible condition.

In this post I will discuss,
– The science of what happens to hair when it is relaxed
– What happens to hair when it is relaxed; in plain English

In Part 2, I will share some essential tips, many of which are not known but are crucial for relaxed hair health.

 

 

What happens to Hair when it Is Relaxed; The Science

There are two key things that occur when hair is relaxed:

1) Lanthionization of Hair
Hair is made up of different types of amino acids.  The main amino acid in hair that is affected by relaxers is called Cystine.
Cystine is the most prevalent amino acid in hair and is where a good amount of hair strands strength and stability of structure comes from.

Cystine contains a bond called the disulphide bond.  The process of relaxing breaks and rearranges the disulphide bond.
During neutralizing ( usually done via a neutralizing shampoo) the disulphide bonds are reformed.  Contrary to popular belief the disulphide bonds don’t stay broken, they are reformed and keep or hold the hair strands in their now altered structure (its straightened structure) permanently.
The disulphide bonds are reformed but the structure of the hair is no longer as stable as it was before relaxing.

This is because the process of relaxing hair changes or converts approximately 33% of Cystine to Lanthionine (a non-proteinogenic natural amino acid).  This process or conversion of cystine to lanthionine is called  lanthionization  and it weakens hair and causes it to have less tensile strength.

 

 

 

2) Changes to the Surface Properties of Hair (hydrophobicity and surface friction change)
The cuticle layer of the hair has some fatty cells bound to it.
A function of the fatty cells (such as 18- MEA) is to create a hydrophobic layer that prevents excess water from entering into hair strands.
Another very important function of the fatty cells is to act as a boundary lubricant that reduces friction between hair strands.

Alkaline solutions such as relaxers, hair colours, perms, etc remove fatty acids from the cuticle layer of hair strands.  This changes their surface characteristics making hair more hydrophilic and causing surface friction to increase.

A recent study showed that hair strands that have 18 MEA have better hair strand alignment whilst hair strands that had had their 18-MEA fatty cells removed had a disorderly hair strand alignment. The process of relaxing hair causes degradation of the hair surface occurs. This makes hair more susceptible to static electricity, frizzing, tangles and matting..

What happens to Hair when it Is Relaxed; In Plain English

  • Relaxers targets or affects the links or bonds that gives hair stability and strength. This makes hair weaker and less able to resist breakage.
  • Relaxers cause degradation of the hairs surface by removing fatty acids from the outer layer of the hair strands.  This makes hair more porous and more prone to frizzing especially in humid environments. The more damaged hair is, the more porous it tends to be.
  • The removal of the fatty cells influences the appearance and feel of the hair ie makes hair look less bright, increases the feeling of dryness and reduces its manageability. It makes hair have a higher likelihood of becoming tangled.

Bearing the above in mind, I hope you are able to see HOW the structure of hair becomes compromised when it has been relaxed and why this makes hair care more important.
Because relaxed hair has sustained damage, it becomes even more crucial to preserve the strength and structural integrity that the hair strands have left.    Failure to do so will take you from having healthy relaxed hair (hair that has a moderate amount of damage) to unhealthy relaxed hair ( hair that has severe amount of damage from chemical processes, wear and tear and neglect)

Some additional interesting facts:
Natural hair that is coloured has the same amino acid (cystine) and bond (disulphide bond) affected by the colouring process.
The disulphide bond is also broken and reformed just like relaxers, the hair will have become weakened.  Approximately 20% of cystine in hair is oxidized to become cysteic acid when hair is coloured.

 

Come back for part two in a few days’ time.  In Part 2, I will share some essential tips, many of which are not known but are crucial for relaxed hair health.
If you are relaxed, texlaxed or even natural with permanent color you will definitely learn a few things that will make a big impact on your hair.

I hope you have gained some insight from this post.

x

Lade
Learn | Change | Grow

 

How I Scammed Myself and Ended Up With Protein Overload

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I know my hair; I know her well.
I’ve invested 10 years in this relationship with her.  When she acts out I know what I’ve done wrong and how to fix it.  One of the first things I learnt about my hair is that it does not respond well to being deep conditioned with moisture alone or protein alone.  I always have to use a mix of both to get the right balance of strength and softness.
When I use a protein deep conditioner on its own, my hair feels very rough and brittle.  When I use a moisture deep conditioner alone, my hair feels excessively soft. Please note that this does not happen to everyone’s hair , many ladies can use protein or moisture alone and have their hair respond well to it.

I have many products I’ve used over the years and currently my go to moisture and protein deep conditioner are from the Motions brand.  My hair responds even better to them now they have levelled up on the ingredients by removing the crappy ingredients and replacing them with natural oils.
I was reviewing the ingredients in the moisture conditioner (Motions Active Moisture Plus) and the protein treatment (Motions CPR- Critical Protection and Repair) and noticed they had extremely similar ingredients and even the same type of proteins.

 

Why Moisture Conditioners Have Proteins In Them

I wasn’t suspicious about why a moisture conditioner had protein ingredients in it, in fact, I expect good moisture conditioners to have a small amount of protein in it.  Why, because protein ingredients will help hair fibres hold on to or retain moisture ingredients for longer.  This way hair stays softer and has good elasticity for longer.  This feature is quite important for ladies with normal to high porosity hair.  It’s actually quite smart of product formulators to make this move. Please note that it may not be great for those with low porosity hair

 

 

How I Scammed Myself

What raised my concern was that the ingredients were more or less the same, just in a different order and that both had protein listed as the 11th and 12th the ingredient.

The first 12 Ingredients in the protein conditioner are

  1. Water
  2. Coconut Oil
  3. Castor Oil
  4. Soybean Oil
  5. Biotin
  6. Shea Butter
  7. Vitamin E
  8. Olive Oil
  9. Argan Oil
  10. Aloe Vera Extract
  11. Hydrolyzed Silk
  12. Hydrolyzed Oat Protein

 

The first 12 ingredients in the moisture conditioner are

  1. Water
  2. Soybean Oil
  3. Shea Butter
  4. Argan Oil
  5. Olive Oil
  6. Coconut Oil
  7. Vitamin E Oil
  8. Sunflower Oil
  9. Castor Oil
  10. Aloe Vera Extract
  11. Hydrolyzed Silk
  12. Hydrolyzed Oat Protein

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I wondered, is Motions simply the packaging the same product with  slight adjustments and selling it as two separate products? Or the brand formulate it so that the percentage of protein in the CPR is much higher than the Active Moisture?

I decided a way to find out would be to use the protein deep conditioner on its own to see the effect it had on my hair.  I had used the moisture alone on a small part of my hair in the past so I would compare the effects.

Wash day came and I put my plan into action.
Ladies, from the second I applied the CPR (protein one) to my hair I knew I had entered one chance (Nigerian slang for a bad situation).  My hair felt rough and angry as I was applying it in comparison to when I use a mix of the moisture and protein.
For some reason, I decided to carry on because I already knew how I would fix the impending disaster of rough tangle prone hair.  I hoped maybe it would feel different….feel better when I eventually rinsed out the products but it didn’t.
I spent the next week moisturising my hair more heavily than usual and it really helped soften my hair but the balance was still off…my hair still had a very rough texture.  I had to detangle way more often in those two weeks and the knots were more challenging to unravel.  This resulted in some breakage for sure.

I was so eager for my next wash day where I went back to using a mix of my moisture and protein deep conditioner and order has been restored to my hair world.  I basically had a corrective wash day and now it’s all good.  The image above is of my air dried hair after the corrective wash and condition.

 

Lessons to be learnt from this blog post

1 – Get to know your hair and give it what it responds well to

2 – Experimenting with a small section of your hair rather than your whole hair is wise

3 – The importance of judging a product based on how your hair responds to it rather than the brand or list

4 – A personal note to myself: who sent me (another Nigerian slang but I am not sure how to explain this one)

I hope you enjoyed and learnt a lil something from this post.  Next one coming soon.

x

Lade

Learn | Change | Grow

Texlax Update and Length Check

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Hey ladies,

This is a quick quick post to share my texlax update, some surprising observations about the final month of my stretch, the actual length of my hair in inches and yup…a couple of pictures too.

The 7th Month and Texlax Day
You may have read my 6 months rant in which I talked about how much work stretching my relaxer interval to 6 months was.  To my utter surprise, month 7 was a breeze and I don’t know why.  I didn’t do anything different.  I am now convinced it was simply an attitude adjustment, I must have resigned myself to the fact that caring for my hair was going to be tough and accepting it made it seem easy.  (Note to self, an attitude adjustment can work wonders  or in other words, yes its tough, deal with it)

I was scared, legit scared, every time I thought about texlax day. I didn’t think I could handle it, I was sure something was going to go wrong because I’ve never stretched so long.    Texlax day came and everything was a breeze, so much so when I finished applying the “weakened” relaxer to my hair I paused and thought “something is wrong, this was too easy, I must have missed a step”.   But no, it was all around probably the easiest texlax day I’ve ever had.

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Length Check
I’ve been asked what the actual length of my hair is on several occasions.  I’ve always guessed and said it was about 20 inches.  I decided to measure my hair using a tape and to my surprise the shorter parts are 20 inches and the longest parts are 25 inches (I used a 24 inch tape).  The plan was to have the markings on the tape be visible, but my photography just isn’t that good…yet.  If you zoom into the picture however you can see the numbers on the tape I used.

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I am happy with how thick my hair has gotten and that I’ve retained a good amount of length too.   I have been trying a few new things which seem to be working well.  All will be revealed in due course 😊

The next post will be about Manshanu and hair butters.  Manshanu is also known as ghee or clarified butter.  It is very popular in the north of Nigeria and several ladies have given rather interesting feedback about it.  So, I intend to dig a little deeper, compare it with hair butters and share my findings with you real soon.

 

Happy hair journey ladies

X

Lade

Learn| Change | Grow

Hair Update : 6 Months Post Relaxer Rant

 

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Hi ladies,

Its been a little while since my last hair update.  Somehow, I’ve found myself at 6 months post relaxer again despite saying over and over that stretching this long probably isn’t the best for my hair.  Unfortunately, my schedule meant I kept pushing it further and further back.  However going forward, I am determined to reduce the length of my stretch to 4 months…..okay maybe 5 months

I wanted to share pictures of my hair at this stage, to show that, its not easy and its not pretty.  It’s the usual things I complain about, the tangles and matting, the fact that wash day becomes a major chore, constantly fighting dryness and because I have so much volume at my roots, my ends look rather thin and damaged in comparison.
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I took the pictures in this post about a week after washing.  I was supposed to put it in box braids (with no extensions) day or two after washing but couldn’t because life happened.  I had moisturised and detangled my hair about an hour before taking the pictures and I could already feel it beginning to clump and matt a little which you can see  in one of the pictures below.

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When I have a lot of new growth, my hair tends to matt quite badly if I wear it loose for a few days.  And when I say loose, I mean in a bun or faux bob style, I wouldn’t dare wear it down  or completely loose because I know I’d probably end up with locked hair and a trip to the barbers. I have to be very thorough and gentle when detangling, which with so much new growth, can be ridiculously time consuming, frustrating and frankly, it is not practical for my lifestyle and work load.

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You can see that my hair is beginning to clump and matt/tangle in this picture

Hair with a lot of new growth is very fragile and must be treated with extreme care to avoid breakage.  Also, day to day manipulation should be avoided when deep into a stretch. And this is WHY I need wigs to help me get through my stretches.  I simply refuse to spend so much time on my hair daily.  When my hair is in box braids under my wigs, I can focus on moisturising and sealing and because my hair is confined within the box braids, it no longer tangles.  However, I still spend good time and care detangling when I eventually undo the box braids to wash my hair.  I don’t enjoy wash days at all when I am deep into my stretch, but I suppose I only wash once in two weeks so it’s not too bad.

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So yes, this post is a major rant or vent of how much I don’t like stretching excessively.   Sorry 😊 How long was your longest stretch?  Were you able to manage it well and avoid breakage?  Share your tops for getting through your relaxer stretches.

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My next post will be an educative one about drying your hair.  Micro fibre versus towels versus t shirts and how to use them correctly.  Its going to be a good post.

See you soon

x

Lade

Learn | Change | Grow

Protective Style Errors That Cause Breakage and Damage

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Hello Ladies,

This post is a short one but it is long overdue. To all my consultation clients, thank you for keeping me super busy.  I will always find time (somehow) to update Hairducation even though it may not as often as I’d like.  I am making efforts to improve my work-work balance (I don’t have much of a social life right now) .  For now,  my uploading of posts here will be sporadic.  So please do keep checking in for new posts and if you are new to Hairducation, there are loads of posts you can catch -up on.

So on with todays post which is about common mistakes ladies make when protective styling with their natural (relaxed and virgin) hair.  It’s great to see more and more ladies rock their real hair in either its virgin or relaxed state however I have noticed a few mistakes that can lead to thinning, damage and breakage.
The most common errors are…..

 

  • Not hiding the ends
    One of the main aims of a protective style is to hide/tuck your ends so that the moisture in your hair does not evaporate excessively.  It also ensures your ends do not rub against your clothes or upholstery. Whether it is a bun or goddess braids, try to have your ends well hidden or tucked in.
  • Making the style super tight
    I see so many ladies with ponytails, buns, puffs, wigs and cornrows under wigs etc that are super sleek and super tight. I wont lie, it can look really cute when a protective style is hella sleek but there should be a balance between sleekness and safety.
    There is a mistaken view that only braids, weaves or other extensions hair styles cause traction alopecia.  Styles created with your own hair can do that too.  If you can feel your temples  being pulled tightly……. or you feel blood rush to your head when you undo the hair or take off the wig or hair band ………or you cant turn and bend you neck comfortably …….or have had the ponytail “facelife”….it is too tight.
  • Using a lot of gel and hard brushes daily
    A continuation from the hella sleek mistake in the point above is the laid for the gods mistake. Using a lot of gel and hard brushes on your delicate edges on a daily basis will result in thinning of your hairline and damage to the hair fibres.  It is okay to use a natural gel or non drying gel and a soft brush from time to time.
    Some ladies may have a hairline that can tolerate daily stress to their hairline.  Some of us, like myself, certainly do not.
  • Parting or bunning in the same spot
    If you have a go-to protective style that requires a part, try to alternate the pattern of the style so that you are not always parting in the exact same spot over the years. Doing so will result in the hairs in that area being manipulated more often than other areas.  This will often result in small amounts of breakage which over time will make the hairs in those areas shorter.
    If you are a lady who loves buns and ponytails, move the location of your bun or ponytail to avoid causing stress on a particular spot.
  • Using pins and bands that are defective or damaged and snag and tear your hair. I think this one is self-explanatory.

As promised, a short and sweet post. My next few posts will be educatative product reviews and a microcsopic comparison between afro textured hair and Caucasian and Asian hair.

As always, I’ll work hard on making the posts worthwhile so see you soon.

x

Lade

Learn | Change | Grow