WASH & TRIM DAY FAIL

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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 +.

Wash day fail

 

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

Herbal essences
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.  

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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.

x

Lade
Learn | Change | Grow

I AM BACK & MY RELAXER UPDATE

Hello ladies,

I know I’ve been gone for a minute. I genuinely feel soooo bad about that. My absence was impromptu. Life and a lot of commitments led to my absence. I did check in very briefly once or twice and felt so bad that loads of you kept visiting. Thanks for not giving up on the blog.

I hope you have been well and that life has been good. How’s the hair journey going?
I am back now and have loads I want to share and discuss, starting with my relaxer (texlax) update. Although it was one of my best stretches ever I am so glad it’s over and going forward I intend to texlax every 5 months.

RELAXER (TEXLAX) UPDATE

August 2014 texlax

Texture and scalp shots

I was supposed to texlax at the end of July, but because of my busy schedule I kept pushing it. I eventually texlaxed on 18th August. The crazy thing is that I didn’t really take any decent pictures on my texlax day. I took a few of my wet hair and planned to take “official” shots after blow drying…..but that didn’t happen because I was beyond tired. The pictures in this post were all taken after my wash day one week post.

Texlax day itself was hitch free however I left in more texture than I intended to. So my new growth was more blown out than texlaxed. I do not plan to do a corrective relaxer though, as you may know I love big hair and my blown out roots means that my hair looks fuller (#winning) so I am happy overall.

I know it doesn’t show in the pictures but my hair is sooooo much longer than it was when I texlaxed in February. It feels a lot fuller towards the ends. I intend to trim a few inches off next week and then I would have gotten rid of most of the thin weathered ends.

August 2014 texlax 2

 

August 2014 texlax 3

Happy with my ponytail and my bun. I dream of having a bun much bigger than my head….one day.

August 2014 texlax 4

Didn’t have anyone around to help me arrange/comb my hair for the back shot…. so I squeezed my ends together and hoped for a decent shot

That’s its really for this blog post. I will be back in a few days with hair style pictorial and then with a trim and regimen update.
I have been doing a lot of hair related reading recently. I am sort of looking at black hair from a different more social angle and will share a bit more of that really soon. So there’s loads for us to look forward to.
Since iv e been gone for such a while i am sure you have hair updates for me??? What’s been happening with your hair??

X

Lade
Learn|Change|Grow

HAIR UPDATE: 20 Weeks Post

Hello ladies

How are you? How is your hair journey going? Set back free I hope.
It’s been a minute since I did a hair update.  I am now20 weeks post and I am on the final leg of my stretch.  I had a wash day recently and whenever I have a wash day this late into my stretch I find myself asking “why do I put myself through this?”   It can be so time consuming.  I’ve decided that I will probably cut it back to waist length when I texlax in a few weeks but you know me, I’ll probably change my mind when the time comes.

20 weeks post update 2

After my wash day, I was way too busy to have time to put my hair back into box braids so I’ve been wearing my hair out for a few days now.  When I am home I put it in 16 rolled up sections.  I find that keeping my hair in sections helps me moisturise, seal and detangle my hair a lot quicker. When it’s time for me to head out I simply undo the rolls and put my hair up in a bun WITHOUT merging the 16 sections.  It means my bun is super messy but that’s how I like my hair to look so it works for me.

20 weeks post update

I don’t know why my head and hair look so big in the top pictures. Probably cos I was very close to my camera. Those top pictures actually look a lil freaky to me, like I have a hairy octopus on my head.

My hair feels really good and looks healthy so I am happy.  Despite the stretch, my shedding and breakage isn’t too bad so I think it has been a successful stretch however  I am so ready for it to be over.

I took the pictures above and below just before I put my hair in back into box braids.  So I am back to wiggin it.

What is happening with your hair? Anyone else on a stretch?

X

Lade
Learn | Change | Grow

WHAT IS IT ABOUT OUR HAIR? – Diffrences between Afro, Asian and Caucasian Hair

Hair since last relaxer

With better understanding of the characteristics of black hair, my hair and I are now in a happy place.

In my first year at university, I had the privilege in living in a very multi-cultural house with five other ladies.
There was Bridget, the English red head, Sandy who was Chinese with pin straight black hair, Sandeep who was Indian and had wavy dark brown hair, Zara who was of mixed heritage (Chinese and English) and had straight dark brown and very shiny hair, Colleen who was Jamaican and myself from Nigeria, we both had relaxed hair.  We all got along really well and used to joke that we were the United Colours of Benetton.

Colleen and I became best of friends over the years (she is the one who actually encouraged me to start a hair journey).  One of the things we bonded over was complaining about our hair. We would lament about why our hair was so difficult to manage, why did it break so easily, how could our other house mates blow dry and flat iron their hair every day and still have a great head of hair, how come they could chop all their hair off and within a few months it would have grown back, how come they didn’t seem to have any hair issues, what was it about black hair?????

In this blog post I will address some of  the differences between Afro, Asian and Caucasian hair and why those differences requires us to care for our hair in a “special” way if we want it to thrive.  Please note that the information below provides a general average or overview about the differences between the various hair types and I will be referring majority of the time to afro hair in its natural state.

 

DIFFERENCES BETWEEN AFRO, ASIAN & CAUCASIAN HAIR 

FEWER HAIR FOLLICLES – LESS DENSITY

Hair grows out from our hair follicles (tiny holes) which are located within our scalp.  The number of hair follicles a person has determines the overall fullness (density) of that person’s hair.  As an example a person with 100 thousand hair follicles should have more hair (more density) than someone with 70 thousand hair follicles.  The amount of hair follicles each person is born with is genetically predetermined.
Research has shown that Caucasians and Asians on average have more hair follicles (higher density) than we do.  So although our natural (chemically unprocessed) hair may look fuller than straight hair we actually have fewer hair strands.
 

INDIVIDUAL STRAND THICKNESS

The shape and size of each hair stand is determined by the shape of the follicle it grows out from.  Our hair follicles moulds our hair strands as they leave the follicle and are pushed out of our scalp.
The cross section of Asian and Caucasian hair follicles shows that is has a circular shape whilst the cross section of Afro hair follicle shows that it has an oval shape.
The effect of our oval shaped hair follicle is that our hair strands tend to be smaller in diameter than Asian and Caucasian hair.
Hair strands that are fine/ thin tend to have higher tendency to tangle and will break easier as a result of tangling
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SHAPE OF OUR HAIR STRANDS

hair strand shape

The above diagram is for illustration only. I drew it myself using a cool app on my tablet.

Due to the oval shape of our hair follicles, the hair produced is slightly flatter in shape than Asian and Caucasian hair.   The unique shape of our hair strands means that we have more flat surface area to incur damage when we blow dry, flat iron, handle our hair or comb it aggressively.
The flattened shaped of our hair makes it easier for it to sustain damage.

UNEVEN THICKNESS OF EACH STRAND

Asian or Caucasian hair strands tends to have an even thickness from root to tip.  A strand of black hair however tends to have uneven thickness from root to tip. This is because our hair is curly/kinky and the point at which the bend or curl occurs in our hair strand is usually flatter or thinner than the rest of the hair strand.  Each curve/bend is an area that weaker than the rest of the hair strand because of the thinness of that spot.
We therefore have several fragile/weak spots along each strand of our hair.

As a summary of the points above, our hair is not as full, the strands are thinner which means it has a higher tendency to tangle and break as a result of tangling, it sustains damage easier because of its flattened shape, we have points of weakness across each hair strand and our hair is drier than theirs making it more susceptible to breakage.
I hope setting out all this not make you think our hair is bad or poorly designed.  I decided to write this blog post to emphasise why we simply cannot treat our hair the same way as Asians and Caucasians do.   It is easier for them to retain length simply because their hair does not break and sustain damage as easily as ours.

Our hair is different and how we care for it should reflect these differences.    This is why we as black women probably have to invest a little more time and effort in caring for our hair.  Deep conditioning, protective styling and all the little extra things we do to our hair is a must, especially when it has been relaxed or coloured.
I don’t know about you but I grew up thinking our hair was a lot tougher and could tolerate a lot more abuse that Asian/Caucasian hair.   But now I know that the opposite is actually the truth; our hair is a lot more fragile.  What are some of the misconceptions you had about black hair before your hair journey?

As always I hope you’ve found this blog post a worthwhile read.  The next blog post will be a hair update which I hope you’ll come back soon for.

X

Lade
Learn | Change | Grow

#bringbackourgirls

GUESS WHO IS A CERTIFIED AFRO HAIR CARE CONSULTANT

Hairducation Certification 1
From the title of this post you may have guessed it already………I am!!!!
I am now a trained and certified hair care consultant after successfully gaining a Diploma in Afro Hair Care.   I actually completed the course in September 2013 as part of a project I have been working on.
I am so happy to finally put it out there, share why I decided to get certified and what I gained from the course.

WHY I DECIDED TO GET CERTIFIED

My journey to becoming certified actually started before Hairducation went live.
Whilst still building the blog, I told ladies who approached me for advice that the blog would be going live soon and they could learn how to care for their hair on the site.
I always got two types of reactions.  Some ladies looked forward to reading the blog whilst others didn’t seem so keen.  These ladies often made comments such as “oh I have to read the blog” or “I just don’t see myself doing it”.

This second reaction got me thinking about ladies I had introduced to other hair care blogs in the past but still maintained their bad hair care habits and continued to have major issues with their hair.
I realised at that point that the “self help”, learn and do it yourself approach to hair journeys simply does not work for every woman.
I believe the following types of ladies don’t gain much from hair care blogs

1)      Ladies who don’t do their hair themselves
Hair care blogs are great for ladies who want to take charge of their hair and gradually do it all themselves.  However there many ladies who prefer to go to salons and may not be keen on doing their hair themselves.  So learning how to care for hair when they have no intention of doing it themselves may seem redundant.

2)      Ladies who want a healthy hair transformation but do not necessarily want to become hair care gurus
The fact is not every woman wants to learn the ins and outs of black hair just so she can take care of it.  These ladies want to improve their hair but may be overwhelmed by the information or simply not be willing to get that deep into hair care do’s and don’ts.  And there is no crime in that.

3)      Ladies who need an intervention 
These are the ladies whose hair never seems to thrive and is increasingly getting worse.  Such ladies are looking for miracle products and help from stylists.
That was me before my hair journey.  I was looking for help for my hair but couldn’t find it.  When I did find help on social media, I had to go through the process of figuring it all out for myself which took a few months  because I wanted to be sure of what I was getting myself into.  In those months, my hair loss continued.
What I needed at the time and couldn’t get was an intervention.  I needed someone to assess my hair, review my hair care habits, tell me what I was doing right and wrong, set me on the right part and support me through the process.

With all the above in mind, I decided that somewhere down the line I would want to offer a more hands  personalised consultation and support service for ladies who wanted it.
The first step of me offering this personalised service was for me to receive formal training and get certified.  I did not want to be a self appointed consultant and I wanted to make sure I was qualified for the task.

WHAT DID I LEARN ON THE DIPLOMA COURSE

Hairducation certification 3
After deliberating on what exactly I wanted to offer and the structure of the service, I had the task of finding a course that would give me appropriate training.  I eventually found a training institute in London, England that offered exactly what I needed, a diploma in hair care focusing specifically on black hair.

The course was very intensive; we spent the mornings learning theory on various aspects of black hair structure and care.  Around midday we would move to the salon within the institute where we would practice what we had learnt on mannequin heads.  In the afternoon we would work on live models/clients.  There was hardly a moment to take a break, it was full on…and I absolutely loved it.

The course included training on client consultations, hair and scalp analysis, patch testing, relaxing, trimming, working with extensions, health and safety and so much more.  I was impressed by the combination of science based theory classes and the practical salon sessions.  It was certainly worth flying 6000miles for.

Hairducation certification 2

WHAT NEXT??

I have recently completed the final aspects required for the service to go live which involved finding a salon which understood and were keen to incorporate my services.
I will do a detailed post soon to share how the Hairducation Consultation and Support service will work.
What I will say for now is that the service will benefit everyone whether it is ladies who simply want to kick start their hair journey and need a bit of initial coaching or ladies who want a full on salon implemented regimen.

I hope you will be back soon to learn more about the consultation service and for my next post about co-washing.

X

Lade

Learn | Change | Grow