Lade November 23, 2013

HAIR UPDATE – Up Close & Personal With My Hair At 14 Weeks Post

Its hair update time.

I think it’s important to keep things real with my readers and paint an honest picture of the challenges I face on my hair journey. These are challenges you might face as well especially if you intend to stretch your relaxer like I do.

So as you may know, I relax my hair every 5 months (20 weeks). I have decided however to stretch even further and I relax my hair at 6 months.
I am currently 14 weeks post relaxer ( which simply means the last time I relaxed my hair was 14 weeks ago). Usually I start wearing my wigs from 10 weeks post but I’ve been enjoying having my hair out and was a bit reluctant to put it away….but you know what? I think I ‘am ready.

Don’t get me wrong, I absolutely love my new growth. I love how springy it feels but what I love the most is the volume it gives my hair. I have about 1.5 inches of natural hair at the moment so I have a mini fro beneath my relaxed hair. When it comes to MY hair, the bigger and poofier it is, the happier I am, so right now I am pretty happy.

The reality however is that there are some challenges that come with managing hair that has a lot of new growth.

CHALLENGES OF STRETCHING MY RELAXER

1) MANAGING TWO TEXTURES
When you have a lot of new growth beneath your relaxed hair, it is important to take care of both textures to reduce the risk of breakage.
I have keep both my natural new growth and my relaxed hair moisturised. However I have to be extremely gentle when handling hair with this much new growth. This is because the line of demarcation (where the relaxed hair meets the natural new growth) is very delicate and will break easily if handled roughly.
A lot of ladies notice that their new growth may feel dry. The only way to overcome this is to give it what it needs, moisture. I use braid spray or S curl to keep my new growth soft and moisturised.

2) MORE TIME & MORE WORK
I find that when I have a lot of new growth, my hair tangles and forms knots easily. The more new growth I have, the more times I have to detangle during the week. And because I have to be very gentle (because of the weakness at the line of demarcation) it takes me longer to detangle, moisturise and seal my hair.

I usually get away with detangling my hair once a week but when I have a lot of new growth like I currently do, I have to detangle my hair 2 or 3 times a week.
The fact is the more new growth I get, the more time I have to invest in keeping both textures happy.
Look at the picture below, imagine how long it takes me to get through all of that………

3) SHRINKAGE
All that lovely new growth means that my hair is higher/taller at the root (if that makes any sense). This makes it look slight shorter. I don’t mind to be honest.
In fact I kind of like it cos on relaxer day I’ll be like “ oh yea, I forgot how long my hair is”.

4) THINNER LOOKING HAIR
Because of the afro at the roots of my hair, the relaxed part of my hair look thinner than it actually is. I am not a fan of this but it is only temporary.

I don’t want to give the impression that natural new growth is a problem. That IS NOT the message of this post. The point I am trying to make is that when you have a lot new growth you have to amend your regimen slightly so that you take care of both textures.

The main reason why I still wear wigs is to help me stretch my relaxer. The wigs give me a mini holiday from my hair. Rather than risk neglecting my hair, wigs helps me to cut back on the amount of time I spend detangling.
So with the that said, I think it’s time I put my hair away and switch to my wig regimen till I relax my hair early next year. For details of my wig regimen see this post.

A hair journey can be hard work sometimes but it is a positive thing. I compare it to trying to exercise, eat right and stay healthy, it’s not easy but it has its benefits.

I hope this post will encourage you to keep trying despite the challenges.

In the next couple of posts I will discuss mistakes I made earlier on in my hair journey and my bed time hair routine.

Thanks for visiting and see you again soon

X
Lade
Learn | Change | Grow

Lade October 18, 2013

IT’S MY HAIR – ANNIVERSARY

Firstly, I thank God for the privilege of being alive and well today.

Four years ago, I looked in the mirror and said to myself – “I think I should start today”.
That was October 17 2009, the day I decided to start my hair journey and turn my hair around.

I had tried to take care of my hair before that day and I had failed.
However, the day I started my hair journey I knew somehow that this attempt wouldn’t fail. The one thing that was different about this journey was research. I had been working hard on researching black hair from its roots to its tips.

Since my stylist seemed as clueless as me, I realised I would have to figure things out myself. I realised that I would never get to the root of my hair breakage problems until I understood my hair and what it needed. I knew that was the only way I would be able to identify what I was doing wrong.

THE TRANSFORMATION

From left to right: My hair at 1 year plus, 2 years plus and 3 years plus on my hair journey

Through the first year I have received all sorts of comments, from encouraging ones to downright annoying ones like “wow, you clearly have time to waste, oh you’re trying to grow your hair again, you have tried everything in the past and your hair is still like this, why are you bothering, everyone knows black hair just isn’t good”. But by this point I had seen way too many healthy hair transformations on the internet that I just refused to give up. And now I am having the last laugh.

The only comment that almost got me was “Lade, it’s just hair, calm down”. And you know what, I agree. It IS just hair…….but if you have ever experienced hair loss like I have in the past, when every time you touch your hair loads of it falls out, when there are patches of your head where the hair is “missing”, when you realise you may actually have to rely on extensions to hide state of your hair.
If you have ever experienced the panic and stress that can set in with hair loss, in my opinion, you realise that maybe it’s a little bit deeper than “just hair”. Having hair is normal, hair loss isn’t.

Four years later I am here updating Hairducation with a big smile on my face thinking, I DID IT!!!!!!!
I am not confused or worried about my hair anymore, it is healthy and it is longer than I thought was possible for me as a black and proudly Nigerian woman.

Although this blog and many others may seem to focus on HAIR LENGHT at first glance, I assure you that HAIR HEALTH is the core and true message behind any decent hair care blog.
I want to use this blog post to say to every single person, blogger, vlogger and author who has taken the time to put black hair care information on the internet, thank you. You saved my hair and saved me from permanent hair loss caused by lack of knowledge.

To any reader trying to sort her hair out, the information you need is out there, but you have to be willing to find it, to learn it, to change your hair care habits and with time your hair will thrive, it will grow. Don’t wait till the hair loss is permanent.

There is soooooooooooo much more to life than hair. I am not my hair but my hair is a part of me…….and there is nothing wrong in being proud that at last, I can say my hair is doing just fine.

Happy hair anniversary to me and happy hair journey to you.

X

Lade

Learn | Change | Grow

Lade October 13, 2013

HAIR UPDATE

After washing, conditioning and blow drying with cool air. Please ignore the coconut oil stains on my t-shirt.

It’s been eight weeks since my last relaxer. I had been following my usual routine of leaving my hair out for 10 weeks followed by wearing wigs for another 10 weeks. Everything was going great until I deviated from my regimen and more or less abandoned my hair.

At about 4 weeks post, I had a really busy period coming up and I knew hair care would probably go out the window so I decided to put my hair away and wear my wigs for a while. The plan was that I would clean my scalp and keep my hair moisturised whilst it was under the wig.
Do you know what I did to my hair? …….Nothing, absolutely nothing.
I was that busy and when I did have the time I decided I was too tired. My hair started to feel brittle; my scalp got dirty and dry and itched like mad. I scratched my scalp till it felt sore. I knew better and I knew I’d have to face the consequences.

I finally got over the extreme busy period and had time to wash and condition my hair. My scalp was still very sore from all the scratching that when I poured water on it, it stung. I washed and deep conditions using my usual products. I blow dried on cool air as it was late. I think that because my hair has been well taken care of for many years it bounced back well. It is soft and strong and feels smooth. My scalp on the other hand is a different story, it still feels sore. So I have to be very gentle with it until it feels normal again. Moral of the story, consistency with your hair regimen is important.

All this head shaking is for blogging purposes only . My hair is currently in a bun 🙂

Its almost two months since my last relaxer, I have about an inch of new growth which makes my hair really full and poufy at the roots. Personally, I love big hair so fuller it looks the happier I am. My hair reacts well to deep conditioning and I love how fluffy it feels the first few days after I wash it. However because my scalp is so sore at the moment I am going to stick to very simple hair styles so I don’t aggravate my scalp any further.

What’s happening with your hair ladies? Any updates?

x

Lade

Learn | Change | Grow

Lade September 2, 2013

PROTECTIVE STYLE PICTORIAL – MILKMAID BRAIDS

Tutorial3

This post is a day late, sorry, but here is the picture tutorial I promised. As I mentioned in my previous post, my hair had been in a bun all week and had become thin and greasy from moisturising and sealing it heavily.

Tutorial1
I got a lil bored of the bun and decided to do experiment with some sort of style when heading out for a quick lunch.
My hair was so greased up (from olive and coconut oil) so I decided to try milkmaid braids. I didn’t think any other style would work. It didn’t turn out exactly how I wanted but I was pleased enough with it.

So here is a quick pictorial of how I created my version of milkmaid braids.

THE PICTORIAL

HAIR + STYLE

Tutorial4
This dress had plenty of room for the nkwobi, pounded yam and efo riro I demolished at Yellow chilli.

Ladies, what is your verdict on this hair style? Should I do it again?

x

Lade

Learn | Change | Grow

Lade August 31, 2013

THE TRIM

It’s been two weeks since I relaxed my hair and I did what I said I would. I trimmed my hair.
I was getting so attached to the 20 inches and I knew that if I didn’t grab the scissors and cut it on the spot I would eventually chicken out. So I found my hair scissors and cut off two inches.

Its crazy that after the trim, the 18 inches I have left feels a bit shortish. I realise that it’s probably just my perception….and that I am being a little silly. Overall I am very happy that I finally got a proper trim.
What I do love about the trim is that my hair looks and feels fuller.
I will put up updated length pictures after my next wash day early next week.

THE LAST TWO WEEKS I’VE BEEN……

…bunning 100% of the time and making sure my hair is moisturised and sealed heavily.
As noted in my previous posts relaxers can be traumatic to our hair and scalp. For the first two weeks after relaxing you should do very little styling with your hair and give it loads of TLC.
The first two weeks after I relax, I show my hair love by wearing very basic styles that require little to no combing. I also make sure my hair is hydrated by moisturising and sealing daily.

Having said that, it is now two weeks since I relaxed so I will probably do some sort of style with it soon. I will try to put up the style pictorial up tomorrow.

Blog posts about how to incorporate hair care and wearing extensions will be up next week. This is very important as majority of us wear extensions majority of the time so it is essential that we know how to care for our own hair whilst wearing extensions.

So I hope you’ll be back soon.

X

Lade

Learn| Change |Grow