Hello Ladies

I hope you are all well. This blog post is the 3^rd in the series on How To Buy Hair Products.
Today’s post will focus on leave-in conditioners. I intend to explain the uses of leave-in conditioners, the types of leave in conditioners that you need and what ingredients to look out for when buying them. I will also share a flow chart which will help you decide which leave in conditioner to use on your wash days and through the week.

What Are The Uses of Leaves-in Conditioners

A leave-in conditioner should be used after you have rinsed out your deep conditioner.
Leave-in conditioners helps to smoothen our hair and boosts its flexibility and strength. A good leave-in conditioner should also give your hair slip which will make detangling easier. Most leave in conditioners can also double-up as moisturisers for use in between wash days

What Types of Leave-in Conditioners Do You Need

On a hair journey you need two types of leave-in conditioners.

• A protein leave-in conditioner – for strength
• A moisture leave-in conditioner – for elasticity and softness

Although both protein and moisture leave in conditioners are needed, I should point out that moisture leave-ins tend to be used/needed more often than protein ones.

How To Buy Leave-in Conditioners

As I have mentioned in previous posts in this series, when buying products it is best to be familiar with the product ingredients rather than relying on what is written on the front of the product or in the description at the back . This is because many products claim to have many benefits for our hair but by being familiar with product ingredients, you can tell which ones can actually do what it claims.
Ingredients to look out for in a Protein Leave-in conditioner

• Look at the ingredients at the back of the bottle or jar and see if the following ingredients are listed. Preferably one or more of these ingredients should be amongst the first 5 items found on the ingredient list. Keratin
  Collagen
  Pathenol
  Soy protein
  Silk protein
  Oat protein
  Wheat protein
  Amino Acids

Please note that some of these proteins may start with the word hydrolyzed, eg hydrolyzed wheat protein or hydrolyzed soy protein.

Ingredients to look for in a Moisturising Leave-in Conditioner

• Look at the ingredients at the back of the bottle or jar and see if the following moisturizing ingredients are listed. Preferably one or more of these ingredients should be amongst the first 5 items found on the ingredient list.
  Aqua(water)
  Cetearyl alchohol
  Cetyl alchohol
  Stearyl alchohol
  Urea
  Glycerine
• Please note that there are many more types of moisturising ingredients that may be found in moisturising leave-in conditioners. Those listed above are some of the most popular ones which are commonly used by product manufacturers.

How to Decide which Type of Leave in To Use

My Personal Favourite Leave-in Conditioners

A) Cantu Shea Butter Leave-In Conditioning Repair Cream (protein)
B) Aphogee Pro-Vitamin Leave-in Conditioner  (Protein – with this product, I suggest that a very little quantity should be used and it is NOT suitable for daily use)
C) Elasta QP Feels Like Silk Leave-In H2 Conditioner (Moisture). The ingredients of this product has now changed but I haven’t tried the new version.
D) Luster’s S-Curl No Drip Activator Moisturizer (Moisture)
E) Herbal Essences Beautiful Ends (Moisture –  called Long Term Relationship in the U.S)

That’s the end of this post ladies. Knowing when and how to use moisture vs protein is something that so many newbies struggle with so I hope the flow chart/table helps.

I have a couple of really exciting posts coming up.
One is about a highly requested topic: how I care for the hair I leave out when wearing u-part wigs. This will also super helpful for ladies who wear weave-ons with some of their hair left out and are experiencing breakage of their leave out hair. It is going to be a great post and I hope you’ll be back soon to read it.

X

Lade

Learn | Change | Grow

Hello ladies,

I hope you are all well.  As a hair care blogger, one question I get asked a lot is “what is texlaxing?”   This is usually  followed by “oh is this the same as texturizing).
In this post I will explain what texturizing it and how it differs from texlaxing.  Happy reading!!!

What is Texturizing

Texturizing is a chemical process which is designed to loosen the curls/coils in afro hair.  Relaxers ( which are used to texlax) on the other hand are designed to remove the curls/coils in our hair.
Texturizing is achieved by using a purpose designed kit/product (ie designed specifically for texturizing). The texturizer is a creamy consistency and is applied to the hair/new growth in the same way as a relaxer.

This shows the type of results than MAY be achieved with a texturizer

Please note that texturizing will not change your curl/coil pattern. It will simply loosen your existing one. Texturizing will not create curls/coils in your hair if they do not already exist. For example if your natural texture has a zig zag pattern, texturizing will not change the zig-zag to a curl. Texturizers will permanently loosen your curl pattern and if used incorrectly can lead to over processed hair, damage and breakage.

What Is Texlaxing

Texlaxing is deliberately under processing hair during a relaxer procedure. The relaxer is not allowed to fully straighten the hair. This enables the hair to retain more of its elasticity and thickness than fully straightened relaxed hair.
Texlaxing is achieved by using either a lye or no lye relaxer which is weakened by adding a little amount conditioner or natural oils (eg, olive or coconut oil) to the relaxer. The relaxer can also left in the hair for a shorter period than recommended by the relaxer manufacturer. All this is done to prevent the relaxer from making the hair 100% straight.

Texlaxing creates a look of natural hair that has been stretched out or blown out with a hand drier.   Like texturizers, relaxers permanently alter your hairs pattern and can lead to over processing and damaged if used too often or incorrectly.

The Problem of Inconsistent Textures with Texturized and Texlaxed Hair

Texturized Hair
Because there are readymade texturizing kits available for purchase, a lady who texturizes (and/or her stylist) only has to figure out how long to leave the product on to achieve the results she desires. Please note however that results may vary because the lady might have

• different curl/coil patterns on her head, some sections may have looser or tighter curls/coils than other sections.
• Varying porosity levels: the degree by which each strand of hair absorbs and reacts to the chemicals can vary from strand to strand.

Please note that every lady’s hair will react to the process differently. For some ladies it can result in straight hair.

Texlaxed Hair

Texlaxing can result in a wide variety of looks.

Some texlaxed ladies hair looks as though it is still natural and some looks more relaxed.
Because there are no readymade texlaxing kits on the market currently, most ladies (and /or their stylist) have to figure out their own personal texlax formula or method.
The formula/method is basically knowing what amount of texture she wants to leave in her hair and then figuring out

• how to much oil she needs to add to her relaxer
• how long to leave the weakened relaxer in her hair for to achieve this desired result.

There is a degree of experimentation required and this can result in different textures.  For example, over the years I have learnt that to achieve the texlax result I want, I need to weaken my relaxer with 1-2 teaspoons of olive oil, cover my new growth with castor oil and the relaxer should not be left in my hair for more than 17 minutes (this includes application and smoothening).

Throwback picture of my damp texlaxed hair. You can see some straight fully relaxed strands near my shoulder.

Please note that factors such as the varying curl/coil patterns and porosity levels on a lady’s head can further contribute to the problem of inconsistent results.

My PERSONAL Reason For Preferring Texlaxing to Texturizing

Sticking with the same chemical
I choose to texlax because I am already familiar with relaxers so I know how my hair will react to it.
I feel like I am on familiar ground. I don’t want to start experimenting with a new product that I am not used to which will create permanent changes in my hair that I can’t predict.

As the saying goes, better the devil you know…

It may not work well for my hair type.
From what I have dug up online from professional stylists and ladies who texturize their hair, most advise that texturizing will work and look better on ladies whose hair naturally has curls or waves.  It appears as though your natural hair type should be a deciding factor on if texturizing will be a good option for you.
Well my hair (my natural new growth) has zero curls or waves so based on the recommendations of professionals hair stylists and texturized ladies I do not think it will work well with my hair.

I hope this post has cleared some things up  for anyone who had questions about texturizing versus texlaxing.

My next blog post will be about how to buy leave-in conditioners (which double up as moisturisers for use in between wash days). I will also share tips on how I achieve moisture and protein balance during the week. Come back soon ladies.

X

Lade

Learn | Change | Grow

Hello ladies

I am so excited to kick of this new series of posts about buying hair products.

Whenever I am buying products, I always come across ladies at the stores looking very confused.
Many ladies, especially those who are not a hair journey, tend to focus on what the products claim to do as written on the front of the product bottles or on the descriptions at the back. Trying to decide what products to buy based on what the product claims to do is what leaves most ladies perplexed, in my opinion.
For example, before my hair journey began, if my hair was breaking I would simply head to the product store and look for “something” that claimed to stop breakage. If you are familiar with hair products you will have noticed that almost all products claim to fight breakage, make your hair soft and bouncy, etc. So how do you know which ones can actually do what it claims?

To become a savvy hair product shopper there two things you need do:

• Know what products you need.
  Buy what you NEED for hair care (not what you have seen around and are interested in, not some miracle hair growth product). Be aware of the function of the product you are buying.
• Focus on product ingredients not product claims.
  It’s all about being familiar with some of the ingredients which are good or bad for our hair.
  You don’t have to become an ingredient guru. With this series, I intend to give straight to the point and practical tips to make buying hair products a lot easier. First up is shampoo.

What Do You Need: Shampoo

You need two types of shampoo on a hair journey:
1) – A sulfate free shampoo: this is a gentle cleanser which can to be used for regular cleansing (weekly, every 10 days or every two weeks)
2) – A clarifying shampoo: this is a harsh cleanser which is used to remove stubborn dirt. It should be used occasionally (once a month or every 6 to 8 weeks)

How To Buy

A Sulfate Free Shampoo

• Products are usually grouped together by brands, eg, Crème of Nature products (the brands shampoos through to its styling products) will usually be grouped together.
• Start by looking at the shampoos of the brands you are familiar with. Look at the front of the bottle and check to see if sulfate free written at the front. Do not be distracted by statements like gentle cleansing or moisturising shampoo.
• If the front does not have sulfate free written on it, read through the ingredient list at the back. It SHOULD NOT CONTAIN any of the following ingredients
  -sodium lauryl sulfate
  -sodium laureth sulfate
  -ammonium lauryl sulfate
  -ammonium laureth sulfateShampoos that contain these ingredient are NOT sulfate free.
• If the brand you are looking at has shampoos which contain sulfates, look through the shampoo products of another brand. You could also ask the store assistant for help but do let them pressure you into buying a sulfate shampoo if they do not have a sulfate free one.

A clarifying Shampoo

• Start with shampoos of brands you are familiar with. Look at the front of the bottle, is clarifying shampoo written at the front?
• If the front does not have clarifying shampoo written on it, read through the ingredient list at the back. It SHOULD CONTAIN any of the following ingredients
  -sodium lauryl sulfate
  -sodium laureth sulfate
  -ammonium lauryl sulfate
  -ammonium laureth sulfate
• Shampoo that contains sulfate are strong enough to clarify and are usually very easy to find because most shampoos contain sulfates.

My Personal Favourite Shampoos

Sulfate Free
My go to sulfate free shampoo is Creme of Nature Argan oil Moisture and shine shampoo. I absolutely love this shampoo and so do my sister and my mum who has natural hair. I believe that if shampoos were made in heaven, this would be it.

Clarifying Shampoo
My clarifying shampoo is Organic Root Stimulator Creamy Aloe Shampoo.

Additional Tips for Buying Hair Products in Nigeria

1) Don’t wait
Do not wait until your staple products (the ones you use regularly which works well with your hair) runs out before restocking. If your product has finished and then you try to get more there is a high chance (in Nigeria) that the stores you buy from may all be out of stock of the product at that particular time. You would be forced to buy something else which may not work well with your hair. So it’s wise to plan ahead and restock in due time.

2) Double stock or buy big
If you have a product that is a staple that you KNOW your hair loves, if buy two or buy a big bottle/jar if you can afford to.
Even if the stores have loads of it in stock at that particular time , don’t take it for granted, by the time your product runs out they may all be out of stock. So if you buy big or double stock you should be covered for a few months. This is especially helpful with deep conditioners. Most ladies on a hair journey will use up their deep conditioners at a much faster rate than their shampoos so make sure you are well stocked on your fav deep conditioners.
I hope you have found this post useful.  I realise that this series will probably benefit newbies me than hair journey veterans however I do hope that every reader gets something it.

What do you struggle with the most when trying to buy hair products?

x

Lade

Learn | Change | Grow