Lade June 10, 2014

CO-WASHING

Hello ladies

Thank you all so much for your comments about my certification. I am glad you have faith in me. Todays blog post as promised is all about co-washing. I am sure some of you co-wash your hair already but for the ladies that don’t know what co-washing is, I hope you find this post insightful.

WHAT IS CO-WASHING

Co-washing as the name suggests simply means washing or cleansing your hair with a conditioner instead of a shampoo. A lot of conditioners have very mild cleansing agents which can effectively lift some dirt, oils and residue from hair fibres.
Co-washing is not an essential aspect of black hair care, it is something you can experiment with and incorporate into your regimen if you believe it may be beneficial for you. At the beginning of my hair journey I experimented with co-washing but it didn’t seem to make a big difference to my hair. I know several ladies however who swear by it and never miss co-washing sessions.

WHO MAY BENEFIT FROM COWASHING

1) One of the main benefits of co-washing is that it is a great way to get a mid week moisture boost. Some ladies notice their hair’s dryness is reduced by incorporating co washing once or twice during the week.
Some ladies may find co-washing beneficial in the first few months of their hair journey. This is because lot of ladies hair, prior to their hair, journey is chronically dry and in need of extra moisture for a while to help restore some of its moisture levels.

2) Co-washing is ideal for ladies who may want to wet their hair several times a week and it is a less harsh compared to shampooing. This is very popular with natural haired ladies who tend to find it easier to detangle, comb and/or style their hair when it is wet or damp.

3) Babies and toddlers may benefit from co-washing alone and perhaps shampooing once or twice a month. Again this is because shampoos can be quite harsh when used too often on a baby or toddlers hair.

4) Ladies who exercise very often may want to cleanse their hair more than once a week may benefit from co-washing.

5) Ladies who are transitioning may find co-washing helpful in their transition. It helps to keep their natural new growth moisturised, soft and manageable.

CONS OF COWASHING

1) Some ladies opt out of shampooing completely and only co-wash their hair. This works really well for a lot of ladies. However after a while there may be some product residue left on the hair making it look dull and weighing it down. Ladies who co-wash only should try to wash their hair with a clarifying shampoo every 3 to 4 weeks or when they feel their hair needs it. This will help strip off stubborn dirt and product residue.

2) We all know how hectic life can get and sometimes it may be a little difficult to squeeze in a mid week hair treatment. For ladies who have shorter hair (natural or relaxed) it may be easier to fit in co washing mid week. This is because detangling, co washing, drying and styling shorter hair mid week may not be as tasking as it would be for a lady with longer hair. Sometimes it really isn’t practical especially if your hair is in a long term protective style.

HOW TO CO-WASH PRACTICAL TIPS

Type of Conditioner

A moisturising instant conditioner should be used to co wash. It is best to use a light instant conditioner (thin and watery consistency, the instructions usually say that it should be rinsed out after a few minutes). Instant conditioners are light weight and even if used several times a week will not leave too much residue on your hair.
Deep conditioners should not be used for co-washing and they are usually too thick and heavy to be used several times a week as it will leave a lot of residue on your hair.

Methods of Co-washing

There are so many methods and ways of co washing your hair, some ladies pre-poo before co-washing, some ladies co-wash dry hair and some prefer to wet their hair before co-washing. I will set out two methods below but please note that you can experiment a bit and come up with a method that you think will work best for your hair.

A – detangle your hair ,some coconut or olive oil can be applied to help with detangling. Apply conditioner to your hair from root to tip; this can be done in sections. Massage your scalp gently and pull the conditioner through the length of your hair, do not rub or twist the length of your hair. After a few minutes, rinse thoroughly with warm water. Apply some more conditioner massage and rinse out after 2 to three minutes. Try to complete the co-washing in sections to avoid unnecessary tangling. Also do not roll up or bunch up the length of your hair to your scalp as this may cause tangling.

B- Detangle and wet hair lightly, apply conditioner to hair from root to tip, massage your scalp gently, pull the conditioner through the length of your hair for a few minutes and rinse out. At this stage some ladies deep condition their hair using their moisturising deep conditioner. They simply apply the deep conditioner, cover their hair with conditioning cap and apply heat for some minutes and then rinse out.

After the final conditioner has been rinsed out, you can proceed by applying your leave in conditioners and drying your hair.
Currently I do not co-wash my entire head however when I ‘am wearing wigs I occasionally co-wash the leave out hair to boost its moisture levels. I will do a full post on how I care for my leave out hair soon.

I hope you’ve found this blog post useful. Please come back soon for the next post in which I will share the full details of the Hairducation Consultation Service.

Are you a co-washer? What conditioner do you use and what is your method?

Lade

Learn | Change | Grow

Lade June 2, 2014

GUESS WHO IS A CERTIFIED AFRO HAIR CARE CONSULTANT

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

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.

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.

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 May 14, 2014

HAIR BY TYPE 4 – Some We Made Earlier

Hello ladies,

As many of you may know, my sister and I have a wig production company, Hair by Type 4, which specialises in creating u-part wigs.

U-part wigs are the only form of hair extensions I wear. I have shared why I stopped wearing weaves, started wearing wigs and how I used u-part wigs to grow my hair in this post. I love u-part wigs because it gives the look of a weave without spending hours in a salon, aggressive pulling and tugging of you own hair, very tight and often uncomfortable sewing and restricted access to you hair. With u-part wigs you can have your cake and eat it too.
We have had loads of requests for information and pictures of our wigs. Many of you lovely readers have become clients which has been awesome. I decided it was high time for me to put up a few pictures of some of the wigs we have created.
Hair by Type 4 clients have two options; the custom made service or the readymade style option. In this post I will focus on the custom made service. I will do another post soon to showcase our readymade styles.

THE CUSTOM WIG SERVICE

We can create you a custom made U-part wig with your own hair extensions. You can choose the style, location of the part and supply us the hair to convert into a wig for you. Mass produced wigs cannot meet the taste of every woman. The custom wig service allows you to use hair wefts you like to create a style you want.

Please note that Hair by Type 4 wigs are not hand sewn or glued on wigs which are created in most salons. Our wigs are created mechanically ensuring that the wigs will last for many years without need for repair, re- stitching or re-gluing. It also ensures a better finished product.
Some of you my recognise your wigs below 

If you would like further information or would like to place an order please send an email to hairbytype4@gmail.com

Are you a wig lover like me? Why or how did you start wearing wigs? What is your wig regimen?
X

Lade

Learn | Change | Grow

Lade May 11, 2014

HAIR UPDATE

Hello ladies
How are we all doing?
I’ve had this post ready for a few days now but with the current situation in Nigeria at the moment I just didn’t feel right posting it. As the days go by and as the #bringbackourgirls momentum gathers I pray for the safe return of the girls and pray for peace through the world.

MINI TRIM

Post mini trim at 11 weeks post, very poofy at the roots and a lil harder to manage but its a good problem to have

I decided to trim my ends a little.
Whenever I mention to people around me that I am going to trim my hair I get perplexed “why” from them.
I trimmed to remove ends that are really really old and have seen better days, i.e. weak, damaged and thin ends.
Also my goal length is waist length. Even after my trim it is a little past waist length but I guess I will trim again probably when I texlax in July or August. I am not gonna lie, I still find it a bit hard to cut off more than two inches at a time. Hopefully by August I won’t chicken out again.
I am not sure how much hair I trimmed off. I put my hair in 12 small sections and I assessed the ends of each section and trimmed what I thought needed to come off.

MOISTURISING AND SEALING

I’ve been really good on this front. I have not skipped on moisturising and sealing daily and my hair is better for it. It feels softer and looks better. I am currently 10 or 11 weeks post and have some new growth so I make sure my roots are well moisturised to prevent excessive dryness and breakage at the line of demarcation. I’ve been using s-curl on my new growth and so far so good.

WIG REGIMEN

My last wash day, air dried hair with just my leave ins ( Aphogee Green Tea and my mix of Cantu Shea butter and S-Curl.

I have sooooo missed my wigs. I am going to transition into my wig regimen in the next few days and frankly I can’t wait. Because of all the new growth, everything is taking longer and longer to do so when I put it away my hair care will seem like a breeze.
It is much easier for me to manage my hair under my wigs and I don’t have to tamper or manipulate it as much. Remember less manipulation equals better length retention.

So thats my hair update. How is your hair journey going? Some of you send me your progress pictures (which I really do appreciate and welcome). I am glad to see your hard work paying off.
I think I am going to start blog features soon so that ladies who are interested can share their hair journey and inspire others.
I haven’t forgotten that style pictorial which is coming up next. Stay blessed.

Lade
#bringbackourgirls