Lade September 7, 2014

WASH & TRIM DAY FAIL

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 +.

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

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.

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.

Lade
Learn | Change | Grow

Lade August 27, 2014

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

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.

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

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??

Lade
Learn|Change|Grow

Lade July 21, 2014

FIT FOR GROWTH – How Exercise Helps With Hair Growth

Hello ladies

Majority of the posts on Hairducation focus on how we should care for our hair externally for us to retain hair length. I have mentioned vaguely that being healthy internally is also very important for hair growth however I haven’t really delved into this deeply.
I recently began exercising more regularly. I’ve been trying to exercise two or three times a week for about 3 months and noticed that I seemed to have more new growth than usual. This reminded me of how improved overall health really does facilitate healthy hair growth.

In this blog post, I will set out the positive effects of exercise on hair growth and the types of exercise that facilitate hair growth.

HOW EXERCISE AFFECTS HAIR GROWTH

1) Improved Overall Health

Exercise is very beneficial to our entire bodies. Regular exercise strengthens our cardiovascular systems, reduces risk of sickness and some medical conditions that may affect hair growth. Having a healthy body is a good basis for growing healthy hair, nail fibres and naturally glowing skin. The healthier we are, the better our bodies will function which includes growing strong and healthy hair.

2) Stress Reduction

Exercise is a good way to reduce stress and stress is bad for our hair.
Cortisone is a hormone our bodies produces when we are stressed out. In some extreme cases, can lead high levels of shedding and alopecia.
Exercising on the other hand causes our bodies to produce a hormone called serotonin which helps to reduce stress. The less stressed out we are, the healthier we are likely to be and as point one above noted, healthy bodies produce healthy hair.

3) Better Cell Regeneration

Our cells regenerate whilst we are sleeping. There is increased production of new cells and slower breakdown of protein during deep sleep. Remember that proteins are needed for cell growth and that our hair is made up of mostly protein.
Regular exercise over a pre-longed period helps us sleep better. Better sleep results in better cell regeneration/renewal. This improves our overall health, how we feel and how we look (better looking skin and good hair and nail growth). Its called beauty sleep for a reason

4) Better Nourished Hair Follicles

Each hair follicle (hair root) has blood vessels that nourish it by supplying it with nutrients and oxygen. The supply of nutrients and oxygen to the hair follicles is necessary for hair growth to occur.
Exercising increases our body temperature and increases blood flow and circulation to our skin and scalp. More blood flow results in more nutrients and oxygen being delivered to our scalp. This in turn encourages more hair growth.

Best Exercises for Hair Growth

Cardio

Cardio exercises such as brisk walking or running, cycling, dance and aerobics classes, etc, will increase your temperature and get blood pumping through your body and to your scalp. Incorporating 30 minutes of cardio exercises two or three times a week will do you and your hair a world of good.

Yoga

Exercises which involve inverted poses or back bends will increase blood flow to the head and scalp.
Yoga is believed to be great for promoting hair growth because it involves many types of inverted poses such as sun salutations, downward facing dog, shoulder stands, etc. Yoga is also very calming and is great for reducing stress levels.
I have practiced yoga and pilates on and off for about 7 years and I think it has so many awesome physical benefits. It makes you feel more supple, improves your posture, you stand, walk and sit better and feel strengthened overall.

Whilst exercising, it is important to keep your hair in a confined style (bun, high ponytail) or covered with appropriate head wear to keep it protected and minimise it coming in contact with sweat. Ensure you keep up with your hair regimen to keep your hair and scalp cleaned and well conditioned. Obviously when exercise you sweat more you don’t want to start skipping wash days and leave all that sweat residue on your scalp and hair.

I hope I keep up with my exercise regimen and once I am fully settled and committed to it, I intend to tackle my diet. I guess I am just going through a “eat right, live right, feel right” phase….but I am hoping I can make it a new habit. I stuck to a healthy hair journey so maybe it’s time I take on another positive challenge.

Is anyone with me? Have you recently started or would you like to start exercising? Are you a little bit more motivated because of all the good it can do for your hair???

Happy hair journey ladies

Lade

Learn | Change | Grow

Lade July 8, 2014

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.

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.

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?

Lade
Learn | Change | Grow

Lade June 30, 2014

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

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.

SHAPE OF OUR HAIR STRANDS

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.

Lade
Learn | Change | Grow

#bringbackourgirls