Lade December 11, 2013

MISTAKES I’VE MADE ALONG THE WAY

I believe there are two ways to learn from other people. You can learn from what a person has done right and you can also learn from the mistakes they have made.
In this post, I will set out some of the mistakes I’ve made over the years on my hair journey.

Mistakes I’ve Made With Research

I’ve said time and again that I spent 3 months researching before I officially started my hair journey. The key mistake I made at the beginning of my journey was that I ignored some aspects of the research.
For instance, I carried on using sulphate shampoos. I thought that since I would be deep conditioning afterwards, the harshness of the sulphates on my hair would be overridden.
Also I carried on blow drying with heat. I thought surely heat once a week can’t be that bad.
However, I noticed a vast difference in how my hair felt and progressed when I cut out direct heat and switched to sulphate free shampoos.

Mistakes I Made With Technique

I did not review and update my techniques as I progressed on my hair journey.
Up to when I was APL, I could wash my hair without putting it in braids. When my hair got longer, it would tangle badly on wash days. Rather than reviewing my regimen, I would spend hours detangling my hair. However when I started to lose more hair than I was comfortable with I was had to re-evaluate the situation. I realised that the only thing that had changed was the length of my hair.
I did a little research and quickly learned that longer hair tends to tangle more than shorter hair on wash days and that a way to overcome this was to wash it in box braids (calabar). I tried it out and it worked like a charm.
Ladies as you progress on your hair journey, when a product or technique is no longer working for you; review, regroup and carry on.

Mistakes I Made With Products

There are two mistakes I made with hair products.

1)The first is that I did not give some products enough chance. I gave up on them and later realised that I had been using them incorrectly, eg, using too much or too little of the product.

2)The second mistake I made with products is that I gave up on products that worked well on my hair because they contained some ingredients I was trying to avoid like mineral oil and petroleum.
I switched from a conditioner that contained them to one that didn’t. The new one did not seem to work for my hair so I tried other conditioners that didn’t contain petroleum or mineral oil. Again they just didn’t seem to do much for my hair, so I went back to my Motions Moisture Plus which seems to keep my hair happy even though it contains some ingredients I am not too keen on.
My advice when it come to products is this: always try the products that are mineral oil and petroleum free first, if they are not working for you and you have a product that works for you but contains mineral oil/petroleum, you can go back to using it BUT keep an eye out for a better product, ie one that doesn’t contain such ingredients and works well on your hair.

Mistakes I Made With Styling

When my hair was shorter there were so many cute protective styles I could have rocked but didn’t because I was too focused on growing longer hair. Now when try to create some of those styles it doesn’t look quite right.

Mistake I Made About Black Hair

Early on in my hair journey, I thought that when my hair became long and healthy I would be able to do all the things you aren’t supposed to do to black hair.
I thought I would be able to use a curling iron every day, and leave it down all the time and comb it till my hand ached. For some reason I thought being successful on a hair journey would give me a licence to do all these things to my hair.
Healthy black hair is still BLACK HAIR!
Healthy black hair (relaxed or natural) is still delicate, cannot tolerate heat abuse, must still be handled with care and protected. Being on a hair journey will not turn the hair you grow to Brazilian, Peruvian or hair of another race.

The point of hair journey (in my opinion) is that at last, all the myths about black hair can be set aside and we as black women LEARN to give our hair what it needs.

So if you are natural, be aware of what your hair needs and how to take care of it.
If you are relaxed, learn what relaxed hair needs and how to take care of it.
The same applies to ladies with coloured or locked hair.

Off course their are black ladies out there who wash their hair with anything and always wear it down and don’t even deep condition but still have butt length hair. These ladies are exceptions, I think we all no too well what happens to a lot of us when we don’t care for our hair.

I hope you learn something from my mistakes.
Happy hair journey ladies.

X

Lade

Learn | Change | Grow.

Lade December 6, 2013

HAIR BY TYPE 4 – THE “R” COLLECTION

Hello Ladies

I am so happy and excited to write and share this post. At last I can show a few pictures of some of the wigs in the R Collection.
I can also share the news that Hair by Type 4 is featured in the current issue of Exquisite Magazine Nigeria.

Back in August, a writer and stylist for the magazine wanted to set up a photo shoot titled “Proudly Nigerian”. I loved the perspective of the article which was aimed at showing that Nigerian design was not limited to “Ankara, tribal designs” or clothes. The article would then feature some Nigerian designers whose work dispelled this stereotype and showcase some of their work.
My sister and I are so happy and honoured to be featured.

So the shoot was held at the end of August however, the issue we were featured in was only published at the end of November. Clearly I could not share any of the pictures until the issue was out. As a matter of fact, we did not see any of the pictures till we got our copy of the magazine.
We are very pleased with how the pictures turned out. Our only minor concern was that the lighting on some parts of the wigs could be brighter, especially at the top /crown areas.

We are currently setting up our independent shoot that will show the wigs up close and in more detail. After the photo shoot, I will put up our official pictures and the price list of the wigs in the R collection.
Thanks for all the support and interest you have shown as my sister and I embark on this entrepreneurial journey.
A big thank you also to the clients we have made custom wigs for.

Top row left – The “Racy” wig
Top row right – The Romance wig
Bottom centre- Wig created for the shoot (this may be added to the R Collection in the future)

Top left – my sister, Tayo and I.

Tayo (in the blue dress) is wearing a wig made with Brazilian hair. Her wig is over 5 years old and is still going strong.

I am wearing the Romance wig, at the time of the shoot the wig was a year old. I washed and conditioned it. Put some bendy sticks in it and it was good to go.

Well so there you have it, a sneak peek. Let me know what you think.

X

Lade

Learn | Change | Grow

Lade December 1, 2013

HAIRSTYLE PICTORIAL – Embracing The Natural in Me

Hello ladies,

I noted in my last hair update that I am 14 weeks post and have a lot of new growth.
I had an outing and had to find a style that would work with my natural roots and relaxed ends.

I ‘am not sure if I’ve mentioned this before, but I actually don’t really enjoy wearing my hair down. One of the main reasons I wanted long hair so badly was because I wanted my up-do’s to be huge and massive.

So whenever I have a lot of new growth, I see it as an opportunity to create hairstyles inspired by all the beautiful natural haired ladies I stalk online.

I created and wore this style to a Nikkah last weekend and decided to do a pictorial of it to share with you.
You should be able to re-create this style with collar bone length hair and longer.
Ladies with shorter hair can get creative and come up with similar styles using hair pins.

THE PICTORIAL

THE FINISHED LOOK

HAIR + STYLE

What do you think? Would you rock this natural hair inspired protective style?

I have a great post coming up very soon.
I’ve been so eager to share some pictures since August but wasn’t able to for reasons I will explain.
At last, I am able to share them with you all.
(hint – they are pictures of some of the wigs in the Hair by Type 4- R Collection)

Hopefully you’ll be back soon to see them.

x

Lade

Learn | Change | Grow

Lade November 30, 2013

BED HAIR- HOW I PROTECT MY HAIR AT NIGHT

Hello ladies,
I cant even begin to explain all the technical hiccups I’ve had recently. I am just glad I am able to start blogging again. The good thing is I have a backlog of posts to share which I will put up together at the same time. Hopefully that will make up for my recent absence.

So on with the first post.

I have been asked by several readers to share my night time hair regimen.
I don’t wrap my hair around my head in a circular motion for the following reasons

1) I would have to use a comb to wrap the hair round my head. I avoid combing my hair more than once a week. Therefore nightly combing is a big no no for me.

2) A lot of ladies who wrap their hair round their hair at night do so because they intend to wear it down the next day and want it to be crease free. I hardly wear my hair down because I love buns and up-dos. I wear protective styles majority of the time so I do not mind if my hair has a few creases it when I wake up in the morning and remove my scarf.

What I do with my hair at night is known as a cross wrap.

WHAT IS CROSS WRAPPING

1) Moisturise and seal my hair. Part it into two with my fingers.

2) Take one half and wrap it round the opposite side towards the front of my head.

3) Use a clip secure the hair at the front

4 &5) Repeat 2 and 3 with the other half.

6) Cover hair with a satin scarf and tie loosely

7) Slide out the clips gently

8) Adjust the front of the scarf to ensure that no hair is sticking out and tighten scarf

With cross wrapping I have some bends or creases in my hair when I wake up the following day but I don’t mind.

Please note that cross wrapping is not the only way to protect your hair at night. I am just sharing what I do with my hair and what works for me.

I hope you have found this helpful.

Stay tuned for a hair style pictorial coming up in a few minutes ( as long as my laptop co-operates)

x

Lade

Learn | Change | Grow

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