Gloria Ann sent me the below video to show how you can achieve an updo like the one on the left even if you have a TWA.
You can do this even if you have longer hair especially if, like me, you have the type of hair that does not like to be brought together in a bun because it's too thick and curly. Next time I am invited for dinner at the White House or at Number 10 - this is the 'do that I'm going to rock! Thanks Gloria Ann. Get your FREE ebook on How To Grow Long, Healthy Natural Kinky or Curly Hair.
Moisturizers come under an umbrella of many different names:
It is all the same thing! A water-based product that is applied to hair and does not need to be washed off. A moisturizer and a hair butter are very different products, however. A hair butter should not contain any water whereas a moisturizer does. If it's got water in it, it's not a hair butter, it's a moisturizer. A hair butter should be applied after a moisturizer to seal the moisture in for longer. Hair butters should not be applied to dry hair because the don't moisturize.
Overall, moisturizers fall into three distinct categories:
A mositurizer should do two things for you according to The Science of Black Hair:
The second function is performed better by following your moisturizer with a hair butter. If your moisturizer is not working get another one. Ideally, get a sample sized moisturizer if you haven't used it before because you might decide you don't like it after one use.
First things first, a moisturizer and a leave-in conditioner are exactly the same thing. It is a water-based product designed to help soften and detangle hair.
For kinky and curly hair, a moisturizer is a must. I personally use my moisturizer daily when my hair is loose so it's actually used a lot more than my rinse-off conditioner. If my hair is in twists I use it every other day. A moisturizer (leave-in conditioner) can be applied to freshly washed hair or to dry hair. I find it easier to spritz dry hair with a little water first and then apply the moisturizer. This has the added benefit of stretching the moisturizer further and therefore helping it last longer. Application To Very Dry Hair If my hair is super dry and perhaps matted I normally spritz it with water first, apply the moisturizer then cover my head in a shower cap whilst I shower and get ready. The reason for this is to soften the hair even further - it works every time. I think this is a lot better than sleeping with a shower cap over your head for the whole night long. So, How Do Leave-in Conditioners (a.k.a. Moisturizers) Actually Work on Hair? Hair is negatively charged. This means that, positively charged ingredients are needed in order to get them to attach to your hair - remember, opposites attract. Just as with a rinse-off conditioner most of a leave-in conditioner contains positively charged ingredients called "cationic polymers" and "cationic quaternary compounds". The positively charged stuff in your leave-in conditioner gets attracted to your negatively charged hair and keeps it softer and moisturized for a period of time. The positively charged ingredients in moisturizers:
Get your FREE ebook on How To Grow Long, Healthy Natural Kinky or Curly Hair. You might also like:
This recipe is for a deep conditioner. It is a gentle and fortifying conditioner for dry, thin/ thinning hair. Geranium and bergamot essential oils are both great for strengthening hair.
Heated oil phase (19%)
Heated water phase (71%)
Cool-down phase (10%)
Method
You will need two pyrex bowls because you will be creating two bain maries (a.k.a. double boilers)
Application
Storage: The shelf life is 9 to 12 months. Store in a cool, dry place.
Cetyl Alcohol is also known as Palmityl Alcohol.
Cetearyl alcohol is composed of cetyl alcohol and stearyl alcohol. All of them are fatty alcohols (and therefore oil soluble). They are a great addition to conditioners and leave-in conditioners/ moisturizers. The composition of cetearyl alcohol varies from supplier to supplier. It contains 30% or 50% or 70% cetyl alcohol and the rest is stearyl alcohol. Emulsifying & Thickening Cetyl alcohol is a thickening agent and emulsifier derived from vegetable oils, e.g. palm oil or coconut oil. Cetearyl alcohol emulsifies better than of cetyl alcohol. Keep in min the fact that, on their own, cetearyl alcohol and a cetyl alcohol do not actually bind oils to water, however, once this combination has been made they prevent the fused molecules from separating. Moisture & Conditioning Cetyl alcohol is oilier than most other alcohols giving it a moisturizing quality; this is why it is also used in conditioners. It can make hair feel thicker and softer. This moisturizing quality especially makes it useful in moisturizing shampoos. In conditioners, cetyl alcohol helps in producing a creamy texture that makes the conditioner easy to spread throughout hair. Both cetyl alcohol and ceteryl alcohol are also used in making lotions because they help to moisturize skin without creating a greasy film. In a conditioner, the scalp gets this benefit. Opacifier Cetyl alcohol is also used as an opacifier in shampoos, i.e. to make them opaque and as a foam boosting and foam stabilising agent. Detangling and slip Importantly for those of us with mega tangling issues cetyl alcohol and cetearyl alcohol help to reduce tangles by apparently 50% (source: SwiftCraftMonkey). They also make a conditioner more slippery. This is a very important quality for those with kinky-curly hair. I can never have too much slip. Finally, note that if you are using either BTMS-25 or BTMS-50 one of cetyl alchol or cetearyl alcohol is already in there but you can add some more.
I normally use BTMS-50 and have found that it plays much better with cetearyl alcohol than with cetyl alcohol. I get fewer separation when I cetearyl alcohol. As an additional advantage cetearyl alcohol is meant to be more emollient (i.e. softening) than cetyl alcohol. Usage rate: 3-5%; the more you use, the thicker your formulation. Add either cetyl alcohol or cetearyl alcohol at half the amount of the cationic compound, i.e. if you’re using 8% BTMS, add 4% of one of these fatty alcohols to get the benefits. Add it to the heated oil phase of a conditioner. Other Fatty Alcohols Other (less common) fatty alcohols you may want to look into include:
Cetrimonium chloride is a cationic quaternary compound like BTMS, incroquate CR and cetrimonium bromide. It is a water-soluble antistatic agent, surfactant and has some antimicrobial properties.
It performs a similar conditioning function to BTMS-50 and cetrimonium bromide but is not nearly as lubricating so it ideally should not be used on its own especially for dry hair types. You need to add either a humectant or a fatty alcohol to make it more conditioning.
That said, its detangling capabilities are superior to both BTMS and cetrimonium bromide. Importantly, it can be added to surfactant formulations because it is water-soluble where as BTMS-50 and cetab cannot. Cetac is a different compound to cetrimonium chloride. It is composed of:
If you have very fine, tangle-prone hair try formulating a conditioner with cetrimonium chloride on its own to see how it perform otherwise combine it with other ingredients to create a more complete conditioner, e.g. add cetyl alcohol or cetearyl alcohol or glycerin. Usage rate: 0.5% to 5% in rinse-off products; 2% can be optimal to get the detangling benefit. 2% will get rid of any silicone build-up in your hair. Check the Material Safety Data Sheet (MSDS). Usage rate in leave-on products can be as little as 0.25%, You can add cetrimonium chloride to any phase: heated oil phase, heated water phase or the cool-down phase. You may find your conditioner is less watery if you add it during the cool down phase. |
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By Heather Katsonga-Woodward
I was a natural hair blogger and mixtress living between London & Chicago from 2012 to 2017. I always thought I was 4C but some say 4B; images below - you decide! Heather xx Categories
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