If you transition from relaxed hair to natural hair the temptation is to treat your new hair texture in exactly the same way as the old. However, the two are different and need different products and hair routines. Compared to relaxed hair:
1. Natural hair tends to dry out if not regularly and properly moisturised. This is because sebum has trouble moving up kinks, curls and coils compared to straight hair. You will need to try out several hair moisturising techniques before you discover what works. 2. Wet natural hair takes a lot longer to dry than relaxed hair. This is because it tends to be less porous than relaxed hair, that is, the cuticle is stronger and more compact on natural hair. This may tempt some to blow dry regularly but don't do it! Just let it air dry. Wash your hair during the weekend when you have time to let it air dry. Just to give you an idea, if I complete washing my hair by midday on Sunday, if it's drying in twists or plaits it can still be damp on Monday morning; I kid you not. If it's a sunny day or if the heating in the house is on high it dries faster. 3. Natural hair has a higher protein content than relaxed hair. This is because the process of relaxing strips hair of protein. The result is that many black hair care products on the market contain a very high amount of protein to compensate for this. Some protein is needed to replace that lost during styling but certainly not as much as products for relaxed hair contain.
As a result, you will probably find that the products that worked when your hair was relaxed don't work well at all on natural hair. If you're looking for products that your hair will love get the natural-ingredients-rich Neno Natural product line.
4. Natural hair hates combs with small teeth and rollers with lots of bristles. Instead, go for wide-tooth combs to detangle hair with minimal breakage and resistance.
5. Natural has better length retention potential
This is an empirical observation on my part. I used to be one of those people that thought black hair does not grow as fast or as long as white hair but that was wrong. What I didn't realise is that relaxed hair needs a lot of care and attention to grow beyond the shoulders and so appears not to grow after a certain point; relaxed hair can tend to grow to shoulder length and then gets "stuck". With many in the natural hair community taking better care of their hair you will see that many YouTubers reveal great length when they stretch their hair. There also many pictures on Facebook to this effect. Natural Hair Growth Tip 12 - What is protective styling and why is it important for growth?24/2/2016
Your hair is always growing: fact.
On average, hair grows 1/3 to 1/2 an inch per month so you should get 4 to 6 inches of growth every year. Protective styling involves using styles that protect and hide your ends from damage so that you retain more length. How long can you expect your hair to continue growing for? On average 4 to 7 years. Everyone has a different growth cycle. This means that if your growth cycle is 4 years and your hair grows at 4 inches a year your maximum potential is 16 inches. This means that you cannot aspire to have more than 16 inches of growth ever. With trims this should be about 13 to 14 inches. Now, some people have a really short growth cycle of 1 year, 4 to 7 years is just average and the lucky few have a growth cycle of upto 10 years. Those long-haired people that make it to the Guinness book of world records probably fall into the latter category. Even with 4 inches per year, 10 years of growth is 40 inches of hair - wowza! If you feel like your hair is not growing it simply means your hair is not retaining length, that is, it is breaking off at the ends or you have reached your maximum possible. So if you have a 1 year cycle at 4 inches per annum then 4 inches is your maximum potential growth, genetically. This is very rare, you probably have a longer cycle. Will your hair grow longer if you use protective styling rather than if you don't? Yes and no. If you use protective styles and all your other hair care practices are poor then your hair won't grow to its maximum potential. For instance if you keep braids in for far too long and forget to wash and moisturise them regularly. Or if you use excessive amounts of heat and have an atrocious diet then your hair will suffer. However, if you take care of hair and make smart use of protective styles then you will retain more length
Heat! This is one of the top contentious issues regarding natural hair, everyone has their own opinion and that is A-okay as long you know what is fact and what is opinion. I'ma lay it to you straight:
FACTS Heat can damage hair in one of two ways:
OPINIONS One or two blow dries per month is enough I think one or two blow dries per month is enough for my type of 4C hair. My hair is quite strong but I think anymore than this would just lead to a dry, brittle mess. In fact, this is my max and I use blow driers even less than this. No, thanks to straighteners Since I went natural straighteners have only been used once, on my wedding day (11.11.11). Because they apply such direct heat to hair I think they're not worth the risk. HALF FACT, HALF OPINION Avoid heat, air dry as often as possible Yes, less heat is better than more heat but how much less depends on your particular hair. Course hair can take more heat without damage than thin hair. If you going to use heat use these 9 Tips to blow dry your natural hair gently - no more breakage!
Lucky are those that big chop on impulse. In a moment of frustration they either pick up a pair of scissor or walk into a barber’s shop and chop their hair off. I’m not one of those girls.
I have long-admired people that go for the bald look and wondered what I would look like without hair. I imagined I’d enjoy it because there would be so little maintenance involved but I also imagined I’d look really weird without hair – my precious hair. Many of us deliberate the big chop like this;should I or shouldn’t I. We want the look but somehow convince ourselves that it won’t look as good on us as it does on others so we don’t. Indeed, after telling fans I’d chop my hair off on 1-Jan-2015, I chickened out. I couldn’t do it – there was too much going on, I told myself; like chopping your hair off takes any time at all. And so, I waited another year and it is in this year I came up with a strategy that helpedme go for the big chop. Hopefully it will help you too,if this is your heart’s desire:
The Night Before Whether you are giving the hair away or keeping it, you want it to be clean. So the day or night before the BC wash and condition your hair thoroughly, moisturize it and twist it. The Day Of The Big Chop With your twists in place go to a barber shop. I don’t recommend cutting your own hair if it’s something you’ve never done before. If you’re doing it for a good cause most barbers will do it for free, they did it for free for me. Ask the barber to chop each twist off neatly and hand it to you before he shaves your head completely, then smile and enjoy the shave. I went for a “1” hair cut – basically, very bald, however you can leave more if you prefer. How Will You Feel Once It’s Done? A mixture of strange and great:strange because you won’t even recognize yourself but also great because, for some reason, you feel like you’ve been released from some kind of a prison. Many describe the feeling as liberated. Either liberated from society’s ideal of beauty or liberated from hair management, a task that enslaves many girls. Anyhow, if you have any BC stories, I’d love to hear them. Make a comment.
There are three things you want to protect against when you go to bed:
The solutions are simple:
When my hair was medium length (i.e. up until just over two years of growth) I didn't always twist it before bed so I did have to deal with matting sometimes. Matting was not excessive every time but as my hair grew longer it became a real problem so I stopped going to bed without twisting my hair, even after a long night out! Matting gets worse and worse the more nights you go to bed without twisting your hair.
What is a wash and go?
A wash and go involves washing, conditioning and moisturising hair and leaving your hair as it is without stretching. Wash & Go hair is usually loose Normally, after the washing process you would plait, twist or curl hair in order to stretch it. With a wash and go you cut the stretching stage out. Why would you want to do a wash and go?
What is the disadvantage of a wash and go? Massive shrinkage. By day two I find that my hair has shrunk so much that the styles I can do are very limited. In my opinion, wash and gos last longer on looser curl types (4B, 4A, 3C and lower) as even after a few days the curls are loose enough to achieve a variety of styles which is not the case for my 4C hair. Note that I have looser curls up front and at the back but most of my head is 4C. How can you make a wash and go last longer? Use gel! I find that a good quality gel such as a homemade flaxseed gel makes curls last longer with less shrinkage. That said, by day four you would find that your hair is very shrunken and in need of a shampoo and condition. You might not even be able to just co-wash because of the buildup of the gel. As your hair gets longer you might find that wash and gos don't work as well even on 4B hair or even 4A hair. It all depends... if you haven't tried washing and going, it's definitely worth a try. Natural Hair Growth Tip 8 - Dealing With Shrinkage and Stretching Natural Hair Without Heat13/1/2016
What's wrong with shrinkage?
There's nothing inherently wrong with shrinkage but it causes irritation for some because:
How can you stretch hair? When your hair is wet, typically after your weekly wash and deep condition there are many techniques you can use to stretch it:
If your hair is dry dampen it a little before stretching. Dry hair does not stretch well. Why not just stretch natural hair with a blow dry? You could but heat damages hair over time so many people prefer to avoid heat styling where possible. Remember that heat damage is cumulative so every time you apply heat you increase the amount of damage done the last time. If your heat use is very irregular you're fine but with regular use you'll quickly notice the toll on your hair.
If you're too aggressive in dealing with knots and tangles you'll get unnecessary breakage, snagging and frustration!
To detangle hair effectively here are a few tips:
How can you avoid tangles?
Tangles and hair length? Long hair tangles more than short hair. My hair got a lot more knotty and tangly as is it grew longer. Tangles and curl pattern: very curly hair will tend to tangle more than less curly hair. Tangles and hair thickness: Thick hair will tend to tangle more than thinner hair. You might also like: Natural Hair Growth Tip 6 - Combing! When, How, How much?
Why would I, someone whose income comes from hair, shave my hair off? This is why…
In December 2014 I was fortunate enough to have my whole family come from Malawi to England to enjoy the birth of my son, Chester. They all came at different times. My sister, Yolie and her son Christopher arrived first, on 8-Dec. My aunt Jayne picked them up from the airport and when they got to the house I was surprised to see that Yolie’s legs were so swollen that she couldn’t walk. She’s naturally skinny so it was very obvious. She said her legs had swollen up en route. We all thought it was just the weird air conditions in a flight. She has lupus and is therefore prone to her legs swelling up at times. Aunt Jayne (a former nurse) said she’d come by the next day to take her to A&E just to check if everything was alright. When they got to A&E the doctor that saw them said that the swelling in her legs would go down, it’s going to be fine and she should just go home. As far as he was concerned, it was just another migrant trying to use the British health system for free.
My aunt insisted that my sister had left home healthy and was now in this state so they should at least run some bloods. A more senior doctor agreed. Begrudgingly, the first doctor took bloods and told them to go to a café or something whilst they waited for the results.
When they got back he was in a state of panic. He was pacing up and down asking essentially, “where the hell they’d been?!” At 38 weeks pregnant I was at home babysitting my nephew so I wasn’t privy to these events as they unfolded. Her bloods were not normal. Her potassium was 7.2 when the normal level was 3.5-4.5. Not only that but she was in a severe state of acidosis caused by kidney failure. The reason he was going nuts was that he’d never actually witnessed that level of metabolic derangement in a living being. He said in another 3 hours she would likely be dead. My sister has had lupus since 2010 but you’d never guess from her spirits. She is so positive and spritely all the time. Even on this day you wouldn’t have known the pain she was going through. In the end, she spent about 3 weeks in hospital when she was meant to be on holiday. Some of these days were in the intensive care unit and the resultant total bill which my parents have been paying ever since was about £12,000 ($20,000). My sister’s kidneys are affected by lupus and she now lives with the support of kidney dialysis twice a week (reduced from 3 times a week). So tomorrow, 2-Jan-2015, I am shaving my head to raise money into research to find a cure for lupus. Every little counts, so please give whatever you can. No amount is too small.
What is lupus?
Lupus is an autoimmune condition in which something goes wrong with the immune system and healthy cells and in many cases vital organs are attacked by one’s own body. Who gets Lupus? According to lupus.org:
My sister has systemic lupus and one year ago nearly died due to the complication of kidney failure. She survives day to day with the help of dialysis twice a week and I am hoping and praying that a cure is found soon so that one day she might be able to live a normal life again for her and her son. Every little counts, so please give whatever you can. No amount is too small. BIG FAVOUR: please share my JustGiving page. |
I now blog about wealth creation - so if you have any money questions meet me there, you can do all sorts of cool things like leave me a voicemail.
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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