Blog Archives

Neno Natural's Growth Boosting Pre-shampoo Hot Oil Treatment

26/4/2013

A pre-shampoo hot oil treatment can boost your hair's strength and give it a healthier look and feel. Here's a great formula:

Ingredients

Honey
Essential oils: lavender, rosemary, thyme, cedarwood
Pick 2 or 3 of the following oils

-Sweet almond oil
-Argan oil
-Avocado oil or avocado butter melted
-Coconut oil
-Jojoba oil
-Olive oil

All these oils are either available in your kitchen already or in the 6 Best Oils 6 Pack which is now on Amazon at 36% off the regular price.

Method
Before you start, section and detangle your hair

Add a total of 30 ml (1 oz.) of oil to an small mixing bowl or a plastic applicator bottle. The thicker and longer your hair is, the more oil you will need.
Add an equal amount of honey, i.e. if you use 30 ml of oil, add 30 ml of honey.
Add 6-8 drops of each essential oil to the blend
Microwave for 10 seconds at a time until the mixture is very warm (not hot, otherwise you could burn yourself)
Shake/stir thoroughly
Pour a little on your hand to ensure it's not too hot
Using the applicator bottle work the hot oil through your hair including the scalp
Once your hair is fully covered, wear a showercap over your head and wrap a towel t trap in heat. Leave for 20 to 30 minutes, rinse then shampoo and condition as usual.

Your hair should feel softer and more bouncy.

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Could Your Hair Be Thinning Because you're Not Eating Enough Protein?

25/4/2013

Possibly but highly unlikely.

Hair loss and thinning is very common amongst people that have very poor nutrition and simply aren't getting enough food such as those with anorexia or victims of a famine. This occurs because their body simply isn't getting enough food of any type.

If you don't have anorexia, you could be getting inadequate protein because of the following factors:

Poor appetite
Not being adequately fed. For example if you have dementia you might need help to eat but that help may not be consistently available
Swallowing problems resulting in you under eating
Taking multiple medications that mess around with the absorption of nutrients into your body
Depression that causes you to under eat
Alcoholism that results in you eating a very unbalanced diet

According to The Science of Black Hair, low protein diets produce weak, protein deficient hair shafts. These protein deficient hair shafts [are] found to be more brittle than normal hairs, and they also lack the colour, natural curl pattern and texture of normal hairs. Protein deficiency can cause hair to stop growing all together. That said, protein deficiency is very uncommon in the Western world or even amongst the middle and upper classes in the Developing world.

Protein Sources

All meats including fish, chicken, other poultry and pork
Dark leafy vegetables, e.g. kale, collards, spinach
Whole grains including rice bran
Beans
Nuts.

Vegetables have the added benefit of containing fibre, antioxidants, many vitamins and minerals.

Get your FREE ebook on How To Grow Long, Healthy Natural Kinky or Curly Hair.

References
Protein deficiency may cause hair loss (Natural News)
Protein deficiency and hair loss (LiveStrong)

The Benefits of Cedarwood Essential Oil For Natural Hair

23/4/2013

Cedarwood essential oil is one of the key ingredients in Neno Natural's Hair Growth Stimulator. It is also a personal favourite of mine because it has been successfully used in scientific experiments to show that it does have an actual benefit to hair health and growth.

In particular, cedarwood essential oil can:

Help to treat hair loss
Make hair look healthier and richer
Help to get rid of dandruff

I use it regularly by adding a few drops to my shampoo, conditioner and homemade shea butter blends.

Get your FREE ebook on How To Grow Long, Healthy Natural Kinky or Curly Hair.

You might also like:
Which Cedarwood Essential Oil Is Best - Atlas, Chinese, Himalayan, Texas Or Virginian?

Ref:
Cedarwood Essential Oil (Herbal Essences), Cedarwood Essential Oil (Esoteric Oils), Hair Research

5 Best Products For Thin Natural Hair

22/4/2013

Thin hair vs. thick hair

I get asked this question a lot.

When we talk about thin hair we're not talking about the density of hair strands on one's head but the actual thickness of each strand of hair.

That said, the two often occur together: many people who don't have loads of hair strands on their head also have thin, individual strands of hair.

Characteristics of Thin Hair:

Breaks more easily
Doesn't curl as easily
Is easily weighed down by too much product

In summary, it is much more fragile and needs to be treated with super-reverence.

Below are products recommended by Neno Natural's Facebook fans that have experience with thin hair:

1.  Qhemet Biologics
2. Shea Moisture Baobab & Yucca
3.  Cantu Product
4.  Jane Carter
5.  Toni shana who is a stylist recommended, Ms Jessies products
6. Finally, Jamaican Black Castor Oil came up a few times as a product that works well with thin hair and can be added to a conditioner or used as a hot oil treatment.

Click any image below for more information on each product (line):

Qhemet

Cantu

Jane Carter

Ms. Jessie's

Get your FREE ebook on How To Grow Long, Healthy Natural Kinky or Curly Hair.

You might also like:
I Have Thin Natural Hair. How Do I Make It Thicker?

Hug My Hair Shea Butter Giveaway! 20-27 April 2013

20/4/2013

RRP: £12 ($18), 100ml

Hug My Hair has a simple philosophy; ‘Moisturize and Seal!’

Your hair is at its strongest and most defensive state when it is moisturized. The best and most readily available moisturizer in nature is water. After washing your hair Hug My Hair’s sealant hair butters to lock in that moisture and allow your hair to retain that strength, and enable your hair to retain that length!

Of all their conditioning sealant butters VINTAGE has received amazing reviews both online and on YouTube (by me!). Packed full of yummy ingredients such as extra virgin coconut oil, vitamin E, Jamaican black castor oil, extra virgin avocado oil, extra virgin olive oil and essential oils (to name a few), this penetrating hair butter has yet to disappoint, and Hug My Hair are giving away 3 full sized tubs, and you could be one of the lucky 3 to win one!

The giveaway will only run for a week so get ready to show off your curls! There will be three winners and each winner will receive one jar of the VINTAGE product. With this unique giveaway, here's how to enter. Get creative ladies!

Do you want to win Hug My Hair’s VINTAGE?

Here's how to enter: There are three categories, you need only enter one

1. Longest Natural Hair

Post a photo showing us the length of your natural hair to Twitter and hashtag it with #hugmyhairLNH. Follow @ClassyCurlies

OR email your photo to [email protected] putting the category name as the ‘subject’.

2. Best Protective Style

Post a photo showing your best/most creative protective style to Twitter and hashtag it with #hugmyhairBPS. Follow @ClassyCurlies

OR email your photo to [email protected] putting the category name as the ‘subject’.

3. Best Teeny Weeny Afro

Post a photo showing us your super cute TWA to Twitter and hashtag it with #hugmyhairTWA. Follow @ClassyCurlies

OR email your photo to [email protected] putting the category name as the ‘subject’.

***You must be a registered hugmyhair.com member to enter.***
Click here to join now—it takes less than a minute!

Terms & Conditions

You must be a registered hugmyhair.com member to enter.
This contest is open to everyone in the UK and internationally.
Winners will be contacted via email from [email protected], if our team does not hear back within 24 hours; a new winner will be selected in your place.
Limit one comment per entry. Multiple comment entries will not be considered.
Contest begins 20th April 2013 and ends at midnight on April 27th 2013.

Hug My Hair will announce winners on Sunday, April 28th 2013. Good luck everyone!

Get your FREE ebook on How To Grow Long, Healthy Natural Kinky or Curly Hair.

The Disadvantages of Glycerine For Natural Hair?

19/4/2013

Overall, glycerine is great when applied to natural hair and can provide many benefits. However, there is one key fact you should remember when you use glycerine and two relatively minor ones.

Key disadvantage

Glycerine is affected by weather conditions especially heat and humidity so the results you get in summer may be different to those achieved during winter.

It is better to use glycerine when it is normal to mildly humid and when the temperature is quite warm not hot.

This is because when the weather is very dry there isn't enough water in the general environment for the glycerin in your hair to attract; it might compensate for this by actually taking much needed moisture out of your hair and therefore drying it out! If it is very humid, glycerine might attract so much water to your hair causing it to frizz!

Other disadvantages

Glycerine can be made from animal or vegetable fat. If you don't like using animal fats on your hair then you should always look out for "vegetable glycerine".
If you use too much glycerine it will make your hair very sticky and if you have thin hair too much product will weigh down your hair and impact the curl pattern you achieve.

Those are the key disadvantages of glycerine for hair application. Overall, keep in mind that spring and autumn are good months for glycerine, the heights of summer and winter are not.

Get your FREE ebook on How To Grow Long, Healthy Natural Kinky or Curly Hair.

Ref. blackgirllonghair

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What Is Glycerine? Why's It Good For Natural Hair?

What Is Glycerine? Why's It Good For Natural Hair?

18/4/2013

Glycerine soap

Glycerine or glycerin (or even Glycerol) is a colorless, odorless, sweet-tasting, sticky, thickish sugar alcohol that is widely used in hair and body products. It can either be obtained from natural sources or be produced synthetically.

Natural glycerin is derived from fats and oil such as coconut oil or palm oil. It can also be made from animal fat so if you are concerned about that you should look for “vegetable glycerin”. Synthetic glycerin is derived from petroleum. Most glycerin worldwide comes from natural sources.

Glycerine is hygroscopic, this means that it can attract and hold water molecules from the surrounding environment. This also means it is a humectant, it helps to retain moisture. The key benefits of glycerine for hair are:

It helps to seal in moisture.
It strengthens hair and can help to prevent natural hair from breaking, unfortunately it does not have a similar benefit for relaxed hair. (Effect of chemical and humectant treatments on the mechanical and fractographic behavior of Negroid hair, Journal of the Society of Cosmetic Scientists, 1985, pages 39-52).
It is relatively natural (especially if derived from vegetable oils) and in the amounts applied to hair it is not toxic.
It mixes easily with many other chemicals and is therefore an easy ingredient to add to moisturisers and other hair products.
It can also be used to relieve a dry, flaky scalp.

When included in a product glycerin increases the viscosity of the formulation, i.e. it makes a watery blend thicker. It can also help improve the lather of a shampoo.

Interestingly, did you know that if glycerin is left in an open unsealed jar or container it would continue too attract water molecules until it contained 20% water? I find that fascinating!

Glycerin can draw moisture out of hair so it is ideal to keep the volume of glycerin in any leave-on formulation under 10%, 5% and under is even better. If you are going to be rinsing the product off as with a shampoo or conditioner then you can add more if you wish.

Get your FREE ebook on How To Grow Long, Healthy Natural Kinky or Curly Hair.

You might also like:
The Disadvantages Of Glycerine For Natural Hair?

Ref. wisegeek, wikipedia, blackgirllonghair

Are All Sulfate Shampoos As Harsh As Each Other?

16/4/2013

This was probably the very first lesson that I learnt as a natural haired girl - avoid sulfates, they dry hair out! However, if you look deeply into the subject firstly, not all sulfate-containing shampoos are as harsh as each other; secondly, not all sulfate-free shampoos are gentle - confusing, I know.

According to the Science of Black Hair, "Ammonium lauryl and laureth sulfates (ALS) are harshest and tend to be the best cleansers, followed by sodium lauryl and laureth sulfates (SLS) respectively. TEA laureth sulfate and sodium myreth sulfate are gentler sulfate detergents."

Importantly, some sulfate-free shampoos contain so many cleansers that although each one on its own is gentle, in combination the shampoo becomes more harmful than a sulfate containing shampoo!

To stress my point look at the ingredients listed on the right. These are all in L'Oreal's Everstrong Hydrate Hair Sulfate-Free Shampoo. Everything in bold is a detergent or "surfactant" to use the fancy term and I don't even know what the rest of the stuff in there is; this bottle is pumped full of chemicals. With a sulfate-free shampoo this packed with chemicals you may as well just purchase a regular sulfate "moisturising" shampoo. It will cost far less and won't dry your hair out that much either.

On the other hand, Kinky Curly's Knot Today only has Cocamidopropyl Betaine and most Aubrey Organics shampoos have the even gentler Decyl Glucoside. These are good sulfate-free shampoos. Three gentle cleansers you might want to buy:

L'Oreal's Everstrong Hydrate Hair Sulfate-Free Shampoo:

Aqua/Water/Eau, Sodium Cocoyl Isethionate, Sodium Lauryl Sulfoacetate, Disodium Laureth Sulfosuccinate, Sodium Lauroyl Sarcosinate, Cocamidopropyl Betaine, Glycol Distearate, Glycereth-26, Decyl Glucoside, Parfum/Fragrance, PPG-5-Ceteth-20, Divinyldimethicone/Dimethicone Copolymer, Amodimethicone, Polyquaternium-7, PEG-55 Propylene Glycol Oleate, Propylene Glycol, Polyquaternium-10, Methylparaben, Carbomer, C11-15 Pareth-7, Benzyl Salicylate, Hexyl Cinnamal, Glycerin, Trideceth-12, Laureth-9, Linalool, Tocopherol, Limonene, C12-13 Pareth-23, C12-13 Pareth-3, 2-Oleamido-1, 3-Octadecanediol, Benzyl Alcohol, Juniperus Communis Oil/Juniperus Communis Fruit Oil, Methylchloroisothiazolinone, Rosmarinus Officinalis Leaf Oil/Rosemary Leaf Oil, Methylisothiazolinone, Sodium Hydroxide, Citric Acid.

Get your FREE ebook on How To Grow Long, Healthy Natural Kinky or Curly Hair.

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5 Awesome Moisturisers For Natural Hair

15/4/2013

I find that whipped, creamy butters are much more effective for application on dry hair. And firmer, unwhipped shea butters that haven't been blended with water are better for sealing in moisture after you've just washed your hair. Here are products I have used and like and a few that I would like to use:

Luv Naturals Leave-In Conditioner

1. Leave-in conditioners

I didn't realise until recently that leave-in conditioners are just another type of moisturiser. You can apply most of them to your dry hair daily after you've spritzed your hair with water.

My two favourite leave-in conditioners are currently:

Kinky Curly Knot Today (KCKT) and
LUV Naturals Leave-in conditioner. Luv Naturals is only available in the US.

2. Darcy's Botanicals Avocado and Honey Twisting Cream

A great product. So good on my hair that I have two YouTube videos on it! Watch them:

3. Beautiful Textures Moisture Butter

This is next on my "hit list" - all the ingredients are natural and it's coming in at $14 for an 8 oz (230 ml) jar. Slightly expensive but sometimes there are sales on the product allowing you to obtain it for just $7. That said $14 isn't bad at all given it should last a long while. I would like to try the entire Beautiful Textures range.

4. Oyin Handmade Whipped Shea Butter

This is another one on the hit list. It's only $10 for 4 oz. or $16 for 8 oz. on Amazon.com. At that price it is definitely worth a try especially as Oyin consistently get rave customer reviews.

5. Palmers Coconut Oil Hair Milk, 8.5 oz

At just shy of $5 on Amazon.com this product is definitely on the cheap side for natural hair products. If you have thin hair it appears to be light so it shouldn't weigh your curls down. 8.5 ounces should last at least four months if only one person is using the bottle.

If you are in the UK and looking for moisturisers, check out this blog.

Get your FREE ebook on How To Grow Long, Healthy Natural Kinky or Curly Hair.

How To Reduce Your Natural Hair's Porosity?

12/4/2013

Reducing your hair's porosity will help you retain moisture better and for longer. There are four things you can do to reduce porosity:

1. Do a pre-shampoo treatment.
2. Never shampoo without following up with a conditioner.
3. Rinse hair after your wash routine using a lemon rinse or an apple cider vinegar rinse.
4. Always seal in moisture via the LCO or LOC method.

Pre-poos
A pre-shampoo treatment, e.g. a detangling conditioner or even the application of an oil high in saturated fats (e.g. coconut oil) or very high in monounsaturated fats (e.g. jojoba oil) makes hair more pliable and reduces hygral fatigue. The oil or conditioner goes into the hair fibre so that it doesn't swell as much when it is wet with water.

Conditioners
Conditioner are designed to be more acidic than shampoos. Acidity causes the hair cuticle to tighten and contract. Porosity falls and moisture retention is much better post-conditioner than it is post-shampoo.

ACV and Lemon Rinse
Both ACV and lemons are acidic. They are much more acidic than hair so they need to be diluted in water before being run through hair.

Sealing In Moisture
Once you have applied a moisturiser it is always better to follow up with a shea butter and or an oil to give the moisture the best chance of staying within your hair. Some hair types are sealed better using the LOC method and other hair types retain moisture much more effective if the LCO method is applied:

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