The shininess of hair is determined by the way light reflects off of hair strands. Your hair type has an impact on the way this reflection works. 

• Straighter hair reflects light better than wavy, kinky, curly and coily hair types.

• In addition, however, a build up of product on the hair cuticle reduces shine. 
  

Some products that are in conditioners (both leave-in and rinse-off) are designed to be washed off during your next shampoo. So, if you are on a co-wash only regime or only ever use weaker, sulfate-free shampoos you need to be careful about the ingredients in your hair products.

If the shampoo is too weak some ingredients in your products simply won't wash off and they will accumulate on your strands with each successive application of your conditioner.

If you like your shampoo but know it's weak use a stronger one every 4 weeks to remove build up.

Now, this doesn't mean those chemicals are bad at all but that you have exceeded the amount that should be on your hair strand for them to give you their good benefits. 

A good example is silicones. Silicones actually have great benefits for hair, e.g. detangling, reducing frizz and boosting shine but some silicones can wash away with water while others will only wash off with a sufficiently strong shampoo. If you co-wash only you definitely need to know which silicones will wash off and which one will not so that you can avoid silicones that don't dissolve without a shampoo.

Why not just stop using all products with silicones?

You could absolutely do this but this would mean you also miss out on their benefits, especially their function as detangler, y'all know how tangled our curls get. Personally, I think the best solution is to improve your knowledge of silicones. Check out the following blogs.

• 
  
• What Are The Advantages And Disadvantages Of Silicones To Natural Hair?
• What Are The Best Silicones For People On A Co-Wash Regime?
• Water-Soluble Vs. Non-Soluble Silicones Found In Hair Products

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Unless you have an in-house hair specialist the only way you can grow and maintain beautiful hair is to do-it-yourself. This doesn't mean not visiting hair salons but you can't go to a salon daily and what happens in between visits contributes massively to the quality of hair you have.

You need to do lots of personal research, listen to your hair constantly and adjust your regimen quickly when something isn't working for YOU!

In terms of handling hair, I err on the side of extreme caution. I’ll explain why briefly.

My hair fell out; an involuntary big chop – when I undid the braids I had at the time, roughly 80% of the relaxed hair was simply gone.

Before March 2011 I had effortlessly gorgeous hair. I couldn’t have cared less for hair communities because I relaxed my hair to my heart’s content and it continued to grow healthily.

I was sat at home debating what to do with my hair when my sister told me I could just ‘go natural’ and nurse my hair back to health. I hadn’t even considered that. I thought relaxing my hair was a bit like drinking water, you have to do it. Since then I have been an enemy of hair salons.

I now treat my hair with reverence and I don’t feel any salon I visit has the same respect for my hair. Salons do things the way they do them and they don’t want customers walking in and telling them how to essentially do their job.

I experienced a hair trauma and on the back of it, I have developed some rules:

• I don’t like any sort of heat application; every hairdresser I have visited has insisted on blow drying. 
• I don’t comb my hair except very, very lightly when I am conditioning. Hairdressers always want to comb. 
• I handle my hair only very gently. I hate it when someone touches my hair roughly.
  

I’m quite gutsy so when I go to a salon I do politely tell them these rules before they start and I am yet to receive a positive response. The last time I let a hairdresser do my hair she complained incessantly about how much faster she could be going if she didn’t have to follow my rules. I allowed her to comb but that was it.

Maybe it’s just London and my American sisters have access to a pool of hairdressers who are more receptive to doing things a little differently and are familiar with handling natural hair.

Looking back, yes, there were many days when I looked like an absolute idiot. For instance, when my hair was short I went out and bought a sewing machine so I could sew myself a little head cap to protect my ends (see picture). I went to work looking pretty silly on many days but I guess that’s just part of the learning curve.

I was quite useless at handling my hair when I started out but I am getting better thanks to forums and YouTube videos on black hair. Doing my own hair has forced me to learn how. 

For some things, e.g. braids and corn rows I would rather go to a hairdresser but the problem is I don’t know one that will love my hair as much as I do. Is that even possible?

Ultimately, I think anyone new to natural hair should expect a fair amount of DIY. You can’t go to the hairdresser’s every day and there are things like twisting your hair before bed that you have to do when you’re natural which aren’t necessary when you have relaxed hair. 

Ultimately, however, doing your own hair is something you will grow to love.

The cells of the scalp are constantly dividing. You can't normally see this cellular division with the naked eye; however, when the moisture content of the scalp falls benath 10% the process becomes accelerated resulting in dandruff. 

I had no idea there were so many potential causes of dandruff! The good news is that poor hygiene is not one of them. Dandruff can be caused by one or more of the following:

Dehydration
Skin is hydrated from the inside out. If you needed added incentive to drink more water, there you have it.

Diet
Zinc, B vitamins and certain fatty acids are needed to balance the skin.

Dry skin increases the chance of getting dandruff. This totally makes sense because I've also seen people with dry facial skin display flaking.

Yeast sensitivity
Apparently those with yeast sensitivity find a reduction in the amount of dandruff during summer months. The reasons for this are not clear: either UVA rays from the sun counteract with the yeast or a colder climate leads to drier skin there by making dandruff more likely in winter or even a mixture of the two.

Malassezia is a fungus though to cause dandruff. This fungus is present in on both healthy skin and skin free of dandruff but those with dandruff have 1.5 to 2 times the normal level.

Skin conditions, e.g. eczema, Seborrheic dermatitis and psoriasis cause dandruff.

Parkinson's disease causes dandruff but the reasons for this are not understood.

A reaction to a product
One of your hair products may have caused skin inflammation leading to itchiness and increased scaling.

Washing your hair too often can irritate the scalp and cause dandruff too.

Not combing your hair enough!
I too was surprised by this factor. The risk that your dandruff is caused by this is only slight. It occurs because combing (and brushing) help to clear shedding of skin. I wouldn't give too much weight to this cause.

Stress! - also appears to cause dandruff so chill out ;)

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Ref. NHS, Medical News Today, 

The Science of Black Hair by Audrey Davis-Sivasothy argues that baking soda is generally too abrasive to be used as a regular shampoo for natural black hair.

However, if you have lots of build up a baking soda shampoo may be just the perfect solution for you instead of buying a clarifying shampoo.

Any alternative to baking soda?

Another alternative to the clarifying shampoo is a regular sulfate-containing shampoo. Keep in mind that sulfates are not harmful to health or hair they just too effective at cleaning so they tend to strip hair of good oils. 

If you have lots of product build-up, however, the cleaning power of a sulfate becomes appropriate.

Baking Soda Shampoo Formula

You can use this formula after a regular shampooing or in the place of it.

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons baking soda
• 1 cup warm water

Method: Mix the two ingredients. Stir to dissolve.

Application: Apply to scalp and hair. Massage in for maximum effect. Rinse out then follow with a conditioner.

Storage: Don't store. Use it all in one go.

What is the pH of baking soda?

9. It's weakly alkaline. Hair has a pH of 4.0 - 5.5 so if you use this formula you have to follow with an ACV rinse or a lemon rinse.

I would only use this recipe if you have lots of product build up. If you have used baking soda before, we'd love to know the results that you got.

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Other references:
Baking Soda for Hair