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Does Hair Grow Thicker & Faster In Pregnancy?

25/11/2014

 
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PictureCheck out Queen Shamika's Hair Journey & Regimen
Every person you ask will tell you a slightly different story, however, there is a scientific reason behind the observation that hair grows a little thicker and faster during pregnancy. Firstly, you need to remember the hair growth phases:

HAIR GROWTH PHASES


All hair has three growth phases:

1. Anagen phase: hair growth


Can last 1 to 10 years, but is 4 to 7 years on average. According to The Science of Black Hair, 88% of the hairs on your head are in the anagen (growth) phase at any one time.

2. Catagen phase: hair resting

Lasts anywhere from 4 weeks to 4 months; 1% of the hairs on your head are currently in the catagen (resting) phase.

3. Telogen phase: hair shedding

11% of the hairs on your head are currently in the telogen (shedding) phase. These hairs either come out on their own or are pulled out during styling. If you have braids or dreadlocks the shed hairs don't fall out because they are restricted from doing so.

PictureCheck out Queen Roshell D's Hair Journey & Regimen
It is normal to lose 50 to 100 hairs per day if you are not pregnant. The average head of hair has 100,000 hairs on it so don't worry this is not enough for you to go bald.

What Happens To Hair Growth Phases DURING Pregnancy

When you get pregnant the surge in hormones causes hair to get locked in the hair resting phase and normal shedding does not occur. That is, the telogen phase is prevented from occurring during pregnancy. In fact, according to AmericanPregnancy.org “during pregnancy, an increased number of hairs go into the resting phase.” I interpret this to mean more hairs than usual.

I recently braided my hair and the amount of hair on the comb after a blow dry was ridiculous; it was literally nothing. I would expect to shed 6 or 7 times what I saw on the comb without worrying but I lost very little.

I had just washed and conditioned using the Queen of Kinks product line and I would have loved to put it all down to that but I knew pregnancy had a lot to do with it.

Pregnancy Vitamins

In addition, many pregnant women are encouraged to take pregnancy vitamins especially in more developed economies. These help to nourish hair and aid in hair growth.

If you’re not taking vitamins, a deficiency might occur because more of your resources are taken up by the development of your baby. In this case you can incur hair loss during pregnancy despite the surge in hormones that stop the shedding process.

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What Happens To Hair Growth Phases AFTER Pregnancy

According to AmericanPregnancy.org the most common period of pregnancy related hair loss occurs approximately three after the delivery. Hair that was trapped in the resting phases during pregnancy may even all fall out at once! Ouch. This is apparently normal and hair does return to its normal growth cycle within 6 to 12 months of delivery.

What is Telogen Effluvium?

This whole process in which hair sheds “excessively” following birth is called Telogen Effluvium. It can happen 1 to 5 months after pregnancy but as mentioned above the 3 month point is the most common time when it happens.

Do all mothers experience Telogen Effluvium?

No, just 40-50%. Well, I say just but that is a heck of a lot.

What has been my experience?

I am 37 weeks pregnant now. At the start of pregnancy I thought my hair was unusually dry but this passed after about three months. Did my hair grow faster during pregnancy? No, I don’t think so. Was my hair thicker during pregnancy? I think it has been a little thicker, yes. I’d love to “woop woop’ right now but I’ll wait until 6 months post pregnancy to see if it lasts before I celebrate.

Please share your experience in the comments section.

References:
  • Solutions To Post-Partum Hair Loss, NenoNatural.com
  • Pregnancy & Hair Loss, AmericanPregnancy.org
  • Postpartum Hair Loss, WhatToExpect.com
  • Postpartum hair loss, BabyCenter.com

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What Is The Max Hydration Method For Type 4 Natural Hair?

19/11/2014

 
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I don’t normally accept guest posts, in fact, this is the very first guest post ever on this hair blog in over two years of writing.

Guest post from Allison Matthews, edited by Heather Katsonga-Woodward.

The Max Hydration Method (MHM for short) is, according to maxhydrationmethod.com, “a 5 step regimen that systematically increases moisture levels in the hair until Max Hydration is reached.”

This method, championed by Black Hair Media Forum VIP Member PinkeCube promises to turn the notion that wash and go’s don’t work on type 4 hair on its head. In addition to forum posts, and social media accounts dedicated to the Max Hydration Method, PinkeCube has launched a blog where everything about the method can be found — maxhydrationmethod.com.

So what exactly is the Max Hydration Method, how does it work, and are the results for real? Let’s explore:

Who is the Max Hydration Method for?

The Max Hydration Method is articulated as being designed for type 4 hair, specifically low porosity 4c natural hair.

What does it do?

PinkeCube, MissDeeKay, and other proponents state that the Max Hydration Method will transform dry, frizzy, undefined hair into coils and curls that clump — with or without product. Additionally, they claim that once your hair reaches max hydration, many of the issues that plague type 4 hair (dryness, styling, knots, length retention) will cease to occur.

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What products are required, and how long does it take?

The Max Hydration Method initial period lasts for 7 consecutive days. You can stretch your re-wetting/styling to every 2-3 days, but daily is recommended for best results. As far as products are concerned, you’ll need:
  • Pre-step: Cherry Lola Caramel Treatment
  • Step 1: Baking soda rinse (baking soda + conditioner) or apple cider vinegar
  • Step 2: Detangle and co-washing with a good conditioner
  • Step 3: Clay rinse (bentonite clay + pure honey + olive oil + water)
  • Step 4: Leave-in conditioner
  • Step 5: Botanical gel

How do you do the Max Hydration Method?

As mentioned previously, the Max Hydration Method is aimed at being a 7-day cycle, but can be adjusted according to your time constraints and the needs of your hair. The method goes a little something like this:
  1. Cherry Lola Caramel Treatment or Clarify: First-timers are to complete the Cherry Lola Caramel Treatment on Day 1 instead of clarifying. After the initial treatment, you can do the Cherry Lola Caramel Treatment every 2 weeks, monthly, or however frequently your hair requires. Days 2-7 call for a baking soda or apple cider vinegar rinse every morning, where the ingredients sit on your hair for 15-60 minutes.
  2. Deep Condition Overnight: This step is optional, but recommended to facilitate increased hydration. If you skip the overnight deep conditioning session, simply condition your hair, allow it to sit for 15 minutes or so, then proceed to finger detangle your hair while rinsing it out.
  3. Clay Rinse: After rinsing and detangling, apply your clay mix thoroughly to the hair and allow it to sit for at least 15 minutes.
  4. Leave-in & Curl Definer: After rinsing the clay thoroughly, while hair is still soaking wet (preferably in the shower), the leave-in and curl definer are to be applied section-by-section from root to tip. If portions of your hair begin to dry out, simply re-wet them and move along. The Max Hydration Method allows for LCO layering of products underneath gels, but never LOC because oils are occlusive and will prevent water-based moisturizing products from penetrating and hydrating the hair.
  5. Repeat steps 1-4 daily, or every 2-3 days depending upon your hair’s needs. After one Cherry Lola Caramel Treatment, the other days call for the baking soda or apple cider vinegar rinse.

Users of the Max Hydration Method are encouraged to use only approved/botanical products throughout this process. Although I am still trying to identify a consolidated list of products, the general idea is sticking as closely to the Curly Girl Method as possible (no sulfates, no cones, etc.). For starters, Miss Dee Kay outlines her list of Max Hydration Method-approved conditioners here.

Additional reference: The Max Hydration Method Detailed Regimen

Heather’s Opinion

This all sounds very interesting and I love that the natural hair community is always trying to come up with new solutions to dryness, however, whilst I haven’t yet tried the method I think there are four very important issues with it that will probably stop me from ever trying it: 
  1. There are A LOT of heavy products involved but no shampoo mentioned anywhere in the process. For my hair, I see shampoo as a very necessary step to remove dirt and build-up which all these products will inevitably lead to. My hair loses its gloss if I don’t shampoo build-up out. Importantly, I am a very regular swimmer and the max hydration method doesn’t seem to be too compatible with that. 
  2. Conditioners and other chemical ingredients are absolutely, 100% not supposed to sit in your hair for more than 30 minutes let alone over night. Some people who do this will get negative results, e.g. one fan wrote to me saying that she woke up with a bald patch when she slept with conditioner in her hair - ouch. Ask any qualified trichologist or cosmetics formulator about sleeping with rinse-out products – I doubt they will approve.
  3. Baking soda and Apple Cider Vinegar have completely different pHs (Baking soda pH = 9.0, ACV pH = 3.0) so it doesn’t make any sense at all that they can be substitutes for each other. I personally disagree with the use of baking soda on dry hair types but ACV is alright as it is acidic like hair.
  4. Last but certainly not least, is this a step too far in trying to achieve “the perfect curl”. As someone who has been sharing various images of natural hair for over two years now I know for a fact that the kinkier the hair, the fewer the likes it gets. Are 4Cs such as myself finally succumbing to the pressure to convert a kink into a curl or do users of this method just see it as another option. One of the reasons I love being natural is that I don’t have a laborious regimen such as the Max Hydration Method, I embrace the kink and the afro and I will continue to do so.

What I would really love to know is: 
  • Have you used this method exactly as recommended for two months or more?
  • What was the impact on your hair? 
  • Did you observe any negative consequence due to not shampooing?
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Cheap Hair Products – Are They Actually Bad For You?

12/11/2014

 
PictureCheck out Queen Carmen's Hair Journey & Regimen
I have been asked this question a few times so I thought it’s high time I gave a proper explanation. What makes one product really cheap and another one more expensive?

Product Price and Product Quality

Yes, there is definitely a correlation between the quality of a product and the price but it isn’t a perfect relationship – something that costs £20 isn’t necessarily two times better than a £10 product.

That said, some products are cheap for a reason: they use cheap quality ingredients that neither nourish your hair nor your body.

Case in point, I was in a Poundland (think, The Dollar Store) – basically as budget as it gets and I saw a 250ml product of “Body Butter” – I couldn’t believe it. There is no way you can produce a body butter that cheaply no matter what your volumes are. So I picked up the bottle to read the ingredients and true to form there was only one vegetable butter on the list and it was very far down the list of ingredients suggesting there wasn’t much of it in there.

Ultimately the product was called a butter because they had created a buttery texture but most of it was water and factory made ingredients.

Now, there is nothing inherently wrong with most factory ingredients and anything that comes in a can or bottle even Mayo and beans has to contain some form preservation; however, having too much of them reduces the benefits to hair (and skin) compared to a product that use a healthy balance of both farmed and manufactured inputs.

A balance needs to be achieved between hair benefits and prolonged shelf life.

Sometimes A Cheap Price Hides Another Story

Another case in point: I bought a bottle of “Pure Jojoba” because the price was uniquely low; it was too good to be true, I just had to have it.

When I got home I thought the product smelt a little “off”. A look at the ingredients list confirmed it wasn’t jojoba but a jojoba and grapeseed oil blend – the product label was lying on the front, calling itself “Pure Jojoba” when it wasn’t!

Grapeseed oil is a good oil but it is cheaper than jojoba and has different benefits. I wanted jojoba for the unique benefits that it offers so I was annoyed and disappointed. The price was too good to be true for a reason.

Product Price & Unique Ingredients

When it comes to product making the more unique the ingredients you use the more expensive the product will be. Shampoo is a good example here.

PictureCheck out Queen Christine's Hair Journey & Regimen
Because sulfates were so widely used in shampoo (and they still are) using them as a cleanser is really brings down the cost of making a shampoo. Once consumers switched on to the fact that sulfates were too strong a cleanser for dry hair types and possibly had other negative effects some businesses decide to use alternative cleansers.

Using a cleanser other than a sulfate pushes the price up. Some alternative cleansers, e.g. cocamidopropyl betaine, have grown in usage so they are more widely available and therefore more affordable to use as a product ingredient.

That said, milder cleansers are still being developed. Choosing to use a non-mainstream ingredient to improve product quality hikes the product price right up.

How The Big Dogs Keep Prices Low

There are three ways that big manufacturers keep prices down:

  1. One way is by producing very high volumes, however, volume can only push price down so far, there is a limit.
  2. Secondly, they target the average consumer. The average consumer just wants a product that does a “good enough” job. They are not targeting people who want great products or great customer service. This helps to keep prices low.
  3. Finally, they play on consumer ignorance. They keep prices low by using mainstream, cheaper ingredients and will add a small quantity of the “hot ingredient of the day”, say coconut, and add it to the product name or add an image of it to the packaging to trap customers. Some will even go as far as giving their products brand names that mislead like “Something Naturals” when Natural doesn’t even mean anything with regards to that product. I hope that helps. Most cheap products will not harm you at all. However, they will frequently be less beneficial to your hair than a higher quality product.

Product Price and Experience

Some companies want to provide more than just a product to a customer. They want to provide a great experience, great customer service and a fabulous customer relationship. To provide this extra service their product will cost more.

PictureCheck out Queen Gloria's Hair Journey & Regimen
Product Price and Status

Last but certainly not least, some customers want to buy products to show their status a little or to feel different to the masses. If you feel you work harder than most people then you want products most people cannot afford. You want a branded hair or body product that shows you care about quality. You don’t want “good enough” products, you want “best in category” products.

Have you ever had a friend who goes from being on your level and all of a sudden they get a job paying them triple? They get a new place to live and when you go over to the house warming party everything in their place tells you upfront, I’m on another level now. Even the hand wash in the bathroom is a superior and exclusive brand. You look on in admiration and just think, I need to work hard and get myself nice stuff like this.

Premium products differentiate themselves by going above and beyond on product packaging as well as other small branding elements that the premium consumer cares about. It’s why you choose to buy a Mercedes Benz over a Toyota when they both do exactly the same thing.

In summary, a product may be more expensive because:

  • The ingredients are higher quality
  • It’s being honest when other brands are using manipulative tactics, e.g. blending in products you don’t suspect and not being upfront about it
  • It uses non-mainstream ingredients that are believed to have higher benefits
  • It’s made by a small company that can’t reduce prices with higher volumes
  • It’s targeting premium consumers not the average or budget market
  • The producer wants to create a superior experience beyond the product

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2014 Crazy $500 CASH Giveaway From Neno Natural - I'm Grateful

8/11/2014

 
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2014 has been an even more amazing year than 2013 thanks to your support. To show my gratitude, just like I did last year I am giving away $500 in cash. Whereas last year's $500 prize all went to one person, after a survey, this year's prize will be split: 
  • First prize: $250 cash
  • Second prize: $150 cash
  • Third prize: $100 cash
I give cash rather than gift vouchers so that you can choose how to spend it.

ENTRY DETAILS:
To enter, simply fill in the form below or click here (if you can't see a form below):

a Rafflecopter giveaway
How will the winner be selected:
  • Only those that are rated 4* and above by email management software (MailChimp) can win! You get a higher rating, the more you open my emails - even if you don't read the email. If you normally just delete my emails, start opening them to raise your ranking
  • I'm using this system so that the money goes to a real Neno Natural supporter
  • We will then email the winner, ask them for their phone number and call them to tell them they have won
  • All this will be on video so everyone can enjoy the process with us

Payment Details + Terms & Conditions 
  • Payment will be via PayPal unless you are in a country that doesn't have PayPal in which case we can do a wire transfer to your bank (bank charges may apply)
  • Entry is only open to women aged 18+ from anywhere in the world
  • Competition closes on 27th November at midnight New York time (5 a.m. London time)
  • The winner will be selected and announced on 28th November

Again, thanks so much for your likes, follows and comments on Facebook, Twitter, Insta, Pinterest and via email. Whilst I can no longer answer every single email I do read them all.

Kisses,
Heather

Last year's Winner

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What Is The Difference Between Thin / Fine Hair and Thick Hair

6/11/2014

 
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When people talk about thin hair, technically they are referring to the thickness of each strand of hair rather than the number of hairs on your head.

Thin hair actually has a different structure to thick hair. This is the science; the diameter (width) of:

  • Very fine hair is under 40 micrometers
  • Fine hair is 40 to 60 micrometers
  • Average hair is 60 to 80 micrometers
  • Thick hair is more than 80 micrometers

In thin hair the cuticle (top layer of hair) can make up c.40% of the strand and the cortex up to 60%. Those with very thin hair don't even have a medulla.

In thick hair the cuticle will normally make up only about 10% of the strand and the cortex upto 90%.

What does this mean for you if you have thin hair?

The finer your hair more prone it is to breakage, tangles, split ends and damage.

Side note, the problem of a straight haired person with thin hair are slightly different than for us kinky-curlies:

  1. Fly-away hair (a problem so Caucasian that I had to look up what it actually was!) is a big problem
  2. For those with thin and straight hair greasiness is also a major issue. The double-edged sword: frequent washing is wanted to remove the grease but all the handling will lead to excessive levels of tangling and a lot of damage. So people with thin straight hair need to handle the delicate balance.

If you have thin kinky or curly hair minimizing hair handling really helps to avoid damage and tangling. Protective styles or even growing dreadlocks / locs will really help you to gain and see your length.

If you manipulate your kinky/curly hair too often you may find that you are finding it harder to retain length than someone with courser hair just because you have a higher propensity for breakage.

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    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.
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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

    p.s. I now blog about wealth and personal finance on my personal website.

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