Before you start making my hot oil treatments there are a few provisos.
Critical info:
Each treatment aims to tackle a specific hair problem. At the end of the above video you will find a link to each of the recipes that has been published so far. The:
Note that the "Adore Me" hot oil treatment is designed to nourish your hair without weighing your strands down - if your hair is genetically thin, it will not get any thicker; if it's gotten thinner due to excessive pulling or harsh relaxers - you will recover your natural thickness if the follicles haven't been permanently damaged. Why Detangling DAMP (not dry or very wet) Leads To Less Breakage! The Scientific Explanation.10/1/2014
I'm going to get straight to the point:
The kinks in our hair are points of weakness so kinky-curly hair is weaker than straight or wavy hair by nature. WET HAIR The average black hair will break after 33 grams of strain when wet; that figure is 43 grams for Caucasian hair and 63 grams for Asian hair. DRY HAIR Dry hair can take more strain than wet hair, it will break after about 100 grams for Asian hair. If we extrapolate that to black hair, we're looking at about 53 grams of weight or strain before our hair breaks. DAMP HAIR Damp hair offers a happy compromise, not too dry to be brittle and not so wet that it's weak. So, in conclusion, to the extent possible detangle and comb damp her.
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If you're looking for some inspiration to help with doing your little one's hair I've found some great videos for you. If I had kids I would be very much in favour of styles you can do on a Saturday or Sunday afternoon that would last one or two weeks.
I would spare them from hair of extensions for as long as possible. Images of finished Natural Hairstyles That Can Easily Be CreatedA Full Tutorial From DiscoveringNatural: Twisted Puff TutorialI'm going to Call This One The Bon-Bon
I personally don't approve of the use of Blue Magic though.
I can feel The Love That Went Into This Kid's MoHawk!
Scroll down for more styles for kids!
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I just discovered the below video by bargain princess
Personally, whether I do a braid-out or twist out I usually hide the ends in a protective updo because my ends get dry quite easily. I also find it hard to get a neat definition on the end - too much frizz! Get your FREE ebook on How To Grow Long, Healthy Natural Kinky or Curly Hair.
I should have written a very specific blog on this issue ages ago!
I sometimes get emails asking me, "Heather, I've tried this oil and that oil but my hair simply doesn't get soft and moisturized - why?!" The answer is an oil won't soften and moisturize your hair because although oils do have a moisturizing quality to them, this function is very incomplete without water. Why don't oils moisturize hair? Because moisture means water and oils and water do not mix. This is why in the LCO and LOC methods of moisturizing hair the water is always first:
Even when you have dry skin: have you noticed that when you rub oil directly onto the dry skin it doesn't look as good as when you shower first and then oil yourself up? In fact, if you don't want to bath/shower, rubbing a wet towel over dry skin and then oiling it up hydrates the skin better than direct oil application without the moisture first.
So, how should you use oils?
As I mentioned in THE Best Oil For Natural Hair. A Mega Summary! you can use oils for:
I also use oils in many different ways as seen in Neno Natural's DIY Hair Recipes. Get your FREE ebook on How To Grow Long, Healthy Natural Kinky or Curly Hair.
Personally, I have only ever used Atlas Cedarwood also known as Moroccan Cedarwood, Atlantic Cedar, African Cedar, or Libanol.
According to edenbotanicals.com Atlas Cedarwood and Himalayan Cedarwood are the only two that they would recommend. The Cedarwood essential oil of this variety comes from a large, aromatic tree which has historically been used for medicine and cosmetics. I partially agree with Eden Botanicals but I would add two more to the list: Cyprian and Lebanese, these are also true cedar. So, to summarize, the best type of Cedarwood essential oils to use if you want the real thing are those from:
Chinese, Kenya, Texas and Virginia cedarwood on the other hand are from junipers. They both have a different aroma and offer different therapeutic benefits. So, avoid cedarwood essential oil from these trees. Specifically, you want to avoid:
If you come across it, cedar leaf oil is something different altogether! It comes from a species of cypress tree and apparently can be quite toxic if wrongly used. How To Use Cedarwood Essential Oil
Cedarwood essential oils is one of my staple essential oils. I frequently use it in Neno Natural's DIY Hair Recipes.
Get your FREE ebook on How To Grow Long, Healthy Natural Black Hair. You might also like: The Benefits of Cedarwood Essential Oil For Natural Hair References: edenbotanicals.com, gritman.com, globalnet.co.uk, fao.org
Yes, but not indefinitely!
Most of the benefit of regular conditioners comes from the stuff that coats your hair. These ingredients are designed to coat hair so that it looks more shiny and strengthens hair from the outside. That said, many products that are designed specifically for natural black hair recognise the fact that our hair is weaker so they include more ingredients that adsorb (penetrate) into hair and strengthen the hair fiber from the inside. This is especially true of deep conditioners. That said, this penetration process will happen within 20 to 30 minutes. Keeping the conditioner on for more than 30 minutes will have no added benefit whatsover. Let me explain it another way: you know when you have wilted salad leaves in the fridge? When you immerse the leaves in cold water they water goes into the leaf and it starts to look more solid again. They look fresher and can be served. After that point (when the leaves are "turgid") keeping the leaves in the water for longer has no benefit whatsoever. In fact, if it's a hot day those leaves will start rotting right there in the water! The key with using a conditioner is to make sure that it is evenly spread over all your hair.
In summary, if you leave your conditioner on your head for hours and hours there is no added benefit whatsoever. If you're like "but it feels softer" that has nothing to do with the conditioner, it's just the moisture. If you rinsed all the conditioner off and put a shower cap back on you would get the same result!
Hair damage is a very common problem.
Over time the outer layer of hair, the cuticle, naturally erodes away, breaks and lifts. These are points of weakness where the hair is likely to break. I like to refer to these gaps in hair as “hair potholes” (note that this is not a technical term!). Bad hair management, e.g. excessive use of heat and rough styling equipment increases the likelihood of such potholes occurring. Most conditioners help to prevent such damage but at the moment none actually repair it. Scientists are working to solve this problem; just like a broken or fractured bone can be completely healed they want to do the same with damaged hair. What would be needed to repair the hair would be something that permanently fills the hole. At the moment, conditioners fill these gaps but after a couple of washes those holes and gaps are gaping open again. It’s just like having a road with potholes and filling those holes with sand, when the rain comes you’re back to square one! Anyhow, the first major move in technology to repair hair is something called Polyelectrolyte Complex, PEC. It consists of a negatively charged ion called PVM/MA polymer and a positively charged ion called Polyquaternium-28. How does PEC work? Instead of just coating hair like most conditioners do it penetrates the hair and seals it from inside. When PEC penetrates hair and dries the split end is permanently fixed – the pothole has been filled with tar! As the technology is still in its infancy I can’t ascertain the strength of this fix. That is, does one application fix that hair strand permanently or is re-application needed to maintain the same broken strand every so often. Also, does one application fix all the damage in one hit or are several rounds of conditioning needed to get to all the damaged hairs? What factors work against PEC? E.g. does blow drying and straightening hair with heat cause the fixed hair to get damaged again more quickly? Many questions remain open and more tests are needed to confirm this. References:
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I know some co-washers will start reading this blog feeling very irate that I would even suggest that co-washing is a bad idea but hear me out for a second before you get annoyed with me.
Now, I am not totally anti-co-washing, in fact, I think if you want to wash your hair more than once a week it is far better to co-wash between weekly shampoos. A few people I know have found that after co-washing only their hair gets drier and more brittle and they think that it's the co-washing that is to blame. The answer is: NO. Co-washing does not make your hair more dry in itself but it is EXTREMELY restrictive in what products you can use. Some ingredients in conditioners and leave-in moisturizers stick to your when applied so that they can keep your hair conditioned and moisturized for a while after the conditioning or moisturizing session. Some of these ingredients, will not wash off without shampoo. So when you re-apply your products these ingredients continue to build up and build up until your hair is indeed brittle, dry and starts breaking. Most co-washers are not educated enough about ingredients to know what they need to avoid. In fact, although I know a fair amount of what's a no-no for co-washers I would need to take a list when I go shopping because I wouldn't remember everything off by heart. Importantly, no list is exhaustive. This means no list will list everything and no list can because new ingredients are coming out all the time. So, what should co-washers avoid, in general:
In summary, co-washing can work if you make an effort to learn everything that must be avoided, however, in my opinion a co-wash only regimen is not worth it because shampoo does have an important role to play in healthy hair management: A clean, pliable and healthy scalp is essential for natural hair growth and clean hair is need to moisturise and condition hair effectively. You might also like:
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A short while ago I wrote about How To Make Homemade Aloe Vera Juice For Natural Hair. My recipe shows you how to extract the gel and then how to dilute it to make the juice version.
A few people asked how you can use the aloe vera gel or the juice on hair. Here are 5 ways that you can use aloe vera juice or gel. (If you want to know the benefits of aloe vera juice click the link to the blog at the bottom of this blog): 1. Pre-poo Before you shampoo your hair apply aloe vera to your hair and scalp. This will help to condition and moisturize the hair as well as soothe an itchy scalp. You can enhance the pre-poo formulation with essential oils. Let the pre-poo blend sit for 5-10 minutes before you rinse it out. 2. Shampoo Add aloe vera juice to a store-bought shampoo to get it's moisturizing benefits or use it instead of water when you make a DIY shampoo recipe. This is especially useful if the shampoos that you can find in your local area dry your hair out. Only add the aloe vera to the portion of shampoo you are about to use. Adding any extras to a whole hair product bottle can destabilize the lot! 3. Conditioner You can use this to dilute a very thick conditioner instead of water. In so doing you will get the conditioning benefits of aloe vera juice too. 4. Scalp soother If you have an itchy scalp or if your scalp is inflammed or sore for some reason apply aloe vera to the affected area and you should see a difference. Obviously if it is a serious issue you need to see a doctor. 5. Daily spritz base Instead of spritzing with water use aloe vera. Note that if you decided to use aloe vera juice with oils they won't blend but in the new year I will teach you how you can emulsify the two so that they do blend. If you are wondering what the benefits of aloe vera are, then you will like: Get your FREE ebook on How To Grow Long, Healthy Natural Kinky or Curly Hair. |
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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