Give your hair some TLC

On my wish-list is long, luscious, luxurious hair. Too bad, it still hasn’t happened, but I’d like to think I’m on my way. A lot of women of color have given up on growing their hair out, believing that they just can’t do it. I think our focus should be geared more towards HEALTHY hair instead of style and length. We need to start showing our hair some LOVE and TLC!!

I’ve added a few tips to help you along your journey to healthy hair.

• Always wrap your hair at night with a silk or satin scarf (NO COTTON!) Cotton scarves suck the moisture right out of your hair and can cause breakage in the longrun.
• Keep your hair moisturized! (But don’t overdo it and clog your pores up). Your run of the mill hair grease is pretty much out the window for me, but I do use that stuff when I have braids in my hair. I love to use Mizani’s - H2O Intense Night-Time Treatment especially when I wrap my hair at night.
• Use a good conditioner! (and try to make sure that you get one that’s also moisturizing). Biolage has a great moisturizing conditioner that smells great and leaves your hair soft and beautiful
• Styling is important, but pay attention to what you’re doing with your hair. Don’t overdo the heat, the alcohol based products such as spritz, gel, and other holding sprays, and try not to wear a tight ponytail too often either.
• Get a stylist you can trust. Just because someone has a license doesn’t mean that they will do what’s best for you. Communicate with your stylist to see if healthy hair is a concern of theirs (it should be)
• Stay away from doing critical changes such as chemicals (perms, coloring, highlighting) at home unless you really know what you’re doing

So in all, just show your hair some love, pay attention to it’s changes and reactions to what you are doing. ‘Communicate’ with your tresses so that you can get the result you’re looking for.

Men Vs. Women

Can someone answer this question for me? Why does it seem like men can grow their hair so easily when women have to fight for it?

It’s just not fair! Men don’t’ even need long hair! We spend so much time and money in the salon and on countless products to help our stuff grow, and theirs grows with little or no effort! What do they do that’s so different than us?

Dissapointments of going Natural

I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again “I’m the type of chick who gets bored with her hairstyles…QUICK.”  I’ve had several haircuts, up-do’s, colors, and in between that, I’ve even found time to fit in weaves…I’ve sampled a good array of extensions from quick weaves, jaw string ponytails, to micros, kinky-twists, sew ins, and …I hate to admit this, but I’ve had a real crusty crochet weave too.

So let’s get to my 2 year journey in the life of nappiness…. My hair was going through a loooong period of ugliness. It was as thin, stringy…and it got so bad I didn’t feel comfortable that my current methods of hair care were going to cut it. I knew, I had to do something drastic in order to “bring sexy back”. At the same time, I started to get some inspiration from women like:

Tracy Ellis Ross

Jill Scott

I also got addicted to natural hair care forums such as nappturality.com and from there, I was hooked. I knew there was no chance in hell that I was going to be cutting all of my hair off at once. NO chance!!! So, I decided to wear weaves/braids until I had enough natural hair to cut off the permed ends and still look good.

My natural hair felt so soft…so silky!  I just KNEW it was gonna be fly once I debu’d my natural look.  But to be quite honest…my natural hair was a big disspointment.  I didn’t look ANYTHING like the women I see on tv (should have known that was gonna happen since tv/magazines are so fake)

Here’s a little picture of me when I first cut off all my permed hair aka “The Big Chop”

I rocked the afro for about two years, hoping that it would eventually transform into a “Tracy Ellis-Ross” do’.  Unfortunately, that never happened, and I went ahead and got a texturizer.

I have the UTMOST respect for natural women out there.  They are holding it down for us permed sisters.  But I want someone to tell me.  Honestly…were you disappointed when you tried to go natural?  Did anyone else have a similar experience?

What Will Make Your Hair Fall Out

Women come to me to get extension for many reasons. Sometimes, they come to cover up a mysterious patch of hair that just won’t grow. I’ve seen it on several women where they have a section of coarse, short, brillo-textured hair that just won’t seem to grow. Sometimes, the patch is even BALD. When I ask about it, 100% of them have claimed it was caused by the same thing…STRESS. I didn’t believe it was possible, but boy, was I wrong.

A good friend of mine once said “Stress is poison” and I truly believe it. From reading a few articles, I found out that when your body is under an abnormal level of stress, your hair will become a low priority for receiving the body’s energy and nutrients. Eventually, a section of your hair will become coarse and break off, or even fall out. It sort of goes into a dormant phase until your body’s back to normal.

The hair loss usually tends to show up 3 months after the stressful event has occurred. And the hair might not start to grow back until 3 months after the stressful period has ended. (6 months of baldness!?!?!? Aw HELLS NAW!)

With all of the issues that women deal with day-to-day, it’s hard to find a good release for stress. I suggest to always find a positive outlet like church, reading a book, confiding in a good friend, or exercise. In the meantime, you can always cover up your damaged hair with a wig or some extensions.

There are several other causes for hair loss such as:

1. Over-processing with chemicals or hair colors
2. Pulling of hair w/braids or bands (If your braids are too tight, yes, they can cause you to have PERMENANT hair loss) aka alopecia
3. Rapid Weight Loss (Look out Star Jones!)
4. Physical Stress such as surgery, illness, anemia
5. Hormonal (pregnancy, birth control pills, etc)

Be nice to your hair ladies! You’re too blessed to be stressed, so let some things roll off your shoulders!

References: (ThatsFit.com , HairLossHelp.com, FamilyDoctor.org )