I am Hair and I need Attention

Soooo people….my Bantu Knot outs are a wave maker…. J … and I generally just love Nappy…*giggles*... Like I promised, this post will be about things that ive learnt on purpose or unconsciously over the last month with Nappy…. Oh yeahhh… that’s true…. Nappy and I were a month on Wednesday ,16^th November, 2011… yayyyy….. One month already… I know righhttt!! *sigh*… Ok so first things first...Our HAIR is our GLORY……So please remember the the general rule of thumb for all hair types is …

*ALL Hair Types LOVE water, especially Nappy-type hair, so get that water in there more often than you do now (of course that’s except you get water in your hair by the hour…lol..)

Now to the things u may not have known….

- Ladies, you know just the way you are conscious of what you use on your skin… yup… your hair needs that much attention too… So whatever hair product you may be using, ensure that the ingredients are hair friendly to guarantee healthy hair.

- Again, just the way we have different skin types and various products work for these different skin types … it’s the same with hair… Soooo… One product worked for A’s hair does not necessarily mean it would work for X’s hair. Find what works for you and stick to it… How?...  Experiment!... Petrified???... lol… If all of it falls out, it wud grow back jo… *sticking tongue out*

- About your hair falling out, I dint mean that… lol…. Buh really we can do ANYTHING we want to our hair as long as we are doing it right. So wotever hairstyle/look you want to achieve, make sure it’s with the right product(s) and procedure. For instance (remember I’m only a “one-monther” in this hair palaver o):

RELAXING – Whatever you do, avoid relaxers with LYE and always use a kit! Also, your hair texture should be directly proportional to the strength of the relaxer of your choice. e.g. soft, thin haired peeps should use Kids/Mild No-Lye relaxers and thick, coarse haired peeps should you use stronger ,No –Lye relaxers. *Notice “No LYE” for ALL*

WASHING – We generally really love shampoos that lather really easily and are easy to “play” with and get the build-up out quicker… true? … yeah, I know its true.. However, this may be reaallllyyy bad for our hair…. How?... The two “sister” ingredients that cause these ‘fabulous’ suds in our shampoo and even in toothpastes and some soaps we use have a drying, dehydrating feature. They are Sodium Lauryl Ether Sulfate (SLES) and Sodium Laureth Sulfate (SLS) and if you’re wondering why these manufacturers wud want to ‘harm’ you…lol…..its cos these ‘sisters’ are super cheap and fantastic at ‘degreasing’ almost anything at the speed of light. In the process tho, they suck out the natural lustre of our hair (I don’t think they can tell the difference between artificial and natural ‘grease’) and this would over time, cause our hair to break cos it doesn’t have ‘genuine ’ moisture… so there you have it. Watch out for these ingredients  and while its not impossible to find a shampoo without both or one of them, its also realllllyyyyy hard to. I am STILL looking for a shampoo without it but in the mean tym, I’m satisfied with ‘Co-washing’ .

CO-WASHING – A lot of people call this “NO-POOiNG” but I just feel weird saying that…. Basically co-washing is the art of washing your hair with only a conditioner (NO shamPOOiNG). Yup!...Cos conditioners contain moisturizers, re-constructors, acidifiers(help remove grease) and de-tanglers and are generally free of SLES and SLS…… Does it clean hair as well as a shampoo??... I don’t think so… However, you can shampoo your hair like twice a month or wen u feel it’s necessary… Basically sha, till you find that SLES, SLS shampoo, just co-wash more often.

Ok sha…I’d update that list later but for the products that work for almost every and anybody….

Water – I think it’s already over emphasised. It’s good for drinking, skin, hair, etc.

Olive Oil – Excellent for moisture and thick hair and great for skin too

Pure Shea Butter – Excellent for hair and skin. * CON - not-so –nice odour and may feel heavy on hair (but its very good sha).

Jojoba Oil – Great for moisturising the hair.

Soo while there are other oils/butters I’ve tried on my hair that worked for me,  these are the ones am very sure of for now that should work for almost everyone… I’d update later wen am sure of some more.

On a lighter, personal note, I went for the Naturals meeting on Saturday but I couldn’t spend long L.. Had to be at a barbeque (Had fun there sha *wide grin*)… I learnt a lot at the napptural meeting even for the short time I was there (about 20 minutes). I won’t share cos I don’t wanna bore you as Tife (my younger sis who is really annoying but I love anyway) was bored stiff…. lol…  

I’m still in love with Nappy and because of this love…I tried BIOTIN supplements (ß follow that link)… And it gave me tension headaches and so I had to stop it after d 3^rd day. I’m glad I dint break out cos  ppl usually break out in stubborn acne but it does work for their hair and nails… oohhh yeahh… of which I have to do protective styling (e.g. corn rows, braiding, ) soon …. Why?… I don’t want to subject Nappy to the harshness of "Harmattan’s Reign"…  

Hope this post is of great help, don’t hesitate to ask me any questions and if I can’t give an answer, remember that GOOGLE is your friend J …lol…

Talk to y’all later….