Hair tips: MOISTURE! MOISTURE!! MOISTURE!!!

Hey loves,

I am back with another hair tip. This may seem too simple but it's the very reason why some believe their hair isn't "growing". I say growing in quotes, cause hair does grow no matter what, however in order to see it, one must retain length. To retain length, one must avoid breakage.

It is common knowledge that dry hair breaks, and we kinky, coily, curly, headed ladies are queens of naturally dry hair. This is because our hair type makes it harder for our natural oil to travel down the hair shaft. Hence the need for added...

MOISTURE:

Moisture for the hair could mean simply using water or it could be using a product designed to add moisture to the hair. My advice is that seeing as water is the best moisturizer, use a product that has water as its first ingredient. It is also possible to mix whatever product you use with water, or first wet your hair and then apply the product. I personal like applying my leave in moisturizer to wet hair.

Here's a list of leave in conditioners I have used/ I am using, and my personal views:

·       Kinky Coily Knot Today

Review: Great detangler. To be honest, I have found that this product isn't the best moisturizer but it is a damn good detangler. It doesn’t apply on smoothly and it doesn’t leave my hair feeling soft immediately, unlike/until after I apply my oil and butter.  Anyways, for now, I am using it because even if it's not the best, it's not the worst either. And with my method of applying it to wet hair, it helps add the extra umph.

·       Jane Carter Solution Revitalizing Leave-in Conditioner

Review: Great moisturizer, great detangler. I first used this product on my transitioning hair. It was gold!! However, when I was transitioning, I didn’t implement the act of applying my leave in to wet hair. I normally let it air dry till it’s at least 50-60% dry then sprayed this on. However, as you know, I recently big chopped and a couple of weeks back, I went to my beauty supply store and found this product again. I was happy and bought it without giving it a second thought. Wash day came around and there I was spraying this very liquid product to my dripping wet hair. Let’s just say that wasn’t a good idea. It was dripping everywhere, so much so that I wasn’t convinced that my hair was being moisturized.  I had to repeat the process after I squeezed the excess water out.

Long story short? I love this product, but its best on semi dry hair or for re applying moisture between wash days.

·       ORS Olive Oil Incredibly Rich Moisturizing Hair Lotion

Review: This is a relatively good moisturizer, however it isn’t amazing. I don’t have any horror story, but I do not have any must tell stories either. It did the job of keeping my hair soft, but I always had to re-moisturize every single day, which to me shouldn’t be necessary when you find the right product and combo.

·       Jane Carter Solution Hydrate Quench

Review: Horrible!! Despite the positive comments about this product, this product made my hair so stiff!!  It didn’t work for me, so much for “hydrate quench”! This product has so much protein so I would advise those that are protein sensitive to stay far away from this. I think my bad experience also has to do with my low porosity hair. However, I am not a 100% sure how.

Please note that in order to reap the most benefit from your moisturizing products, one has to follow up with a sealant, be it a good oil or butter or both. I will be discussing all about oils and butters in the near future. But for now, if I was to pick my best moisturizer, I would stick to my Jane Carter and perhaps alternate with the Kinky Coily Knot Today till I find a better replacement. I would love one that isn’t pure liquid like the Jane Carter, but works well as a moisturizer and a detangler at the same time!!! Any tips for me? What is your current favorite leave in product? Let’s discuss in the comment section.

PS: Anyone here in the Netherlands or in Nigeria willing to try the Jane Carter Solution Hydrate Quench? My present bottle has been used just twice. As I said, if you aren’t protein sensitive then it should work for you, however, if you are protein sensitive but still want to try it out let me know. After all, every ones hair reacts differently to a product. I would therefore like to give it out to someone that needs/wants it for free. So please let me know in the comment section here on the blog, or under my instagram post of this blog post, or @ me on twitter.

Love,

Dumsy

Hair Feature: Tracy

    Hey Loves,

           I have decided to start a new series where I ask other people to share with us their hair experiences, be them natural or relaxed. The main aim of this blog is to share ways to help achieve healthy hair and show that we are not alone in our hair drama, so here is what my friend Tracy had to say about her little hair journey.

     1.     A Little About You?
I’m currently completing a Masters in Economics. I’m half Scottish, and half Sotho and have lived in several African and European countries – I’m a bit of a global nomad.

     2.     Facts about your hair? (Relaxed, Natural, Curl pattern, Length, etc.)
My mother has an Afro, my father has really thick hair…and instead of getting gorgeous curls like other mixed race kids, I got an extra thick natural Afro. I’ve got various hair textures on this head of mine, but definitely in the 4’s.

     3.     When did you start your hair journey? Why?
Given how thick my hair is, my mother started relaxing my hair at a very young age (probably 5 or 6 years old). My hair was not damaged or thinned by the relaxer because I always had it professionally done, but what I did notice was that I’m getting more and more grey hair (!!!!!!!!). I’m not ready to embrace these bright silver strands in my hair so I started dying it and realized that, with the relaxer, I would be putting some type of chemical on my hair every 6 weeks (alternating between dyes and relaxing). I was terrified of the effect this would have on my hair so opted to ditch the relaxer - I had my last retouch in December 2012. I transitioned until July 2013 then chopped off the relaxed hair.

      4.     What your current Regimen?
Right now I attempt to do a simple protective style (e.g. two French braids or twists) after washing my hair and I’ll keep my hair like that until my next wash-day. I try not to handle my hair too often.

If I don’t do a protective style then I part my hair into four sections, spritz each section with a water and oil mixture then apply a leave-in conditioner. I then detangle and style (I don’t finger detangle – I just don’t have the patience). 

Wash:  I wash my hair once a week. I don’t do anything special. Wash, rinse, condition, rinse, leave-in conditioner, castor oil to seal and style!  

     5.     Dos and Don’ts about your hair? (My hair loves when I, My hair hates when I.. etc.)
My hair loves leave-in conditioner. I don’t use other moisturizing products because they make my hair too oily and too much oil makes my hair break.

My hair hates season changes. Hair breakage when we go from winter to summer and vice versa. During this period I tend to break the bank by opting for braids/cornrow.

     6.     What are your hair goals? How are you working towards achieving them?
As with most people it would be GREAT to achieve bra strap length hair (ok, ideally somewhere between bra strap and my waist!! AMBITIOUS!!!). I do have a simple style goals I would like to achieve and are slightly more realistic: 1) all my hair in a puff at the back of my head rather than on top of it (right now my front hair is too short to reach the back of my head); 2) a bun. A proper bun! That’s all. I’m not doing anything to achieve them…just going with the flow.

     7.     What are your hair staples? Styles, products, accessories
Cantu leave-in conditioner; puffs (hair ties) of various sizes; bobby-pins; satin hair scarf (pyjamas for my hair!).

     8.     Share with us an experience that (good or bad) you’ve encountered with someone about your hair.
I will never ever go out at night with my hair loose. For some reason, people think it’s appropriate and funny to touch AND PULL my afro as if it’s not attached to my scalp!! I went out with friends, wearing just a head band with most of my hair loose…bar tenders, random drunks with questionable hygiene thought my hair was public property. Actual pulling was involved and people thought it was hilarious to put drinking straws in my hair. I was livid!

     9.     For those seeking advice about healthy hair?
 I am unfortunately not a hair expert and I'm also still experimenting with products and regimes. My advice is that you should avoid becoming a product and/or regime junkie. There are many things you can do with your hair and thousands of products out there. Let me put it like this: if you live in America/Europe you have access to a lot of sulphate-free, great brands …but what if you live somewhere in Africa or Asia where all of a sudden these specialized products are not readily available and/or you have to pay incredible prices for them. Find products and regimes that your hair likes and that are easily available to you. Don’t feel bad if you aren’t using sulphate free goods and don’t feel bad if you can’t do a deep condition under a steamer. Love your hair and find what works for you. For example, I don’t like spending the whole day doing my hair. I applaud Dumsy on her ability to dedicate so much time to hair treatments, I straight up lack the patience. Maybe my hair would have grown longer/faster if I started finger detangling but the thought of doing so already makes me cry hahahaha. Treat your scalp well and be positive about your hair. Don’t be ashamed of it and don’t believe that just because you don’t have a certain product or tool that your hair journey is destined to fail. 

     10.  Where can we connect with you? Facebook? Instagram? Twitter?
I’m on Facebook, but I don’t accept friend requests from people I don’t know. Feel free to contact me through this blog though. Heehee

Left - July 2013 after 7 months of transition. Right - November 2014

Wash Day (2): Back to Normal

Hey loves,

So this time around, I went back to my "normal" routine.  And it goes like this (in Adam Levines voice):

[1] Naptural85's 25 mins co wash technic has become my staple pre poo routine. It works wonderfully for me, so for now, "if it isn't broke...'. I divided my hair into four parts as per usual and applied a generous amount of coconut oil to my dry hair. Unlike last week, I used a cheap conditioner instead, that still has lots of slip, my herbal essences "bee strong". Its not a amazing as ORS curls unleashed obviously, but it does well as a pre poo. 

I covered my hair with a plastic bag, a shower cap, a beanie and a scarf! Yep, I wanted all the heat. Didn't work out this time around and its cold around here hence.. In the end, I was left with super soft hair. 

[2] after the one hour long pre poo session, I stepped into the shower and finger detangled under the running water while washing off the conditioner. I then followed up with my creme of nature argan oil moisture & shine shampoo. 

With the shampoo in my hair, I then detangled further using a wide tooth comb under the running water. Once I was done with all four sections, I poured cold water to help close my hair cuticle.

[3] Once I was done, I used my cotton shirt to soak up excess water and let my hair air dry a bit. While it was drying, I decided to set up my hair steamer and get my conditioner mix ready. I decided to add some Jamaican black castor oil to my ORS curls unleashed conditioner and I think I added too much. Anyways, I mixed it all up and once I felt my hair was dry enough, but not too dry, I applied the mix to my hair and sat under the steamer for 20 mins. Once I was done, my hair felt very moisturised and soft so I tried to retain the heat for a little while longer by covering my hair up again with a plastic bag and shower cap for about 10 mins. After that, I went back under the shower and rinsed each section while trying to detangle further.

At this point, my hair felt a bit weird, it wasn't as soft as I expected it to be. It did detangle easily, but I guess thats because it was already mostly detangled? Anyways, overall, my hair still felt moisturised and I think the reason it wasn't very soft was because I put too much oil in the mix?

[4] after the wash, I proceeded to lightly damp each section as per usual with a cotton shirt and apply my leave in conditioner (kinky curly knot today) to my wet hair. I followed that up with my grape seed oil so as to seal in the moisture from both the leave in and water.

[5] Lastly, I decided to flat twist my hair rather than braid because it isn't as gripping as a cornrow and for some reason, the middle of my scalp is a bit sore to the touch. (For the record, I am the worst flat twister. But hey, my hair is some how laying flat on my head in different sections and that works for me.

To complete my LOC method, I applied my jane carter solution all natural nourish and shine product to each section before flat twisting. 

And that was it guys, my wash experience this week. I still want to do a tea/coffee rinse for shedding and its over all benefits, but I cant decide which to do. Tips anyone? Which do you prefer and why? Also, how was your wash day? PS: you can check out more healthy hair wash day posts at Wash Day Experience

I have added a few pictures below again because I love taking pictures. heheh. Please enjoy. 

Freshly washed, no products.

Left - Freshly washed hair, no product. Right - Just steamed hair, with conditioner.

Can I just quickly thank every one that has taken their time to read my blog posts, and those that commented? I truly appreciate it. Hair has always been my 'thing' and I am so happy I can talk about it, and have people read and understand where I am coming from, rather than the blank stare I get from some that think I am obsessed.

I have finally got a handle of this and I am here to stay, so please keep reading, commenting, and sharing. :)

Love,
Dumsy.

Wash Day!!

Hey loves,

So my last wash day was kinda different. 

Here it goes:

[1] taking a page out of Naptural85's book, I divide my hair into four parts, applied a generous amount of coconut oil to my dry hair and followed up with my all time fav deep conditioner, ORS Curls unleashed no restrictions moisturising conditioner. Can I just quickly say that this stuff makes my hair so soft and moisturised, and also defines the little coils I have. 

I left this on my hair for four hours. This is because I decided to go to the gym and clean in between. In order to get the best out of the process, I covered my hair with a plastic bag and topped that with a beanie. This way, I was able to retain heat while I worked out. I also decided to chill in the sauna and steam room for 20 mins, during which, I took off the plastic bag and beanie. This left my hair super moisturised and soft. 

[2] after the four hour long deep condition, I stepped into the shower and finger detangled under the running water while washing off the conditioner. I then followed up with my creme of nature argan oil moisture & shine shampoo. I love this shampoo because it's sulfate free which means it cleanses without striping. 

With the shampoo in my hair, I then detangled further using a wide tooth comb under the running water. Once I was done with all four sections, I poured cold water to help close my hair cuticle.

And yep, that was it. I originally decided to do a quick conditioner rinse after my shampoo session, but since my hair felt so soft after the shampoo, I decided to let it be. 

[3] after the wash, I proceeded to lightly damp each section with a cotton shirt and apply my leave in conditioner (kinky curly knot today) to my wet hair. I followed that up with my grape seed oil so as to seal in the moisture from both the leave in and water. 

[4] lastly, I braided my hair for the week. This is how I wear my hair all week, under my wig. With each braid section, I applied my final product, jane carter solution all natural nourish and shine. 

Can I just say that the LOC method using these products works so well for my low porosity hair. So much so that I can go a whole week without re moisturising and sealing. Loves it!!!

Anyways guys, that was my wash experience this week. This was different cause I normally deep condition after my wash and pre poo using naptural85's trick, but with a cheap conditioner, and for less than an hour. 

The pictures below is my attempt to show you my hair texture with products in. Here, I had a mixture of coconut oil and ORS. 

 Love,
Dumsy.

So, how was your wash day? You can also check out more healthy hair wash day posts at Wash Day Experience

Official Length Check

Hello loves,

So as promised, I put together a video where I show my starting length. As mentioned before, my hair is about 4-5inches all over with a 3inch edge due to cutting way too much. I still have very little relaxed ends as you'll see, but I hope to cut that off in about a month or so. Anyways, please watch, enjoy and comment/share.

PS: Excuse my cracky voice. :(

Love,
Dumsy

Hair Tips: Co Washing

Hello loves,

I thought it would be a great idea to do a series discussing different hair tips that aid the growth of healthy, long hair. Some of these tips I already incorporate and some I would like to start. Today I'd like to talk about co washing. 

Co washing is the act of washing your hair with conditioner. This is done so as to get the hair and scalp clean and moisturised as opposed to shampooing, which cleans but strips the hair of it's nutrients. 

It's important to note that some shampoos; sulfate free, do not necessarily strip the hair strands, but they also do not add any moisture to it. Some people co wash using a cheap conditioner like herbal essences, while some use products made for this purpose (I shall include a list below). 

As for me, I started off using ORS Olive Oil Replenishing Conditioner. I do swear by the usefulness of this conditioner, however when I was relaxed, the constant co washing and deep conditioning left my hair feeling mushy. For this reason, I stopped co washing and stuck to the regular routine of deep conditioning on wash days. 

Now that I am natural and my natural hair is more so low porosity, I think it will be best to give it a try again. This will also be beneficial seeing as I have started working out regularly again. I plan to co wash once between wash days. And since I have noticed that my hair strives more when left alone, I have decided to co wash with my weekly protective style like cornrows, braids and twist still installed.  This way, I get the moisture and cleanse without having to manipulate my hair any further. 

I will incorporate this for the next month and see how my hair reacts to it and in the end, I shall give an update as to wether or not co washing will be a constant in my new natural routine.

Some co wash products: 

PS: For my readers here in the Netherlands, the last four, Shea moisture, Eden, Mizani, and Palmers can be bought here.

That's all for now. Please do not forget to subscribe and share. I am back for good. 😊😳

Love,

Dumsy. 

THE BIG CHOP: 8/11/14

Hello Loves,

I finally did it. I decided yesterday to take off my protective style and do the big chop. My dear friend Tracy decided to help me and she was convinced I would cry, but I didn't. At first, I felt weird, as I couldn't believe I was actually doing it. Then I felt okay. I felt happy that I wasn't sad. I felt happy that I liked what I saw looking back at me in the mirror. I just felt HAPPY.

It was really hard to find the line of demarcation (point where the new growth meets the relaxed ends) due to me texlaxing the last time I got a relaxer.  So it was basically a guessing game. A feel and cut kinda situation. She showed me where she thought was the cut off point and I either agreed or disagreed. Anyways, we got it done in the end and I was left with about 4-5 inches of growth around my head. However, at one edge side and one nape side, I cut way too much and I was left with about 3inches of growth there. So yes, my hair is pretty uneven, but I have decided to leave it as is since I will be wearing a wig as my protective style for the beginning of the winter.

Frist impressions:

• Shrinkage is REAL!! (I am embracing it)
• I was convinced that once I cut off my relaxed ends, I would be able to comb by hair freely without any "stops" at the ends!! (In Tamar's voice, lies they tell)
• I am already scared of SSK (Single Strand knots)

Anyways, thats it for now. I am really excited to begin this new journey. One I am sure will be a roller coster of many ups and downs. I just pray and hope its more ups than down. :)

Some little facts,
Last relaxer: 16/03/14
Big chop: 8/11/14 (a week shy of being 8 months post)
Hair type: 4b/c (low porosity hair)

Look out for a video next week, where I do a little chat about my hair. If there are any questions you would like answered, please feel free to ask in the comment box. For now here are some pictures. Please ignore the bad quality. I am working on how to take better quality pictures. (any tips are welcome). Here, me hair was freshly washed, moisturised and sealed using the LOC method. I cut off 22cm of hair which is about 8.7 inches.

Love,
Dumsy.