How a chance encounter at Target lead to a blog Feature

Just another random trip to Target, I thought. I had one item to pick up then I'd be on my merry way. Since I was out of town and unfamiliar with this Target's layout, I wandered around a bit before I found what I was looking for. Just as I was walking by the beauty section, I noticed someone pass me. What immediately grabbed my attention was her healthy ponytail that swung slightly from side to side as she walked by. My first thought was to casually walk over to the hair product aisle, where she was standing, to see which items she'd pick up and ask her a few questions about her regimen, and how she keeps her hair looking so healthy. Best of all, she would think this was some random conversation and she'd have no idea that I was this crazy hair blogger that followed people to the hair product aisle just to get a closer look at her hair.

 There was no time to rehearse what I would say as I walked up to her, I would simply have to freestyle it. Turns out that this young lady was happy to share her routine. I must say that I truly enjoyed our conversation and her sharing reminded me of several healthy hair tips that we can all learn from.

 Ladies, meet Toni!

 Toni has been natural for several years. Although she does wear her hair curly from time to time, lately she has been maintaining straight hair. Every two weeks, Toni, visit her stylist where she receives a steam deep conditioning treatment to hydrate her hair before straightening session.

****side note**** Remember my post on Healthy Hair lessons we can learn from Naturals? One thing I neglected to mention was that natural haired ladies love to quench their curls with steam treatments. Thanks Toni for helping to remind me of that.

Toni once had color treated hair which she recently trimmed. Part of the reason why I stopped her was because of how thick and even her ends appeared to be. The thoughts from my last post were still fresh in my mind so I decided to ask her a little more about her trim.

Toni and her stylist negotiated about how much to take off and finally settled their agreement on around 2 inches. Her color treated ends were prone to split and they appeared less healthy than the rest of her hair. Since the trim, Toni says that she experiences way less breakage and reduced shedding (which will mean greater retention in the long run). Plus she has the added comfort of knowing that, as her hair continues to grow, it'll have a thicker, healthier appearance overall. Toni's hair was in a ponytail when I met her. When I made the small simple request of asking her to turn around so some random stranger could take a picture of the back of her head and post it on the internet, she gladly obliged. Without a moment's thought she took down her hair and prepared for her shot.

 I helped her prepare for the shot by finger combing her tresses. Her hair was soft and smooth to the touch with no snagging or tangles what so ever (no shed hairs either). To keep her hair feeling nourished between salon visits, miss Toni rubs a little virgin coconut oil into her fabulous mane every couple of days. I could have gone on and on with my discussion with her. Toni was amazingly pleasant to talk to and I could have stared at her hair all day. But alas, we both had to continue on with our Target excursions. But before I go, let me share with you Toni's advice to those of us who are also on our hair journey.

 Toni reminds us to keep our hair well moisturized, love the hair you have, and be patient with your hair in your journey. She's been on her natural journey for over 5 years. My thanks to her for allowing us a glimpse into her world for our learning. While writing this post, what came to mind was how many women, I've talked to, with beautiful hair use heat regularly and can still maintain overall health. I think that's I topic I'll be exploring a little deeper in an upcoming post. Stay tuned.

The one true secret to thick, healthy ends revealed!

My philosophy, throughout my hair journey, has always been to create healthy hair by systematically seeking out and identifying my hair's major concerns (one by one) and working feverishly to eradicate them. Over time, I've focused my attention on managing moisture levels, addressing breakage, creating a healthy scalp, avoiding shedding and promoting thicker hair. Now it's time to turn my attention to maintaining thicker, fuller ends.

Thin, weak ends are common place for those of us who relax our hair. In any given day, one doesn't have to look far to find someone who relaxes and struggles to maintain thickness from root to tip. Often, when I read emails from some of you asking about hair advice, one of the areas I'm asked about is regarding creating healthy ends. Currently I'm at point in my hair journey where my focus is shifting to the ends of my hair. If I'm able to overcome this issue then my hair will be the best it's ever been. Thick, healthy ends must happen. Since I don't do much protective styling, I was a bit stumped as to how I would get these results.

It was while writing an email that I came to the conclusion that the ends of our hair will thrive under only one condition. One thing (and one thing only) makes it possible for us to have strong thick ends. And that one thing ladies is.....protection. Before you dismiss my advice as something you've heard before, let me just say that this "protection" I speak of goes way beyond the typical protective styling mantra that you've heard over and over again. Sure, protective styling is obviously the holy grail of protection. It's also fastest way to promote beautiful ends. But I'm a woman who believes in a holistic approach to addressing any and all issues. With that said, let's talk about the other means that you can protect your precious ends beyond just protective styling.

So what are some of the things we have to protect our hair from?


AIR (Dryness)

The greatest strength of protective styling is it's ability to provide unparallelled protection from the drying effects of air. Having our ends tucked away for the duration of the day is ideal. I remember the days when I used to do lots of protective styling under a baggy. When I took down the bun at the end of the day, my ends felt (and looked) amazing. If I were disciplined enough to maintain that practice day after day for an extended period of time, I'm certain that dryness would not be a concern for me. Avoiding dryness is key because anything and everything that is dry is highly susceptible to breakage. Moisture gives the hair the ability bend and flex without the concern of damaging repercussions. If your ends are seriously dry, begin to incorporate protective styling into your regimen right away. Other options would be moisturizing and sealing the ends on a regular basis or misting the hair from time to time to amp up moisture levels. Whatever you decide to do, don't allow your ends to remain in a state of dryness.

Breakage (weakness)
This week, while I was doing my hair, I noticed that most of the hair I lost, while styling, were not the long strands with the bulbs at the end (shedding) they were the little short little hairs (breakage). One thing I DO NOT mess around with is breakage. If left alone to it's own devices, breakage will rob us of every inch of progress ever made. Immediately I reacted with a (needed) minor trim and some coconut oil to elevate protein levels. Now my ends are behaving again thanks to my quick action. On next wash day, I will conduct a light protein treatment to address any lingering concerns and prevent future excessive breakage. Protecting your ends from breakage is essential otherwise you are bound to have thin looking, even ends. Anytime you see excessive breakage, act. Don't ignore.....act.

Heat

Do you protect your hair from heat? Or are you one of those people the pass the flat iron over the ends three or four times to makes sure your ends look super straights and perfect? If you find yourself grabbing for the flat iron day after day and exposing your ends to heat, then you are asking, no begging, for damaged ends. As the protector of your ends, your job is to do everything you can to keep your ends from succumbing to the damaging effects of heat. If that means investing money on an ultra-high end heat protectant, then consider it. If that means putting the flat iron away for a while, so be it! A while back I wrote a post discussing what happens when we actually comb our hair. Each time we do it, we are chipping away at the protective layers that cover the hair shaft. One practice that I've incorporated in my regimen is avoid combing on an every day basis. I'm happy to say that I've mastered the art of finger styling. Pretty much the only time I truly use the comb is on wash days when I'm trying to remove shed hairs. Even then, I make sure I'm using some specialized tools to help me with this process. Laying off the comb has helped me preserve thickness overall and I'm sure it's benefiting my ends as well.

FRICTION

One thing I pay close attention to is the type of material my hair brushes up against on a regular basis. On long flights and car rides, my hair is almost always tied up in a cute scarf. Even when laying on the couch to watch a movie, I'm aware that I need to tie my hair up. There's no difference, to me, between laying on the couch and when I go to bed at night. In both cases where I know that my ends will be rubbing back and forth against material, I make sure I use protection. Another way I manage the friction that occurs from just my normal practice of wearing my hair down is by reapplying a light layer of oil on my ends from time to time throughout the day. I've gone as far as to tie a scarf around my car's headrest for those times when I'm wearing my hair down. Whatever it takes to get the job done.



Relaxers
Every time I stretch my relaxer application, I'm protecting my hair (and my ends). But I know that stretching is not enough. I also have to ensure that I'm taking major precautions to protect the length of my hair every time I relax. So that means that I'm taking the time to apply some sort of product that acts like a barrier between my previously processed hair and the relaxer run-off. Protecting your ends everyday is important but one must never forget to elevate the protection levels on relaxer day. It's critical if you are serious about healthy hair.

Ourselves
I save this one for last because, for me, this is THEE most damaging influence on my hair. My constant (mindless) hair fondling has cost me big time in the past. There was a point in time where I would play with the back of my hair non-stop. Guess what happened....just guess. Yep, my nape quickly became short, broken and fragile. It was all my fault. A few times in my life I've seen women with 4b/c hair with serious length. Most often, they wore their hair in a simple pony tail. From my observation, I'm pretty certain those women wore the same style almost daily without much manipulation or touching. If I were one of those women who wasn't so obsessed with my hair, I guarantee you that I'd have way more length. More than anything, I need to protect my hair from myself. There are certain areas that I tend to go for whenever I wanna play in my hair. Wouldn't you know it, those are the same areas that seem to always struggle the most. So I've decided to take some of my own advice and allow myself the chance to truly benefit from all the my hard work without sabotaging it.

Remember that our ends are the senior citizens of our hair. They are fragile and require much more care and attention then our new growth. Yes, our hair needs moisture and strength but even moreso, it requires our protection. That is what allows our hair to thrive. I saw a sign once at a local park. The sign was located in a heavy populated area where pedestrians enjoy playing Frisbee. The sign said "please use the sidewalk, the grass is resting." It had several brown spots from being trampled by park goers. What would happen if no one were allowed to walk over that grass for months? That area would be so green, lush and thick. That's what I'm doing with my hair, I'm officially "resting" my ends for a while and soon I'll be able to enjoy full, thick hair from root to tip.

Are you suffering from Hands in Hair Syndrome? I've got the cure for you!

I was inspired to write this post today from an email question I received. This young lady and I have something very much in common. We both have a terminal case of hands in hair disease. For those of you who aren't familiar, hands in hair disease is the uncontrollable desire need to fondle, touch, and play with your hair. Most often, this man-handling occurs several times throughout the day. Sometimes our actions are subconscious and we don't even notice that we're inadvertently repeating this behavior. You may be asking yourself "what's so wrong about playing with my hair? I love doing it!" The problem with disease is that it's a silent killer, slowly threatening the health and thickness of your hair without you even knowing it. Trust me, I know the devastating effects of this monster first hand.

So let's discuss some obvious symptoms of the dreaded hands in hair disease. You may be a sufferer of hands in hair disease if you exhibit the following behaviors:

• You catch yourself playing with parts of your hair throughout the day. Including your ends, nape, edges, or any other exposed area.
• You take your hair down several times a day to redo your bun, ponytail for absolutely no reason whatsoever.
• You're aware that you are constantly playing with your hair but you can't make yourself stop no matter what you do.

If any of the above sounds familiar to you. You may have a severe case of the infamous hands in hair disease. In the past, this condition was terminal (for your hair), but I think I may have found some effective treatments that may cure you of your ailment once an for all.

Remedy #1: Know your triggers

My hands in hair disease has cost me dearly. I knew I reached a breaking point when I realized that the left side of my hair was suffering dearly at the hands of my every own..........hands. Triggers are the situations that cause you to start playing with your hair. Sometimes a trigger might be boredom or stress. For me, stress was the main trigger. Everyday when I drove home from work, I would take my hair down and start playing with the left side of my hair while my other hand was on the wheel. Looking back at those days, I realized that my hair was shedding like crazy and playing with it only made the situation worse. So day after day, I would drive home and spend nearly an hour over-manipulating my hair. As a result, the left side of my hair thinned out tremendously. Turns out I was doing this unconsciously. Once I became hip to what I was doing, I decided that playing with my hair while driving could no longer be an option for me. Today, I no longer use a long car ride as an excuse to zone out and cause damage to my hair. As a result, my hair is much happier overall.

Remedy #2: Pre-occupy yourself

One of the ways, I avoid messing with my hair is by putting my hands to work doing something else. When I want to avoid boredom hair fondling, I tend to engage in other activities that keep my hands pre-occupied. Most notably, I like to rub my fingernails together. You might remember from my previous posts that rubbing fingernails together is thought to help promote hair growth by stimulating the scalp through nerve endings located near our fingernail beds. Not only am I promoting healthy hair growth, I'm also creating strong beautiful nails when I rub them together. So now I have a choice, I can either run my hands through my hair and pose more harm to it or I can rub my fingernails and improve both my nails and hair at the same time. Every time I make the right choice, I reap the benefits.

Rubbing your fingernails isn't the only option, you can substitute hair playing by picking up a pen and start writing that book you've always wanted to publish. You can also update your calendar, repaint your nails, do 10 jumping jacks or whatever. Basically, you have a million other options of what you can do with the time you use to play with your hair. You might even set up a little challenge for yourself. Anytime you catch yourself playing with your hair, you have to do 10 sit-ups. That way, you have a flat stomach and thicker hair by summer.

Remedy #3: Try new hairstyles

If my hair is down all day, there's a 100% chance I will play with it. If I wear a bun, I'm likely to take it down and fondle every couple of hours. However, if I wear my hair in curls, I turn into a good girl and suddenly I have the ability to keep my hands in check. For some reason, the need to have defined, beautiful curls overtakes my obsession with hair touching. Don't get me wrong, I still touch my hair, but I don't do it in the way that is as destructive as when my hair is in a straight style. I also noticed that when I wore that cute single braid, I would still play with it but the braid kept my hair protected while I fondled. Styles like the one below also work well for me. A clean polished look is key to this style and I can't afford to let my roaming hands get in the way of the intended look.

Remedy #4: Use your hands for good

Sometimes, keeping my hands out of my hair is impossible so instead of trying to avoid it, I use my hands to benefit my tresses. If my hands are gonna be in my hair several times a day, might as well take the opportunity to re-moisturize and seal throughout the day. This gives you the opportunity to satisfy your urge for a mid-day feel all while re-freshing the look and feel of your hair.

My all time favorite thing to do with my hair now is to use my hands (that once use to cause damage to my hair) to give me a scalp massage. Whenever I want to play with my hair, my tendency is to reach for my ends. The result of doing this long-term has contributed to thinning ends. Now I try to focus my hands on giving me scalp massages that promote growth and a healthy scalp. Now, if I want to play with my ends, I vow to utilize that time to add moisturizer or Gleau Argan oil blend to nourish my ends.

I hope these suggestions will give you hope in knowing that you don't have to suffer through living with hands in hair disease for the rest of your life. You can live a normal life again. One where you can go through the day without the embarrassment of uncontrollable hands in hair syndrome.

Good day.

Damaged Areas: "Should I big chop or nurse back to health?"

I've been asked this question several times from those who've reached out to me. This scenario is near and dear to my heart because I have found myself in a crossroads where I've had to make decisions on whether to cut my damaged sections and start all over or go the opposite route and try to somehow nurse my hair back to health.

I want to first start off by saying there is no wrong answer to this question. To some, cutting the hair and starting over seems like the most logical of the two options. And I would agree with this approach to some extent. There have many big and small chops throughout my hair journey. There were also times when I opted to take another route and forced myself to work though the situation by nursing my hair back to health. Which is my preferred method? "I'll take nursing back my hair to health for 200 Alex!"

Yes, my preference whenever I have a damaged section is to choose option 2 and I'll tell you why. Long ago, I would big chop (or a stylist would do it for me) and guess what, sometime later I would find myself with the same signs of damage creeping back up again. This happened because I hadn't addressed the root cause issue creating the damage. It's like putting a bandage on a wound without first stitching up the gaping hole which is the source of the bleeding. When I decided that I would no longer use a major trim as a way out, I caused me to become more thoughtful about what I was doing (or wasn't doing) to my hair.

For instance, once upon a time, my right side was thick and healthy from root to tip, meanwhile, my left side was thin and weak to the touch. Turns out that on wash days I treated the right side of my hair like royalty and the left side like a red-headed step child. Basically, my hands would get tired by the time I reached the left side after spending all the time and effort applying conditioner in teeny sections on my right side. Another thing I realized was that I would play with the left side of my hair as I drove home from work. All this extra manipulation, along with the lack of care on wash days, were essentially the root cause of the damage. I addressed this situation by starting the conditioner application on my left hand side first. Fast forward several months and now this side appears to thrive even more than my right. If I simply cut my healthy side to accommodate the weak areas, I wouldn't have learned from the situation. Now I balance things out by rotating which side I start with first.

Since adopting the "nurse it back to health" philosophy, I've been able to address damage areas in my nape and crown. Now, whenever a section of my hair starts actin' up, I treat it like a crying child who is trying to communicate the only way it can. Simply cutting off the hair without addressing the concerns is like putting a pacifier in the baby's mouth without trying to figure out if she's hungry, thirsty, needs a diaper change, or whatever. What is your hair trying to tell you?

I'm not saying that a big (or mini) chop isn't the right thing to do. In fact, in some cases, it's probably the best to "stop the bleeding." But I wouldn't place all of my faith in a big chop as the "end all be all" to resolve the issue that created the areas of damage in the first place.

So if you are in a place where you are considering your options here are some tips that I think may help:

• If the damage is widespread and affects most of your hair, a big/mini chop is the best solution. But this option is a temporary one if your regimen still doesn't address the root cause.
• If the damage is concentrated in certain areas, consider the option of nursing back to health ONLY after you've spent some quality time assessing what contributed to the damage and what you can do to address it.
• Try to think of at least three factors that may have contributed to damage. In case your first answer doesn't lead to the root cause.
• If you are concerned about aesthetics (meaning you don't want to walk around with one side of you hair looking healthy and the other looking a chewed up mess) consider wearing protective styles while you nurse.
• If you choose to nurse, pay VERY close attention the results of your actions to make sure you are making progress. Don't choose the option to nurse your hair if you won't make certain that you are adjusting your actions for the better. Failure to do so can lead to even more damage.
• If after choosing to nurse your hair, you see the situation is becoming worse, proceed to cut then start over with healthy hair practices and observe your actions going forward to make sure they aren't contributing to the damage reappearing in the future.
• A major trim(to address damage) is not the same thing as a regular trim (for maintenance and aesthetics). You should still schedule in maintenance trims even if you chose to "nurse it back to health".

Hope this post was helpful to those of you in a place where you feel like you have to make a big cut but you don't want to. Trust me, this isn't the only option you have. As long as you are willing to put in a little bit of work, you may be able to avoid the major trim after all.

Five things I can do to better retain length (other than protective styling)

As my humble little hair journey continues, I find my focus slowly shifting from creating moisture, dealing with tangles, stopping breakage, etc. Right now I feel pretty good about the overall health of my hair. Now, I'd like to use my brain power to identify ways to improve retention. This wouldn't be such a big deal if I were disciplined about protective styling.

But since protective styling isn't my thing, I'm forced to think of alternate ways to create admirable lengths.

I'd like to document some ideas on what I can do to help promote retention overall but before I do, I must first identify the most beneficial aspects of protective styling to see if I can experience the benefits without having to constantly bun. Protective styling is so impactful for retention because it allows for these key benefits:

-Moisture retention

-Low manipulation

-Ends protection

With that said, here are some of the things I commit to doing to help in my overall retention strategy.

Trim - The other day, I invested in a fancy pair of left-handed hair cutting scissors at Sally's. Why? Because even though I don't like to do it, I am absolutely certain about the benefits of a much needed trim. Whenever I experience too much breakage (especially in my ends), I do a very small trim. Usually, this simple act can help curb my breakage almost instantly. Those who protect their hair on a constant basis don't have to deal much with weak split ends. By trimming, I'm eliminating the weak ends and giving my hair a chance to thrive.

Moisture-Protective stylers are constantly basking their hair in consistent moisture. I've baggied before and the results were quite amazing. It's no wonder that the women who do it are able to easily retain their length. The way I'm addressing this issue is to fight dryness as much as I can (and as frequently as I can). I do this by using a liquid leave-in concoction on a daily basis. Right after I use this moisture mist, I apply Gleau oil blend voila. Before, if my hair felt a little dry, I would let it slide a little before taking any action. Now I'm fully aware that dryness is the enemy of retention. As long as I am able to successfully manage my hair's moisture levels, I can rest assured that I'm doing the right thing to retain length.

Manipulation- Bunning, braiding, or wearing weaves not only protect the hair against the elements, it also protects us against ourselves. I'll be the first one to admit that frequent manipulation is the number one reason why I haven't retained more length than I could have. I realized that I've used my hair as a comforting tool. When I'm bored or stressed, I tend to play with my hair. Over time, all that constant fondling is robbing my hair of possible length. One of the ways I've tried to remedy this is to use scalp massage as a stress reliever as opposed to playing with the length. I think knowing what I do to contribute to my lack of retention is the first step. Once I'm aware, that's when I can start to make great progress.

Growth-Knowing that I'm at an automatic disadvantage with regards to retaining length, I've placed my focus more of promoting strong, healthy new growth. Scalp massages, juicing, silica all help promote growth. My intention is to grow more hair than I lose. That way, even if I haven't been doing well in the other areas, I'm still can make progress.

Do something different-Not too long ago, I was reading a book about doing one thing differently to get different results. The whole premise of the book was about how things change for us when we do even the slightest thing in a different way. There's always a different way to do something. For example, if I always comb my hair the same way every morning, then perhaps I could try:

• Using a different comb
• Combing with fingers
• Spraying comb with hair sheen to help minimize friction
• Moisturizing hair before combing
• Using flexirods to style hair so I don't need to comb

The list goes on. The point is that if I continue to do the same things, I will continue to get the same results. When I try something different, I can will impact how my hair looks/feels in the future. Even small tweaks in how we do things will make a difference. So today I decided to keep a satin scarf handy near my lounging couch. Whenever I decide to lay down, I'll place the satin over the pillows as a way of protecting my hair. Something small, but I know it will make an impact.

I'd love to hear ideas on what you do to retain length. Feel free to share on our discussion page.

Begin with the ends in mind: How to keep the ends of your hair strong and healthy

At the start of the year, one of my intentions was to promote thickness to all areas of my hair. Last year around this time, one side of my hair was suffering miserably at the hands of damage. The damage was there long enough to cause sporadic thinning in certain sections. Today, I'm happy to say that overall, my goal of regaining my thickness back has almost been completely realized.

So now I look ahead. Over the past few months I've taken some specific action to address the concerns I've had regarding the health of my scalp, massive tangling, and consistent breakage. All though I'm not completely out of the woods yet, I'm confident that I'll soon get there. Now my focus turns to the place where my attention is needed most, my ends.

You all are well aware of the importance of healthy ends in the fight for retention. Healthy ends are critical for anyone who really is serious about this hair journey thing. Strong, healthy ends has been especially elusive for me as a person who doesn't protective style. Not only are my ends exposed most of the time, what's worse is I've got this horrendous habit of constantly keeping my hands in my hair. Even more horrifying is how I'm constantly manipulating my ends for no reason whatsoever. I cringe when I think about it.

I have a small dog who take out to use the restroom every morning. He's a creature of habit who tends to use the same small area each time he goes. I soon realized that even though he's a lightweight with tiny little paws, his behavior of using the same area day after day is wearing out my lawn. I also noticed that I'm doing the same thing to my ends. Day after day, I casually play with the same parts of my hair. How can I not expect the same type of results my lawn is exhibiting from being trampled by my dog?

Now that I know, I've got to do something about it. That something has to be powerful enough to create visible change months from now. Since I don't intend on hiding my hair 'till summer, I've got to lay some other ground rules that, hopefully will be just as effective. I'll continue to flush out ideas as time passes but I'll share with you what I have so far. When I think about the keys to healthy ends, I reflect back to the wise words of Wanakee which will forever be seared into my brain. Wanakee stressed that hair consistently exposed to air would suffer. She gave us the perfect illustration of the silk on the cob of corn. The silk exposed to the outside was all dried and crinkly while the silk protected under the husk was soft, moisturized and healthy.

I've decided to try to incorporate two of the most effective benefits of protective styling and try to replicate them on hair exposed to the elements. Protective styling gives your hair two key benefits: moisture retention and low manipulation. Those two combined are the bread and butter of healthy thick hair. Let's talk about how I intend on incorporating these two benefits without hiding my hair.

1.) Like I said earlier, my worst habit is my consistent need to manipulate the older (weakest) part of my hair. Since my hair is down a lot, I play with my ends a lot. After some careful consideration, I think I've come up with a solution that protects the very ends of my hair without having to bun.

I think back to the post I did where I interviewed a fabulously-haired stranger and my friend's house. One of the tips she shared with me was that she used flexi-rods on her ends every night. I realize now that every time I "bump" the ends with either flexi-rods or satin covered sponge rollers, I rarely ever play with the ends of my hair for fear of destroying the style. Thus my new method of preserving the thickness of my ends will be to keep my ends protected (from me) by tucking them under with the use of curls. Another thing I try to do when I wear curly styles is create tight curls. That way my hair isn't brushing against my shoulders or back. If this becomes a consistent style for me, my desire to manipulate will shrink drastically.

2.) Another key step to creating full healthy ends will come from my ability to keep them well moisturized/lubricated so they can better respond when I do manipulate them. Years ago, I was going through this phase were every 4 hours, I would re-apply a light oil to the length end ends of my hair. I tell you, it was during those times I would receive the most compliments on how healthy my hair looked. Not only did my hair look great to those on the outside looking in, it felt amazing. So I've decided to re-institute an old habit of carrying around a tiny bottle of filled with my favorite oils so I can retouch consistently throughout the day. Think about how often we have to reapply lotion or lip gloss because of the drying effects to air exposure. I know our hair can also need a little freshening up throughout the day. Why wait till the end of the day to re-moisturize? I prefer to try keeping my moisture levels consistent as much as possible.

I also had another idea. You know how some brands have come out with combs and brushes "infused" with natural oils in the fiber. I actually bought one of those brushes once and was sorely disappointed. I think I even ended up throwing it away after a while. Even though the execution of the idea was lackluster, I still think they were on to something with that idea. A lubricated comb or brush might make a difference in the amount of hair lost during the styling process. That's why I've decided to make a bootleg version of their idea with the use of my best detangling/wide tooth combs and some oil sheen.

Profectiv makes a couple of different oil sheen products. What I like about the ingredients are how natural they are. No mineral oil or silicone. Just ingredients like olive oil, jojoba oil, coconut oil, silk amino acids, avocado oil, castor oil, etc. Although I haven't used spray oil sheen to finish off a style in years, I still find value in these these products as comb lubricators. That's right. I've used my oil sheen to help my comb turn into a true "oil infused" product. Because Profectiv uses real natural oil in their product, the result can sometimes be too heavy for day to day usage. So instead, I'm thinking I use this to spray my combs during my detangling sessions on weekly wash days.

Maintaining Strength

One last thing I have to make sure to do is really protect the length of my hair from over-processing when I touch up. I didn't even think about how relaxer run-off could impact the previously relaxed hair until fairly recently. For the very ends of the hair, this could mean the 10th or 20th time they've come in contact with a relaxer. So it's really important that we coat the hair with natural oils, Porosity Control, vaseline, neutralizing shampoo, or something. The point is not to let them go naked into such a traumatic process. Another cardinal rule of thumb I live by is "never use any electrical heated hair styling tool to create curls." There are just too many alternatives out there for me to use such a harmful styling method for curling.

I'll continue to think of more creative ways of reducing manipulation, promoting moisture, maintaining strength to all of my hair, especially my ends. If I place those key points as a focus. I have complete confidence that my ends will have no choice but to thrive. I'm still looking for other ideas I can incorporate. How do you keep your ends thick and healthy?