My game plan to reach mid-back length again

I've suffered a couple of set-backs last year and the early part of this year with regards to my hair. One too many Dominican salon visits, along with my inability to stick to my normal hair care routine during my bathroom remodel, has left me with much work to do to get my hair to mid-back again.

Unfortunately, my memory is a little vague as to the specifics that allowed me to reach mid-back. I'll share with you what I do remember consistently doing:

*Weekly washes and roller sets- I remember that 2007 was the year when I finally had to accept that air drying was working against what I was trying to accomplish. No matter how much I wanted to air-dry, the results spoke for themselves.

*Pre-poo treatments- 2007 was also the year that I began adding product to my hair before my shampoo. Who would have thought that we could enhance the moisture levels of our hair simply by treating it before the wash? I do know know who's wonderful idea that was...but whoever it is, I owe you lunch!

*Natural oils-Before 2007, I spent a large percentage of my income not on the basic necessities, but on the newest hair product craze. Today my robust supply of hair products are beginning to slowly expire in a large hallway closet. Last year my hair thrived on wonderful natural oils like coconut, avocado, jojoba, etc. Now my hard earned money is allocated to much more important expenses-shoes and accessories.

*Green nutrition-Last year I kicked up my nutrition levels by incorporating green foods into my diet. There was a period of time when I was downing a green smoothie every morning. My hair thanked me dearly for my efforts. My new growth was supple and tame and my energy levels were high. The growth I received from drinking the green smoothies rivaled that of consuming high biotin doses (but without the unwanted hair growth on my knuckles and toes).

I have to admit, I've slacked off on the green drinks. I do take green foods in supplement form, but there is nothing like consuming the nutrition in liquid form to get it flowing immediately into the blood stream.

One new procedure that I will add to my routine is the habit of tying my hair up in the evenings. I religiously tie my hair up at night before bed, but I got to thinking about the additional benefits I'd get from tying my hair up right when I get home from work and on the weekends. If I oil my hair lightly and tie it up at 6:00 pm instead of 10:00 pm, that gives my hair an extra 4 hours a night of additional moisture retention potential. Four hours a night 7 days a week is at least 28 hours. If I tie my hair all day on Saturdays and Sundays, that number could go up to more than 40 hours. Imagine how healthy my hair would look if I remained consistent with this practice. I get all excited just thinking about it.

*Another benefit of tying my hair down for longer periods of time would be the flattening of my new growth during stretching season.*

I also plan to reintroduce the habit of re-moisturizing my hair once or twice throughout the day. To be completely honest, I can not think of a time when I received more compliments on the healthy appearance of my hair then when I took the time to reapply oil to my hair throughout the day. People would always ask me what I was using that had my hair looking so healthy. since I am always creating unique oil blends with my favorite oils, I would not recommend a specific product. I would only say that I use natural oils in my hair. Needless to say I defiantly need to bring back the mid-day and late afternoon re-oil method.

So there you have it, nothing special just the fundamentals. Notice I did not mention any special products in an attempt to demonstrate the universal usefulness of each technique. There are some other effective methods that I neglected to mention, like scalp massages and protective styling which would also produce wonderful results. Use what works well with your hair and feel free to add any of my suggestions.

-Here's to the health of you hair.

Three of my biggest hair mistakes and how you can avoid them

Looking back over the years at my quest for healthy hair, I realized that I've made some mistakes along the way. Those mistakes cost me (and my hair) dearly. It pains me to think about how healthy my hair could have been if only I knew to avoid these mistakes at the beginning of my hair journey. I'll share my mistakes with you in hopes of saving you from the trouble that I had to go through.

Mistake 1: Not trimming my ends
My ultimate hair goal is to gain and retain as much healthy length as possible. In doing so, I would go many months without so much as trim to keep my ends in tip-top condition. I became a greedy length whore who ignored the obvious tell-tale signs of damage. By not trimming periodically, I allowed the damage to spread further up the hair shaft. Soon a my hair would next to be cut, not trimmed, in order to be salvaged. It only took a couple of mandatory hair cuts for me to learn my lesson. Now my hair lightly trimmed every month or so depending on the need.

Here is how I know when I need to trim:
1. My ends look frayed or untamed.
2. My ends do not respond to normal conditioning, or treatments.
3. My broken hairs all seem to be about the same length. When nearly all of my broken hairs are 1-2 inches in length, I know it's time to trim.

Mistake 2: Not combing my hair
When I first learned of protective styling, I was resistant. Resistance turned into acceptance, which then turned into laziness. The bun was a huge time saver for me and I completely took advantage of it. Then came the point where I was literally not combing my hair when I styled it in the mornings. My idea of "combing" my hair was rubbing some oil on top of the bun to make it look like I actually did something to it. Come wash day, I would have preferred to shave it off then to comb through my hair. The tangles were insane! An entire week's worth of shed hairs were trapped inside my bun. No matter how gentle I would try to be when I finally combed my hair, I would eventually loose the little bit of patience I did have. In the end, I probably "undid" most of the benefit of bunning by allowing my hair to go so long without combing through it.

Mistake 3: Dominican Salons
Do not get me wrong. I absolutely loooooove the way my hair looks and feels after getting a blow out. These stylist just have a way of taking a head of textured hair and transforming to long locs of silk. But in my experience, the blow out absolutely kills my hair. I usually don't detect the damage until I start doing my own hair. For several weeks after my blow out, I have to spend my time trying to reverse the heat damage.

I'll give you a perfect example. At the end of 2007, I finally reach my goal of mid-back length hair. As a reward, I decided to get a relaxer and blow out to experience the length in all of its majestic glory. I loved it so much that I went back a couple more times for another wash and another relaxer over the course of the next several months. Needless to say that I am not mid-back any more. I do not blame the salon completely. During that period of time I was getting my bathroom demolished and remodeled so I could not stick to my normal styling routine as I once had.

If I ever do go back to visit my local Dominican salon. I will absolutely demand that only my roots are blown out. I do not care if the results will not be the same as before. The long-term health of my hair will far outweigh the benefits of a week or two of silky hair.

Big Hair? How to rollerset successfully when your roots are poofy

I am about 6 weeks post relaxer right now and I'm starting to get to that point where rollersets become less effective at giving me that sleek straight look that I usually wear. A little later on down the road I will experiment with braid outs and other styles that work with (not against) my new growth. But before I get to that point, my first instinct is to rely on rollersetting as a styling method of choice.

So what is my secret to rollersetting when you have poofy roots? What I do is simply incorporate two styling methods into one to obtain my desired results. One of those methods is the scarf method. The scarf method works at taming your new growth. What you do is wash and condition as normal, then comb your wet hair into a ponytail. Once in a ponytail, I pin the hair that is hanging up to the back of my head and proceed to tie my hair down with a silk or satin scarf. By using this method, your new growth dries very close to the scalp. The closer your hair dries to the scalp, the lower the probability of big hair.

The second part to this method is to then rollerset the hair. I usually take down the ponytail once my hair is partially dry (about 40-50% dry) and proceed to rollerset the hair as normal. By then my roots are 100% dry. If your roots are taking to long to dry, you can use a hand-held blow dryer on a low or medium setting to spead the process along. I usually keep a mixture or leave-in and water at hand to wet the length of the hair as needed. When I do this, I am careful not to get the roots wet and undo all of the good from tying it down with the scarf. The end result of the rollerset is usually very similar to having done a rollerset without the scarf method. The roots are neatly flattened against the scalp thus your overall look will not be as big as it would have been if you rollerset your hair without first dealing with the new growth.

So there you have it, you too can continue to roller set without having to use the intense heat of blowing out your roots afterward. You no longer have to contend with the huge eighties hair once your new growth starts to blossom.

Leave a comment and share any tips you have for dealing with new growth when rollersetting.

Hairstyles I secretly fantasize about

I called my mom last night preparing her for what I was about to do. "Mom," I said, "I'm going to cut my hair tonight, I just thought that you should know." She then proceeded to remind me of how fickle I am when it comes to my hair and how cutting my hair would be a decision I would soon regret. She rehashed old memories of how I would spend hours braiding my hair only to remove the braids two weeks later. Or of how I would pay good money to have a stylist design my hair only to wash the style out a day or two later. I hate to admit it, but she is right. She knows that within a few weeks of sporting my new do I would be dreading the decision. So instead of taking a big plunge, I am merely going to fantasize about what I would have done to my hair if mom would not have talked some sense into me.


This long bob with bang is a personal favorite of mine. I love the versatility of having a longer bob as opposed to a short sassy bob. This style would give me the option of doing more with my hair on the days where I don't feel like having a perfectly styled coif.


This bob is fabulous! I love the way the style frames the face. I can just see myself with this look, some huge earrings and fabulously done makeup. The only downside to this is the requirement that the hair be perfectly straight and in place at all times. I'm not sure I am ready to commit to that yet.


O.k. so this is not officially considered a short style, but it would be a drastic change for me none the less. I haven't sported bangs in so long. I adore this style but for some reason, I am somewhat afraid of the maintenance involved. I remember having to constantly trim my bangs to make sure they still looked stylish. Not only that, I was always arching my eyebrows to make sure they framed my brangs just right. Nobody wants to walk around with shotty looking bangs. You should always make sure your bangs are shiny, straight and bangin' (pun intended) at all times.


If I really wanted to get crazy, I would have went for this ultra simple, ultra short bob. Sporting this style would pretty much mean that my hair would look the same almost every day. That's not my ideal situation so this style would honestly be my last option.


This is what I would have to do to my hair if I tried to attempt any of the other styles by myself. I would probably be frustrated with the result and I would end up shaving my head.

What I did differently last night and how my hair turned out

O.k so one of my favorite natural products of late has been coconut oil. I have been using it for just about everything.

*I use it on my skin as a substitute for lotion
*I use it on my scalp to help with my excessive flaking
*I take it internally for improved digestion and overall health
*I use it on my face to combat my seborrheic dermatitis
*I use it on my dry hair to increase shine.

So after hearing such great comments about using coconut oil as part of the deep conditioning process, I thought to myself "of course!"

One of the reasons why coconut oil works so well with your deep conditioner is because its amazing ability to penetrate the hair shaft. One article I read even stated that coconut oil also adds protein to the hair shaft. This oil can do no wrong folks!
So last night I put this wonder oil to the test. I washed my hair as I normally do and mixed some coconut oil with my Biolage fortifying conditioner. With my plastic cap and head scarf secured tightly, I ventured out into the 80 degree Florida weather to run some quick errands. Without the benefit of using my Babyliss dryer for even deeper conditioning, I rinsed out the products.

I've used the oil/conditioner mix in the past but this time my hair did not feel as heavy, oily, or weighed down as with other oils. In fact, after rinsing I even mixed a tiny bit of the oil with my Lacio Lacio just prior to roller setting. I set my hair as usual. The magic happened as I removed the rollers. My hair was like a dark strands of silk. The shine was on point, but most importantly, it felt like butter. I could not believe how soft it was. I must say that I am definitely pleased. This will most certainly become a part of my routine going forward. If you do not already have possession of coconut oil, you should definitely seek it out, locate it, and make it yours.

Are causing more damage to your hair by NOT using heat?

We all know that heat is one of the major damage causing culprits that our hair has to contend with. We also know that by using heat on a regular basis, we are slowly but surely robbing our precious hair of the moisture that we so desperately need. So with that said, I am going to utter a phrase that may be thought of as controversial (brace yourselves).

I believe that using absolutely no heat on relaxed hair could also damage the hair.

Why you ask? Well you have to start of with the notion that relaxed hair is considered damaged by default because of the chemical process that it undergoes to change its natural state. With that said, you now have to work diligently to add to your hair the main components that it is lacking. These components include moisture and protein. But another component that I believe relaxed hair needs is a styling process after the wash that helps seal the hair.

Don't get me wrong, air drying is absolutely wonderful for the moisture levels in the hair. But many of us know that air drying, if not done the right way, can cause more harm then good. I think back to times when I would completely air dry my hair in a neat bun. The problem would arise a couple of days after the wash when I would attempt to comb the hair after the hair was dry. I don't know about you but every time I would even attempt to comb my hair after air drying, I would end up with a mangled mess with more breakage then I bargained for. I could tell that my hair felt better from air drying, but at the same time, I could clearly see that my hair needed to dry with some sort of structure to help seal the cuticle layer.

So what's a girl to do? My recommendation is the trusty rollerset. The beauty of the rollerset is that I can still air dry my hair, or I can dry on a cool setting, or I can dry with warm air. Either way, I am not applying the crazy hair-killing heat of a flat or curling iron. So there you have it. Heat is bad, but no heat can also be bad. If you are not a fan of the rollersetting method, you can find other means of setting the hair while avoiding damage such as braiding the hair or twist setting. Whatever you decide to do, just make sure that your hair is happy with it.

Why your hair will love avocado oil

Like most of you, I absolutely love hair oils. In fact, once I included oils into by daily regimen, my hair product budget went down dramatically. Natural oils were just what my hair was craving my entire life. Over the years I have experimented with various oils and blends of these oils. By far I would have to say that one of my very favorite oils is definitely the blessed avocado oil. My hair loves this stuff!

Avocado oil is excellent for the hair because the oil is rich in proteins, amino acids, and vitamins A,D,and E. What more can you ask for? The oil also acts as a humectant which means that it adds moisturize to the hair. Some have benefited from mashing up a ripe avocado and applying it to the hair as a deep conditioner. That is an honorable idea, but for me, it was a bit messy and I am not sure I received the same results as I would have if I would have simply used the oil with my favorite intense conditioner. If you do not have this oil in your hair arsenal I am definitely recommending it to you. Take a look at this video of a Ford Model who benefits from this wonderful fruit.




Uses:
You can use avocado oil in several different ways depending on your preference or hair type. Some chose to mix the oil with some conditioner and add to the hair just before shampooing as a pre-treatment. You can also add a little bit of the oil to the hair while you deep condition for more luxurious locks. If you're suffering from extremely dry hair, feel free to dap a little bit of the oil when styling for a hint of extra shine and suppleness throughout.