Which came first the deep condition or the shampoo? My dry deep conditioning experience

Do you guys remember my review of Hair Fixer way back when? During the six weeks I used the product, I had to forgo using conditioner per their usage instructions. After that experience I learned to place a higher value on the pre-poo step. Since I couldn't deep condition as normal, I had to amp up my pre-poo by using higher quality product. Ever since I've paid close attention to maintain a pretty healthy pre-shampoo regimen but this time I decided to take it a step further.

Instead of using conditioners like Long Term Relationship, etc for my pre-poo, I decided to go all out and conduct a full deep conditioning (pre-shampoo) session. On dry hair, I applied a mix of my favorite high quality conditioners like Biolage, Silicon Mix Protein de Perla, Aveda Damage Repair, and other heavy hitters. I also added a little Argan oil and popped open some vitamin e capsules into the mix. Then I proceeded to part my dry hair into small sections and applied liberally.

Next I finished it off as I would any deep conditioning session, with heat. After 30 minutes or so under the dryer, I jumped in the shower and proceeded to cleanse the hair with WEN. Just before I jumped out of the tub, I reapplied some conditioner to the hair and allow it to sit on the hair for a couple of minutes before the final rinse with cold water. After that rinse, I proceeded with styling. The coolest part about this process was that I only had to jump in the shower only once which is way more efficient than my traditional way of doing things.

So the question I have to ask myself is whether or not this method is more beneficial to the hair or is the time savings the only benefit. To better answer this question one has to look at what happens when the hair becomes wet. Water is easily absorbed into our hair strands. In fact, our hair is so attracted to water that it'll readily pull water from the air. That's why we're constantly fighting against frizz in humid weather. The hair strand can expand as much as 30% when exposed to water. When I think about this swelling effect water has on the hair I ask myself, "is it possible that the absorbed water could be taking up valuable space in my strand that should be granted to my conditioner?"

If that's the case, then it would make sense to apply conditioner to dry hair, then utilize heat to open the cuticle layer, and allow the deep conditioning process to happen. I can tell you from my experience that I had less hair loss this wash then in previous sessions. Not only did I realize some great benefits during the wash, I also enjoyed great feeling hair throughout the week. Dry deep conditioning requires more product then normal deep conditioning. I found myself having to apply ample conditioner just to saturate the hair. In the long run, I'm sure it'll be a little more expensive since I use less conditioner during my normal routine. But I think the results will speak for themselves. You should also check out a post a while back sharing the details of a study that supports the importance of applying product to the hair prior to the wash for added protection to the cuticle layer.

Some might be thinking, "isn't having lots water in the strand a good thing?" Yes it can be a good thing but remember that water evaporates. If I can help it, I'd rather have the deep conditioning ingredients swelling up the strand, no just water alone. The key to making this process successful is using heat to open the up cuticle layer so the conditioner can truly penetrate. Once the cuticle is open, your hair is ready for 100% conditioner penetration. No additional water taking up any valuable cuticle space.

I'll be using this method over the next several weeks to see if the benefits are lasting. I really hope this will turn into a permanent change in my regimen. The thought of saving time on wash day and the possibility of a deeper conditioning process gets me all excited. Anyone tried this technique before?

Show off your fabulous mane & become a Pantene Hair Model

If any of you ladies plan to attend the upcoming Essence Music Festival, go visit the folks from Pantene as they host a casting call for their next round of hair models. You guys may remember Brooke, who won a chance to represent Pantene in their previous champaign. Now it's your turn!

MEDIA ALERT

WHAT: PANTENE PRO-V CASTING CALL AT ESSENCE MUSIC FESTIVAL

Pantene, known for providing women with healthy, beautiful hair for more than 60 years, is seeking five African-American women to star in its upcoming 2012 print advertising. The search will take place at the Essence Music Festival in New Orleans.

WHEN: FRIDAY & SATURDAY, JULY 1-2, 2011, 11:00 A.M. – 5:00 P.M.

Sign-ups begin at 10:00 A.M. and are limited to the first 200 people

Callbacks will be held on Sunday, July 3, 2011

WHERE: MORIAL CONVENTION CENTER

2^ND FLOOR- ROOM 226

900 CONVENTION CENTER BLVD

WHY: Pantene aims to provide women with healthy, beautiful hair and offers a variety of products for every hair structure, including the Pantene Pro-V Relaxed and Natural collection, designed to help keep African-American hair strong against damage, shiny and moisturized. As part of “My Black is Beautiful,” a campaign that celebrates African-American beauty, Pantene hopes to encourage African-American women to let their beauty shine inside and out. To find out more, women can visit www.pantene.com/womenofcolor.

MORE: Women with relaxed and/or natural hair are able to participate, however those with extensions or weave will not be considered. The winners will be featured in Pantene’s print advertisements beginning in 2012 and will receive an all expense paid trip to the print shoot location. Winners will be announced at a later date.

*If anyone needs more info. Contact me and I can get your questions over to the folks in charge of the event.*

Spotlight on healthy hair: Beautiful Flower!

I've been drooling over this woman's hair for the longest so I finally reached out to her to find out more about what creates her healthy hair. Check out my interview with Beautiful Flower!

You shared on your blog that you were inspired by some of the greats on LHCF including Syvler77, what were some of the tips you learned that really helped you in your journey?

I based my regimen over the years by mixing and matching the techniques of my relaxed legends. I think some of the main tips I have learned are:
- Air drying doesn’t always look pretty but it will keep the hair on your head
- Make braidouts and buns your default
- Stretch relaxers at least 3 months at a time
- Moisture is your friend
- Low to no heat but sometimes a little heat can make your hair feel a lot better

Your hair is super thick, are you doing long term stretches? When you relax, are you using a milder formula to texlax? How do you maintain your thickness

My only and last long term stretch was before this past relaxer and it lasted from November to May (24 weeks). I usually do 3 months at a time. I think I will do another 24 week stretch.
I have always had thick, dense hair but it has increased in thickness since starting my hair journey. Air drying, stretching, moisturizing, detangling properly, and heat reduction makes a difference in hair density. I suggest going for a blunt cut then adding layaers after you’ve reached your hair goal to add dimension for those with thinner hair. Also your ends will get thin over time so I dust with every relaxer and do a good self-trim once a year. If you can find a stylist you trust to trim you, I recommend going to that person. They can see what you cannot.
I do relax with a regular strength lye relaxer always. I do not consider myself texlax’d. Why? I relax my hair in a way to keep the hair stronger by not killing all my protein bonds. I also fear burning my scalp so I prefer to smooth and rinse as quickly as possible. I don’t relax to keep it thick but it does help maintain volume. If you’ll like at a strand of my hair it’s not straight nor does it have any particular wave/curl pattern. I don’t know if that makes sense. LOL.

Based on the photos from you blog, you don't seem like a consistent protective styler. How do you wear your hair day to day?

I don’t. LOL! But my defaults are braidouts (pinned up, straight-down, half-n-half), buns (all kinds), and ponytails. I do more braidouts now than anything. When I was Mid-back and shorter, I did mostly buns. I do ponytails on old straighten hair or old braidout hair. I have been rollersetting a lot lately so I rock ponytails then morph to braidouts like today. I also LOVE Ez-combs so I wear these alot now. I have 6 and they are super cute and easy to use.

If you're stranded on a desert island. What three products do you take with you?

It would be a good shampoo, conditioner, and leave-in. Currently that would be:
-Crème of Nature Detangling Shampoo
-Queen Helene Cholesterol Conditioner
-Silicon Mix Intensive Leave-in Conditioner (this stuff is AMAZING)
If I could add three tools: a medium tooth comb, scarf, and perm rods.

What's has worked for you to help retain length? Have you dealt with excessive breakage?

I have not dealt with excessive breakage since I started my journey. Regular Breakage? Yes…everyday. I manage it with maintaining my protein-moisture balance. I do that by doing moisture during the week with leave-in and co-washing, a deep condition overnight once a week, and one protein infused conditioner on the weekend. This typically keeps me in check.
I also retain length with low to no heat styles. I may blow dry once a month and flat iron once every 2 to 3 months. DETANGLING PROPERLY and GENTLY. This cannot be stressed enough. This will help or break (literally) your hair progress. Use a proper comb, a lot of leave-in, work from bottom to top, work in sections, and be patient. And I use leave-in of some sort EVERYDAY. If I flat iron, I use a serum EVERYDAY.

Do you support healthy hair nutritionally? If so, how?

I do but it’s not intentionally. I work out 4 days a week and have been doing this off and on the last 6 years. Protein drinks really help nails and hair. I also do not eat a lot of junk but I don’t deny myself either. I practice moderation. I do not take vitamins and I don’t drink as much water as I should. I’m getting better though.

How do you maintain moisture on such a thick head of hair?

I moisturize EVERYDAY and I pay attention the ends. And a lot of times, if my hair feels dry, I just hop in the shower and wet my hair. I love water on my scalp.

Any setbacks?

Twice. It was more like ripped out hair in sections. I tried Curlformers once and never again. My hair was too thick and too many textures for that. Another time I shampoo’d my hair after coming out of a 2 month weave without detangling. BIG NO NO. My hair knotted and matted like nothing before. It took 2 days and a lot of conditioner to remove all the shed and knotted hair. I lost a lot of hair (good and shed hair) but because of patience, conditioner, and a rat tooth comb, I keep a lot of hair too.

Before your recent trim, you were a member of the waist length club, was it like everything you imagined it would be?

Yes and no. Waist length is long to most everyone that sees you and you can play with the length but hip length is yummy. It felt nice to have the hair grazing the bottom of my back after a wash. My air dried hair hung a lot lower and my braid-outs looked crazy long. I am shooting for hip length again. I hope to be there again by the end of this year or early next year and I’ll be maintaining that length.

What are the three pieces of advice for someone just starting in or struggling with their hair journey?

- RESEARCH. I spent hours and days and months researching about hair, hair science, moisture, protein, products, and techniques. Research the regimens of people that have the length you want. Try it out. If it works, keep it. If it doesn’t, dispose of it. Ultimately, you’re making your own regimen. It will take time and your regimen will be ever changing but you’ll find what works if you don’t give up.
- Products only make your hair manageable; they do not grow your hair. Find products that make your hair feel soft, light, strong and smell good.
- Patience. The progress is coming. If it’s not, look at the regimen of some one that has your goal and see what you may be missing. Give your regimen 6 months at least to decide your process isn’t working.

Check out beautifulflower's blog for more about her beautiful hair.

Curly Nikki Mizani Meet Up event Part Deux

The Curly Nikki/Mizani natural hair meet up was in full force. This fabulous event was hosted at the Blue Martini and there were tons of ladies in attendance.

I got there a little late. When I wandered in the place was pretty much packed. The folks from Mizani and Michelle, from naturallycurly.com were on stage educating the audience on Mizani's new line of products made for curly textures.

At that moment, I looked around and realized that pretty much everyone in the room had a cute little gift back containing samples and product information. Since I was running behind schedule, there were no gift bags left.

That's when my pouting session began. I was like "how come I didn't get a gift bag?" How am I going to sample these potentially amazing products?"

Just then Michelle began announcing winners and lo and behold, my name was announced! Instead of itty bitty samples, I won full sized bottles of the entire line!

Once my taste for hair products had been satisfied, that's when I decided to do what I do best....hair stalking.

Nikki was such a gracious hostess! She made time to take pics and chat with the fabulous ladies in attendance.

For the remainder of the night, I pretty much worked the room asking perfect strangers if I could take pics of their hair. So now I'll step back and allow you to indulge in the barrage of beautiful natural hair porn. Enjoy!

Yeah! Someone recognized me from the blog! She also won a full sized gift back (and so did her mom).

Now back to the glorious hair gazing........

Will definitely do this again! Thanks Nikki/Mizani/Naturally Curly for hosting such a wonderful event. I'm trying to partner with the Mizani folks to host a giveaway. Once it's set I'll share the details.

Curly Nikki Mizani Meet Up event (Pre-party)

Curly Nikki and Mizani were working together to hold an event in Orlando. Prior to the event festivities, Nikki sent out an open invitation to meet up with her for casual conversation. You know I was all over that! In fact, I was the first person to show up. Nikki graciously invited me, and the others who attended, to her hotel room where we could do what we do best...talk about hair. As we all talked, Nikki got up and went to the bathroom to take down her twists. That was my queue to grab my camera and head after her. She was gracious enough to allow me to get all up in her personal space to take these fabulous pics of her twist out take down.

The end result was gorgeous! Once the twists were taken down, she pretty much left them alone so the Orlando humidity could work its magic. She even allowed us to touch her hair which was buttery soft to the touch.

I did a caruso set on dry hair which gave me large waves. This time I added a couple drops of ACV to the water to help with the pH balance and seal the cuticle so I could combat some of the 100% humidity. I was sweating even before I got to the hotel room. At first I waited by the pool, the walked the property to find out where she was staying and I couldn't believe how well my curls handled all of that. Sure the dropped a little but they maintained their dignity the entire night!

Stay tuned for part II of this post where I'm on location at the Mizani Event.........

What I learned from a 72 year old man's hair regimen

I've written a bit on the topic of scalp massage because I think there's so much to be gained from doing them regularly, especially if you throw some essential oils into the mix. In fact, just the other day, I came up with an idea on how to improve a scalp massagers currently on the market. I won't get into details yet because I hope to make it an actual product one day.

Today I'm here to talk about something else, specifically a new twist on scalp massages that involves hair pulling. Before you get turned off by the idea, let's discuss more in detail. When I talk pulling the hair, I'm not speaking of trichotillomania, which is a compulsive urge to pull out one's hair. No one's going to be pulling out their hair here. Before we actually get into the practice of the gentle pulling technique, let me give you a little background of why I'm even suggesting it.

I was first really introduced to this when I read a book called Old age, its cause and prevention. Written in 1912, this book is about the art of rejuvenation. It's full of valuable insight by a man named Sanford Bennett who, at 72, looked and felt much healthier than he did at 50. Most of his book is on facial toning and physical strength. He did, however include a section in the book related to hair.

Although Sanford has a head of white hair, it appears much healthier at 72 than it did 20 years earlier. I figured, "hey, this guy may have something value to contribute, his hair did make an improvement." Perhaps I too can learn from his hair journey experience. So here's what I learned. In 1895, before his transformation, Sam had a full examination. The the folks who studied him described his hair as "thin, dark, streaked with grey on crown; quite bald." Fast forward to 1906 and the same examination found that "the hair, now gray, has become quite luxuriant [with] no indications of former baldness." So what can we learn from this 72 year old man's hair regimen?

Sanford Bennett at 50 years of age

Sanford Bennett at 72

Sanford understood that every part of the body grow in size and elasticity when exercised. He believed the roots of the hair were no exception. In his book he states that the roots lose quality and deteriorate if not properly exercised. So he created a regimen that focused on a healthier scalp. He described his process as this: As he's lying in bed, he grasps his hair with his fingers, pulling gently in several areas until he has completed the entire head. He alternated between this and traditional scalp massage in the same session. In the end, Sam said he created a "perceptible glow." Sam gives some other hair advice in his book but most of it is pretty dated. This technique seemed to have worked for Sanford. It's obvious, from the pics, that he directly influenced the re-growth of is hair.

When we talk of hair pulling, we really mean more of a scalp lifting. The point is not to put any additional pressure on the strands of the hair, but to create movement and increased circulation in the scalp. WE ARE NOT PULLING ON THE LENGTH OF THE HAIR, WE ARE TUGGING NEAR THE SCALP. And the pulling tugging should not be excessive. Not like the extra-tight braids and buns which produce the opposite results to "luxurious hair." That type of tension is not only excessive but also constant. Think about someone who gets super-tight braids, the stress on the scalp is 24/7. Of course damage is going to take place. That's like lifting and holding a heavy weight for the entire day, your muscles just can't take it. But, if you put a little tension on the muscles for short bursts, great things start to happen.

If you'd like to try out this technique, I don't recommend using your finger tips to do the tugging. This creates too much stress on the strand. Instead keep your fingers extended and horizontal against the scalp with medium sections of hair in between the fingers. Keeping your hands close to your scalp, lift fingers gently tugging the hair upwards (or circular) and hold for a 3 count then release. Do this method over the entire scalp and you'll feel much more energized than a normal scalp massage using just the tips of the fingers. If you feel any pain in the process, you're using too much tension. This type of scalp massage should feel really good. If it doesn't, you're not using the proper technique.

Thank you Sanford Bennett, for inspiring us to create stronger, more luxurious hair.