Hair Care Basics: Cleansing

You have decided to take better care of your hair and commence a healthy hair journey but do not know where to start; this series is designed to breakdown the components of a healthy hair care regimen. First we will look into hair and scalp cleansing.

Cleansing in hair terms is the process of removing product build up and cleaning the scalp to create a healthy growth environment for hair. It is recommended to do this once every 7-10 days, cleansing can be done more often but you have to take care not use shampoo if washing for example every 3 days. Frequent washes are common when sporting shorter hair lengths like the low fade or Teeny Weeny Afro (TWA), while ladies with longer hair may choose to stretch/space out wash days. The right routine or frequency however is a personal preference and you have to find what works for you.

Types of Shampoo

Generally when researching for your healthy hair care you will find that sulfate and non-sulfate shampoos being discussed. Basically for curly/coily/kinky hair which is dry naturally; a sulfate shampoo can be very drying if used regularly. It is preferable to use a sulfate-free shampoo which is gentler and does not strip the hair and scalp of all natural oils.

Based on the function of shampoos they can be classified into; clarifying, chelating and neutralizing.

Clarifying shampoos: as the name implies they clarify the hair and strip the strands of all build up from the use of creams, moisturizers, gels, oils etc. It can be said that all sulfate shampoos are clarifiers, as they strip the hair and scalp of build up and oils.

Chelating Shampoos: these are shampoos that in addition to the clarifying action remove mineral deposits. According to Audrey Davis-Sivasothy in her book The Science of Black Hair, The bonds that minerals make with the hair, however, are stronger than those made by products, dirt and oils, Mineral bonds with the hair fiber are chemical bonds that cannot be removed with the simple surfactants found in moisturizing and clarifying shampoos. A specially formulated chelating shampoo is required to remove mineral deposits from the hair. The ingredients in chelating shampoos chemically bind to hard-water minerals and help lift them away.

Neutralizing shampoos: these are shampoos that are used at the end of a chemical relaxer process to wash out the relaxer from the hair and effectively stop the chemical action. 

Next we will examine How to Shampoo/Cleanse hair and No-Shampoo hair cleansing methods.

Your feedback is much appreciated, please leave a comments and questions below.

Happy Hair Growing!

2015 Hair Goals

My hair goals for 2015 are;

GOAL 1: Maintain healthy transitioning hair

My last relaxer was in July 2014, I intend to transition for at least a year before I review and decide whether or not to big chop. I want to maintain my transitioning hair and incorporate hair practices that keep m hair healthy.

GOAL 2: Hair Regimen Review

My regimen has pretty much been a weekly wash and deep condition for the last few months. I have made no major changes to my hair products and feel it is time to review them and determine what actually still works for my hair and what needs to go.

GOAL 3: Pamper my edges

The biggest hair mistake I made last year has to be getting Ghana Weaving done, I lost my edges in the two weeks I had that hair style. This year I want to pamper and be gentle with my edges.

GOAL 4: Try more natural products

This ties in with my hair regimen review goal, I will try products with more natural ingredients and also try DIY mixes (conditioning and cleansing)

GOAL 5: Keep Blogging

The blog serves as a way to chronicle my journey and  I want to commit myself to continuing the blogging habit.

What are your hair goals for 2015? Do share!

Hair Meetup: Naturals In The City 5

Hi!

There's a hair Meetup coming up in Lagos, organised by Natural Nigerian ; it is called Naturals in the city (NITC). This is the 5th edition and I plan to be in attendance for the first time. If you are in Lagos and would like to purchase (natural) products for your hair (and body) there will be various vendors in attendance. I believe it's not just for ladies (and gents!) with natural hair, if you are relaxed, transitioning and everything else do come along.


See event details in the poster below;

Hair Regimen

This is a long overdue update; I have had a busy couple of weeks but still continuing to take care of my hair. I have been working to establish a hair regimen and will outline what I have come up with so far and the products I use.

Daily

• Moisturize and Seal (morning and night)

Every other day

• Scalp massage with oils
• Green House Effect

Mondays

• Prepoo with honey and coconut oil for 30 mins with heated towel
• Shampoo
• Deep Condition (Moisturizing DC or Protein DC, Protein every 2 weeks)
• Apply Leave in conditioner
• Moisturize using Liquid, Oil, Cream (LOC) method

Saturdays

• Deep Condition on dry hair with a mixture of honey, oils and a moisturizing DC (this coincides with when I do my weekly facial cleanse, scrub, mask etc so it works out)
• Co-wash
• Apply Leave-in conditioner
• Moisturize and Seal (LOC)

PRODUCTS

Shampoo:

• ORS Creamy Aloe Shampoo
• Black Soap (Dudu Osun)

Conditioners:
Moisturizing

• Moroccan Argan Oil Intense Moisturizing treatment
• Dark and Lovely Ultra Cholesterol Conditioning Mask
• V05 Moisture Milks Conditioner (instant/cowash conditioner)

Protein

• ORS Hair Mayonnaise**
• Vitale Anti-Breakage Leave in conditioner
• V05 Split Ends Antibreakage Conditioner (instant/cowash conditioner)

Moisturizers

• Organics Extra Strength Olive Oil Growth Lotion
• ORS HAIRepair Anti-breakage creme
• Elasta QP Olive and Mango Butter

Oils

• Olive oil
• Grapeseed oil
• Jojoba Oil
• Castor Oil
• Coconut Oil
• Amla Oil ***

N.B
**After reading a certain post on LHCF I am unsure about ORS Hair Mayonnaise as a protein treatment, I am looking to get another protein deep conditioner but want to see how my hair fares with this conditioner first.
*** The brand of Amla oil I have, has Mineral Oil as the FIRST ingredient so it is not getting frequent use.

That's it! My current regime, I try to respond to what my hair needs rather than just following a regimen strictly for example I cowash almost daily as I found it works out for me in this TWA stage.

The one where I cut my hair

So, late last night/early this morning I cut my hair!

This is why;

I did not like the way it was all uneven because of the areas where I had lost hair and finally just cut the longer areas, making it all equal.

Here are some pictures I took after co-washing this morning.

I felt so much better after the cut and it really felt like the right thing to do. This is new to me as I have never had my hair this short. It 98% natural now and I will be relaxing when it grows a few more inches. I have already been using wigs as my protective style and would continue that as well as other protective styles throughout the year in order to grow and retain length

I'm keeping my 2013 length goal as Shoulder- Length and it would be a great feeling to achieve that.

Excited!!!

2013 Hair Goals

This is a first for me; hair goals. I am consciously setting goals for my hair alongside goals in other areas of my life. For me what I want and hope the most to achieve this year is health and length. Towards the end of 2012 I began to learn about healthy hair care practices and have started practising these.

Healthy Hair Goals
1. Moisturise and Seal daily
2. Develop a hair care regime and follow through.
3. Relaxer stretch for at least 12 weeks
4. Deep condition weekly
5. Maintain protein/moisture balance

Length Goal
Full Shoulder-Length


*image source: http://hairdelacreme.blogspot.com/2011/01/hair-length-chart-and-site-acronyms.html?m=1