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!

Hair Story and Choices

I mentioned in my previous posts about my hair cut that I planned to commit to being relaxer free for 6 months, well right now I plan to stay natural. I am inspired by a lot of the naturalistas I have come across on blogs, internet hair forums and YouTube. I am really curious as to how I can manage my natural texture now that I have more information about healthy hair care.

HairStory

My natural hair was quite full and thick, my mum made sure I got regular shampoos and never had any form of heat applied. I had my first relaxer in almost 10 years ago, after pestering my mum for almost 2 years. I remember my first term in secondary school a lot of the girls had relaxed hair and I began to pine to have mine relaxed. You see, I thought relaxed hair was the way to go, it could be combed easily, worn down and most importantly to me they didn't have to get their hair woven almost weekly like I still had to. Initially I stopped having my hair woven and later I wore single plaits done myself without extensions from time to time.

From my first relaxer to the last one in November I almost always got burnt scalp. I always dreaded going to the salon to get my hair relaxed. Although, I did do some wrong things most commonly, relaxing immediately after taking down braids or weaves. This was because I was clueless as to how to stretch my relaxer. Another mistake I made once was colouring my hair immediately after relaxing, the colour didn't catch and I began to experience major breakage.

In recent years I abused heat; My love for heat started when I was studying for my masters, before I located a hair stylist I bought myself a blow dryer and hair straightener to achieve the straight look frizz free. Even when I found a stylist, my visits were mostly for relaxer touch ups or once in a while weaves. When I started full time employment my heat abusing got worse, a lot of times I straightened my ends DAILY! I had a signature straight/bob, neck/shoulder length hair look going on and one time I got braids done my colleagues thought it was someone else sat at my desk before they saw my face lol. I always wore my hair down, in spring, summer, autumn or winter, my hair was down.

My bad practices and neglect were enough to keep me stagnated at neck/shoulder length. Now I've done a complete turn around, taking better care of my hair. Early on when I started my research into healthy hair care I noticed a lot of ladies who would grow long healthy relaxed hair and then suddenly begin to transition back to natural. This got me thinking and peaked my interest in my natural hair.

I know my texture is not going to be identical to someone else's but I am excited to find out what it is and learn to take proper care of it.