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hair products

Best detangling hair products for afro hair

This article is for all the individuals that know how life used to be before detanglers came into the picture. Do you remember the days when you knew that if your hair was brushed you would be in pain because you had a lot of tangles with your hair. Your scalp would sometimes be sore for days and you would not want anyone to touch it. Well those days are long gone and if you are still suffering in silence, then pay attention as this article could be life-changing for those that are not using these products.

If you want to ensure that your course and tightly coiled hair experience after a braid-out is smoother, then you want to use a pre-shampoo treatment to detangle your hair. If you are still confused about this and have no idea what I am saying. Test this little theory out. If you have not purchased any pre-shampoo treatment, get some olive oil if you have some, mix it with a little bit of water and as you remove the tangles from your hair, provide some feedback on your experience.

I will be writing about detangling products from the cheapest ones to the most costly ones. If you would like to try out detangling products, I have a list of a few that I have used which are great, however there are so many in the market nowadays. If you have not mastered the type of hair that you have please feel free to go back to my hair type article as it will assist you in selecting the right type for your hair.

1. Mane ‘n Tail detangler spray

Cost: $8.07

I only came across this detangler last year and did not know much about it. What I like about it is that this product is pH balanced, it’s more alkaline than acidic. It’s great for tangled hair and great for conditioning hair.

This product was originally used for horses, to help them have less split ends and thick lucious silky hair. They expanded their range and started including individuals products as well.

As mentioned in my previous blog, I have low-porosity hair and it also tends to be a little dryer, so it’s great to have Mane ‘n tail as it helps keep it well conditioned.

The process of detangling involves parting hair into sections in order to make sure that the product is evenly distributed. Wet your hair with water and add the product and start the process of detangling.

Disadvantage is that you have to use quite a lot of it to make sure that you get it through the section which you want to detangle.

2. Noughty, Thirst Aid Conditioning & Detangling Spray

Cost: $ 16.15

This one is light weight, it’s not as creamy as the other detanglers which may be suitable for individuals with thick hair, however it is quite greasy, which is perfect for me. Some individuals may find that it’s too much.

The trick with detangler, you have to check the consistency first before placing it on your head, therefore always take a small sample and add it to a little section of your head which you have added some water. If you find that it’s a little too heavy, you may have put too much products, you just have to use your discretion depending on how tangled your hair may be.

The process of putting Thirst aid on your hair is exactly the same as using mane ‘n tail. This one is a little different as it’s quite greasy, but with my low porosity hair it works just well as it stays moisturised after I use it and even when I wash and condition, my hair stays quite healthy.

3. As I Am Coconut Cowash cleansing conditioner

Cost: $18.38

Don’t let the name fool you that it’s only used as a conditioner. This product is one of the best when it comes to detangling your hair. It helps with product build-up if you have had your hair braided and it’s just amazing.

The first thing you do before you comb out your hair is to apply the cleansing conditioner. Section the hair into four parts or more, depending on the length and thickness of your hair. Make sure you wet your sectioned hair first with a spray of water. Once your hair is wet enough, you put a blob of the As I Am Coconut Cowash cleansing conditioner. You can start detangling that section and what would normally take you hours to do will be cut down to less time. This depends on the length and thickness of hair. It will be pain free and once the individual goes to wash the hair, it will be a quick process.

Some individuals may have reaction to Coconut and therefore if this is not the type of product for you, then it’s best to check around for other detanglers with different ingredients.


4. Coconut and Argan Leave-in Conditioner + shine

Cost: $23.50

This was also a new one for me as I only thought that it was a leave in conditioner. The process of detangling has to be the same as the detangler above.

The great benefit of the Coconut and Argan is that it will work for any hair type and will also leave your hair soft and shiny without frizz. The good thing about it is that if you constantly use a detangler everytime you are doing your hair, it will have less knots and that means that your hair will grow healthy and stronger.

Again it may not be suitable for an individual that cannot use coconut on their hair.

If you have never used detangler, and this is the first time that you have tried it, you will not regret it.

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braid maintenance hair braiding scalp care

Scalp care on braided afro-hair to keep it healthy

Happy new year, I hope 2020 will bring perfect vision into your life. Throughout this holiday, I had the comfort or rather the luxury of getting my hair braided for the holidays. Normally depending on the length of time I have available I tend not to do it as much as I would when I was a lot younger.

Getting hair braided

Now depending on how often you get your hair into a protective styling which is what is often common especially on afro hair, I decided to have it styled for the Christmas period. I ended up doing a hairstyle, which I had not done in a long time which typically I would do when going to school. I would say that it’s quite similar to the style below, however it was just with my own hair. After washing it with a wonderful shampoo, that smelled amazing which my sister wanted me to try as we were both doing our hair together, I had to get it blow-dried for the styling.

Getting the hair braided was quick and it took about 45 mins to 1 hour. I had to wait in the salon for my sister as we had gone together. After three hours at the hair-dressers, we ended up going home and got complimented on our looks, we both had different styles. To give a description of my hairdo, I had my hair braided up to the middle of my scalp and also a few braids hanging towards the front of my face. My sister had a simple braid back as she wanted to put a wig on and did not really want anything fancy.

Now one thing I did not mention was that before the hair was braided, I asked the lady to oil my hair but I did not check to see if the ingredients would be problematic to my scalp. In the first week all was well, however I started feeling slightly itchy on my scalp. By the second week, my scalp actually got really itchy. I was trying not to scratch it unecessarily, however there was no relief in sight.

Scalp care

Normally, after hair is braided, different individuals normally maintain their scalps in many ways. Some individuals try to avoid washing their scalps as that would loosen the braid and therefore causing their hair to look unkempt. Due to the fact that I had just braided my own hair I knew that by washing it, It would get frizzy. Therefore I took some olive oil spray which I had and used it to ensure that my scalp stayed well moisturised. It seemed to work for a few days, however after some time it also became a little ineffective. I needed some type of solution and for me using the harsher shampoos with sulfate it would have an impact on my hair by causing it to be too dry.

I dared to leave my hair for two weeks, however by the end of the second week it was quite flaky and I had to do something about it. Therefore I ended up getting some tea tree oil conditioner and one of my favourite himalaya shampoo. When I washed my scalp, I put the shampoo in place twice as I kept scrubbing and rinsing it. Once I had the conditioner on my scalp, I left it for about 5 mins in order to feel the impact. It felt really clean. I ended up rinsing my hair and my scalp was in great condition. The only thing I ended up doing was putting some oil on my scalp to ensure that it does not get dry.

Now sometimes for the sake of ensuring that the braid stays intact an individual can decided to forgo washing, however from that moment, I learnt that I cannot do that on my scalp, it’s just too sensitive to be left as it is.

I think it’s normal to have an itchy scalp after you braid and basically it’s because your hair is being pulled from the scalp. Additionally, some individuals tend to leave their braids without worrying about how to moisturise it.

Moisture

It’s very important to make sure that even though you have your hair in a protective style that you are maintaining it. There is still growth and your hair will keep shedding regardless of the fact that you are not combing it everyday. Although your braids  can get a little loose, it’s nothing to worry about as the condition of your scalp is important to stimulate your cuticles to help your hair in growing. You don’t want to have your hair braided and once you remove your braids, your hair is also coming off with the braids.

A clean scalp will help in getting your hair to grow. I have also listed a few products at the bottom that are great for braided hair in ensuring that it remains moisturised. If you are allergic to some of the ingredients, make sure that you use something that will suit you. A lot of individuals use what others tell them but not everything will work for you.

Some of the sprays that help when hair is braided are:

  1. Sulfur 8 braid spray medicated anti-dandruff treatment
  2. Jamaican Mango and lime maximum  no more itch gro spray
  3. African royale brx braid and extension sheen spray
  4. Dudu-Osun anti-itch braiding spray
  5. Parnevu T tree braid spray
  6. Ashea braiding and lock spray

I have not listed all of them, however there are quite a few brands that provide these types of products that can be useful for your scalp. The benefit of most of these products is that they minimize itchiness and maximize your hair growth.

Through this little experiment that I tried over the holiday period, I realised how important it was for me to maintain a clean scalp as I mentioned earlier I don’t really braid my hair too much.  Be careful to keep your scalp clean no matter how  frizzy your hair will look. Additionally, if your hair does not hold a braid for a long time, there is no use in keeping it on your scalp for too long.

Has anyone ever put in braids for far too long on their scalp? If you did, what did you do about it?

Categories
hair moisture hair products hair shampoo

Review- Giovanni Smooth as silk for that xtra soft feeling

Product: Giovanni Smooth as silk shampoo and conditioner

Prices: $4.58 – $13.00

Cheapest place to buy: Beauty expert

Size of container: 250 ml which is 8.5 Fl.

My rating: 4 out of 5

The first time I used Giovanni shampoo, I thought that it was great. At that time, I felt that the costs of the products were quite pricey and so I would just get it once in a while. I finally managed to get it on sale a few months back and purchased a specific brand known as smooth as silk. It is their moisturizing range. I felt like my hair was lacking in moisture and it did not feel as soft as I was used to before, therefore the journey to using Giovanni began.

What I like about it

I like Giovanni shampoo smooth as silk because it does not contain any harmful sulfates and parabens. It’s free of any artificial dyes and has natural botanical ingredients. Now it may not be for everyone, however for  me I love it because it actually makes my hair less frizz prone even a few days after washing my hair.

One thing that I noticed that was great about Giovanni, was that when I first started using it, I had quite a bit of breakage, however after several uses now, I am finding that my hair breakage is significantly less. My hair is easily detangled which is amazing, so everytime I use my wide toothed comb to comb it out there are very few tangles.

Actually on Friday when I washed it, I had actually undone my hair which had been in little twists, normally the process of detangling would have taken me ages, but with Giovanni, the detangling process was quick and easy.

For those individuals that want to know if the company is environmentally responsible, well their packaging is recyclable.

My hair certainly is easier to manage, however not sure that it’s smoother per se, however I have texturised hair, therefore for the work it does on it, I am quite impressed.

Additonally, it does not have a strong smell so it’s great when you wash your hair. It has also saved me considerable time and effort as I don’t spend a many hours as I used to on my hair in general.

Giovanni Conditioner is great as well, it’s very think and I normally just use one coin and it is enough to moisturise my hair. I normally keep it in for 5 – 10 minutes without heat, however depending on the time I have, I use a shower cap and put a beanie on top if I want ran other household chores.

What I don’t like

Some of the ingredients seem to settle at the bottom of the shampoo and you have to keep shaking it to make sure that you are getting everything distributed in the shampoo. I am not sure if it’s because of my location that this is happening but it’s something I don’t like.

I find that I tend to use the conditioner more than the shampoo, yet I need it more. I think this is also on my end and has nothing to do with the brand.

As you can see, there’s not much to dislike about Giovanni in general.

Overall

Giovanni smooth as silk shampoo and conditioner really work well for me. I think depending on the type of hair you have it can be great and potentially it may also not be suitable for you. If you can get a sample in the shop I would suggest getting that first before you make the purchase.

This product would be ideal for an individual that has dry hair. I will go into my next blog to discuss about identifying how you can revive your hair depending on what you use for it.

If you have used Giovanni shampoo, how did you find them, did they work for you?

Categories
afro shrinkage hair care hair shampoo

Hair Shrinkage on afro hair and different methods of maintenance

In this article I will be looking at the shrinkage of afro hair and how the hair technique used for washing it can have an impact on how the hair will look as a result.

Anyone with hair that is 4a – c which would have the most curly hair type and various curl patterns from spiral to z curl knows this pain too well. When I was a lot younger I used to get my hair blow-dried all the time and braided into the usual school hairstyles as we were not really permitted to have any other types of hair styles in school.

I remember there was one older girl in the class ahead of me that had beautiful hair as well. One day out of curiosity just wanting to know what she does with her hair as she did not braid much I mentioned that my hair had shrinkage. She did not know what I was talking about. At that time I thought I was the only individual that goes through this. I had assumed that she goes through the same and potentially she may have had a different curl pattern therefore it may not have been an issue for her.

Shrinkage
Since as far back as I can remember I always experienced shrinkage, however whenever my hair was braided, I did not seem to have much shrinkage on my hair. Now as many individuals are discovering their natural hair sometimes depending on the occasion you may want to have your hair in a more natural state and at other times you don’t really want your hair in a natural state. I find that when I am washing it. If you want to minimize shrinkage when you are in the process of conditioning, it’s always good to separate your hair into four parts depending on the thickness of your hair and putting in huge twists.

When I start rinsing my hair in the shower, I normally undo one twist at a time, I will then make sure that all the conditioner is completely removed and put it back in the twist immediately after it has been rinsed out. I would repeat the process on the rest of the sectioned head and once I get out of the shower I moisturize it.
When the hair is completely dry, I find that it does not shrink as much as if I had just washed my hair in the shower without any sectioning.

I believe that the technique you use to wash your hair will determine how your hair dries.

What you need to know about shrinkage

Shrinkage is nothing to worry about. The main reason why we get hair shrinkage is due to the fact our hair type tends to change it’s structure during the process of washing. The water makes the hair heavier and the added moisture from the water makes it change. However once you straighten curly hair because the moisture content is reduced, you find that it becomes drier, and it can also tend to get frizzy. There is a lot of information out there that when hair is wet it can be easily manipulated and there are various styles that you can be done. Also when afro hair is wet, it’s the best time to blow dry it.

I have also heard that sometimes it’s better to manipulate dry hair and not wet hair as there tends to be less breakage. Through doing my own hair, I find that it’s easier to remove tangles when my hair is wet than when it dries up and if it dries up, then I will have to use a moisturizer if I am not using water to remove the tangles.

Therefore it’s best to find out what suits your hair well because if you are better off untangling your wet hair then it’s best to use that technique. Another really good way is to put lots of conditioner on your hair and use  wide toothed comb to take out the tangles. It’s always time consuming, however it will help you if you want to style your hair in a specific way be it blowdrying, braiding or just leaving it as a wash and go.

I also discovered an amazing club for afro, curly haired individuals, check it out on the website and I hope you enjoy it  as much as I did. Earthtones natural

Also let me know what hair method works best for your curly hair?

 

Categories
afro shrinkage no heat Wash and go

Wash and Go Styling for naturally curly hair

Wash and Go

Wash and Go, let’s just say this particular style took me a long time to adopt to. Well first of all getting used to the texture of your hair and allowing it just to stay as it is was a great learning curve for me. The fact that you grow up in a society where the afro is looked down upon, it took a really long time before I started getting comfortable with it. In my previous post I spoke about self-love and how it has an impact on how you look after yourself.  When I had to begin the process of accepting everything about myself including my hair, it took a long time. I was always using a blow dryer and I noticed everytime I used it my ends were thinning. It was quite terrible. I remember at that time I was still trying to figure out what to do with my hair and I discovered a really interesting source of information. I used a few products to help my curls get less frizzy due to the fact I had been addicted to relaxer and now I still had that need to have my hair more manageable.

I ended up using clay as a treatment.

Clay treatment

This was amazing for me because I found that it was really safe on the hair and felt good when used on your head.
As I was looking for various resources to assist me during this time, I came across a product known as Kinky curly. To say that this product was one of the best things that happened in my life would be an understatement. I started using it a long time before it became popular and loved how it worked on my hair. I remember being at University at that time, so the cost was a bit of an issue for me but I remember using it on every member of the family and letting them know how it would solve their hair woes.

In terms of my hair type, it’s a mix between 4b and 4c texture. It’s not quite tough and when it’s blowdried it get’s quite soft. Most of the time people think I have used product to make it a certain way. I can only imagine what would happen if I was more consistent with products.

Products

One things I got to discover during the wash and go journey is that we don’t need to use too many products on our hair. I would have been a product junkie if I had access to many of the products that are in the market today, however I try to keep it simple because I think getting a product for $ 24 per item can tend to be alot and imagine if you are a student that can be  way too much money for it. So when I started this site, I thought if I was a student again, what would I tell my younger self? I would probably say, don’t spend too much on products and keep it simple, which is what I do today.

In saying all this, does it mean that I always moisturise or stick to a consistent strategy. Well ever since I got my son I can say it’s a challenge, however when I had all the time in the world to fix my hair I was absolutely committed. I think it’s also great to be around individuals that are positive about themselves as that can assist you in learning how to be happy with yourself. I think with the information nowadays we have a great opportunity to meet with other like-minded individuals online. I do remember being part of some groups at that time, but it still took me a very long time to accept myself.

How things change

I find it extremely fascinating that the natural hair journey became a thing when I had been natural for over 10 years. I have finally found the confidence to be myself and not apologize for anything. I know how to look after my hair although I don’t spend too much time like I want to. I always make sure that I wash it every week as it’s curly and use products that are sulfate free such as GIOVANNI Tea Tree  . This particular shampoo makes my hair feel amazing. However if the cost seems a bit much I find that using the more natural soaps such as Himalaya Protein Shampoo for Dry,, It’s much cheaper and you can easily get a hold of it.

There are a lot of products nowadays that cater to natural hair, however sometimes when they start becoming too commercialized sometimes you wonder if it still has the same impact. A few years ago the Keratin treatment became a really popular and I even considered doing it. I just think when you learn how to manager your hair in a certain way and then get to revert back to your original texture. It is a challenge. To this day I have friends that probably don’t know the texture of their hair because of the relaxers that they are used to and I can’t judge them because I know the struggle I had and I think everyone is on a different journey when it comes to natural hair.

I can conclude that for me at this point in my life I have finally learnt to accept myself through the good hair days and bad hair days. I think I have learnt how to cope with each situation and this blog made me realise I should probably start getting back to the creative individual I once was. I have accepted my hair for what it is and would not change it for the world.

What do you think of your natural hair and how has your journey been so far?