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Hair loss is sadly a fact of life with most black women.
It usually is mainly caused by a lot of our hair care "practices" and the styles we deem necessary to maintain our hair. However, there are many other factors often at play when hair loss persists beyond the use of such styling techniques, Come to the Mane Divas and LolasCurls workshop this Saturday and get answers to your burning questions on this very important topic. Register now for the event (£5) and use your ticket to get money off products from Mane Divas (you can get custom-blended oils too) and 20% of the price my book - £8 weeks to Longer Hair! I can't wait to see you lovely ladies and gents! Book your tickets here as spaces are limited!
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A quick post as promised! My book is out! For more details, click the tab above on www.lolascurls.com or go to www.8weekstolongerhair.com.
If you want the discounted price of £5, reach me by email (only applies to UK and Europe as you will have to cover the postage too). Payment will be by Paypal to Lolascurls Ltd. God bless and enjoy the video below! It's almost winter and I'm inspired! I have been on YouTube ogling (no other word for it really) the pretty heads of hair on MsTanish1 and AliciaJames for their loose twists. I'll be honest, until I saw that MsTanish1's hair thrived with the style (Alicia your hair was so long to begin with - that I felt daunted!), I didn't think I could do it. I watched MsTanish1's video: see below, and I was going to do it! First, had to get my housing situation sorted though....yes, I'm moving AGAIN! Maybe I'm a NOMAD? Or just going back to University for a Masters degree....lol! SO I'm moving to Cardiff and am a bit scared to be honest. It will likely be cold and damp but so is London. Time to keep packing, move and keep an eye out for upcoming hair and health events on the weekends. Yes and my book is out! Check out my YouTube update video in the following post: lol! It's available on www.8weekstolongerhair.com and is called, you guessed it, "8 Weeks to Longer Hair!" See you soon, ladies and gents! Pray for me and my move! (Eeek!) Length check | 12 Months Natural! Short and sweet! Time for another length check! I did not protective style as much as I should have! Here are two of the protective styles from the Challenge I have on with NappyFU on YouTube! Keep watch for week 4's do! Once in a while, I give into that side of me that likes to pretend it is very cultured indeed. That and I'd take any excuse to have a day out in Cambridge (I lived there as a teen after all).
So off I went with a friend in tow to the Fitzwilliam Museum for some culture: African Culture. Of course, there was hair involved, so I had to be looking fly (check out my style for the day here!). I really liked the exhibit. A lovely array of combs and their history and cultural significance through the ages: 6, 000 years! And in the modern section, there were pressing combs and video footage of ladies and gentlemen weighing in on their thoughts on combs (afro combs mainly). Lots of familiar faces and definitely worth the trip! Then I strolled through the town centre and even found the market stall that sold me sweets as said teen! lol! Not for all the dentists in the world would I buy that stuff yesterday! Looking might have given me a cavity! Enjoy the pictures below! God bless. Is wash day doing a number on your hair? 1. Start with sections Once I started washing my hair in sections, I was blown away by how quickly I could detangle afterwards. By twisting or braiding the hair, you reduce the tendency of the strands to wrap around themselves whilst being cleansed. Try it and see for yourself. Tip: For shoulder length hair, as few as 2-4 sections will do. For longer hair, you may need to make up to 8 sections. 2. Ditch the Shampoo! Yes, I know you've been told to shampoo your hair to really clean it ALL your life but there are methods that are just as effective - and incidentally less stripping to the hair strands. Clay washes are now more widely available and have been used for 1,000s of years by Ancient Egyptians (even Cleopatra) and Romans to cleanse their hair and bodies. Click here to find out about Rhassoul Clay and Bentonite Clay as hair washes. Apple Cider Vinegar and Baking soda can be diluted in water to work as a final clarifying rinse for hair. You can alternatively add a tablespoon of baking soda to conditioner to wash your hair with. 3. Add a CO-wash or Pre-poo A co-wash is a conditioner-only rinse: using conditioner in lieu of shampoo to wash your hair. The benefits are that your hair will not be stripped by shampoo but will also get a boost of moisture with each application. I personally do this weekly and use a mud wash every month to clarify my strands - remove any excess buildup. A pre-poo is a pre-shampoo conditioning treatment (if you opt to shampoo). It involves using a mixture of oils or a deep conditioner BEFORE you wash your hair to prevent all the oils from being stripped by the cleansing process. You can do this for an hour or even overnight (if you want to wash your hair first thing). 4. Detangle like a pro! The length of your hair depends more on this one step more than any other!
First choose when you will detangle: a the beginning of the wash routine, or at the end. Will you do it on damp or dry hair (but always moisturized) or on conditioner-drenched tresses? Next, choose a wide-tooth comb or detangling brush and start at the ends of the hair. Work in the sections you will be washing in. Slowly work your way up to the roots. Twist or braid up the section once you can comb through with relative ease. Finally, allow hair to air-dry in that section to at least 70% dryness before trying any further detangling. Be extra careful if you are styling whilst the hair is wet. When I started my journey, I detangled my relaxed hair when damp at the end of my wash routine (air-dried to 70%). Now I detangle under the stream of water in the shower with conditioner in my hair. Oh, and I finger detangle almost exclusively. This takes dedication, practice and patience. What parts of your wash routine have you tweaked on your journey? What needs changing now? Hey. I am half African American and half white. But, I definitely have the African American hair! I have straightened it several times but over the past 8 months, I haven't straightened it because I want it to be naturally curly again. But, there are still quite a few parts of my hair that are straight because of the flat iron. Firstly, I hate to break the news that the parts of your hair that don't go back curly now are heat-damaged: their protein bonds have changed to stay straight after wetting it.
Like a relaxer, no product can take it back to it's original curly state. The only thing is to grow your hair and eventually trim off those areas. The good news is that you can mask the straight areas with textured styles like twists, braids, bantu knot-outs, braid-outs and twist-outs. See video tutorials for these on Lolascrib YouTube channel. For your second question about taming your hair, first invest in a satin scarf or bonnet. Next, trial hair creams or butters when letting your hair dry. With freshly washed hair, apply a leave-in conditioner and a hair cream or butter (like whipped shea butter). Style your hair and with a satin scarf for 30 mins. Let the rest of the hair air-dry. If this process is going to be done overnight, keep the scarf on. When dried, your edges (hairline) and hair will be smooth. Gently undo the braids with some oil on your fingertips to prevent frizzing and don't fluff too much. At night, you can make big braids of the hair and cover with the scarf again. If you notice your hair poofing up at the end of the day, spray some water on the edges, smooth back with fingers and cover with a scarf - even 5 minutes makes a huge difference. The main things are to use the scarf to smooth your hair and have a good holding product that will moisturize but prevent frizzing (the butter). Hope this helps and let me know how it goes. Does it feel like you've been trying to grow your hair FOREVER? Well, it could be down to habits that are still sneakily undermining your efforts. Read on to see if you are guilty of one of these. 1. Hand-in-Hair Syndrome You're finally rocking the ultimate twistout! Your hair is looking the BUSINESS. And you can't stop yourself from checking it out in every shiny surface today. Problem is, every time you look, you reach up and tuck, fluff, primp and twirl the strands. Why is this habit bad? Well, simply put, you are over-manipulating your strands. You are tugging and twisting more than twice a day. You might as well be back-combing the hair, for all the tangles you are introducing! This habit will lead to dry, tangled hair that needs even more time (and comb sightings) at the end of the day to fix it. And each point of manipulation is a potential source of breakage. Beware of the hand-in-hair! lol! 2. Scissor-Happy Trimming Times Trimming off split ends is a good practice - that much is widely agreed on. However, this is different from the 8-weekly to even 6 monthly trimmers. When trim-time approaches, the scissor-happy lady goes overboard: cutting up to 2 inches off the ends. This is also known as a HAIR CUT. Another type of scissor-happy habit is when dusting goes too far. Forever looking for the split end, this trimmer may dust a centimetre off every few days! This adds up to inches in a short period.The main issue is too much hair being taken off either in one go or over a few days. Shorter ends = shorter hair (unfortunately). Solution: Pick a set date for trimming, and only trim on that day (don't finish it off over the next 4 days). Trimming should only take half an inch off the ends maximum. Any more is a hair cut (evening out the ends if a blunt cut style). 3. Hair Brush Crush There is a widely believed myth that encourages 100 strokes of the brush daily for stimulating the scalp. On hair that is naturally drier, curlier or kinkier (read 'Hair of African Descent'), you will either end up bald or with a very sore scalp from doing this! A brush is only good if you use it properly and sparingly. Using it vigorously as you 'detangle' the strands will lead to breakage. Side-note: if your hair is relaxed, you tend to need only one pass of any brush to get the job done. If your hair is natural, hair must be very well moisturized (maybe even coated in conditioner) before a brush can look at it). I threw away my brushes at the start of my hair journey and only bought the Tangle Teezer or a soft boar bristle brush for special occasion use only. 4. Shampoo / Wash Routine Mayhem A poorly planned wash routine will be poorly executed! Washing LOOSE hair that is past shoulder length (stretched length for naturals) will only land you in TANGLE CITY.
You need to remember that hair will be more prone to tangling from the shampoo alone (raises the cuticle to clean the hair). A good routine will see you through this common obstacle with ease. You may need to apply a pre-shampoo conditioning treatment (pre-poo) to your tresses before getting in the shower. Washing the hair in sections also minimizes the tangled web one can fall into. (More info in the next post on a good wash routine). Well, ladies and gents, any of these sounding familiar? Your thoughts? So, have you met a Natural Hair Nazi? (Or are you a budding one?) |
LolasCurls
Hey there!
I'm Lola - a hair obsessed doctor who stumbled into running long distances and baking all the cupcakes. I blog about life, running and of course, hair! I'm an AltraRunCrew sponsored Athlete and a "RADRabbit" with Rabbit athletic gear, so I will do the occasional running shoe review. For business enquires, email me at lolascurls@gmail.com I do not own the copyright to all the pictures so I will credit the source, where that is the case. Categories
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