I have been surfing my normal hair forums and every now and then I will see some women refer to their protective style as a braid out or a bantu knot out. These are NOT protective styles in my opinion. Those are considered no heat styles and a healthier way to style hair. However a real protective styles allow you to wear your hair in a way where you have the hair ends out of sight, and they are protected. They are not rubbing against your clothes or coming in contact with other environmental elements that may harm it such as wind, sun, and the drying air. So I decided to start posting ideas for healthy protective ways to style you hair. First up is the Chignon.
A chignon, pronounced "sheen-yon,” is a popular type of bun style. The word “chignon” comes from the French phrase “chignon du cou,” which means nape of the neck. Chignons are generally achieved by pinning the hair into a knot at the nape of the neck, but there are many different variations of the style. This style is simple and very ideal for daily wear. Its a great way to keep your ends protected and tucked away from exposure to open air. This will help in retaining your length. Remember to moisturize and seal the ends first and do not start the pony tail too tight. You want to ensure you are not putting too much tension on your nape which is very sensitive to breaking. Dont be afraid to experiment with styling your chignon in new creative ways. Those with shorter hair can also create these styles using hair pieces or even wrap you braided extensions in a chignon.
Below is quick how to video on the basic chignon style
Baobab Oil is derived from the seeds of the Baobab tree ( also know as the upside down tree) native to eastern and southern Africa. It has been part of African skin care for centuries. Baobab oil has a high content of vitamins A, D, E, and F that combine to give impressive moisturizing qualities to the skin and hair. Baobab Oil absorbs quickly, improves elasticity, encourages regeneration of cells and does not clog pours. It is also said to alleviate pain from burns and regenerates the epithelial tissues in a short time, thereby improving skin tone and elasticity.
Is your hair dry and brittle or have dandruff or itchy scalp? Baobab oil can be a soothing solution to all of these problems. It's inherent moisturizing qualities, plus vitamins A, E and F help to regenerate and heal broken hair, while soothing and healing itchy, irritated scalp.
You can apply it alone after shampooing your hair as a conditioner and then rinse it out after a few minutes. You can also just add a drop or two of baobab oil to your regular hair conditioner. It can also be used as a leave-in conditioner. Just rub a few drops in your palms and then apply throughout your hair for gloss and conditioning.
Discover multitudes of ways to enrich your hair with new, rare baobab oil. This oil comes from Zambia, where it is pressed from the fruit of the baobab tree. The oil is considered so valuable, that people from across the globe will travel to Zambia to get it. Baobab oil is endowed with essential fatty acids and vitamins A, D, E, and F that work to dramatically improve your hair health.
Shea Moisture Organic Yucca & Baobab Thickening Shampoo with Biotin, Bamboo Extracts: For Fine, Thin Hair
This shampoo came into my life at the perfect time. I was on a mad hunt to find a good shampoo with all natural ingredients and sulfate free. It was very hard to find what I had been looking for, but alas! I AM IN LOVE with this shampoo.The ingredients are so rich, rare and nourishing. It is free of all the harmful harsh ingredients that are so damaging to the hair strand structure. Even better than what this product does not contain is what it does contain. My hair was so soft and pliable as I shampooed it, it gives great lather, and hair is super soft even before I conditioned it. I have finally found my staple moisturizing shampoo. I urge you to try it today! Remember the Shea Moisture Hair line is sold exclusively at Target stores and Target.com. The product features the extracts of Baobab. I was not familiar with this tree's oil or use properties, so I did more research and the findings were very informative. Just one more reason why I love this shampoo. Be sure to check out my post on Baobab tree as well. Happy Growing!
Shea Butteris extracted from the pit of a fruit that grows on the Magnifolia tree which begins to bear after about fifteen years, in Central and West Africa. The pits are removed from the fruit, boiled and then sun dried for several days until they are completely dehydrated, and the butter is extracted by hand. Shea Butter is graded raw, refined and highly refined. Some of our butters are highly refined and others are raw.
Shea Butter has healing, skin protection and moisturizing properties, and it contains natural sun protection. Used daily on the face and body it drastically reduces sun exposure, which in turn slows down the aging process due to external factors.
Unique to Shea Butter is it's high content of non-saponifiable fats. This natural fatty acid action penetrates the skin at a cellular level, contributing to the regeneration process of dry and wrinkled skin. It also helps to heal scars, burns and stretch marks.
Additionally, Shea Butter replenishes elasticity, nourishes the skin with vitamins A, E and F, treats skin irritations, cold sores, itching, eczema, burns, dermatitis and skin discolorations.
So after my last salon visit I decided I want to start back relaxing my own hair to ensure I don't get any over processed relaxed hair. Now a little fear sets in, because I was not the best at giving myself relaxers. I would always underprocess my relaxer and end up with hair that would poof at the first sign of humidity. Living ig in Hotlanta (Atlanta GA.) made this a serious on going issue. This made me hate my hair fo years and thought it was bad hair because it would never stay straight. So now that I know I was underprocessing my hair I can correct my timing issues and start back doing them myself. All this time I thought my stylist saved my frizzy hair and now I know she just let the perm sit a while longer to get it straight. With that being said I am now on the hunt to find a good method to relax my hair, as I was always too slow in applying it ending up with some over processed and underprocesed parts because of this. I saw what I thought was a great idea on the Hairlicious blog. I will be sure to implement this method for my next relaxer.
Berlessed-Is-Me said...
I got an idea to self relax from LHCF. -I parted my hair in four sections (part down middle, part from ear to ear). I parted my hair within those sections and placed a duckbill clip at the end of my new growth, and the start of the already relaxed hair.I then take that section of hair and plait it, base the scalp area and added base to the already relaxed hair. I do this for all sides. The end result should be about 16 plaits in all. This helped with the application portion because I didn't have to maneuver through months of new growth. All I did was take each plait, remove the clip and then relax the new growth, this process seriously took me all of five minutes, I took a little longer to smooth. After I rinsed the relaxer out the plaits loosened from the pressure of the water. I then did my protein step before the neutralizing and just went from there. I do not want to take credit for this at all, but it is genius. Hope this helps. HHJ.
Well, I started this journey at Shoulder Length hair. I needed a trim bad, to get rid of nape damage and thin ends from a previous (and last ever) sew in. I am now a healthy shorter shoulder length. I figure I should make some clearly defined goals and take all the necessary actions to meet them. My first goal is to reach Full Bra- Strap Length. I have increased my deep conditioning to twice a week. I am protecting my hair around the clock as well...phony pony by day and as soon as I get home, I moisturize, seal and cover my very loose bun with a satin scarf until the next morning. I want these thin edges healthy and full again by my next perm in 5 months. I am already starting to see a difference in them with using the JBCO on my scalp and Aloe Vera gel for styling. I also want to start relaxing my own hair, or have my mother do it now. My stylists overlaps an I just cant put my hair health in anyone else's hands again. I will go to her for trims only. Over all I am very pleased with the much healthier condition of my hair as my HHJ only began a month ago. I am confident I will reach my ultimate goal of Waist Length hair by June 2013. Below is a pic of my new freshly relaxed, trimmed healthy locks: )
I am again so excited about my HHJ. I am on the computer day and night trying to educate myself on the best ways to care for my relaxed hair and get it to my longest lengths. I wanted to take the time out to pay homage to one of the pioneers of black hair health and protective styling, Wanakee Pugh. I remember seeing pictures in Essence magazine of Wanakee when I was a young girl, and a myriad of thoughts would enter my head. Her beautiful hair looked simply unattainable or I thought it must be a weave...or I even thought, well her name is Wanakee, she must be half Native American with hair like that lol. In the end I would just feel like my hair was inferior. I thought, she has always had this long luscious hair and I could never even dream about having hair this long and healthy. Well, today I feel different. Wanakee shared her countelss hours of research, personal hair journey stories and gave us the tools we need to educate ourselves on proper hair care for African American textures, and how to grow your natural, texlaxed or relaxed hair to great lengths. The information below is from Wanakee's Practical guide to hair care. I even included some pics of Wanakees hair thought her journey, as she did not have long hair until she started deep conditioning, trimming as needed and WEARING PROTECTIVE STYLES. Enjoy!
WANAKEE'S PRACTICAL GUIDE TO HAIR CARE
INTRODUCTION
If your hair has been damaged, take heart. Your hair is growing while you’re reading this. It was growing yesterday while you were having dinner, and it will be growing during your coffee break. If you’ve ever had a relaxer or hair color in your hair you know how fast it grows; seems like you need your roots touched up every time you blink! Yet women constantly say, "My hair just won’t grow. Why doesn’t it ever get any longer?"
In order for your hair to grow, it has to have what I call a ‘healthy growth pattern’. Here’s what a healthy growth pattern looks like: Grow, grow, grow, trim. Grow, grow, grow, trim. Grow, grow, grow, trim. Notice, there’s three times more growing going on here than trimming.
An ‘unhealthy growth pattern’ looks like this: Grow, break, grow, break. Grow, break, grow, break. There’s as much breakage going on here, as there is growth. You can see clearly that the hair is growing. But it’s breaking just as fast as it grows; the breakage is NEUTRALIZING the growth, making it appear as if it’s not growing at all! So what’s causing all the breakage? Dry, brittle hair.
THE MAIN REASON FOR DRY HAIR
You’ll notice that after you trim your hair, the ends seem dry again almost immediately! You’d think it was because of too much heat or blow-drying or maybe a bad perm. Although these treatments can sometimes dry out your hair, they only happen occasionally. The process that happens everyday, drying out your hair is...exposure to the air!
Yes, something that simple can be sapping your hair of life. Think for a moment; air dries your laundry, it cracks your house paint, it chaps your lips, it ashes your skin; it’s a serious drying agent. And when you wear you hair down regularly, air dries out your hair too. The movement of your hair against your clothing can dry your ends even more; and when ends get dry, they break off.
Picture an ear of corn with the husk on it. Did you ever notice how awful the silk looks that’s hanging on the outside of husk? But if you peel the husk down, the silk is soft, shiny and in excellent condition. The only difference is that the top silk has been exposed to the air, while the silk inside the husk has not. Air can cause damage to your hair. Moisture and Oil for the Hair is a light daily application of protection against dryness that adds a gorgeous shine and allows the hair to remain clean feeling. It’s nice.
DEVELOPING A HEALTHY GROWTH PATTERN
Since the ends are the oldest part of your hair, they suffer the most from this constant exposure to air. You can end the breakage cycle and experience a healthy growth pattern by following these simple rules. They may not seem very significant at a glance, but they are the steps that restored my damaged strands to a full, healthy head of hair. Remember that you want to preserve the ends while the roots grow. Being consistent and patient every day is the key to your success.1. KEEP YOU HAIR CLEAN AND CONDITION IT, CONDITION IT, CONDITION IT!
If you wash your hair less frequently than 7 days or so, the scalp may get irritated and begin to itch. And when dirt begins to build up on the strand, it slows down the brush or comb, creating a pulling affect, which can snap hairs. You’ll find that Deep conditioning at least once a week make the hair easy to comb through when the hair is wet and when it’s dry.
2. WEAR YOUR HAIR IN PROTECTIVE HAIR STYLES AS OFTEN AS YOU CAN
This means wearing your hair ‘up’ in a style that tucks the ends safely underneath the hair so the ends are not seen. Remember the ear of corn with the husk again: protective styling is like taking the dry tip of the silk, and tucking it safely underneath the husk, out of the air. But if your ends go up dry, they’ll come down dry.
My favorite protective styles are the French twist and the chignon (or bun). You should not be able to see the ends at all. A ponytail, for example, wouldn't be considered a protective style because the ends are moving and still exposed to the air. You can really have fun creating these styles, using all types of accessories and enhancing your look with simple things like earrings or a newly tweezed set of eyebrows! You can make your look clean or really do yourself up. Have fun with it.
If your hair is short, you’re going to protect your hair from the air and from too much movement while you sleep.3. SLEEP WITH YOUR HAIR PROTECTED AT NIGHT.
I know, I know! This is where I lose a lot of you ladies who have spouses; but hear me out. It's important at night, again, to take your hair out of the air and especially to eliminate all of the rubbing that takes place while you sleep. This rubbing can be bad news in the morning when your ends are frayed beyond recognition. A good thing about wrapping (or tying up) your hair at night is that it requires less styling the next day (sometimes you’re actually ready to go with just a quick stroke of the brush).
If you’ve read my brochure, you've heard me say that wrapping your head at night need not be grounds for divorce. You can use a fine meshed hair net over your bun or over your hair if it’s short, and then apply a wide cotton spandex headband around the hairline. It looks similar to a regular daytime look. If you’re still not loving the idea, my next best advice is to put it on late and take it off early! By the way, just sleeping on a silk pillowcase won’t help if your hair is still moving around and exposed to the air.
If your wrap comes off, and at some point it probably will (especially if your hair is short), half a night’s protection is better than none. But this simple, traditional routine of tying the hair up at night is still a very helpful method in maintaining your hair.4. GET YOUR HAIR TRIMMED EVERY 6 TO 8 WEEKS.
If you’re trying to grow your hair out, this is where protective styles really pay off. Your hair grows ¼ to ½ inch per month, so in 8 weeks it could have grown 1 inch. Let’s say you started your routine with a real good trim. And now, 8 weeks later it’s time for another trim. If you’ve been conditioning, using your Constant Care for Ends and wearing your protective styles everyday, your ends shouldn’t even be split. So now you’re going to trim your hair before it splits. You only have to trim ¼ inch or so because it’s not split. That means you have ¾ of an inch of new length. You put those brand-new, freshly trimmed ends right back up into your protective styles and next month you’ll accumulate another ¾ of an inch - that’s 1 and ½ inches of real length in four months!
Now let’s look at what happens if you don’t wear protective styles. You wear your hair down, it rubs all day against your shoulders and the air makes it dry - but it looks good, I understand.
But here’s what happens: you go to get your trim in 8 weeks and you really only want the hairdresser to take ¼ of an inch off. But she sees damage and split ends as far up as an 1 and ½ inches. She cuts the damage off and, even though your hair has grown an inch, you just lost ½ inch in length because the constant damage caused by your ends being exposed DICTATED TO YOU how much hair had to be cut. With protective styling, you trim before your hair splits and you determine how much you trim off. Every little quarter of an inch is a victory.
Some women have asked me, "What is the point of having long hair if you have to wear it up?" The point of wearing it up is to have long hair. Once a young lady asked, "About how long would it take for me to grow my hair really long?" I told her it would take about 4 years with regular trimmings. She said "Four years? I’ll be 34 years old in four years, that’s too much time!" I had to remind her that she was going to be 34 years old in four years anyway; might as well get there having fabulous hair.
If you have short hair, don’t let all this talk of protective styles disturb you. If you keep your hair cut short and trimmed on a regular basis, it’s automatically healthier by being trimmed more often. It's when hair becomes long that the protective styles become necessary. If you’re not growing your hair long, but are keeping it trimmed and styled at a fixed length, then you can get away with wearing it down more often than the person who is on a mission to grow long hair.
Here are pictures of my hair before the start of my hair journey ( HHJ started May 6, 2010). As you can see my hair is shoulder length, thin ends and severely damaged edges. My new Hair Regimen is listed below. I will follow it faithfully! I will post updated pics every relaxer. I am aiming for a 5 month stretch after my June relaxer.
Hair Regimen as of May 2010
- Shampoo once every 2 weeks with Keracare Hydrating Shampoo
- CoWash 2 x a week with Suave Professionals Almond & Shea Butter Conditioner or Herbal Essences Hello Hydration.
- Clarify with Apple Cider Vinegar (ACV) rinse once per month
- Black Tea Rinse 2 x a month
- Prepoo (over night or for 2 hours) before every CoWash and Shampoo with EVCO, EVOO, a touch of HE Hello Hydration and Honey.
- DC at least once a week for 1hr with heat, alternating between a deep moisture mask (Phytojojoba or Bio Infusion Olive Oil DC) or Protein conditioner (Elasta QP Intense, or PhytoKarite). I also add EVCO or EVOO and Wildgrowth Light Moisturizing Oil to my DC.
- Oil Scalp 2 to 3 x week with JBCO or EVCO
- Protein Treatments 2x month Alphogee 2 min Reconstructor and Sprtiz twice a week with Alphogee green tea keratin leave in.
- Moisturize Daily with Jane Cater Solution Revitalizing Leave In Conditioner, Suave Professional Almond & Shea Butter Conditioner. Seal with EVCO or JBCO
- NO HEAT, air dry always ( With the exception of relaxer day, will roller set and flat iron root only). I will Bun hair and wear phony ponies until I reach my short term HHJ goal of BSL. After that point I will wear some other no heat styles occasionally ( Braid Outs, Bantu Knots out). I plan to wear protective styles 98% of the time until my Long term Goal (WSL) is accomplished.
- Tie hair up in satin scarf every night
- Relax with PhytoRelaxer every 3 to 5 months, Trim every relaxer.
I would like to take the time to introduce myself and explain my reasons for starting this blog. My name is Sharida, and I have been a slave to my hair since the age of eight. The many trials, tribulations, hate and frustrations with my hair all started with my relaxer, and it's been on going for the past 20 years. Of course in 1990 my mom had only experienced an Afro and Jerry Curl for herself, but she still made the decision to have her co worker (not a professional) relax my hair because swimming in summer camp would mean washing, combing and managing a thick mane of kinky African American hair daily. Who has time to comb through that unmanageable mess? She just didn't have the patience for that times two ( I have a twin sister too). So with no knowledge of how to care for my relaxed hair properly I ruined my once head of thick healthy hair by washing it only once every few months, not conditioning, piling mineral oils on it, not moisturizing, not trimming, you name it...if it should be done, I was NOT doing it. Fast forward to my late teen years and early college years. Washing a bit more often, but not following a real regimen and relaxing whenever I felt like it, sill no trims, then I added too tight phony ponies daily along with micro braids, blow dryers, flat irons and sew in weaves. For so long I hated my hair, and thought all black hair was bad hair and inferior. Why can't my hair grow long, healthy and shiny? Why did God choose for us to be the only race with dry hair that will not grow long? I would ask myself, why is black hair NOT our crowning glory like Indian, Asian, Latino and Caucasian woman? I just decided I would have to invest in "hiding" my real hair forever like so many black women do and deal with this cursed mane.
Fast forward to May 2010, the start of my Healthy Hair Journey (HHJ). I am no longer a slave to my hair officially! I also LOVE my hair, not my Indian weave! I have through my own research, and support from life changing web sites (such as www.k-i-s-s.biz, and www.hairlista.com) figured out the key to breaking this ridiculous mindset so many black women have about their hair. The answer, the key, the secret is KNOWLEDGE! The more we know about our own hair, what makes it different, what makes it thrive, what makes it healthy, unhealthy, grow, break, etc., the more likely we are to achieve the look, length, and overall health we have long desired for our hair. I urge all you out there to not trust all the product promises, manufactures, and sales clerks, but trust what your hair tells you, real science, and your results. I f your hair "appears" to be healthy but "it won't grow", then it is not as healthy as you think it is. It is growing and breaking at the same rate, and retaining no length. That to me is not healthy hair. Healthy hair grows long unless purposely cut short. Yes the maximun length varies as it depends on the life cycle of your hair strand, but trust me sistas, neck length hair is NOT your maximum length. Through this journey I too will dispel the myth that relaxed (or natural) African American textured hair will not grow long and is inferior to our counterparts. I look forward to sharing my HHJ progress, pictures, product reviews and knowledge with you all.
U Grow Girl is a blog dedicated to my long healthy hair journey. For most of my life I have entrusted my hair to the hands of others, or just neglected it altogether. In 2010 I decided enough was enough! I began to educate myself on what it really means to care for "our hair", and embarked on a hair journey. I am not a licensed cosmetologist...however I will discuss my personal hair goals, knowledge and share my results with you all. Happy Growing!
