Tips For Starting A Successful Healthy Hair Journey

Photo courtesy: Andrew Ridley 

This post is a guide for newbies to healthy hair care or those that are still trying to decide if to start the healthy hair journey or not. To start with, taking better care of your hair should not really be an option. It's what every female should naturally do. In fact I would rather call it healthy hair lifestyle than healthy hair journey. Calling it a journey might imply that it would end at some point. Even God wants us to take great care of our hair. The scriptures refers to a woman's hair as her glory. When something is your glory and pride you don't treat it shabbily or with a nonchalant attitude but with a lot of care. You would nurture it, not hide it away under a weave or cornrows or wigs without washing for months. You would attend to its needs, and handle with care. Whatever state you decide to wear your hair in; Natural, relaxed / texlaxed; short/long; straight/curly, the important thing is to keep your mane healthy.

Now that you have decided to take better care of your hair. It might seem daunting and like a lot to take on, but be assured that if some people are doing it, you can do it too. Below are some tips that should help you begin and transition you smoothly into a great healthy hair journey:

                                   

Make a decision and stand firm: Decide to take better care of your hair for better for worse. Just like in life, on your HHJ there would be highs and lows and what will keep you going is your determination.

Keep Going!

Thirst for knowledge: All through your HHJ, especially at the beginning, you would have to learn and unlearn things. There are things you have always believed that are actually mere myths. You would also need to change your mindset about certain things. For example, "African hair cannot grow long". There are loads of things to learn on the internet. Google is your friend, YouTube is also your ally.

Knowledge is Power

Patience: It's a journey not magic. Patiently nuture your hair, don't expect your hair to grow from ear length to Bra-strap length within a month. Set realistic goals. You will get to find out that averagely, hair grows about half of an inch per month. So focus on the health of your hair, the length will definitely follow.

Pick hair mentors: Look out for ladies you can relate to (either with similar hair type or on a similar journey - natural/relaxed/texlaxed) that have been on HHJ for a while. You can draw  from their wealth of experience, successes and setbacks. Their achievements can also inspire you and help you believe you can do it too! However, please do not give in to the temptation to compare. Just as you are unique, your hair is too.

Take a starting picture: Photos speak really. The starting picture will help to show you how far you have come. You might look in the mirror and think your hair is not growing, but take a picture and compare with your starting picture, you will be amazed at the progress you have made.

Build a personalised hair regimen: Take samples of regimen from your hair mentors, then develop a regimen that would work for you. Put your schedule among other things into consideration.

Don't be a product junkie: Try not to buy every product you read a review about. Using so many products at the same time will make it difficult for you to identify the product(s) your hair prefers. Using a lot of products at the same time may adversely affect your hair and your bank account (LOL!).  Start with the basics, and as you progress in your journey you will get to know the products your hair loves.

Document your HHJ: Keep a hair diary. It will help you keep track of the products you use and other hair related activities. The hair diary will also help you detect products or activities that affect your hair positively or negatively. Check this one out.

Documentation is Key

Lastly, make sure you enjoy your journey and have fun. It's just hair and getting to know your hair better should be exciting and adventurous not serious and boring.

Fun All the Way !!!

If you have any questions please don't hesitate to ask in the  comments section.

A post on regimen building should come up soon.

Catch ya!

Bee

Style Post: Quick and Easy Updo Protective Style

Hello dearies!

I thought to share with you all the protective style I rocked last week. I decided to go for a style that would keep my ends tucked away since my previous hair style (Twist-out) left my ends hanging and rubbing on my shoulders/clothes. A video I had watched on Black Hair Information came to mind. I searched for it, watched and decided to try to replicate it.

Trust me, it was easy-peasy, took me about 10 minutes including the time it took to twist up the extensions. I used about one and a half pack of Xpressions extensions. I will definitely do this again, I loved the fact that my ends were nicely tucked away. Please watch the video below if you would love to try it.

5 minutes  $5 Updo Protective Style - ChimereNicole

My Take 

So ladies, How did I do? Did I do a good job of replicating the style?

See ya soon!

Bee.

WashDay - Second Henna Treatment

I did my second henna application over a week ago. As I mentioned here, I plan to do henna treatments once a month.

PREPARATION + APPLICATION
The preparation and application steps were very similar to the steps in my first henna treatment. The major differences are as follows:

• I did not have to mix from my henna paste scratch. I only brought out the paste from my first mix that I had kept frozen, and left it out in the kitchen overnight for it to thaw.
• I did a henna treatment proper this time unlike the conditioning henna treatment I did the first time. So I didn't mix in any conditioner, I only added 2 tablespoons of honey.

I prepooed overnight with Tresemme naturals nourishing moisture conditioner + honey + extra virgin olive oil.
Shampooed with Creme of nature moisture and shine sulphate-free shampoo. I used warm water and I lathered twice.

I squeezed out excess water and wrapped my hair in a cotton tshirt. I then applied the thawed henna paste using the same method I used for my first application.

Thawed Henna Paste

I wrapped my hair in clingfilm and used my Hair Therapy Wrap to apply heat. The heat from the heat therapy wrap lasted about 40 minutes but I left the henna on for a total of 4 hours.




I washed out the henna under a running tap. It washed out so easily but my hair felt quite hard. However, after I used Tresemme naturals nourishing moisture conditioner and rinsed it out, my hair felt softer immediately.

I squeezed out excess water and wrapped my hair in a cotton tshirt. Then I deep conditioned for about 30 minutes with Aussie 3 minutes miracle deep conditioner + Tropic Isle JBCO ( Rosemary ) + Roux porosity control. I rinsed out the deep conditioner with cold water and I detangled in the shower with help of the running water and a wide-toothed comb.

STYLING
I tshirt-dried for about an hour, then I sealed the moisture left in my hair with my oil mix. My hair felt strong and soft at the same time. I really loved the feel. I started parting my hair into sections, applied megagrowth profectiv daily leave-in strengthener, then detangled. Detangling was easy peasy despite the fact that I was 7 weeks post and already had about an inch of new growth.

I applied one/two pumps of beautiful textures curl defining mousse to each detangled section and sealed with my whipped shea butter and twisted. I used the smallest foam rollers in my set of conair foam rollers on the ends of each twist. The twists were 10 in total.

I tied my hair up in my satin scarf and went to bed. The next morning I unravelled each twist after applying a little  whipped shea butter in my palms. I Loveeeeed the results.

Day 1 

Day 3

Day 5

This is the best heat-free curls style/method I've ever tried. They were easy to do, easy to sleep in unlike flexi rod sets (That I also love by the way) and the result? Amazing. I had never tried twistouts before now, even though I have done braidouts several times but I've never been able to get this much curl definition. The curls also lasted longer than the curls I get from braidouts.

 Ladies, what is your favourite heat-free curls style?

Thanks for stopping by. 
Bee 

My First Henna Experience; Will there be a Second???

I have quite a number of grey strands on my head. The why beats me really, lol. I found the first strand when I was a teenager and I was I should let it be that removing that one strand would cause more to grow out. So I left it believing others won't pop up, o boy! was I wrong!!! Hahaha! As years went by they kept on multiplying. I actually kinda like them but still I don't think I'm ready to flaunt grey hair yet.

I started thinking of ways to cover up the grey strands. I considered semi-permanent hair dyes/colours but after doing some research online I decided not to, especially because my hair is already chemically altered i.e. relaxed/texlaxed. Another chemical would probably be too much for it to handle without falling apart.  I finally decided to go with natural dye (Henna) especially because of the other benefits of henna asides natural colouring. I should do another blog post on the benefits of henna.

PREPARATION

• I steeped 2 bags of green tea in about 1.5 cups of hot water and allowed it cool.
• I mixed the steeped tea gradually into 200 grams of henna powder purchased from www.olori.com.ng in a plastic bowl and stirred with a plastic spoon until i had a nice paste. It was quite thick at this point but you will find out why soon.
• I covered the bowl and left it in my kitchen cupboard overnight. I also applied my pre-poo mix to my hair, wrapped my hair in clingfilm, covered with a shower cap and left it overnight.

APPLICATION

• I Shampooed with Creme of nature moisture and shine sulphate-free shampoo and wrapped my hair up in a tshirt.
• During my research on henna application and results I found that it tends to make hair dry and hard like a strong proteintreatment. I decided to tread with caution go for Curly Nikki's conditioning henna treatment. see here
• I divided the henna mix into two because it seemed like a lot (I poured the other part into a plastic bowl with a lid and poured in the freezer for later use). I then mixed in a sizeable quantity of Tresemme naturals nourishing moisture conditioner. This made the thick paste a little thinner and it was just perfect for me. The consistency was like that of set yoghurt.

• I then proceeded with the application using the method in the  video below 

                            

• The application wasn't as messy as I thought it would be, although I took precautions; protected the floor with newpapers, used gloves and wore an old tshirt. My edges and ears were also protected with vaseline to prevent stains.
• I left the henna in overnight and rinsed under a tap with warm water. It took a while before the water ran clear. I used Vo5 herbal escapes pomegranate and grapeseed conditioner for the rinsing.
• My hair felt quite strong just like after aphogee two step protein treatment and even better. I deep conditioned with aussie 3 minutes miracle deep conditioner to infuse some moisture back into my hair.

I really loved the results. My hair was strong and well moisturised and also very shiny. As regards colour, my grey strands are now copper red i think? was so happy. Grey strands are gone. My normal hair colour is almost jet black so I know it will take a while and several applications for there to be a significant colour change. I see highlights of red when I'm in the sun though especially my roots. Unfortunately, I couldn't get this in pictures, tried so hard but finally gave up.

There you have it! my first henna experience. Will there be a second? definitely! I'm officially a henna-head and I'm loving it. Going  forward I plan to apply henna once a month. My next application is later this week. 

What are your thoughts and experiences of henna and/or other natural dyes? Are you a henna-head? Please drop a comment.

Washday: First length check of the year

Hello darlings,

I've had a couple of washdays these year but I decided not to post them because they were pretty much boring and I've been wigging it to protect my hair from harsh harmattan. However, harmattan seems to be gone for good now. Yippee! ! !

I'm currently 6 weeks post and my washday went thus:
Prepoo: I decided to skip the pre-poo step this week. I had to go out so I had very little time that i had to manage well. Not pre-pooing just this once shouldn't ruin my hair. Lol...nah
Shampooed with my fav shampoo, Creme of nature moisture and shine sulphate-free shampoo diluted in a spray bottle. I lathered twice.
I squeezed out excess water and applied Aphogee two minutes reconstructor. I've not been able to use this conditioner since my touch-up because I ran out. I ordered for another bottle from Sizzelle and thankfully I got it beforethis washday. I also ordered for Nupur Henna and Tropic Isle JBCO (Rosemary). I covered my hair with a clingfilm and within the 5 minutes I wanted to keep it on for, I mixed up my deep conditioning cocktail.
Washed the Aphogee two minutes reconstructor out with lukewarm water, wrapped my hair in a cotton tshirt to absorb excess water and then applied my deep conditioning cocktail. The cocktail had the following in it; Aussie 3 minutes miracle deep conditioner, Motions moisture plus conditioner ( as per this week's #washdayexperience theme - use up an old product), Roux porosity control conditioner, a tablespoon of Tropic Isle JBCO  ( Rosemary ) and few drops of peppermint oil.
I wrapped the hair in cling film and used my Hair Therapy Wrap as heat for source. I rinsed my hair with cold water after about 10 minutes and tshirt-dried for another 10 minutes.

As I mentioned here, I will be participating in challenges this year. The first one is the 6 inches challenge by Dabs of Naija Hair Can Grow. The first step for the challenge is to take a starting picture with a length check shirt and send it in. Hence I had to do a length check but since I flat-ironed my hair just 6 weeks ago, I couldn't do that so soon. I decided to use the cold air tension instead and I actually love the results. See below.

                   Starting length for 2016
After the length check, I simply put my hair in a top - knot, half-down do and went my way. This washday took just 1 hour and 30 minutes including styling and I believe it's my shortest ever.

P.S.: If you are in Nigeria and you would like to order for a length check tee, contact me through my Facebook page or twitter or dm on instagram.

How was your last washday?