Natural Hair 1O1

 If you haven't noticed by now, I do have a thing for hair throughout some of my posts. If my hair is all jacked up, then it'll be one mucked up rest of the day for me. When I'm in that mood, that is when I throw on a wig! I've previously mentioned that I've been relaxer-free for almost a year. I've noticed that the females in my family hair starts to thin out around the crown and bald through time from the over use of relaxers.  So that put me en route of refusing to furthermore use relaxers.

Now I've been accidentally in "transition" for a while now. It is kind of tough actually. I have to work with two different textures in my hair at the same time. I have my new growth coming in at the roots while the chemically treated hair is still on the ends. The whole time I was sitting, wondering, "Why are my old usual products not quite working for me anymore?" LOL. I was also still unknowingly damaging my hair with heat to maintain the two textures.

I'm too wimpy to do a big chop (BC). My hair was already armpit length when I was using relaxers, so it was pretty devastating when big clumps of hair would come out at a time while detangling. I'm figuring out that conditioning and braiding has been key to preventing major breakage.  I've even taken to the technique of leaving the braids up while washing my hair. It cuts the terrible detangling process out, which makes major hair breakage pretty much none existent. I've also learned that when I do have to do some detangling it is way better to just finger-comb and sometimes follow up with the use of a wide tooth comb if needed. I've always combed from the bottom working my way up through the roots.

For a deep conditioner (DC) I like to use:

• Olive Oil (EVOO)
• Coconut Milk (can be found in the healthy section of regular grocery stores)
• Coconut Oil
• 1 Avocado

Directions:

1. Mix ingredients in a blender until smooth.
2. Strain the mixture through an knee-high, if it isn't smooth enough. This is so that you won't have to pick out pieces of avocado in your dry hair later.
3. Strain into an applicator bottle to prevent a huge mess during application.
4. Part hair into sections and apply mixture.
5. Massage into hair and scalp. Massaging the scalp actually promotes hair growth stimulation.
6. Leave in hair for at least 45 minutes. The longer it stays in, the better. I like to let hair sit for 2 hours covered in a plastic cap and a towel wrapped around my neck.
7. Rinse out mixture.

These ingredients add shine and moisture with great natural fats. Ingredients can be found in health food and vitamin stores. For a quick hit of much needed moisture, throughout the day I use a mixture in spray bottle consisting of mainly water with an oil, like olive oil. Sweet almond oil or jojoba oil are good to use too. It is better to spray water onto hair first and then with oil. This way the oil seals in the moisture instead of blocking it out. Doing hot olive oil treatments help as well, especially, throughout the harsh winter weather.  By the way, you can also enhance cheaper conditioners by adding an oil to the bottle!