A New Hair Routine

I have a home salon in North Carolina. Moving to DC made it almost impossible for me to see my cosmetologist like I need to. Now that I'm planning my NC wedding, I'm home more and I'm able to see my cosmetologist on a more regular basis.

My last visit to her salon was 2.5 years ago. In the fight for having and maintaining healthy hair, I have to change what was once routine, in more ways than one. My life is much different now than it was 2.5 years ago. Things are happening that I didn't correlate with the health of my hair, so I'm taking my advice and using these 6 things to get me back on the right track to having healthy hair.

6 Things To Consider When You Want Healthy Hair

The last time I saw my NC cosmetologist was in December 2013! I recently made an appointment with her after 2.5 long years, and the first thing we did was have a conversation about lifestyle changes and the health of my hair.

This conversation got me thinking about the many things that affect our hair and how it's so easy to get side tracked with routines that we forget about these correlations! With that in mind, let's review a few things so we can all be on the right track to healthier hair!

February '16 Hair Check

NOT a Length Check

I took out my vacation crochet braids recently and felt now would be the right time for a hair check. It's not a length check, but a check to see how my hair now compares to my hair before the two sets of crochet braids.

3 Things To Remember With Crochet Braids

My Advice for Handling Crochet Braids

I've had two sets of crochet braids over the past 4 months. I loved them! After my first set of crochets, I noticed something a little different about my hair. I had a hard press, so my hair didn't normally look like it does after being straightened, but I thought something else was off with my hair.

When I got my second set of crochet braids, I decided to look at how I was managing my hair and took a few notes of things not to do when caring for crochet braids.

4 Years Strong

4 Year Naturalversary

I celebrated being 4 years natural on this past weekend (January 30th). I can remember making the decision not to get any more relaxers like it was yesterday! It's been a very long journey.There have been many ups and downs, but and I believe that I am just not making my greatest strides. I'm proud of myself for that and I'm proud of everything I've learned up to this point.

For this year's celebration, let's recap my year in hair.

December '15 Length Check

47 Months Natural

It's been a whole half of a year since my last length check. I know I said I'd go longer amounts of time between length checks but I certainly didn't mean 6 months! Nevertheless, I'm here to dish deets about my hair and what's been going on since my last length check.

So, let's jump right on into the December length check!

2016 Ambitions

New Beginnings

Of course we all come into new years wanting better things for ourselves. This just so happens to come at the perfect time for me. I'm not a fan of resolutions. I feel like any time is a great time for new beginnings, why wait for the new year? So, first, let's review my goals from 2015.

Hair Products and Expiration Dates

Safe Hair Product Usage

I recently wrote about discovering why expiration dates on hair products are so important. So many questions followed that I had to do more research on the subject and follow up with another post. So, what did I find? This post holds all the information I found...just for you!!

One Big Hair Product Mistake!

Taking Care of Our Hair By Taking Care of Our Hair Products

I read an article a few months ago that I thought had some good information in it. I didn't really think it applied to me, so I didn't pay it too much mind. I'm sure we all do this. We think we can beat the odds, so we read the information but don't retain it. Right?! The article was about expiration dates on a number of things, including hair products. It encouraged users to get rid of hair products according to their expiration dates.

DMV Natural Salon Experience

Trying My First Natural Hair Salon in the DMV

I recently wrote a post about Finding The Right Salon. I put that system to work when I first decided to find a salon in DC and I've recently done it again when I determined it was time for me to find a natural hair salon.

Referrals & Research

I'm a natural hair blogger, so I talk about my hair chronicles often. Along my journey, I recently began researching natural hair salons in the DMV area. I was going to a salon in DC to get trims, but the stylist I was seeing wasn't natural hair focused.

I Googled and found a few salons in the area but none of them seemed to fit what I was looking for. One of my DMV readers hit me up on Twitter and suggested two salons in the area. She gave me their websites and IG names, so for the next couple of weeks, I watched like a hawk!

How To Determine Hair Porosity

The Hair Porosity Test

Along with figuring out what kind of hair type I have, I decided to see what hair porosity was all about. I wanted to see if finding my porosity would provide me with information I could use towards getting my hair healthy and keeping it there.

What Is Porosity?

Just like hair typing, porosity has been something I've run across quite often during my natural hair journey. Before moving forward, let's understand what hair porosity is:

Porosity refers to your hair's ability to absorb moisture and is broken down into three categories: low, normal, and high. Low porosity means your hair has difficulty retaining moisture; high porosity means your hair easily retains moisture; and normal porosity means your hair holds moisture for an extended period of time with no problem. ~Source

How Do You Determine Hair Porosity?

There are two simple tests you can do at home to determine what type of hair porosity you have.

FLOATING HAIR TEST
There are three simple steps:

1. Grab a glass and fill it with room temperature water.
2. Take a strand or two of clean hair and put it into the glass of water.
3. Watch the hair for 2-4 minutes.

If your hair continues to float, that means you have low porosity. If your hair sinks, you have high porosity. If your hair slowly sinks and remains floating somewhere in the middle, it has normal porosity.

It turns out that I have low porosity. When I did the test, my hair floated on top of the water for all 4 minutes.

THE SLIDE TEST

I hadn't heard about this test until writing this post, however, the steps for this test are just as easy!

1. Take a strand of hair (still connected to your head)
2. Starting from the end of the strand, slide your fingers up the strand of hair

When you slide your fingers up the strand of hair, you will either have a smooth ride or a bumpy one. If you have a bumpy ride, you're feeling the lifted cuticles on your hair shaft meaning you have high porosity. If you can move up the hair strand smoothly, your cuticles lay flat and you have low porosity.

My results from this test matched my results from the floating hair test. I had a smooth ride, so that means low porosity (x2).

How Can You Use This Information?

Knowing the porosity of your hair can provide you with good information to aid in caring for your hair just like knowing your hair type can.

Here are some traits of low porosity hair:

1.) Cuticles are closed, so moisture does not enter easily / hair is resistant to moisture.
2.) Products sit on your hair.
3.) Water beads up on hair.
4.) Hair takes a long time to dry.
~Source  

AND here are some ways to care for low porosity hair:

1.) Use heat to open the cuticles to let the moisture in. Use warm water to wash and condition hair and also utilize heated deep conditioning.
2.) Use lighter products with humectants and lighter oils such as Argan Oil.
3.) Reduce build up on your hair.
~Source 1 & Source 2

The information I gathered from determining my hair porosity has actually been helpful. I've already started using this information and plan to put more to use soon. I've gone through a lot of different things with my hair since my last post, so I'll be working diligently to get this information out to you within the next couple of weeks!

I'm sure hearing about hair porosity isn't a new concept to most of you reading this. I want to hear from you!! Have you tried either of these tests? What were your results? Have you used hair porosity to help with hair care? Has knowing your porosity helped?

Let's talk!!

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How To Find The Right Hair Salon

3 Tips For Picking Your Next Salon

My hair is important to me...I'm a natural hair blogger, why wouldn't it be?! There are different kinds of women out there; those who can do their hair on their own at home, those that have to go to the salon to get their hair done, and those in between. I'm an in between kind of woman leaning more towards the have-to-go-to-the-salon side! Knowing this, I've had to perfect the best way to find the right salon for me. I used this method to find the best cosmetologist in the world when I was in NC and I'm hoping for the same results here.

Nothing is foolproof, but this method has worked before, so I have no choice but to put it to work again. Here are the three tips that lead me in the right direction when looking for an awesome salon.

Wash and Go Success

Perfecting A Technique

I've been battling with the wash and go ever since becoming natural. I've never really been a fan of shrinkage so when my hair was in its earlier stages, I couldn't take the reduction in length. Now that I'm being more cognizant of my hair and the styles I choose, I thought it would be a good idea to revisit the style.

Relearning Old Styles

Protective Style

We all know by now that I’m on a healthy hair trip! There are many things I’m learning and trying so I can do what’s best for my hair. I’ve set a few hair goals and I’m determined to get this thing right. I mean, I have to if I want my hair to flourish!

One of the ways I plan to achieve this goal is with protective styling. Here’s one style I haven’t been able to accomplish since I was transitioning, so I’m very excited to share!

French Braids

When I was transitioning, the easiest style for me to do was a braid out. I would cornrow my hair nightly and wear crinkled hair each day. I was excited then because I was never able to cornrow my relaxed hair. I guess my naturally curly roots allowed my fingers to grab the hair better and those roots laid together better.

Since being natural, I’ve had this style done once in the salon. My cosmetologist French braided my naturally curly hair. The only product I remember her using is gel, but I'm sure there was a moisturizer and oil in the mix. The style looked great and I loved it!! I also loved not having to do my hair every night! Unfortunately, the style didn't last long. Like I've explained so many times before, my hair is super soft and doesn't respond to gel the way other hair types do.

The Second CoWash Experiment

Creme Of Nature Pure-Licious Co-Wash Product Review

I recently did a product review for the first cowash product I tried. I don't know what I expected but I'd heard so much about that particular product that I couldn't resist.

I've always shampooed my hair about every two weeks. Now that I think about it, that may be a part of why I think my hair is always dry! I don't have a staple shampoo but I think I may have found one with the ORS shampoo I tried recently. I shampoo so often because of product build-up but after defining my hair type, I learned I don't need to pile on products AND that cowashing might be the way to go for my type of hair.

I know many naturalistas use conditioner to cowash but I guess brands are getting "hip to the game" because I've been seeing many products advertised as cowashes. I usually don't think twice about trying new products because they're new, but I'm still subscribed to curlBOX and they recently sent this product. I figured since I had it, why not try it...especially after that last attempt.

Defining My Hair

Hair Type

I've been natural for three and a half years. During that time, I've read a lot of information and I must admit it's a bit overwhelming! I've skimmed over some good information that I had difficulty retaining for several reasons; with most prevalent being if it's not information I can use right at the moment, I'll forget it!

One thing I've seen most often in natural hair communities is hair typing. I've seen chart after chart about what each hair type is, what it looks like, and what celebrity has that type of hair.

Figuring Out What's Right

Hair Products I've Tried For My Natural Hair

Since I've put it out there that I'm going to be trying to find the best hair products for my hair and I've asked for suggestions and advice, I thought it would be helpful to say what I've already tried! Remembering is the key. I've been natural for 3.5 years, so of course there's been many things I've tried over the years. I've tried to give away many of these products but for the most part, I still have most of them. So, I spent the week making a comprehensive list of my stock and the things I could remember from the past. Here's it is!

A Hard Reset

Setting Hair Goals

I've spent the majority of this year trying to do a better job of caring for my hair. Let's just start there.

I spent about five months with my hair under 2 different sew-ins. I needed to hide my hair from myself, protect it, and give it a chance to grow after a major cut. I was successful at doing that and happy with the progress and growth. While my hair was under wraps, I had a heart to heart with myself about how I would approach my hair once it was out. I set some goals. Even thought I haven't been here in a minute, I've started this process already. I needed to lay out the plan here, and do a better job of documenting what's going on, so let's take a look:

May curlBOX & Product Review

Creme of Nature Product Review w/ Nov 2015 Update

I know it's June and my next curlBOX is probably halfway to me by now but May was a busy month for me. There was my vacation, then family reunion, then playing catching up...I was exhausted! I still managed try the curlBOX out, so let me share my views on the products. In this month's box were: 

May curlBOX

• Crème of Nature Strength & Shine Leave-In Conditioner
• Crème of Nature Pudding Perfection Curl Enhancing Cream
• Ojon rareBlend Moisture-Rich Cleansing Conditioner
• U R Curly Soya Shampoo
• Grandma's Pure and Natural Lye Soap
• Earth's Nectar Coconut Curls Conditioning Detangler
• and a curlBOX Postcard

I tried two products out of this box. The first product I tried was the Crème of Nature leave-in. I couldn't tell a difference between using this leave-in versus using other leave-ins, therefore I can't really give an extensive product review about this product. I know, I know...boo to me. But if it helps, I've used it about two or three times, and nothing negative has come from it!

This product review is mainly for the Crème of Nature Pudding Perfection Curl Enhancing Cream. I'm going to preface this by saying I didn't want to use it because I love my Pantene custard so much, especially for twist outs; but what else is the curlBOX for other than to try new things?!

The product was very light and didn't have a hard hold, so when I untwisted my hair it absorbed so much moisture from the air. The product has a decent smell so that wasn't an issue. As a matter of fact, most of the products I'm exposed to these days has a decent smell, so I think brands are being more cognizant of that. If I had to use this product again, I would use it as a moisturizer for a wash and go, rather than use it as a holding agent for my twist outs, because it didn't work at all!!!

Of course I didn't take good pictures of the final result. I didn't really like how it turned out, so I wasn't in the photo snapping mood. I kept meaning to get at least one good picture for the blog, but I'm still in off-the-grid mode so my phone (and other devices) stay out of my hands more than they stay in my hands. From the outside looking in, most people would say it looks fine...and it does, I just prefer the more defined look Pantene gives me. This look was too puffy and shrunken for me. The humidity played a big role in this look (and I have to remember that for future styles), but I only kept this look for about a week before throwing some Pantene on it!

NOVEMBER 2015 UPDATE

The only products I've used out of this box, still, are the two mentioned in this post. This was the first time my hair was exposed to the brand, so I'm thankful to curlBOX for the exposure. Back then, I had no goals for my hair so I didn't know any better. I was trying products just to try them. Now with my goal of having healthy hair, I'm more cognizant of what I'm putting in my hair.

I don't use the Pantene custard anymore. My NC cosmetologist told me that product wasn't good for my hair because the pH was way to high. Since then, it's been on my to-do list to start testing the products I use for pH.

I have used the Creme of Nature leave-in a lot since this post. It's one of my favorite spray leave-in conditioners. It's a great moisturizer and very light, so it doesn't weigh my hair down. That's also what I love about the Pudding Perfection Curl Enhancing Cream.

When I tried this product the first time, I was more interested in getting length out of my twist-outs. Now, I don't stretch my twist-outs, I wear my twist outs as pictured here. Also, my wash day technique has changed. Perfecting my technique has a lot to do with how my hairstyles turn out. So, while the products I use play a large part of that, the technique is key.

Creme of Nature is one of my go to brands now, I use many of their products and would highly recommend them to anyone. I guess the next thing I should do is test these products for pH!

What's your favorite hair product??

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What Does Being "Natural" Mean?

The Million Dollar Question

2 Months

I keep seeing this questions posed on different forums so I've decided to talk about it.

When "going natural" first started taking off, I thought to myself "What in the world is going on?!" Most women I saw going through the process raised my eyebrows a few times, and to be honest some still do. Now that I've gone through my process of transitioning to natural hair then doing a big chop, I have a better understanding of what goes into it! Before my mind changed, I would talk to my hair stylist (at the time) about going natural and tell her how I could never go natural and she was on my side 100%. She would talk about how going natural wasn't for everybody and how she would never let me go natural.