Why you shouldn't join the natural hair bandwagon....

Sooooo this may sound counterintuitive ...right? After all, this is primarily a natural air blog ( everyone is welcome, but I'm natural at the moment and more versed in this field). Anywho, I am loving how many naturals I see when I go out. And when I get into hair conversations with people, I am so energized and willing to share everything I know.
I think back to the time I started my hair journey. I did not wake up and decide to go natural. It kind of happened. I first started my hair journey as a relaxed gal. I tried to stretch my relaxer but I found out I had badly damaged hair, and ended up cutting off all my relaxed hair a few months later. By then, I did know a bit about taking care of relaxed hair, but was still a bit clueless about natural hair.
So I stared in the mirror at my cropped kinky hair and thought, "now what!?"

Luckily I was a quick learner, but also in those early days I made use of a lot of protective styling while I educated myself.
So what's my advice? Don't just "jump on the bandwagon". Before you commit yourself to Team Natural, try and learn a bit about natural hair.
Some things I discovered once I was into my journey. This year I discovered single strand knots! When my hair was dry when I was relaxed,it still was ok to comb and looked ok....but now I'm natural, when my hair is dry!!... It's like the Sahara desert all up in there! And it's mores one to breakage in that dry state as compared to relaxed dry hair.
Natural hair isn't "easy". It requires a lot of time and energy on some days. For some of us, skip one day of moisturising and you are in trouble!
If your natural hair gets tangled....you are in trouble. It will take a lot of time and patience to work those tangles out...

It's not all doom and gloom. As you know, I LOVE my natural hair. I have now worked out a routine that works for me and my lifestyle. My regimen is part of my normal day to day life and I have engrained those habits.

My advice is know what to expect when you join team natural. You may need to learn some new techniques, such as never combing your natural hair...(gasp! We don't comb our hair!?) but overall, I have enjoyed being a natural. Some things annoy me line how my hair grows soooo slowly. I had many times I wanted to be like, screw this!, but I set realistic goals and smiled when I accomplished them. Natural hair is beautiful, and once you get the hang of it you will be on your way to beautiful kinky locks.


Stay blessed

How to shampoo and condition your hair...

So I did a wash and go today...well actually I started yesterday! I had shampooed my hair with a shampoo that my cousin left behind. its by Suave, its targetted at kids...thats right, Dora the Explorer is rught thurr on the front, whaaaat! lol! It smells yum! I mixed this with a teaspoon of olive oil to stop it from completely drying my hair and scalp. I then did an Aphogee 2 Minute treatment to strengthen my hair. I took care to apply it in sections.
I took a mixture of coconut oil, olive oil, avocado oil, shea butter and castor oil. I warmed this up and applied to my hair and massaged into my scalp. I put a shower cap on and went to bed.
This morning I rinsed out the oil ( if you find your hair is oily then use a little shampoo to help get it out).
This is a routine I have been doing for over three years now. I tweaked my process though, to help my products work better for me.
One important point to remember is that shampoo is for the scalp, and conditioner is for your hair.
What this means is that we use shampoo to help us cleanse our scalps and dislodge any buildup of dirt and products. Shampoos are harsher than conditioners and can strip your hair of even your natural oils.
Even top hairdressers recommend that when you shampoo your hair don't scrunch up your hair and haphazardly spread making lots of lather like they do in adverts. Rather only apply shampoo to the scalp and first one or two inches of your hair. When you rinse the shampoo, it will run over the rest of  the length of your hair and clean it.
In fact, a lot of women now pre-poo their hair. Meaning they apply oil or conditioner to the hair before shampooing to protect it from the shampoo. Your hair should not be squeaky clean.

Once you have thoroughly rinsed out the shampoo, you may apply your chosen conditioner to the length of your hair. Concentrate on the ends of the hair and work your way down to close to the scalp. Try not to massage the conditioner into your scalp. This may lead to build up.
Your scalp naturally produces oils which keep your scalp moisturiser and happy. Build up of products such as conditioner, may impede the natural process of your scalp "breathing" and allowing sebum to moisturise your scalp.

Watch out for a post in future where I will discuss how to moisturise and seal your hair once you are done with shampoo and conditioning.....

Stay blessed!

Treating my hair before braiding...

So I currently have cornrows in my hair...well just at the front anyway. The back is thick singles. I did these last week and don't intend on keeping this style for too long. Will try push it to three weeks, but I may take them out next week depending on how neat it looks...

Anywho, before I cornrowed I did a protein treatment with one of my favorite products. I first knew about it about four years ago when Ateeyaa of YouTube did videos of how it helped her hair.
I have the Aphogee Two Minute protein treatment.

                                                (There's all my Aphogee stuff to the left)

I began by co-washing my hair with Herbal Essences Hello Hydration. I then applied to Aphogee to my hair in sections. I kinda like the way it smells :) I made sure to get it evenly on my hair. Which is a feat when you have dense natural hair like mine. I made sure I got a fair amount on my ends as I am trying to keep them strong and healthy. The instructions say to keep it in for two minutes then rinse out thoroughly but I'm a G! I kept it in for 5 minutes y'all! Lol!

I followed this up with a Joico moisturising deep conditioner. Always follow up a protein treatment with a moisturising treatment to inject moisture back into your hair.
 The result? My hair was instantly stronger and the shedding was greatly reduced.
I normally use. Light protein treatment but Aphogee is my go to when I need a little more hair strength. Luckily I have two bottles that I stocked up when I last visited my family in London.
There are other brands that do protein treatments and I will keep a look out for which are readily available here in South Africa.
But if you can't wait that long, you have something that will do the job sitting in your kitchen right now( I think) ...good old eggs! Whip one egg and a teaspoon of olive oil and voila! You have a protein treatment. Bear in mind not to use hot water when rinsing this out or you will be scrambling eggs in your hair....

Deviating a bit...

...well it all ultimately ties up to hair anyway. This post is just about documenting my quest for health.
I'm a curvy girl...have always been about a size 12(UK size)..and now I would say im a tight size 12.lol!

My kind of sedentary lifestyle didnt help to the few kilos I have picked up these last few months. When I think about it, I walk to my car, drive to work. Drive into parking. Sit at my desk all day. Walk here and there in the office. Then walk back to my car to go home.....not alot of exercise there..eeek!
I dont eat alot. I shy away from carbs...except for potatoes. OMG potatoes yall!!!  I LOVE them. So I try not to even buy them that often....but apart from that, I love my salads and tend to eat lean meats...except for when I go to Chisa Nyama!!!

I did start gyming last year. I joined the work gym and all was going well till I hit a slump after a surgery I had last year.....that was in July. There really is no excuse here. So this year, I trotted back to the gym and it felt like I was a beginner all over again. Huffing and puffing at the treadmill. Sweating like a pig on the exercise bike..but as they say it gets better.

I'm not getting any younger, but I want to make the most of the life I have...Eat healthy, Live healthy, Think healthy....I drink waaay more water now. I keep a big 750ml glass bottle of water at my desk at work. I make sure I drink 2 of these by the time I go home. Everyone who knows me, knows I hate the taste of water...eewww! But it has helped me kick my JUICE ADDICTION. "Hi, I'm Linda Jean, I'm a recovering Juice-aholic". I limit myself to one glass of juice per day with my supper.

So this year, I am focusing on health for my body. Feeling good from the inside out. and you know what a good side effect of good health is?..Good and healthy hair! now I aint mad at that!

I stopped combing my hair about 3 years ago...for real!

True story! Lol! Before u think I’m probably loc’ed or have a matted up hair...lol! that is not the case. My type 4b/c natural hair is definitely not tangled.

So there is method to the madness. When I was relaxed I used a lot of combs and brushes to keep my straight hair in shape.

But when I jumped over to team natural I ditched the combs and brushes. The relationship was no longer viable. I read somewhere that every time you comb your hair you are giving yourself a little haircut. eeek! It’s true. Combing and brushing contributes to breakage, so I would keep this to a minimum as much as possible. Many relaxed ladies have also given up on the combing.

So how do I keep my hair detangled?

Detangling for me is a process I do slowly and carefully when I am in the shower. I use a cheapie conditioner(usually my Herbal essences Hello Hydration Conditioner). I apply this to my hair, which I divide into 6 sections. I used to use a wide tooth comb to help work the conditioner through and to help detangle. I have now found that I can use my fingers alone to detangle my hair.(make sure you don’t have chipped nails that can snag your hair). I then moisturise and seal, and do twists in my hair to keep it from shrinking and tangling.

The only time I use combs and brushes is when I have weaves or wigs in my hair.

I believe ditching the combs is what has helped me with length retention over the last few years. My hair is now around APL (armpit length. Will post pic soon). Of course, all naturals know about shrinkage! So when my hair is wet its about neck length. I cant wait till have have a big bad fro!

In the mean time, I have a new protective hairstyle for the next couple of weeks. I was trying to keep busy this last Saturday. The plan was to get box braids a la Beyonce, but I ended up cornrowing the front and single braids at the back. I must say it turned out okay given it was my first attempt at carrot cornrows.

I am keeping this style in for 2-2.5 weeks max.

In general I do not like cornrowing(with extensions) but I figure since I never do it, and I have been a good girl, taking good care of my hair, this means I can do this once or twice a year. My go-to protective style is the wigs. This enables me to deep condish every week. But with the cornrows I wont DC for the next two weeks. I will just co-wash twice a week( I go to gym during the week and will do this on gym days). I have a braid spray I made up with purified water, glycerine, avocado oil, olive oil and a conditioner. This will keep my hair moisturised in between washes....

The Art of Mixology...

So anyone who has ever been to my house is well aware that I love mixing my concoctions! lol! Some have accused me of turning into a Mother nature freak. Well I cant claim that I am that, I still have chemicals that I use in my house, but where I can I do try to be as environmetally frienly as I can.

When I started my hair journey, I learnt alot about what we put into our bodies and onto our hair and skin. For example the mineral oil that is loaded into many of our haircare and skin products. While my skin is semi-okay with mineral oil, my hair certainly does not like this. Here in South Africa we dont have access to many hair products that do not contain mineral oil. Sometimes I really have to go out of my way to soruce them. But when I cant, I make use of the products that are more easily available to me.

I would like to share some of the recipes tat I have learnt from others as well as created myself.
How we can use common ingredients, many of which you probably already have in your kitchen, to make some yummy concoctions that will give you beautiful skin and hair.

A word of caution though: not everything is for everyone. I was so quick to jump on the Shea Butter bandwagon and began using it as a sealer for my hair....that didnt quite work out for me. But now I use it as a pre-poo, and getting much better results with it.
So try the recipes, tweak them around and see what works for you.

So here is my first recipe in the Mixology Series:

This is a very simple mix to start us off. I use this mixture as a sealer after I apply my hair moisturiser, but it also works so well as a hot oil treatment and my hair loves it this winter.

• 3 tablespoons olive oil (Preferably Extra virgin)
• 3 tablespoons avocado oil
• 3 tablespoons coconut oil (also preferably the extra virgin variety)
• a few drops of an essential oil of your picking (do your research first)

The first 3 ingredients work so well and are able to penetrate the hair shaft. no other oils are able to do this as efficiently as these 3. Heat these 3 up in a double boiler. Stove top or microwave may result in these being heated to a very high temperature. Please be careful in heating these oils.
Once they are warmed up, apply to your hair, section by section, from root to tip. pay special attention to your ends as these are the oldest parts of your hair and they need more TLC.
 Cover your hair with a plastic showercap. You can either cover with a warm and damp towel, or a heated conditioning cap for about 20-30minutes.
Rinse this out of your hair with a little bit of shampoo or conditioner. (Beware of slippery shower floors)
proceed to style as usual.

There you have the first simple recipe, all from ingredients you can find in your kitchen :)

My hair hates winter....

Like for real! The last few weeks in Joburg have been cooler and I have brought out my trusty winter boots!
I am trying to cope with the shorter days and longer nights...as I have gotten older I prefer summer months to winter months.
Anywho, my once juicy locks turned to dry twigs overnight. For real. My hair got dry and dull all of a sudden. I moisturise and seal daily, sometimes twice a day but that just was not working.
 I have found that as my hair has gotten longer it requires a bit more love and attention.
So I set to fix the twiggy locks. The first night I literally bolted off the couch and just shoved my hair under a tap and quenched the hair with water and I co-washed with my Tresemme naturals conditioner.
I then dried it off and used my SCurl Activator as my moisturizer, sealed with my olive/coconut/avocado oil mixture. Then followed up with a hair lotion as a cream.
This worked for like 12 hours and the next day my hair was like straw again! Sigh!

Lets try this again.....

A few days later, I decided to do an oil treatment. I mixed up the avocado, coconut, olive and castor oil.  I applied this to my slightly damp hair, covered with a plastic cap, covered this with my silk bonnet and went to bed. In the morning I did my usual moisture and seal routine. My hair was quite soft, and I repeated tis a few days later and my hair was back to being softer and more manageable.

I feel that the oil treatments have injected some quality nutrients into my hair and this has helped it deal with the cold.
Right now I am pre- pooing my hair with my oil mix and I added some shea butter this time. ( I realized I had stash all the way from Ghana). I am going to wash this out with my cheapie conditioner (Aussie Moist) and then apply my Aphogee 2 Minute Protein Conditioner...that's a whole other post so watch this space....

So what did I learn? Some of us do have to switch up our winter hair reggies. I will be including a whole lot more oil in my reggie: in the form of pre-poos, oil rinses, oil treatments and new for me will be adding oil to my cowash conditioners.

Have a great week and keep warm...bbrrrr!