How to trim your hair: Avoiding hairdressers, saving dollars

I say all the time that black hairdressers are the devil. Obviously, this is in jest, because there is a real devil ( I believe) , who is not involved in the dressing of hair. However, they do say many a truth is said in jest. There are many good black hairdressers I believe, but when it comes to natural hair most hairdressers get a bit frightened and either run away, attack your hair with a comb, or attempt to coerce you into relaxing/ straightening.
That long intro was basically to say -  this post is about how to trim your hair yourself.

How often should I trim my hair?

Every 6-8 weeks, maybe a bit more or a bit less depending on how easily your hair gets damaged.  I trim every time my hair comes out a protective style, which is every 4 weeks or so.

Will trimming my hair make it grow longer?

Nope, that's a myth. It will however, make sure your ends are healthier so that you are likely to retain length better and your hair ill have the illusion of being thicker and healthier due to the healthy ends.

What will I need?:

1. Sharp Hair Scissors (you can buy these from ebay or Amazon for around £10. Do NOT use scissors that you use to cut paper etc. The dull blades will damage your ends.)
2. Hair :-)

Method 1: Dusting

This is a pretty simple method. If your hair is in small braids or twists on your own hair, just trim the ends of each small braid or twist looking carefully for splits...this is good because it allows you to get feel of the condition of your whole hair, and also makes sure that you pretty much trim every section.
I usually divide my hair into four big braids (i.e. I twist the small twists/braids into 4 overall big braids), and do each section at a time.

Picture from www.thenaturalgirlsguidetobeauty.com

2) Straighten, then trim.

Many naturals prefer this method, because it doubles as a length check. I've done this once about 6 years ago, when I was still fine with using heat. I don't advise it because I think generally, natural hair and heat don't mix, but if you are ok with using heat, then this ones for you.

3) Section trim

This is just the lazy method I use most of the time. When my hair is out in a fro, I divide my hair into sections and just trim split ends or damaged ends as I see them. The only problem with this method is that you might well miss bits, or trim too much at ne time.

Lastly, if you want a proper cut (as in a style, not trimming), then a natural hair dresser is probably your best bet. Adornment365 in Brixton is the only one I've been to. I did feel they treated my hair a bit harshly when combing, but the customer service was fantastic.

Peace, Love and Hair grease folks xx

'Natural' Relaxers/ Perms...what's the deal?? Part 1

Recently, on my travels through blog-land, and also my frequent trips to youtube-city, I've been hearing a lot of chit chat about natural relaxers. These are products people hope will have a similar effect to relaxers, but sans the chemicals. Yes, you too can finally get bouncin' and behavin' hair minus the burns, weird smell and corrosive toilet cleaner strength liquid. Or can you?

I'm initially skeptical about this. Firstly because our hair, although fragile, isn't prone to changing from lovely coils and ringlets to sleek straightness without something rather strong - whether that be heat or chemicals. I wouldn't say that I'm a product junky - it's not my crack, but I have tried out a couple of things, and nothing, be that natural or petroleum laden, has ever been able to alter my curl that dramatically.

Secondly, because this is AGAIn feeding into the idea that our hair texture needs to be 'fixed'. The problem with relaxers is not just the dangerous chemicals, but also the insidious insinuation (like that one?), that 'nappy' hair is unattractive, man-repelling, unmanageable mess that can be changed with a magical box of goo.

Despite this, I'm willing to investigate a little before writing them off. So let's take a look at the claims of some of these natural relaxers.First off, the Bodiphier,  a 'natural' relaxer that can be bought  at www.freshlookhair.com. It says "the BodiPhier cannot make hair look "totally straight" like relaxers do", but it can give you "soft, manageable, bouncy hair..the new way to relax hair". Hmmm. Ok. Let's check out the ingredients:

BodipHier Ingredients: Purified Alkaline Water, 100% Natural Soda Ash & Minerals, 100% Natural Citric, 100% Natural Menthol, Cetyl Wax, Emulsifying Wax, Petrolatum, Mineral Oil, Lanotrol, Volpo 10, Methyl Paraben, Propyl Paraben, 100% Natural Protein Powder, Shea Butter, 100% Natural Protein Oil, 100% Natural Soy Bean Oil, and Fragrance. 

This looks fairly innocent. The claim that it's not as harsh as normal relaxers is true..there s no sodium hydroxide or something of a similar strength. Unfortunately, this doesn't mean it's good for your hair. The first ingredient, alkaline water is definitely not 100 percent safe. The Beauty Brains, a scientific website that investigates beauty products says  "The key active ingredient is soda ash, also known as sodium carbonate, which is an alkaline material used in a variety of industrial applications from food preparation to pool sanitization. Sodium carbonate raises the pH of the product and allows it to soften the chemical bonds that connect the protein fibrils in hair. Once these chemical bonds are broken, or relaxed, the hair becomes straighter....Bodiphier’s pH is 12, which is a bit lower than most relaxers that tend to be 12 to 13."

So basically, it's a weak relaxer. So basically, it's too good to be true.

However, there are other natural relaxer companies that make similar claims...I'll investigate these more in part two. Until then, be careful! Just because something claims to be natural, doesn't mean that it is - do your research.

Peace, Love and Hair Grease folks xx

Product Review: Anita Grant Whipped Butter

So I used this stuff ages and ages ago when I was like 14 or 15 and although it was impressive, I wasn't impressed enough to repurchase. I was also on a 15 year old budget. Whoooaa massive mistake (not being 15 and on a budget, I mean massive mistake not repurchasing)...I tried it again this year because it was on sale at www.britishcurlies.com for  £4 a jar. Wowzers. This stuff is soooo good. It smells great too in my opinion - I had the Monoi de Tahiti version which smells like flowery coconut. It's a buttery texture (duh), but very light a fluffy, almost like frosting.


Ingredients: non-destructive palm oil,unrefined murumuru butter,unrefined shea butter,unrefined cupuacu butter,vegetable glycerin,vitamin E & LOVE (that's what it says on the jar!)

Pros:

• Very Moisturising
• Smells great
• All natural ingredients
• Leaves hair super shiny
• British black owned business :-) (gotta support the Brits)

Cons:

• Potentially a bit greasy
• Normal price is quite expensive, especially if you're paying for shipping to the U.S.

Overall it gets 4 and little bit more outta 5!

Definitely try this one out.

Peace, Love and Hair Grease folks xx

New Years Resolve

Happy 2012!
We're coming to the end of January, but I haven't blogged for a ages, mainly due to January exams and the madness that is Christmas and New Year. Although it's a bit late in the day, i thought I;d share with you all my New Year's resolutions.

This year, I resolve to:

1) Love

I will spend time act day getting to know Love. I will prioritise Love above anything else, placing Him as the centre of every activity and the motivator for every action and reaction. As I get to know Love better, Love will teach me to love myself fully and completely, and most importantly, teach me how to love others as fully and completely as I love myself. God is Love.

2)Live
I will treasure time as something precious, valuable and finite, and will dance in each moment of it as freely as I can, realising that I will only get that moment once. I will see new sights, smell new smells and receive new thoughts and ideas with reckless abandon. I will open my heart to peace, joy, unselfishness, humility and courage, and close my heart to pride, hatred, bitterness, worry and self-righteousness.

3)Laugh

I will try to see the bright side of every situation, and dig deep enough to find laughter in the little things, and share the laughter with others.

4)Learn

I will let Love grab hold of regret and bitterness, and take instead wisdom, understanding, and knowledge of lessons learnt. I will choose to view setbacks as stepping stones, and welcome criticism as a way of refining me. I will choose to be welcoming of information from others,  viewing everyone as someone who has something valuable to teach me, regardless of age, colour or religion. I will choose to learn to open my mind in order to learn how to close it to things that are harmful or not useful to me.

So, those are my resolutions. They're non specific, but they are real, and I'll  try to remember them as I go throughout this year. What are your resolutions?

Peace, Love and Hair grease folks xx

Taking Care of your hair in winter

Winter is hellish for natural hair if you're not careful. Cold air, sometimes dry air, full blast heaters, wind that tangles your curls, and wooly hats that tangle up your ends. What's a girl to do?

Never fear, I am here with tips to surround your hair with loveliness.

1) Protect your ends

Collars, hats and scarves all rub against your ends and cause split ends, knots and breakage. Keep your ends away from your collar by wearing updos or a high bun. Alternatively, use a silk scarf over your collar, old lady style :-)

High bun .....www.agrlcanmac.com

Throw a scarf over jumpers, coats etc so that the ends of your hair rub on the scarf rather than the fabric of the coat or jacket.

Make sure you keep your ends moisturised. Spray, moisturise, seal with an oil or butter.

2) Find a good moisturiser

Moisturisers that work in warmer months might not work in winter. Thicker oils, butters and creams are often good for winter months, such as shea butter, castor oil, or a thick leave in. Depending on your climate, humectants such as glycerin might not be as effective in winter due to the lack of moisture in the air, but I've found that glycerin works fine for my climate in winter.

Donna MarieSuper Buttercreme - get at www.britishcurlies.com

3) Keep your hair in protective styles

Winter is that time to rock all your twists, braids, buns, updos, extensions - weaves (although I'm quite anti straight weave).

Long kinky twist extensions\

Charlotte's pompadour

Hayley's updo

4) Keep your hair covered, protect it from the cold.

Hats, turbans and scarves are great for winter. If you decide to wear a wooly hat, make sure you keep your hair protected by using a silk scarf under your hair, or lining the inside of your hat with silk/satin material.

My turban attempt

www.thebeautyhero.com

5) Go easy on the heaters - try and wear a scarf inside the house if you;re going to have the heating on full blast, and spray your hair regularly to keep moisture levels up.

Peace, Love and Hair Grease folks xx

Product Review: Lush Curly Wurly Shampoo

I'll get straight to the point for once. Free sample from Lush, Curly Wurly Shampoo, Used it, it failed - here's why.

So Lush Curly Wurly has these ingredients:

Ammonium Lauryl Sulfate,Desiccated Coconut,Cetearyl Alcohol,Propylene Glycol, Water,Fresh Organic Lemon Juice, Glyceryl Stearate & PEG-100 Stearate,Perfume, Linseed Infusion,Fresh Papaya, Lauryl Betaine, Fresh Free Range Eggs, Cocoa Butter, Extra Virgin Coconut Oil, Shea Butter,Organic Jojoba Oil,Avocado Butter, Vanilla Absolute, Vetivert Oil,Benzoin Resinoid,Organic Extra Virgin Olive Oil, Alkanet Extract,Lanolin, Cetrimonium Bromide, *Coumarin.



Sounds decent right?? It sure is, apart from the DESSICATED COCONUT - not sure what smart Lush product creator decided that having a shampoo for curly hair was the ticket for putting chunks of flaky coconut in it. Bad idea Lush, bad idea. I rarely if ever have had to say that about Lush by the way, they usually have great stuff.


This shampoo made my hair clean albeit a bit dry-ish, and I spent ages getting coconut bits out of my hair. It has a gorgeous smell though, and good ingredients. I'm really upset it didn't work :-(.

 Guys, try this at your peril....

Peace, Love and Hair Grease....xxx

Is natural hair just a trend?

So recently there has been a DELUGE (I like that word) - an INUNDATION (like that word too) of naturalism  (this is not a real word) :-). 

I know more naturals now than I've ever known in my life - and my life has been 21 years long. So many of my friends are going natural, even people who I thought would never rock the natural look. I'm happy, pleasantly surprised, and relieved that people are beginning to see the natural light. Or are they??

I've been natural all my life, so I've never had to 'transition' per se, but the mental transition that  I undertook on the road to accepting my hair was definitely a big one.

At 14 years old, when I decided I was going to wear my hair in a throwback Angela Davis style afro, it definitely wasn't the norm. I got laughed at by friends (mostly male friends), had stuff thrown in my hair, and was told by teachers at school that I wasn't 'there to make a statement'. There definitely wasn't a natural community that I felt was rooting for me.  I had to constantly fight the straight or long lose curl ideal that was pushed at me constantly. 

As I got older, and learnt to take care of my hair better, I usually got nothing but love for my hair from people, but it was still seen as something very unique, out there and a bit quirky.

Now, celebrities, corporate CEO's, doctors artists  - everyone, is going natural. I'm glad that people going natural now have better products, a bigger support base and more positive affirmation (although we've still got a long way to go), but I'm hoping that the mental transition that I  had to undertake when I went on the journey to accepting my unique texture is an experience they have also. 

My qualm is that when something is extremely popular, it's easier to not think about the meaning behind it as much. 

For example, the afro of the 70's was  political statement for many, but was also a massive fashion trend. The 80's came, and a lot of the revolutionary 'black is beautiful' seemed to be left behind in the decade before, as everyone jerri curled and relaxed their afros. Even women who I respect tremendously for their part in the civil rights movement of the 70's such as Elaine Brown, (former leader of the Panther Party) I've seen recently with relaxed hair. I don't necessarily think they 'de-enlightened', themselves at all, but it just goes to prove my point that something like natural hair, can become a trend jut as anything else can.

I guess what I'm asking is, is it a problem if someone goes natural, not from a massive journey of self acceptance, but just from a simple - I like afro's at the moment, that's my look for this year? 

Strangely, I have less of a problem with it that one might think. I think any period of time that  black woman is not using a relaxer, for any reason is a good thing. Creamy crack is whack.....

Having said that, I really hope that the 'trend' we're seeing at the moment is much more than a trend for the next couple of years, but a mass awakening that will help little black girls look at their Mum's natural hair and say - 'Mummy, when I grow up, I want my hair to look just like yours'.

Peace, Love and Hair Grease folks! xxx