Healthy Hair Journey Update _ Protective Styling

I know some of my Trendsetters maybe wondering how the healthy hair journey is going, so this post it to give an update on  how my process is coming along. On one hand, thanks to my hair regimen I have experienced some steady hair growth and on the other hand, I did a mini chop eliminating all the straight relaxed ends which felt so liberating and that makes me now fully telaxed. However, because of the mini chop I went from shoulder length to just below nape length which may seem as if it my hair hasn’t grown much in terms of length comparison but on the bright side it has gotten much thicker.

One of the factors that played a part in my decision to cut away the relaxer ends was when I saw the  above pic on Instagram and it made me really think, “do I really want to hang onto to these ends just for the sake of saying my hair is now at a different measurement level?” Honestly, no, I  prefer health over length as with time healthy hair will grow but damage hair will just break off eventually. My answer to the pic would be A, unfortunately I didn’t take a pic before I cut off the relaxed ends but here’s a pic of my texture at 20 weeks post my last telaxed process on January 25 2015.

Apart from wearing milkmaid braids here’s a look at the protective styles I’ve done over the last couple of months……

Before this hair journey I always used extensions and braids as my protective styles, but I have found the use of wigs to be fun I can achieve a natural look which takes less time to acquire whether it be a different colour, long, short, curly or straight. I’ve found it easier to do than going through the time-consuming process of styling my thick mane, while dealing with a busy toddler and my day-to-day activities. The wigs aid with my relaxer stretch where I can prolong the time period longer, help to avoid the risk of damaging my hair and scalp from excess combing and pulling as some styles it requires a lot of manipulation and they allow me still have full access to my hair where I can moisturize,wash and condition weekly.

I don’t sleep in the wig I only wear it when I’m going out, 

I allow my natural hair to breathe otherwise

and at night I tie my head with a silk scarf.

What protective styles do you use and do you have hang-ups over wearing wigs and other faux hair?

Hair Talk

It’s time again to address the beauty aspect and talk hair today my Trendsetters. We’re going to get into some terminologies and processes I have come across since starting my hair journey; as they say “sharing is caring” and “knowledge is power”. With healthy hair growth most people can grow between 3 to 6 inches of hair per year, giving an average of  1/4 to 1/2 inch a month, so don’t get disappointed by comparing your growth rate to others. However slow hair growth can occur that will slow down your growth rate and this can be caused by poor health, vitamin deficiency, improper hair care and bad practices. The question then is “What do you do to attain your desired result?” It’s simple, experiment until you find the right combination that works for your unique hair type, texture and needs. Never rely on only one method to provide results as it takes a combination of many methods to be successful.

How To Start Your Healthy Hair Journey

• Take A Photo Of Your Hair At The Current Stage For  Progress Comparison
• Choose And List Your Goals In Order Of Preference ( eg: Health,Thickness, Length)
• Research How To Achieve Your Goals
• Create Your Unique Hair Care Regimen
• Find Easy Go-To Protective And Low Manipulative Hairstyles
• Have A Well Balanced Diet and Take Vitamins
• Start Exercising
• Make Sure You Are Drinking Enough Water

What Do You Need For A Hair Care Regimen?

• Shampoos (conditioning, clarifying)
• Deep Conditioner Treatments (both protein and moisture based)
• Leave-in Conditioner
• Moisturizer (hair butters)
• Oils/Sealants (castor, coconut, olive)
• De-tangler

How Does A Hair Care Regimen Work?

• Moisturize And Seal Daily
• Co-Wash Bi-Weekly
• Deep Condition Weekly
• Clarify Monthly
• Protein Condition Treatment When Needed/Monthly
• Limit Heat Use
• Use Low Manipulative And Protective Styling Regularly

Does Your Hair Need More Protein or Moisture?

The ideal situation to encourage healthy hair growth is to have a balance between the protein and moisture intake within your hair regimen. Do an easy Hair Porosity Test to see if your hair is balanced or if you need either more protein or moisture. Simply,take a couple of strands of hair from your comb or brush, drop them into a bowl of water and let them sit for 2-4 minutes.

• If it floats to the top and then slowly sinks = Low Porosity (resistant to product)
  Apply A Moisture-Based Deep Condition Treatment
•  If it quickly sinks = High Porosity (absorbs product quickly but loses it just as fast)
  Apply A Protein-Based Deep Condition Treatment
• If It floats mid-way = Balanced.

When Should You Trim Your Hair?

• Dry Ends
• Split Ends
• Signs Of Breakage

Terminologies

What is Baggying?

• Covering moisturized hair at night with a plastic shower cap for the purpose of enhancing moisture to help reduce breakage, split ends and dryness.

What is Sealing?

• The process of applying a small amount of oil to the hair, locking in moisture into the hair fibers to keep the hair hydrated for longer.

What Is Pre-Poo?

• The use of oils, or conditioners applied to the hair prior to shampooing to reduce tangling and post-shampoo dryness.

What Is Co-washing?

• Using a conditioner in place of a conventional shampoo to cleanse hair and retain moisture.

What Is Clarifying?

• Cleansing and removing a build-up of oils, styling products, tap water minerals from the hair using a clarifying shampoo or an apple cider vinegar rinse.

What Is Oil Rinsing?

• This is normally done after a protein condition treatment the hair, it involves applying oil to the hair for 5 – 20 mins then rinsing out with water to increase moisture and  softness.

What Is A Condition Treatment?

• A moisturizing, strengthening, or damage-repair product that is allowed to penetrate the hair for 15 – 30 minutes with or without the use of a mild heat.

Hopes this helps out and if you know of any new terminologies feel free to let me know.

Until next time, happy growing……

Disclaimer: I’m not a professional hair consultant however, this is a procedure that has worked for me results may vary. Information posted is offered to you as tips….you are not obligated to incorporate any tips into your practices.

The Newbie

As you may know I have started a healthy telax hair journey  and the time to end my relaxer stretch had come after a slight set back in December 2014, my relaxed hair in the nape broke off at the line of demarcation(where the new growth and relaxed hair meet) leaving behind just 2 1/2″ of unprocessed hair. I think I may have prolonged my first relaxer stretch too long as you’re suppose to build up your amount of weeks gradually  as my last relaxer was August 6th 2014, a little over 5 mths post-relaxer (face palm).  Today I will take you through my first telax experience which took placed back on January 25th. At first I was left stuck with the decision of if I should relax (possible limp bone straight look) or go natural (poof and shrinkage) and I wanted neither option. I actually wanted a bit of both as I wanted the full hair look that naturals have but not the kinky and coily look, so when I came across “telaxed hair” I was floating on cloud 9 as this was the balance I was looking for. Basically, telaxing it is using a mixture which consist of part carrier oil and part relaxer to slightly loosen the hair coils so as to still have a curl pattern.

* Some of you may ask “how do you know when to end the relaxer stretch?” well the signs are easily visible such as:

• unmanageable new growth makes scalp and roots unreachable to apply products
• when there’s excess breakage at the line of demarcation
• when the ends look shaggy and limp while the mid-shaft to root of the hair is full.

My Telax Process

*I had pre-shampoo, washed and deep-conditioned my hair 2 days prior to prepare and strengthen my hair for the process.*

• apply Vaseline to the hairline and relaxed hair
• mix coconut oil with relaxer (approx. 2 tbs) and stir well
• apply the relaxer mix to hair working from the nape to the front of my head
• comb through once and leave in for remainder of required time according to relaxer timeline guide (my time was 30 mins)
• rinse hair making sure hair is completely free from relaxer
• apply neutralizing shampoo, lather and leave in for 10 mins as to allow the hair to fully returned to a neutralize state
• rinse hair completely, lather with neutralizing shampoo and rinse out completely if needed again.
• apply a protein treatment for 30 mins
• rinse
• apply a deep-condition treatment 30 mins
• rinse
• blot out the excess water
• lightly moisturize hair using the Liquid.Condition.Oil method (leave-in conditioner – moisturizer – oil )
• trim off the uneven ends
• air dry hair

Afterwards I applied oil to the ends and followed up by flat ironing my hair on low heat to achieve a straight look so as to do a length check pic. So overall, I can say my first telax experience was a success as you can see that I was still able to maintain a curl pattern.

Do any of my trendsetters have telaxed hair? If yes, please feel to share your telax process and results.

Disclaimer: I’m not a professional hair consultant however, this is a procedure that has worked for me results may vary. Information posted is offered to you as tips….you are not obligated to incorporate any tips into your practices.

I Signed Up For This Regimen

Hey Trendsetters, so I’m off and running on my healthy telaxed hair journey where my main goals are health and length retention, I am aiming for  between Shoulder Length or longer if possible by December 2015. Therefore, I have sat down and planned out how I intend to attain these goals and to help stay sane during this journey…..

Hair-care:
Keep scalp and hair clean by washing hair once a week. moisturize hair every other day using Liquid Condition Oil  method or if in box braids or extensions, mix with water in spray bottle and spray onto hair and massage scalp and edges.

example of a breakdown on how I will wash my hair

• Week 1: pre-shampoo (apply oil treatment to hair before washing) – shampoo – condition
• Week 2: protein treatment (strengthen) – co-wash (wash hair with conditioner only)
• Week 3: pre-shampoo – shampoo – condition
• Week 4: deep condition (moisture) – co-wash

Styling:
During the relaxer stretch my aim is to protect my ends and minimize hair manipulation so as to avoid excessive combing and brushing. I will be wearing my hair in protective styles such as buns, milkmaid braids and box braids as well as cooperate the use of wigs and extensions as these methods are easy and low maintenance.

Heat:
If heat is to used for a straighter look, I will use a heat protector to avoid overheating or burning or opt for roller set air-dried 85% with the hairdryer on cool/low setting. However it won’t be used more than 1-2 times a month.

Trim:
I will trim my hair only when necessary or in the event that split ends occur.

Nutrition:
I will make a conscious effort to eat well and drink 9 cups of 8 oz cups of water a day, along with taking a combination of biotin, folic acid and MSM (MethylSulfonylMethane) to aid with growth.

To find out the amount of water I needed to drink I followed the equation:

Too legit to quit

DISCLAIMER: Information posted is offered to you as tips….you are not obligated to incorporate any tips into your practices.

Couture Week 2015 Wearable Hair and Beauty Trends

Hey Trendsetters, we all know that Couture Fashion Week is known for its beautiful, over exaggerated, crazy-chic, theatrical designs as shown in My Top S/S 2015 Couture Collections but its not all about the clothing. The hair, makeup and the accessories pull together to help complete each look. This year’s Spring/Summer Couture Week 2015 showcased some covetable, wearable beauty and hair trends, so go ahead and take your pick from some of my favourite inspirational looks…..

Halo Braids

Forget the milkmaid braid and op for the more sophisticated boho-chic twisted braid variation

Chain-Link Ponytail

Create a simple and easy illusion by adding long matching hair extensions attached to metallic or primary-colored hoop(s).

Graphic Eyes

Apply eyeliner to the crease and top of eyelids and then extended outwards for a cat-eye look.

The Veiled Bow

The veiled beanies is getting a run for its money, the new “in thing” is the mix of the veil with ribbons creating neat bows and a bit of mystery with a playful touch.

I know I will definitely be trying these out these looks will you?

Hairs To A Better Tomorrow

Normally I just blog about fashion related topics but this year I’ve decided to get a bit more personal with my trendsetters family. I will be bringing hair and beauty to the table, come on it’s only right as one’s look is not complete without having their hair “slayed/laid” or having the face “beat“. So you can look out for personal takes, trends, reviews and diys related to hair and beauty. I’ve mentioned in my previous post We Now Return To Our Regular Schedule I had a baby last year and apart from having my handsome son, one of the plus of being pregnant was that my hair had grown out from my pixie cut and it was full and thick.

postpartum hair before shedding

However shortly after giving birth I started to suffer postpartum shedding, this totally freaked me out. My hairline was thinning and it seemed like every time I combed my hair half of it was in the comb. Thankfully I did some research on stopping the hair shedding and I stumbled upon the healthy hair journey (cue celestial bells). This introduced me to new techniques and terminologies (will elaborate in future posts) and showed that it was just mere myths that kinky, coily hair further more relaxed hair can’t grow. The secrets I found to obtaining healthy relaxed hair were simple, use the right hair products to give some good old Tender Loving Care (moisture and protein), drink lots of water, limit the amount of heat and chemical relaxer application times in a year, do hairstyles that required little manipulation, along with taking vitamins. So I hide my flat iron, stocked up on hair products beneficial for hair growth, started a relaxer stretch and began taking biotin; well, whenever I remembered. Everything was going great, I had gained 2 1/2″ to 3″ of growth between the front, middle and nape of my head, my edges were no longer thinning and my hair was thick and full again; I was begging to enjoy the texture of my unprocessed hair for like the first time ever.

When I decided to end my relaxer stretch this lead to the discovery of the term “telaxed hair” textured relaxed hair where I would still have a curl pattern. So I decided that I would start and commit myself to doing a healthy telaxed hair journey instead and go on a quest to prove that healthy hair length retention is possible with telaxed hair and to grow my hair as long as possible from current neck length. I will be transitioning completely to texlaxed hair by gradually trim of my bone straight relaxed ends. I know this can be a tedious progress and I’m not going to wake up like Rupunzel or Ariel the mermaid over night but rather that I would have to take a realistic approach with my progress. So you can look out for my progress and length checks along the way and even join me on this journey. Hopefully my story can help and encourage someone to never give up on their hair. So lets toast to a new beginning and greater lengths.

Are my trendsetters relaxed, telaxed or natural?