From Now Till 'I Do'...: hair

Showing posts with label hair. Show all posts

Hairspiration + Going Natural

Source: polishedandcurled.tumblr.com via Chichi on Pinterest

So last month I went in for the Big Chop (BC), were I got my hairdresser to cut off all of my relaxed bits and leave me with my natural hair. I had taken out my kinky twists and realised that I had more natural hair than relaxed and that this would be a good a time as any to restart the natural hair journey again.

This isn’t the first time I have done the BC. I did it once before when I was at university but ended up going back to relaxer, {see point 1 below} as I found it too difficult to manage. This time round, I am determined to learn how to take care of my natural hair. I also want to be confident in this, so that I can educate my daughter on how to look after her natural hair too.

So far I am enjoying my new hair journey, although it does require a bit more thought and time in the daily maintenance. However I am sure as time goes by I will get a lot quicker and comfortable with my routine.

Source: blkgirlsrock.tumblr.com via Chichi on Pinterest

If you’re thinking of going natural here are some tips:

1. Educate yourself and do your research. There is so much information available now that there are no excuses for not knowing what to do. The reason I ended up going back to the cremey crack after my last BC was that I didn’t know how to take care of my natural hair. There was little information around about how to take care of it, even visiting my local hairdresser, she didn’t know what to do either. In the end I went back to relaxed hair as it was ‘easier’.

2. Prepare yourself mentally. Natural hair is nothing like relaxed hair. My hair has a lot of shrinkage and is quite curly. It is not sleek like when I had relaxed hair and I look different with my natural hair (it accentuates my facial features more}. I prepared myself for this and try to make sure that I still look put together.

3. If you can’t bear to part with your long hair, transitioning is good. If you are used to having long hair and go in for the BC which results in very short hair, it can be quite a change emotionally so prepare yourself and transition slowly.

3. Don’t buy loads of new products as you may already have a lot of good stuff in your house. For example extra virgin olive oil, which I use on both my hair and my daughter’s hair, is readily available from our kitchen, as is honey which I use for pre-poos and the most important ingredient in maintaining hair moisture, our very own H2O, is available on tap (excuse the pun) for ‘free’.

This time round I am also trying to use as much natural products as possible and so am using lots of oils and shea butter {courtesy of one of my dear Ghanaian friends}. I still have regular moisturisers and butters but prefer my natural ingredients.

4. Don’t buy loads of expensive products either. Try and get a sample first to see if it works for you. What works for one might not work for you and you don’t want to waste your money. Right now I am loving Tresemme Naturals Moisture Conditioner. It’s like £4, is free from all the nasty stuff and my hair drinks it up.

5. Finally don’t compare your hair to others. Learn to love your hair and learn how to take care of it.

Useful Info:

Hair sites:

Natural Hair Dictionary – link to meaning of terms over at Coco and Creme
Mane and Chic
Love Your Tresses – Good for those who are transitioning
United Kinkdom
Care for your hair
Curly Nikki
British Curlies

You Tubers – my favs

Fusion of Cultures – Laila Jean who lives here in the UK who has amazing natural hair
Br0nzeqt
My Natural Sistas
Naptural85
SimplYounique – her hair journey is amazing! From BC with a tiny little afro to long flowing hair, which is all natural.
Nikkimae2003 – remember the pic below…It was her hair they photoshopped onto Michelle Obama.

{image source}

Hair today…

0 Things the people are saying

Yesterday, I got myself some braids and quite honestly I don’t why I didn’t do it sooner!

Three hair packets of hair extensions, one plate of jollof rice, and 6 hours of dedicate braiding {from my lovely new hairdresser/friend} later I emerged with my new locks. My hair has been in relaxer for the best part of 18 months and definitely needed a break.

Really like it, although I now have ‘big hair’ which I am getting used to. Very much looking forward to the extra 15 mins I can now reclaim back in the morning!

Braided sisters - any tips on braid hair care, especially curly extensions? It has been a while!

Hairdressing woes

1 Things the people are saying

So the great hairdresser search continues. At the moment I still haven’t found myself a hairdresser that I’m totally happy with. I tried a new place out about a month ago and whilst I was happy with the overall look and service on the day, I wasn’t too impressed with their pricing structure.

They’re one of those places where every step of the process is charged separately. For example, I rang up to book a treatment and in their price booklet it says treatment £14.40. At the end of the phone call I say ask the girl to confirm what the total price will be and she comes back with £34.40. I’m confused!

Me: Doesn’t your price book say a treatment is £14.40?

Salon: Yes, but it’s an extra £20 to blow dry the hair.

Me: Err what? You have have to pay extra for a blow dry, it’s not included?

Salon: No

Me: Interesting, the price is almost as much as getting my hair relaxed. I think I’ll leave it.

You have to pay extra to be able to leave the salon with dry hair!

I don’t get it. Surely if that’s the true price, why not quote £34 rather than break everything down, when they know full well most women aren’t going to leave a salon with wet hair! I’d rather places be upfront and charge one price which includes everything.

Anyone else had similar experiences?

The long and short of it!

0 Things the people are saying

Keeping with the obvious hair theme of the past few days. Check out this great article on long vs short from Boundless.

Patiently waiting...

0 Things the people are saying

Apologies, if I'm generalising, but why do black salons think it's okay to keep you waiting for ages? Anytime you want to get your hair done, you need to book out a whole day for what should only be a two hour appointment.

(source)

Scenario 1:
I went to a place last Friday for a 3pm appointment. At 4:20pm I was still waiting to be seen and there was still someone ahead of me.

I walked out.

As I was leaving the guy at the front desk shouted out to me, 'could you not wait?'

'COULD I NOT WAIT! I'm sorry but I think one hour and twenty minutes is long enough time to wait if you ask me! This is so not good!'

'Sorry' was all he said, as if it were normal. I was so annoyed!

Scenario 2:
On Saturday I visited another salon, on recommendation. My appointment was for 2pm and I arrived at 1:55pm. And get this - I was seen at 2pm on the dot! The whole salon experience was completely different from start to finish.

Call me a cynic but this second place was not a 'black' salon and their approach to customer service was poles apart, amongst other things.

Now I'm not saying all Black salons are bad, but how hard can it be, to not overbook clients and to stick to time. Salon owners of the world, I plead with you!

Anyways, hair has been done and it's now a lot shorter than when I went in, (but in a much healthier state). Think Chanelle from BB or Posh Spice. I'm still getting used to it and I'm not sure I completely love it, but time will tell and it will always grow, right!

Ladies, share your salon stories, what's the longest time you've had to wait to be seen?

The 'Mane' attraction

4 Things the people are saying

So I've been thinking about wedding hair, well actually hair in general and what to do with mine. My hair is relaxed at the moment and has been for the past two years.

Prior to that, it was natural, after I underwent the 'big chop' at University. For those of you who don't know, the 'big chop' is when you decide to go natural after having relaxed or permed hair and rather than transitioning (which takes ages), you chop off all the relaxed bits and let your natural hair grow out.

I honestly couldn't remember what my natural hair looked like and it was so ravaged by relaxing and poor maintenance, I literally went back to my roots, with no regrets about how I would look. You see that's the great thing about University, people just accept you for who you are!

I kept my hair natural for three years, wearing weaves and braids to keep it manageable, often confusing people at work with the variety of styles!

Over the years I have learnt a lot about hair care, particularly around the right products to use and how to take care of my hair properly, whether it is natural, relaxed, braided or weaved. Whilst it hasn't always been easy, patience is key and I am pleased to see improvements in my hair all the time.

Some of the things I have personally learnt:
- you can wash you hair more than once a week
- ingredients such as petroleum or mineral oil, do nothing for your hair except coat it with product (Lusters Pink Cream - you know who you are!)
- products work differently on different people
- too tight braids are bad
- bonding glue is bad
- natural oils are good
- regular trims are good
- co-washing is good
- hair does not need to be 'retouched' exactly on week 6 (I have gone up to 12 weeks)
- you should always wrap your hair at night (can't promise I do this religiously)
- sometimes it's good to air dry (but not when you're going to work the same day!)
- a good hairdresser is hard to find, but once you do find them, they will be your friend for life

I thought for good measure (and for laughs) a trip down memory lane was in order. Check out some of my hairstyles from days gone by.