What are your hair goals

         

  The overall goal is to achieve growth and maintain healthy hair for my daughter and myself. There are a few essential steps one must take to get to this goal.

1. Patience: There are no magic pill or quick fixes to attain rapid growth. The secret to hair growth start with one primary factor and that is a healthy scalp. It is very important to maintain as much moisture as possible, you can do so by using moisture retention shampoo, moisturize your scalp a few times for the week, pre-poo with a natural oil, and cover your hair at night with a satin cap.
2. Products: Why is it important to use products that are sulfate free? Sulfate is a salt or ester of sulfuric acid which creates that thick rich lather that most women desire. However it strips the hair of its natural oils, which can later cause dryness and breakage.  
3. TLC:  A little tender love and care goes along way. Every now and then it is essential to massage your scalp for a few minutes, a good massage stimulates the hair follicles, it helps in strengthening of the hair roots and nourishing the hair shafts by spreading the natural oil. 

So remember to be patience and don't give up because anything worth having is worth working for.  

Know your hair type

What's your hair type

                                                                                                                                                                              The chart above shows some of the different curl patterns which can be broken down into three types of hair; wavy, curly, or kinky. It is important to know and understand your hair type. It’s good to know which product best fits your hair and which product your hair reacts to. 2a through 2c are wavy hair type, 3a through 3c are curly, and 4a through 4c are kinky. Curly hair tends to have bigger and bouncier curls vs. kinky hair which is smaller in diameter, coiled tightly, and tend to be drier. No matter your hair type, it is important to cleanse it with sulfate free products, personally I prefer to use shampoo with moisture retention. Do some type of pre-poo / co-wash regiment, detangle with a wide tooth comb, moisturize your scalp with any natural oil, pudding, or butter of your choice, and cover your hair with a satin or silk scarf before bed. WHAT IS YOUR HAIR TYPE?

Niah's hair type is 3c. She as thigh little curls that shrinks drastically when her hair is wet .

This is the wide tooth comb that I use to detangle her hair

Donut

After two weeks of having her braids in I took them out and gave her a breather. Instead of re-braiding her hair, I did another quick and simple protective style that lasted her for the school week. A bun is one of my favorite protective style because it is so simple, and is truly quick to do, especially if your an on-the-go working mom like me. To create this look all you need is a hair donut (you can purchase or make your own), a few hair ties, hair accessories, a hair brush, and hair gel (optional) but if you do use gel I would recommend Olive Oil Eco Styler Gel.


For those who don't know, here is a quick tutorial on how to make a donut. You need a old sock or a pair of stocking and a scissors. Cut the toe portion off the sock or stocking, then you take the top part of the sock and fold it downward and continue to role it until it starts to form a donut. Also to make your donut nice and neat you want to tug on the extra sock at the bottom to tighten it before your next role.

My home made donut 

The on the go bun 

This style is a  mini twist with braids in the front and a crown
with a sprinkle of flower

Products review

I just wanted to take a moment to do a quick review on “Organic Coconut Oil.” Coconut Oil has been originally known for cooking and baking, but, studies have shown that it is also good for the treatment of hair, and I totally agree. It’s now been four months since I started Niah’s pre-poo hair regiment. It’s been a major success! What a difference this product makes in the management of her hair. Organic Coconut Oil detangles, adds moisture, and improves the overall health of Niah’s Hair. If you want to give the hair an added kick, every now and you can add eggs, jojoba oil, 2 tbsp honey, Jamaican black coconut castor oil, and deep conditioner. You can purchase organic coconut oil at Whole Foods or any local grocery store.   

This treatment consist of 2 eggs, organic coconut oil, honey, jojoba oil, j.b.c.c oil  and  deep conditioner

Janelle Monae

I did a quick and simple protective style on my daughter's hair, I call this the Janelle Monae. All you need to create this style is a few bobby pins or those little clips with the teeth(the one that looks like a mini comb), a hair brush, and any accessory of your choice. Start from the back of the hair and twist the hair upward toward the front of your head, insert the bobby pin or the clip to hold the twist in place. Stop about a third of the way up to create the puff in the front, and remember the pin down the excess hair.

Curlformers vs Flex rods

So since I took that vow to never apply heat to my baby girl's hair a few months back, I was on a mission as to how one could achieve beautiful curls without heat. This brought me to the discovery of curlformers. Depending on the results that your looking for curlformers and flex rods can produce two different style of curls. Flex rod curls to me tend to be a bit tighter and controlled while curlformers tend to be more lose and free. If installed properly both heatless curling mechanism can create beautiful volumizing curls. How do you use them?, well its very simple. With the rods you can wet the hair with water, wrap lotion, hair smoothie or etc, then just take the rod and carefully wrap your hair around the rod and bend the rod to hold the hair in place( hair can be wrap horizontal, vertical, or diagonal ). The curlformers are as easy as 1 2 3, just take the hair damp or dry and place it into the hook needle and pull though the curler.  For my wedding I curled my daughter's and my niece's hair with flex rods and needless to say I was pleased with the results. Whichever you choose it is a personal preference, so have fun creating fun and stylish curls.

I curled the girls hair with flex rods and a bun in the back 

FLEX RODS

CURLFORMERS

Protective styles and new products

My goal is to attain more volume and thickness for Niah's hair 

I've added some new products to my daughter's hair regiment, which are Cantu shea butter no dip hair and scalp oil, Shea Moisture yucca and baobab thickening shampoo and volumizing conditioner. What I love about these products are they make her hair very soft and moisturize. You can find any of these hair products at your local beauty supply stores, Walmart, Target, or Walgreens. Lately I've been doing a lot of protective styles and extra tlc, because I want to simulate rapid growth. My goal for her hair is for it to double in length by this time next year and most importantly for it to be healthy. What I've notice about her hair is the back growths a lot faster than the front so,every now and then I trim the back so it can be some what even with the rest.  

Mini twists and length test

One of my favorite protective style is mini twist. I like these because there fun and very easy to do, plus this style can last for awhile with care You can keep protective styles in for awhile just remember to co-wash in between, she had her twists in for three weeks. Below are pictures of a few other protective styles.

Twist out and bun  (always add accessories for a finishing touch) 

Bigger twists which  I eventually twisted out  and accentuated with a bedazzled headband

Heart front beaded mohawk with twisted ends 

                                                                                 

Don' t forget to moisturize your scalp and massage your scalp for 30 minutes at lease twice a week  :)

                                               HAPPY SCALP= HEALTHY HAIR