Tag Archives: Tips & Advice

Tips and advice for Natural Hair.

Q&A | How to Prevent Natural Hair Tangling Up

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Prevent natural hair tangling upHey NHB,

I have REALLY Curly hair (beautiful, naturally very strong and thick) but it also comes at a price! It naturally locks itself VERY quickly (on a daily basis). If I comb my hair out, and wash it, it will literally start to lock while I’m washing it out. I deep condition my hair regularly and keep it moisturised but this doesn’t stop it from tangling up. Unlocking it is long and is more or less like ripping my hair out (even with plenty of moisture and conditioner).

I’m happy to let it do its thing as I rarely comb my hair out into afro style anyway, BUT I want to know if this is negative for my hair, and also do you have any tips for this type of hair.

Thank you NHB!

Hey curlfriend!

Great question!

It seems to be the issue is that you should be stretching your hair? You didn’t mention whether you do or not but I’ll assume you don’t from the question.

Yes curly/coily hair tangles up very easily hence why it’s best to stretch your hair (without heat) so as to somewhat straighten the strands when it gets longer to keep it from tangling up on itself.

The issue is that if you leave it, it makes very hard work when you’re trying to detangle to wash it and this will limit your hair growth too as you will be losing more hair when trying to detangle because your hair is so tangled up. Since you’re not deliberately locking your hair, it’s best to keep your hair in a stretched state and protective styles to keep it from tangling up.

I recently wrote an article on this so definitely check it out. I think it will explain in more detail what I mean.
http://thenhb.com/drying-natural-hair/

I hope this helps!

Newly Natural | Step 2: Choosing a Route

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Hey curlies! It’s been a while right?? It’s been a bit busy going back to uni but I’ve missed posting! I’m back again with another post from the newly natural series today though so woohoo :)

So we’ve discussed about overcoming your fears of going natural in the first part of this series. After overcoming your fears and make up your mind to go natural, what happens?? Choosing a route is what! You’ve dispelled all the myths about natural hair and you need to take the leap; you’ve resolved to go natural despite what anyone else thinks or says; you understand you’re you’re doing this for YOU and nobody else so no-one else’s opinion really matters but yours; you’re now going natural not just physically but also in your mentality as well. Wooohooo yay you! Now what route to take hmmm?

There are two routes you can take. On one hand you can transition by growing out your relaxed hair; or you can big chop and cut off all your relaxed hair so you’re just left with your natural hair. Either way, it’s going to take some time to have a full head of natural hair (if that’s what your going for); there’s no way of just having natural hair immediately. I’m going to explain each route bit more in the upcoming sections.

Transitioning

As mentioned before, you can grow out all your relaxed hair and transition to being natural. This is the preferred method for those who do not want to cut off all their hair and start from scratch. This general method requires a lot more patience because you have to maintain two different hair textures during the duration of your transition period. It’s important to note though that that tha transition period can be as long or as short as YOU want; you can do it on a long term basis e.g. 1 year or more, or on a short term basis e.g. 6 months; it’s up to you. I transitioned for 6 months before BCing (although I had no idea this is actually what I was doing) because I was tired of having to maintain the relaxed hair which meant nothing to me anymore so I snip snip snipped and was a very happy bunny :)

If you do choose to transition, you’ll need some guidance on how to maintain both textures of hair. I’d recommend subscribing to FusionOfCultures on YouTube. She transitioned for two years before BCing so definitely check out her channel.

Big Chop

 The alternative method to transitioning is chopping off all your relaxed hair. The term can be confusing because when you transition, no matter how long, you still cut off your relaxed hair. For simplicity, in this article BC will represent who cutting off all your relaxed hair either immediately or following short term transitioning. This method is preferred by those who do not want to spend too long growing out their hair or those who want a fresh start. For many, dare I say most (ladies specifically), the idea of cutting off all your hair is such a daunting thought. Hair is our covering and some may feel very stripped. I’d personally advise growing out your hair a little at least before BCing especially because you really build up to the moment and you can spend some time testing things out on your new growth but it’s really your choice based on what works best for you.

Whatever route you decide on just make sure it’s carefully thought out and that you’re satisfied and happy with your decision. Don’t do anything because others are doing it a certain way; do what you feel comfortable with!

 

That’s all for today folks. Hope it’s been informative / helpful. Let me know your thoughts by leaving a comment below.

Hasta la Vista curlies ;)

Newly Natural | Step 1: Overcoming Your Fears

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As promised on the facebook page (head over there if you haven’t visited yet!), I’m going to be doing a series for newly naturals. This will be ideal for those who have just decided to go natural, have just gone natural or are considering going natural.

So first things first: overcome your fears. You have to get to a place where you take the big decision yourself. This will involve you dispelling any fears or myths about going natural. It may help to read my own experience here.

At the time of writing, it’s a great time to go natural. People are a lot more receptive to it now than ever before  but even if people weren’t that certainly shouldn’t be a hindrance. There are so many fears one may have when taking the step such; here are some with answers provided!

1. My hair is sooooo tough, I’m not going to be able to maintain it.

Wrong. However, I understand where this comes from. Many of us can recall the pain and the broken combs that resulted when our parents / hairdresser was doing our hair pre-relaxer days and this memory is what stops us from going natural. Firstly, God created us with textured hair and God doesn’t make mistakes. he wouldn’t create something that was impossible to manage (He never gives us more than we can handle). What we need to do is learn how to take care of our natural hair and I can assure you there will be no pain or ripping out of hair or broken combs when you do this. Check out this post for more information about maintaining natural hair.

2. I’ll have to cut all my hair off (Big Chop).

Nope not necessarily. Some people do choose to BC but you can alternatively transition. more details will be given on this in an upcoming post in this series so sit tight!

3. I won’t be attractive to guys anymore.

Quite honestly if the only reason a guy finds you attractive is because of your hair / physical appearance, he’s just not for you. Besides, there are many guys who LOVE girls with natural hair. Many guys find it incredibly attractive and love the fact that you are ‘going against the grain’. Honestly, guys should be the least of your problems.  You’ve got the make the decision for YOU.

4. Natural hair is not for everybody and it won’t look nice on me.

As mentioned before, our hair is God-given and He does not make mistakes. Why should you have to modify your hair to look like another race’s to feel comfortable? We’ve all been fed this ‘ideal’ beauty by western society but in actual fact there is beauty in all. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder and to He who created you, you look beautiful with your natural hair just as He created you. Many times it’s the society’s definition of beauty that dictates whether we think we are attractive or not. Let God and His word be your mirror, not the world.

5. Natural hair is expensive to maintain

Definitely not! In actual fact it cuts down on expenses (especially going to the hairdresser every 2 months for a relaxer and in between for steaming / treatments). What you may find though, is at the beginning of your journey you have to experiment a little to find out which products your hair likes before settling down but this doesn’t have to be an immediate hall of every single product in the world. You can control your expenditure and curtail it in a way that’s suitable. Check this post out for an idea of what I’m talking about.

Well folks that’s it for now! Watch out for the next post in this series.

Leave a comment below with your thoughts or any other ‘fears’ I’ve left out and I’ll update the post.

Toodles o’ Noodles :O)

Some Product Ingredients I Avoid!

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Product Ingredients to Avoid

Product Ingredients I Avoid

I notice people are usually confused about what products they should use and what product ingredients to avoid etc. I thought I’d write a brief post about the ingredients I generally steer clear of. I would like to note however, that this is just what I’ve found works from me. Some people can use products with these ingredients and it works perfectly for them whilst the opposite for others. Everyone’s hair is different so you may find that the following may or may not apply to you. For me I have 4c hair so I need the real deal!

I personally avoid any products with:

Petrolatum/petroleum – this ingredient can clog up hair follicles so that moisture is excluded from penetrating the scalp eventually resulting in dry, dull, limp hair which may then be prone to breakage / stunted growth. This product easily adds artificial shine to hair as though it is moisturising the hair but is actually doing the opposite!

Mineral oil – does the same as above. Funnily enough you’ll find that this is usually the first ingredient in most hair products directed at black people. This is because it’s very cheap! You’ll notice all these products promise to add shine and give you healthy hair etc. and yet cost not much more than a pound or two. I had to train myself to not give in to the lies! I eventually settled on the fact that “Hey, this stuff just don’t do the job for me!”

Alcohol (in gels) – people are often scared to use gel when they go natural because most of us personally or secoarily experience someone’s hair breaking off from overuse of gels! Admittedly, I had the same fears but I soon realised that not all gels are dangerous for my hair. Alcohol based gels are the ones I steer clear off because alcohol has a drying effect on my hair and crunchy hair for me = breakage. Water based gels, on the other hand, work a treat as their main ingredient is water! Let’s face it, from the way our hair shrinks when immersed in water, it’s pretty obvious that our hair LOVES water I know at least mine does; my strands never decline any chance to gobble up some H2O.  I tend not to use gels nowadays because the more hair I’ve grown, the messier I’ve become with gel. 

Oh and just In case you’re wondering, the way to tell the difference is that alcohol based gels will have their primary ingredient(s) with an ‘-ol’ suffix at the end of the  name. Water based gels, on the other hand, will have their first ingredient as ‘water’. Simples!

Like I said, this is all based on what I researched earlier on but my own personal experiences too. You may or may not share the same views. That’s fine, because we’re all different and that’s all part of the fun :)

If you’re interested, you can have a read of this article too:

http://motowngirl.com/index.php/hair-myths.html

What are your thoughts on this? What product ingredients do you generally avoid?

Dying…BUT Good Hair!

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Is ‘good hair’ worth the sacrifice? I recently watched this video by Beautiful Brown Baby Doll on YouTube and thought I’d share. It is definitely food for thought but also something that should be taken action on. I know personally I’ve been contemplating physicial health and this couldn’t be more timely. Enjoy!

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