7 Principles to Grow Your Hair

1. Keep your scalp clean

The pores on your scalp need to be unclogged and free from harmful bacteria in order for healthy hair to sprout. Scalp health is the foundation of everything. It's just that simple. 

 

2. Your ends are fragile, baby them

This applies to when you moisturize the ends, when you're detangling (be extra gentle with your ends), and when you're styling your hair (keep your ends tucked away and shielded from  the environment to reduce dryness, tangling, and damage) 

3. Dust, not trim 

For those of us who are natural, texlaxed, relaxed ("permed"), and

who would like to see our hair growth this coming year, I'd suggest just dusting your ends every 3 months. Dusting means you're cutting off just a little bit of the hair tips (a maximum of 0.25 inches).

Transitioners who want to quickly get rid of relaxed ends or who want to big chop (which, by the way, is not a requirement for having having any form of healthy hair), may go ahead and trim, sha. 

Think about it like this: humans' hair (no matter what race nor ethnicity one is) grows about 0.25 inches to 0.50 inches each month. If you're trimming off 0.5 inches to 2 inches every month, abeg, how will d hair grow *in my Igbo voice*?

4. Deep condition your life away

Yes, girl. Deep condition like your hair depends on it, because it does. For real, for real. Didi of Afrocurlitan said it perfectly, that it's the step in your hair routine you simply cannot skip. She even explains how to deep condition in her post "Deep Conditioner 101." 

Source: Naturally Curly

5. Balance moisture with strength

This one can be a bit tricky. We can discuss this later in another post. For now, just remember that your hair needs to be strong enough to not break off yet soft enough to be malleable. Beware that not everything is about moisture, and there is a difference between strong hair and dry hair. 

6. Be consistent and patient  

This applies to when you're combing, learning new hairstyles, and waiting for the hair to grow. Just focus on being more gentle with your hair and building healthy hair habits, and you'll see improvements, I guarantee. For consistency, choose the days of the week/month you're going to have a wash day (the day that you'll wash and deep condition your hair), book them in your schedule, and stick to your routine! Don't

7. Keep it simple

Don't try to do too much, please. Many times, the fewer products you're using, the better (especially for hair growth newbies). The

more simple your hair care routine is, the better for you too. An overly complex routine will leave you tired and frustrated. I find that it's easier for me to tackle one hair problem at a time. For example, when I started my health hair journey in 2009, I focused on making my hair thicker. After about 6 months in, I then focused on making my hair longer. And shortly after that I moved on to focusing on growing my edges back. Focusing on one thing doesn't mean I ignored the others though. 

Source: Kinky Koiffures and Polished Pinkies

                                             
Haha, don't you just love that meme I put up there? I do! 

Ladies, have an amazing, positive, happy hair week. I welcome questions, comments, stories, and tidbits. 

Much love,

Raspberry Smoothie for Longer Hair

Happy hump day, ya'll! 

We're halfway through the week. Who wants a yummy pick-me-up? Alright, here it goes :

 While on vacay last week, I came up with a bomb 

raspberry smoothie, and my hair loves it!

It was so delicious, I drank 4 large glasses of it within 48 hours and felt incredibly hydrated. I didn't measure every ingredient this time around, though, because I was just doing trial and error and was in a rush.

I'm sharing anyway to give you all an idea of which types of fruits and veggies work well together for a delicious smoothie.

What I Used: 

• - Very ripe raspberries 
• - Apple
• - Very ripe watermelon
• - Cucumber
• - Lettuce 
• - Raw, organic honey
• - 1/4 handful of carrots (carrots should be the smallest portion compared to your other ingredients)

Benefits for Our Hair: 

• - Antioxidants & fiber (from raspberries, honey, and apples) stimulate new hair growth by renewing scalp   cells, regulating the digestive system and boosting the immune system

• - Vitamin B (from raspberries) adds shine/sheen to your tresses, minimizes gray hair, and prevents hair loss

• - Vitamin A (from carrots, watermelon, and lettuce) increases hair moisture by helping produce sebum, our scalps' natural oil

• - Citrulline (from watermelon) - increases blood circulation for faster hair growth

• - Vitamin K (from lettuce) prevents blood clots and maintains healthy hair

Bonus! Mane Tip: 

Looking for raspberries in Lagos? Try Abgoju Market in Amuwo Odofin LGA. Dobby of Dobby's Signature found two merchants there who sell foreign fruits (thanks, Dobby!). You may contact the sellers: Alhaji Sanni at 08023774890, and Alhaji Ibrahim at 08140377381.

Enjoy the rest of the week. And I'm out!

Nnaya

Work Fab: Twisted Pin-Up

One of the secrets to my best twistouts and braidouts is that I leave the twists in for at least 2 days. 

The only exception is if I'm refreshing my twistout mid-week by re-twisting at night; in that case, I only keep the twists in overnight and unravel my hair in the morning to rock a refreshed twistout... I hope that makes sense? Lol

Anyway, here is how I like to wear my twists. I never actually wear them down because I want my hair to be as stretched as possible for the twistout. Here's an excellent way to stretch your twists and be effortlessly edgy at the same time!

I used a LOT of gel, which gave my hair magnificent shine and smoothed my tresses' cuticles

I was inspired by Rihanna's audacity to wear a doobie wrap with huge bobby pins out in public. 

I'm not sure what we call it in Nigeria, but the doobie is basically when we wrap our hair and pin it up after getting it washed and rolled or straightened at the salon, so that the hair can be bouncy and straight the next morning. 

Photo Source: Huffington Post

I was so shocked when I saw Rihanna on the red carpet at the 2013 American Music Awards. But of course, Rih Rih can do no wrong, because most fashion critics and fans loved it. I'm a big Rihanna fan, and the style eventually grew on me.

My scalp is shiiiiining, and it's super moisturized!

Notice how my parts aren't super straight? They don't have to be perfect. Just make sure your front part is straight (like my side part for example), make sure you twist neatly, and use gel to lay down your edges and your hair will be neat enough to wear in a professional setting. 

Team five-head with my layed egdes. Yep, I love that forehead. :-)

Mane Show: Ninja bun

Happy Thursday, beautiful people! I hope all of you are having a fabulous week.

Some weeks ago I had a chance to celebrate one of my girlies as she had a birthday bash + launch of her new store HOUSE OF OBAJI (HOO) in Lagos.

The House of Obaji Madam herself (rocking a HOO green dress & HOO powder pink patterned two piece)

Photos Courtesy of: House of Obaji

My boo arrived in style, of course, and we turned up!

Here's a peek of my look. It's a mega ninja bun I've been rocking for the past two weeks.

            

I achieved this hairstyle using aloe vera gel and shea butter and it took about 7 minutes to put together.

           

                                                

           

 What do you ladies think?

I Dyed My Hair!

If you follow me on Instagram then you know that I highlighted my hair June last year. 

After toiling with the idea for years I decided to take the plunge. And I love it! In fact, I've already decided that I will add more color at some point. 

I've taken a while to write about my experience because I wanted time to watch for the usual hair-dye side effects, including increased breakage, excessively dry hair, change in curl pattern/texture, fading color, brassy color, and scalp irritations. 

MY REACTION:

Guess what? I haven't experienced ANY of those negative side effects. 

My hair has grown beautifully since I got I dyed, following its normal growth-and-shed cycles. And it has stayed true to its curl pattern and texture. 

Have you colored your hair before? What was your experience like?

What is My Real Hair Texture?

I don't really go by any hair-typing systems.

What I've discovered about my hair's texture is that it has 3 "personalities," kind of like alter egos.

You're probably thinking, abeg, what is she talking about???

Before I get into that I have a testimony for ya'll. 

MY HAIR IS TOUGH. It's SUPER TOUGH. And thank God for conditioner and drinking water (yes, drinking water is essential), or else only Lord knows where my hair would be right now. 

Where Mama dey? She'd be the best to tell this story. All my life she had to fight.... She had to fight the curls, she had to fight the kinks, and Ohhhhh Lord, she had to fight the rubbery-ness of my hair. But when she started deep conditioning my hair in 2004, it changed my hair life. From then on we gradually learned how to maintain my hair's moisture levels enough for Mom to braid my hair without tears, screaming, and pure misery. Momsie really tried. I appreciate her patience.

Back to my mane's personalities:

1. Happy Mane 

• My tresses have the perfect level of moisture as Happy Mane
• My hair is soft, yet stern, and pliable, so I'm most likely going to have an awesome hair day!
• It has a slight sheen to it 
• My curls are semi-defined (those little waves in picture above are my curls)
• If I moisturize 2-4 times a week OR if I moisturize heavily on wash day and tuck my hair away for the rest of the week, Happy Mane will definitely stick around throughout that week

Character 2: Thirsty Mane

• Oh geez, when Thirsty Mane shows it's face, wahala dey
• My strands are dry and rough to the touch 
• There's A LOT of breakage and tangling 
• It's difficult to bend, twist, part or comb the hair, which makes it really hard to do any hairstyles 
• I have no curl definition at all

Character 3: Wet/Damp Mane

• I love this one because my hair is easiest to maneuver when it's damp or wet
• My strands are flexible, and if I add detangler, some of the tangles can be easily removed through finger-combing 
• If it's wet, though, I have to be extra careful so I don't cause breakage 
• My curls are the most defined in this stage 
• This personality only comes up temporarily, but it's instrumental 

Letting go of all the hair typing hair curl envy liberated me. I instead focused on learning about my hair texture in various states. And by doing so I've been able to know which hair products to apply and hairstyles to do when my hair is acting a certain way. Life is easier when you know your hair.

What are your mane personalities? 

Work Fab Natural Hair

As a woman with thick, long, free-and-don't-care hair, I have to be creative about how to wear it in a professional setting.

First, let's get this out the way: natural hair can be professional. Relaxed hair can be professional. Transitioning hair can be professional. 

And all hair types can be wild and free party hair! It's all about how you style it. 

In my opinion, professional styles are ones that:

1. Don't get in the way of you being able to get the job done

2. Are not overly distracting 

I find that the best office-friendly styles for me are ones that don't involve too many hair pins (lol), are easy to do, don't need to be re-done everyday week, and keep the hair out of my face. 

Here's one of my go-to styles. This time I did the style on old blown-out hair. It has a deep side part with very loose flat twists on both sides of my head, and the hair in the back is rolled under and pinned.

What are some of your go-to professional looks?

Drink Your Way to Healthier Hair

It's important that I mention this: you cannot have healthy hair if you don't have a healthy diet.

Photo credit: Photo Pin

No matter how many times you moisturize, deep condition, or wash your hair, you won't see much progress unless you also clean up your diet (i.e. watch what you eat on a daily basis) 

It's like when you're trying to lose weight; you can do all the sit-ups and jumping jacks you want, but you won't shed much weight until you change your eating habits.

Here's the first step to a healthier you: mind what you drink. 

Mane DOs: 

- Water
- 100% fruit juice from concentrate (Be careful, though; if the product is true to its word it'll have only 2 ingredients on its ingredients list: [insert your favorite fruit here] concentrate & water. No additives, no artificial sweeteners. Heck, no sweeteners at all. 

- Fresh fruit juices (these don't come in a box; buy fruits from the market & put your blender to use!)

- Blended vegetable juice (these also don't come in a box; grab that blender!)

Mane DON'Ts:

- Fruit drinks (yes, there's a difference; fruit drinks are like Kool-Aid, bitter lemon, Snapple, 5-Alive, etc.) 

- Soda/Pop/Mineral (different parts of the world call them different things; but these are basically Coke, Sprite, etc.)

- Malt drink 

Mane Tip: Add slices of fruit to your water. I like to use lemon. It's cheap, easy to find, flavors the water, and speeds up digestion (which is awesome for weight loss or weight maintenance!) 

Before I started my healthy hair journey, I used to drink orange juice ALL the time. My cousins used to tease me about this, by the way; they never understood how someone could drink o.j. 'round the clock. "O.j. is for breakfast! Try something new!" they'd always say. I only drank water occasionally, when I was really, really thirsty (usually after dance rehearsals or workout sessions). 

But when I started drinking 3-4 bottles each day, I noticed that my hair was able to retain more length in a shorter amount of time (in short, it seemed like my hair was growing "faster").

So try it out. Next time you sit to eat, go for water instead of soda. And when you're working at your computer, take a 5-minute water break and grab a glass to drink. Gradually increase your water intake each week, and in 3 months time you'll see that you'll even crave water before it's time for you to drink!

Tips for Transitioners

There’s no need for a lengthy introduction for this post. The title is pretty much self-explanatory.

Transitioners: Ladies who stop perming (chemically relaxing) their hair in order to rock their hair’s natural curl pattern. Shakin’ what their mamas gave them, au naturale!

If you’re transitioning and you need a little help, check out these tips:

1. If you want to cut it all off at once (doing the “big chop”), then go ahead. But you actually don’t have to go bald (or almost bald) in order to go natural. You can wear           your hair in a variety of styles while you grow out your relaxer, and just trim the              relaxed ends little by little over a period of time.

      2. Please do NOT fry your natural hair with a flat iron (hair straightener) or blow                   dryer, in efforts to get it straight and blend it with your relaxed ends. That would            cause major breakage…and when irrevocable breakage occurs, you might as well cut          it all off. (Refer to #1)

      3. Beware of the line of demarcation! This is basically the point where your natural               roots meet your straight ends.

Source: A Hair Story

      4. Don’t dye your hair during your transitioning process. Chemical dyes cause our hair             to be drier than usual, which may increase chances of having breakage. And during           your transition, your hair is already fragile, especially at the “line of demarcation”             (See #3)

      5. Find a nice balance between giving your hair enough protein vs. moisture. Use                  protein conditioners once or twice a month, and deep condition your hair with a              moisturizing deep conditioner once a week (or once every two weeks). But pay                attention to how your hair reacts to the way you treat it: if it’s dry and breaks                  easily, then you need moisture; if it’s too mushy and weak, then you need protein            to strengthen it.

       6. Use hairstyles such as bantu knots, roller sets, wigs & sew-in weaves to disguise the           difference in textures on your head so that you can still look cute as you go through           this ugly duckling phase (Hey, I’m just keeping it real).

       7. Find a good detangler. Conditioners that have bihentrium menthosulfate are really            useful, because this ingredient serves as a detangling agent. So check the label of              that conditioner you’re looking to buy and see if bihentrium menthosulfate is                    there. The closer to the top of the ingredient list it is, the larger the amount of it            that’s present in the conditioner, and the better it is for you.

        8. Deep conditioning is your friend, girl! It’ll help you manage the two textures more             easily by making your hair feel soft and prevent breakage. Get to know it!

Hero Hero Bonus: Living in Nigeria (or in hot, humid climate)? Try to limit your hair's exposure to the sun during this transitioning phase, because excessive heat exposure will cause more dryness that you bargained for. If you go for protective styles that hide your hair during most of the transition, it'll make the process a lot easier. So opt for braids (but DON'T make them too small, too tight, nor keep them in too long, abeg!) or weave-ons (again, not too tight, and don't wear them too for too long). 

Congrats if you have decided to go natural; it takes courage and patience to do so. If you’re still debating whether or not to go natural, be sure you do your research, and make sure to keep an open mind.

Until next time!

Winning! Coconut Oil Has Really Helped My Hair (& Nails)

For someone who used spent most of her early life using only Dax/Lanolin and Blue Magic grease on her hair, I’m definitely playing by a different set of rules nowadays. 

Coconut oil is the TRUTH, oh! 

Source: My Blessed Life

Tell your mama, share it with your friends, and introduce it to your pikin. 

I love coconut oil, because it’s so versatile; if I could write a song about it, I would! 

By the way, I only use pure/extra virgin coconut oil. The purer, the better. 

Benefits of Coconut Oil:

• Strengthens AND moisturizes my hair
• Strengthens my nails 

How I Use  Coconut Oil:

• As a "pre-poo" (pre-shampoo) treatment
• As a deep conditioner

The pre-poo is a process that I do before I wash my hair where I coat my hair strands and my scalp with coconut oil or a mix of oils. This helps to keep my hair moisturized, even while the shampoo is cleansing my hair. It prevents my hair from feeling hard and dry after the shampoo process.

How it Works:

• As a pre-poo (hair): Coconut oil is the only natural oil that has been scientifically proven to penetrate the hair shaft. Because of its ovalene molecular structure, coconut oil, if it sits on the hair long enough (a few hours or overnight is best), its molecules can twist and turn and maneuver their way past the hair cuticles and into the inner parts of our hair strands, blessing the hair with moisture from the inside out (Amen, oh!). 

Source: Black Girl Long Hair

 Other popular oils such as olive oil, castor oil, and grease/petroleum jelly/petrolatum        have molecules that are way too big to penetrate the openings in our hair shaft, and therefore just sit on TOP of the hair without giving the hair the thorough moisture that it needs below the hair’s surface. So even when your hair is so greasy that you can lean on a chair and leave a grease spot (I've done that before--so embarrassing!),        but the hair still feels hard/rough to to the touch, this is why. That oil or grease you put on your hair is only disguising the fact that your hair is dry, dry, crunchy dry! 

• As a deep conditioner (hair): Coconut oil has a bit of protein in it. That being said, you can be assured that it’ll give your hair strands some strength it needs to withstand your constant combing, twisting, relaxing, plaiting, weaving, etc. 

• As a moisturizer & strengthener (nails): The health of my nails, cuticles and the skin around my nails has improved dramatically since I started rubbing coconut oil on my hands. And as long as I’m using is regularly, I don’t get blisters, dry patches, or hang nails on my fingers. And my nails (which usually don’t grow passed a certainly length) are now longer than they have been in years. Simply massage a small dab of coconut oil on the tips of your fingers every night before bed. 

• As a skin moisturizer: Recently, I added coconut oil to a bottle of skin lotion. And what a brilliant idea, if I do say so myself. I was pretty much ready to throw that lotion away (it was a brand I was trying for the first time, and it was not moisturizing enough for my dry skin). But now that I’ve added coconut oil to it, the remixed formula keeps my skin feeling soft and supple all day long. Winning! So ladies, before you throw away that cheap lotion that didn’t work for you, try adding the oil first. 

Bonus Tip: Live in Nigeria? Check out Daytona Pharmacy in Lekki (Lagos), or order online from Natural Nigerian for some coconut oil

For those of you who have had experience with using coconut oil, do you like it?

And to those of you who haven’t used coconut oil before, does this info encourage you to try it out? 

Let me know!

Black Hair Can't Grow

Black hair can’t grow. For simplicity, let’s assume that “black” equals tightly coiled,“wooly,” afro-like hair. This is by far one of the biggest myths out there. My hair at its longest was 16in. (41 cm.), & it reached passed my back bra strap. Oh, and I’m Black. African. Nigerian, to be precise. I'm 100% Black, Nigerian with tightly coiled, “wooly,” afro-like hair (that’s clarification for those who want to claim that some Nigerians are mixed with other races, which may be true, but I'm not. I'm all Black, baby!)   During my university years, my close friends dubbed me with the nickname Many Hair because of my long and thick afro halo that I used to wear around campus. Picture a Boondocks character with tall, skinny legs; that was me. My hair attracted so much attention that on one occasion, I nearly felt like slouching in my seat to allow the poor girl behind me to see the board during Chemistry class. People often stared as I strolled passed, wondering silently—and in the case of some bold individuals, aloud—what would possess me to wear my natural hair out, and whether it was all mine.  "How did you get your hair so long?" I’d often get asked. I used to shrug my shoulders, because quite frankly, I didn't know--my mama did my hair! Most of the time growing up I wore my hair in box braids (with hair extensions--"Bob Marley" as my sister and I used to call it). In my final years of university the “natural hair movement” was reborn, which encourages Black women to embrace their natural texture (chemical-relaxer-free), to nurture it and learn how to style it. Now we’ve gotten used to seeing Black women rocking all kinds of curls and coils. And though my hair’s “afro-ness” is still quite shocking to some, most people are more intrigued by its length than anything else. Let’s quickly get back to that “Black hair can’t grow” myth. It’s not only myth, it’s a gimmick. Millions of companies around the world play on (and make mega bucks from) the notion that Black hair cannot grow passed shoulder length; that Black hair's "wooly" nature needs to be relaxed into straight silkiness, and that Black hair is simply unmanageable. As a result we, Black women, buy hundreds of ounces of hair extensions, chemical relaxers, wigs, and "magic" products to add length, volume, and bounce (sadly, in vain sometimes) to our hair, rather than truly discovering the beauty of our own our crown and glory (our hair). Growing up, I wasn’t that interested in how or what was being done to my tresses. Granted, I had always been proud of it, but I never actually took time to take care of it by myself. It wasn't until I entered university that I really took ownership of my hair and discovered its true beauty and potential for growth. Black hair CAN grow. In 2009 I began my healthy hair journey, shortly after a horrific session at the beauty salon where a scissors-happy stylist cut off way more hair than I had requested for what was supposed to be a trim. My ultimate goal on this journey is to learn how to love my hair, even on its bad days, and how to achieve thick, healthy waist-length hair. Yes, I said it! I was able to grow my hair from chin-length to bra strap length; why stop now?