Hair Q & A: Still Dry After 2-year Transition and BC

Q. I ran across your blog recently, and your hair is gorgeous!  I started transitioning November 2009 and finally BC ‘d January 2011.  My Hair is extremely dry and I don’t know how to fix it!  I’ve tried so many deep conditioners but it feels brittle once it dries, and the frizz is crazy extreme!  I think I have a mix of texture ranging from 3c-4a maybe 4b?  I really don’t know.  If there are any tips you could give me to help my hair, please let me know!  Thanks in advance, Elle

A. Hi Elle,

Not knowing what your routine or product use is, I can’t be specific.  But if you have been transitioning and working with your natural hair for 2 years and it’s still dry, I suspect the products you use may have drying or building up ingredients.   Here are some general tips:

Win Curly Girl, The Handbook and DVD, autographed by Lorraine Massey

Curly Girl (new Edition), The Handbook and DVD

Do you know your hair black history?  Answer these 5 questions for a chance to win a brand spanking new copy of Curly Girl, The Handbook and DVD, personally autographed by Lorraine Massey.  The fifth correct entry wins and I will announce the winner in – you guessed it – 5 days! Send your answers to me at suburbanbushbabe@gmail.com I’ll publish the answers this weekend and name the winner.  Good luck and have fun!

1. From which sect of Caribbean people did dreadlocks originate?

2. Who was the first renowned American actress to appear in cornrows?

3. Which newswoman wore an Afro to interview Tricia Nixon?

4. Which 19^th century black American author, abolitionist and statesman wore his hair naturally?

5. Which Black Panther party member, law professor and ex-wife of Soul on Ice author was as well-known for her afro as Angela Davis?

Lorraine Massey – What did you do to your hair today?

Cala Renee Salon hosted Lorraine Massey, founder and co-owner of Devacurl in a talk, demo and book signing today.  Lorraine appeared at only 2 Massachusetts locations, Cala Renee in Beverly, MA and Brookline Booksmith.  Lucky us!  She is funny, modest, gave some great tips — and check out the tights and shoes!  I got 2 Curly Girl books autographed, one for me and one for one lucky winner of my upcoming giveaway; so stay tuned!

During her informal Q&A  I asked her – “what did you do to your hair today?”  Her answer surprised me a bit.  She washed and styled the night before with her gel, and diffused.  She said she left the gel “cast” on (that hard crusty feel) and slept with her hair spread back on the pillow.  This morning she let it soften in the shower and scrunched out the crunch.  She doesn’t use a shower cap but doesn’t let it get wet-wet; just a bit of spray.  So check out her 2nd day hair.  She also said she can go 3-4 days by just refreshing curls piece by piece with Devacurl One Condition and water or a mix of Mist-er Right. She doesn’t do every curl, just the ones that need it.  This method is almost exactly what I do with Loma Imply and Qhemet Olive & Honey Hydrating Balm. Sweet!

 

Quick pony/pineapple with twisted & pinned front hair - I'm trying this for sleeping

I'm 5'8 and Lorraine in high heels must be 5'4"

Love the tights and shoes!

 

 

Devacurl Cupcake tower

 

 

Harsh Winter Hair Saves — What’s your strategy?

I’ve developed a few strategies to keep my snappy dry ends moisturized. Extending my wash and gos  to 6-7 days (or 4 if I’m sweating a workout) helps a lot. But to do that, my medium-high porous hair needs the right products:

Wet styling:
In my wet wash and go I layer either shea butter, castor oil, QB Olive Honey Hydrating balm or QB Burdock root butter cream over my leave in, before gelling.

Smoothing Curl Junkie Curls in a Bottle over Kinky Curly Curling custard over a leave in has helped my hair stay moisturized over 3 days of wearing it out.

Dry styling:
Night before day 4 I’ll dry twist, using a tiny spritz of water, a couple drops of Loma Pearatin Repairative Hair Serum for whole head, and Devacurl Set it Free for each twist. I re-moisturize and smooth ends with Afroveda Curl Define and Qhemet Biologics Olive & Honey Hydrating Balm before finishing the twist and setting ends on foam rollers.

After a day or two of wearing a dry twist out, the curl is gone.  I may moisturize dry hair with either a Kimmaytube-type leave in, Karen’s Body Beautiful Ambrosia, Afroveda Moringa Leave in or Afro Detangler,plus a couple  drops of Loma Pearatin Repairative Serum and Qhemet Olive & Honey Hydrating Balm. Then I will brush in sections  with a Mason Pearson Junior boar bristle/nylon brush and bantu knot. Next day, I can bun it, or wash it.

What’s your winter routine?

 

Qhemet Olive & Honey Hydrating Balm; 5 days of use, from wash to wash

Qhemet Biologics Olive Honey Hydrating Balm

I remember opening my first jar of this product  and wondering “WTF”?  It looked slimy and shiny and greasy and I had no idea what to do with it or how to use it.  A styler? Nope.  Conditioner? Nope.  Leave-in?  Nope.  On my dry hair at the time, I found it too greasy.  In my first year or so of naturally curly hair, oil and I did not agree.

Fast forward to 2010 and wet hands.  Wet hands and wet hair – light bulb moment!  Olive & Honey Hydrating Balm is water-soluble, yet it clings! It is a moisture booster and hair softener par excellence. On my wet hair it works beautifully over conditioner or leave in, before I gel. And it mixes well with other leave in products.

How do I love you, OHHB?  Let me count the ways:

Day 1: On freshly washed, wet, detangled hair, apply right over conditioner, before cool rinsing. Rub a 1/2 tsp. in palms, scrunch into hair and finger smooth your strands.  Let sit for a few minutes, then bend over and cool water rinse, with emphasis on getting all conditioner off your scalp and roots.  A cool water rinse leaves some OHHB on your ends.

Hair Q&A – Protein Overload?

Q. Hey Suburbanbushbabe!!!!

I’ve been following your progress for quite some time now and I always enjoy the tips/information you give!!!  You share a lot of helpful info and with that, I have an issue that you may be able to help out with.   I tried the Aphogee Two-Step Protein Treatment out and I probably found out the hard way that my hair is sensitive to protein that strong. Good news is that my shedding has slowed down …I never had much of a problem with breakage, mainly shedding. My only problem is that now my hair feels like a brillo pad! My hair is SO dry I’ve washed it several times, done several deep conditioning treatments–even did one for a few hours. I REALLY need some help…what do you suggest I do/use to get my soft hair back?

- 1NappyNewbie

Hair feeling crispy as a cracker? Could be too much protein.

A. Hi 1NappyNewbie,

Great question.  I bet with the colder climate in many regions, lots of curly vixens are doing protein treatments right about now and wondering WTF happened to their hair? How proteins in products affects the hair can vary with a number of factors including porosity and whether the hair is fine, medium or coarse/thick in diameter.

Although I’ve never used Aphogee, I can relate to the protein overload. I was using Nexxus Emergencee alternated with Sebastian Penetraitt about once every 5-6 weeks. When my hair started feeling crispy, dry and looking grizzly at the crown, I was convinced I was protein sensitive and could never use proteins again. I stopped using proteins in products for almost a year, which meant giving up some of my favorite conditioners.  What I discovered was that–

1. Some proteins (like keratin) can quickly overload on my fine, porous hair  — and most of those protein specific treatments contain keratin

My Long Hair Don’t Care Interview

It was fun to do.  Here’s the link

Tips to Loosen Curly Hair?

Kimberly recently emailed me with a request for tips on how to naturally loosen curly hair.  Other women might give her the verbal side eye, wondering why she has issues with the tightness of her texture.  I have no such agenda.  My shrinkage is so extreme, I live for second and third day hair.  And my favorite days are when I sport a twist out and — yay! — my hair is shoulder length! One day I had a fresh dry wash and go after wearing a twist out the day before and a colleague asked me “Wasn’t your hair shoulder length yesterday?”  So Kimberly, I sympathize.

Dry styled second and third day hair is one of the very few ways to loosen my hair.  Somehow the act of loosely pulling my hair into a scunci overnight stretches the curl a bit.  It also gives me a wicked case of bed head, but scrunching with Devacurl Set It Free and a dab of shea butter or a tiny bit of castor oil will fluff out the dents.  Adding water or using a spritz simply results in more shrinkage.

The only other way I know to loosen curly hair is twist outs, braid outs and bantu knot outs.  I like the dry twist and curl method as it imparts volume to my fine and fairly thin hair.  If your hair is thick, twisting on wet hair will likely work better for you. 

I do a dry twist out on second or third day hair that was air dried or diffused on wash day.  I do add product to my dry twists and usually do between 11 and 14 twists. The products I use are Devacurl Set It Free for the length.  For the ends I use Afroveda Curly Custard or a similar product (Curl Junkie Hibiscus & Banana Honeybutta leave in or Botanical Spirits Kinky Coils pudding). It is important to saturate the t wist ends with product.

I don’t comb or brush so my texture is incorporated into the twist and subsequent twist out. The trick is to not get the hair wet or even damp really (except for the ends), just soft enough to finger separate. I aim for smooth, not necessarily detangled hair.

Dry Twist and Curl How to:

•  With plain water in a spritzer, lightly spritz the entire loose head of hair 3-5 times tops. This softens the ends since I’m not combing or brushing.

•  Isolate a section to twist, sectioning off the rest of the hair with duckbill clips. Spray two or three sprays of Set It Free in palm and smooth that down the length of the section to be twisted. Separate with fingers and twist.

• Towards the end of the twist, smooth some of the thicker product down each end to saturate and completely detangle, then finish twisting to the ends

• Optional: roll the ends with small foam rollers.

In the morning, I undo and gently finger separate each twist 3 or 4 times. That’s it!   How do other curlies fight shrinkage and loosen texture?              
                                                                                                                                        

Clay– Going the All Natural Route Without the Big Expense

Keisha writes:

Q.: I am a 9 month transitioner and loving the process. I will BC in 3 months on my one year anniversary.

I had a couple of questions dealing with natural hair clays and masks. I really want to go the all natural route without the big expense. I have been using amla and shikakai mixtures, henna and honey mixess, bentonite clay, ACV; honey and EVOO  mixes; shea butter, coconut oil, evoo, jojoba oil mixtures.


But I have been hearing about the rhassoul clays, zisyphus spina christi, and marshmallow root.  Where do you order these things from?  What are the uses of these products? Can I use them now on my transitioning hair or should I wait until completely naturally? What recipes do you use with these products? Do you know of any other clays?

A.: Many of the herbs and plants we use for our hair are also used for herbal detoxification, elimination and removal of toxins from the the liver and digestive system. These include burdock root, fenugreek, ginger root,  marshmallow root, as well as Bentonite clay (Monmorillonite).

I first used clay (Bentonite) as part of a  digestive detox.  Imagine downing 8 oz. of bentonite clay and water 3 times a day for 2 weeks! Luckily, for your hair to benefit from the “mud treatment” all you need is to slap it on your hair. 

Rhassoul clay (Hectorite) comes from Morocco and is 100% naturally occurring.  It is only for external use (unlike Bentonite) and is a very popular spa treatment.  I get mine from Mountain Rose Herbs. Their Rhassoul is untreated, quarry mined and sun dried from naturally occurring lake-side deposits.

Rhassoul Specifications: (from Mountain Rose Herbs)
Color- Light Gray with a hue of oxidized pink
Odor- Flat
Mesh Size- US #70-80 Mesh
Mineral Content
Silica- 58%
Aluminum- 2.47%
Iron- 0.64%
Sodium- 2.3%
Magnesium- 25.2%
Calcium- 2.34%
Moisture- <8%

Interestingly, Bentonite has way more aluminum and a higher pH.

A Rhassoul Clay hair Detox treatment is one of the easiest kitchen mixes to whip up.  And if you want to avoid the kitchen, you’ll find some excellent ommercial preparations further on.

Homemade Rhassoul Hair Mask
- 1/4 to 1/3 cup of Rhassoul Clay
- Hot water
Optional add-ins make the mixture smoother and more slippery
- 1-2 tbs. of your favorite (I like grapeseed or EVOO)
- Plain Greek-style yogurt (2-4 oz)
- Honey (couple of tsp.)
- small container of banana baby food

In a bowl or Pyrex measuring cup (2 cup size) mix the water with the clay little by little until the mix is the consistency you want. Clay swells and absorbs a lot of liquid. Your final preparation should be a creamy lotion-like consistency.    Add any other ingredients.  For an extra kicker, I add a few drops fenugreek, Burdock and Marshmallow root extract. Mix or blend until smooth.

To apply: Clay is messy. A salon cape and latex gloves will help control any spills. I usually apply a clay mask to dry dirty hair, starting from the nape of the neck. No need to detangle first. Apply in small sections, smoothing it in  from ends of hair and working up to root. Cover every strand and the hairline. Do not comb or brush. Cover with a plastic cap and wear a heat cap for half and hour to 45 minutes.

Thorough rinsing is vital with dirt-based treatments. Fill your kitchen sink to the brim with warm water and dunk your head in it to let the mix float away. Then rinse your hair thoroughly in the shower. Follow up with a moisturizing, detangling conditioner and enjoy your soft, beautiful hair!

Don’t feel like mixing your own? Anita Grant is the queen of the Rhassoul Clay treatment. Her product does one better and adds unrefined Black Cocoa Butter & natural Soya based Vitamin E. 

Botanical Spirits makes a Peppermint Mud Hair Softening Mask with some amazing and healthy ingredients in addition to the Rhassoul. The owner is based in my home town and offers generous samples on her website for the cost of shipping!

Baka Natural-laxer is one of the oldest clay hair treatments. It’s not a rhassoul based mixture but contains Sahara Clay, myrtle, rose petals, fenugreek, nettle, sage.  This is not a relaxer and is not to be confused with the chemically based product with a similar name.

Zizyphus Spina Christi
From the Henna heads over at www.naturallycurly.com I learned of a desert plant called Zizyphus Spina Christi (ZSC for short)  ZSC is also an excellent cleansing and conditioning treatment. It’s good for people who want the conditoning benefits of henna without any color deposit, so it’s great for my gray/silver hair. It’s also a good alternative to shampoo or detergent based cleansers, and enhances hair thickness and texture. ZSC is not cassia obovata. ZSC is available from Mehandi.com

  

                      ZSP applied

 

Marshmallow Root:
I don’t know as much about this root except that it is full of plant mucilage which gives it a slippery consistency. It’s good for hair as well as for internal use as an expectorant.  Kitathena over at NewlyNatural has a wonderful write up on this and other herbs and a hair spritzer recipe – check it out!

Great products with marshmallow as an ingredient:

• Jessicurl Weekly Deep Conditioning Treatment
• Blended Beauty Herbal Reconditioner
• EO Chamomile and Honey Hydrating Conditioner

More information about marshmallow:
http://www.mountainroseherbs.com/learn/marshmallow_root.php
http://botanical.com/botanical/mgmh/m/mallow07.html   

Where to buy:
Anita Grant
Marshmallow Root Powder at Mountain Rose Herbs

10 Most Important Steps for Growing Healthy, Hypercurly, Natural Hair

Acceptance and Clarity – Take off the “mental wig.” Once I accepted that I would never have Botticelli curls, I began to see that my hair could be even more beautiful. To actually see my hair, I need to look at photos. Mental distortion can occur when I look in the mirror, but the camera doesn’t lie.

Understanding – Observe your hair under different circumstances, different climates. Learn to understand what your hair does, not what you want it to do and build on that. Look inward at your own hair, not outward at someone else’s.

Look, listen and learn – It’s a given that other naturals know more than I do, especially if their hair is thick and long and beautiful, right? I’m so teachable!

Protection: At night, protect the hairline with a silk head wrap, guard against friction with a silk pillowcase. Anchor the hair in a loose puff or large twists so it doesn’t shift or rub against itself. During the day, I wear my hair out 95% of the time. Protection means the right products applied to each strand and a soft, aloe-vera based gel for hold. And no touching! (that one is hard.)

Know your hair’s width and porosity – More important than knowing if your curl type is 3c, 4a or 4b is knowing whether your strands are fine, medium or coarse and how porous they are. Fine and coarse refers to the diameter of your hair strand, not the feel of your hair. Porous refers to how open or smoothed (closed) the surface (cuticle) of your hair is. Fine, porous hair reacts differently to products and the environment than does coarse, non-porous hair. It also needs to be handled differently. Each hair type has its own issues. Fine, porous hair tends to need more moisturizing and strengthening products. Coarse, smooth hair can be subject to quicker product build up.

Layers of moisture – This means water. Moisturizing shampoos like shampoo bars or cleansing creams or a gentle castile soap (they aren’t all equal). And liberal doses of conditioners with great slip, moisture and a little of the right protein for my hair. A little butter or oil. More conditioner. And those aloe-vera based gels. Dirt-based deep treatments (Rhassoul clay, sisyphus spina christi) year round, moisturizing deep treatments in the winter.

Gentle detangling – if my cleanser is cleansing without stripping and my conditioner is loaded with slip and moisture, then I can finger detangle easily. A little KBB Hair Milk added to conditioner boosts its detangling ability. I do this at most twice a week.

Regular trims - I get ends trimmed and shape adjusted 3 times a year. My hair is easiest to style a month after a cut.

Low manipulation – After I style my hair wet, I leave it alone for up to 3 days, except to gather it into a pony puff at night, let it down in the morning and scrunch a little Set it Free and butter into it. No combing or brushing. When I dry twist at night, I use my fingers only to separate, and a little more product to smooth.

Forget about growth, learn how to retain length –
If you’re healthy, growth is a given. Retaining length is the hard part. Transitioning to gray showed me just how fast my hair grows — and how fast the ends break. By babying my ends and boosting moisture to keep them hydrated, smooth and soft, I help my fragile ends stay put instead of snapping off like dry twigs. If I’m doing dry twists, a moisturizing custard or lotion gets smoothed on the ends of those twists. If I’m bunning, the ends get moisturized with a lotion and a little baobab oil. On the second and third day of my wash and go I scrunch a moisture lock lotion and a little butter onto my ends. When my ends stay soft, my hair retains length.

Celebrate each success, and learn from the challenges.