Trial By Error: Some Products Aren't For Everyone.

To buy, or not to buy?

The question many on a healthy hair journey are faced with. We often read blogs and watch videos of products that many rave about. “This gave my hair soooo much slip” or “This keeps my new growth soooo soft”. Without a second thought we are in a line at the checkout waiting for the little old lady on the fixed income to pay for her fiber cereal and get out of the way for us to buy our 6 bottles of whatever product we were just sold on from hours of youtube videos and blog testimonials. There has to be a better answer. Yes and no.

Trial By Error

This is the way almost every person who has been successful on their healthy hair journey, has found their products. Unfortunately, this is also how many of us turn into PJ's (product junkies). If I may offer some advice, it may help you in the long run... Keep a journal, by doing so you can look back at different products you have tried that didn't work and why.

Here is what you will need:

• Journal
• Some sort of writing utensil
• Products you are trying
• Time

Begin keeping a journal of not only the products you buy but how they effect your hair. Begin by writing the product name, what you are intending to use it for, when you bought it, and how much it cost. Yes the price is important.

Now that you have recorded all of this, begin using your product. While using your product, record all the side effects. Who knows, it may work great for you, but, you may have an allergic reaction. It may work wonderful in every sense imaginable; or, it may not work at all.

While you have been using the product and recording results, be sure to give it time. If you are having an allergic reaction stop using it immediately and get your money back if possible! If not, understand that Rome wasn't built in a day and your hair isn't going to grow to your rear end in a day either. I try to give my products about 2 weeks to see how my hair reacts.

What If It Doesn't Work?

There is always the possibility that it may not work. What will work for one person may not work for the next. If it doesn't work it's okay. If you are within the refund or exchange time frame, then take it back! If not, try giving it to someone else who is on a healthy hair journey. They may have a product that didn't work for them that may work miracles for you. Don't give up hope, there is a light at the end of the tunnel.

Oils On Your Hair!

As many of you may now... I'm adopted. I was raised in a Hispanic family. That being said anyone who has seen any of my videos or pictures know that I have ethnic hair with a large amount of texture. Now growing up, I didn't know much of anything about hair care. Once I was taken to a salon (the first time when I was in elementary school, I was told to put grease (yes grease!) on my hair.

Alright, I know I have either scarred some of you for life or I have brought back some less that enjoyable childhood memories, but it was necessary... Well, maybe it wasn't... LOL.

Anywho... oils. More specifically oils for your hair.

I have been using olive oil in my conditioners and as a sealant but I didn't know that olive oil along with a few other oils are able to absorb some into your hair. I wasn't sure the reason for this so I did some research. Most oils just sit on the top of the hair shaft with little to no absorption. This is because the molecules are too large to penetrate the shaft.

So what is a person to do? Switch to coconut, avocado, or olive oil. These oils have a small enough molecular structure to penetrate the shaft and soak into your hair. These oils are great on their own or mixing with other conditioners... Added bonus? They are wonderful to cook with and are good for you.

I hope this helps some of you on your journey! HHJ!

Direct Heat vs. Indirect Heat

Getting a child in the 3^rd grade to sit still while getting their hair pressed is not an easy task! I remember it very well. I was sitting there trying my best not to squirm, at the Little House Of Charms. The lady that did my hair at the time was an older lady (at that point in my life, everyone was old!), she was nice until I squirmed... Then, she would flick me in the head with the hot comb. I went in once every other week to get my frizzy, unruly hair straightened. I loved the way it looked when straight. The other little kids didn't seem to pick on me as much... There I sat, I smelled like Blue Magic and heard the snap, crackle, pop of my hair and it tamed to the command of the heat. At the time I had no clue what direct heat or indirect heat was...

Direct Heat:

Heat that is applied directly to the hair with or without a heat protect. For visual purposes imagine a blow torch being applied directly to a branch... Not only is it going to cause the branch to smoke over time but it was suffer extensive damage and will snap... This is often what we subject our hair to when we are using flat irons, curling irons, and blow dryers just to name a few.

Indirect Heat:

This is heat that is applied in an evenly in an indirect manner... This visualization will be slightly different. Imagine chicken on a barbecue grill... So long as you do not leave it on the grill for too, long it will not dry out but it will cook evenly... provided that you flip it over, lol. This is when we sit under the hooded dryer in the salon.

When using heat, indirect heat is ideal because the chance for damage and breakage are cut down quite a bit. Minimizing heat exposure will minimize heat damage. But, if you aren't able to cut out your heat exposure completely here are some things to remember:

1. Cut it down to once or twice a month (spread it out if it's twice a month). As I said before, minimizing heat will minimize the damage. Cut it down to a once a month heat pass.
2. Use a protectant. You don't have to go out and buy Chi Silk Infusion ( I use either the generic Silk Infusion from Sally's for around $7. If you can't afford that one, I also like the Tresseme Heat Protectant.
3. Be sure that you are not going over the same piece of hair too many times (direct heat). When using a blow-dryer, flat iron, etc, make sure that you go over each piece only as many times that you need to straighten the hair.

I hope this was helpful to you. HHJ.

Moisturizing And Sealing

Part I

Part II

To Lye or Not to Lye... That Is The Question!

For all of us ladies who have relaxed hair or are thinking of relaxing... There are things that need to be known about the relaxer of choice. Yes they have chemicals but there are ALL different.

LYE RELAXERS:

Lye relaxers are made with the active ingredient being sodium hydroxide. It raises your hair pH into the range of 10-14. It can be very damaging, like any chemical treatment, if no in correctly. When the relaxer cream is applied to the hair is penetrates the shaft of the hair and breaks down the protein bonds. The weakening of these bonds is what allows the curls to straighten out. After this procedure is finished, a neutralizing shampoo is applied to wash out the relaxer and bring the pH down to a more neutral pH.

NO-LYE RELAXERS

Much like lye relaxers, no-lye relaxers raise the hairs pH, but slightly weaker alkali agents are used instead of sodium hydroxide (lye). Most commonly guanidine hydroxide is used. This type of no-lye relaxer uses the same principle as the lye relaxers... permeating the hair shaft and weakening the protein bonds of hair. A neutralizing shampoo is also needed following a no-lye relaxer in order to restore the hairs natural pH. It is also recommended that a chelating shampoo is used to remove minerals that may have been left behind on the hair and scalp.

Another no-lye relaxer is the thio relaxer... It is used in thermal reconditioning of the hair. It has the compound, ammonium thioglycolate, which is also referred to as perm salt or perm waves. Instead of weakening the entire protein bond, this particular treatment selectively weakens the cystine bonds. This however, thoroughly strips the moisture out of the hair even more so than alkali products.

Most at home relaxers (box kits) contain ammonium sulfite and ammonium bisulfite. These compounds like ammonium thioglycolate, selectively weaken the cystine bonds of the hair over time slowly; this reduces the amount of irritation done to the skin.

Regardless of the type of relaxer you choose to use, be sure that you research in depth the chemical before you apply it to your hair. Happy Hair Journeying!

Stargazer Lilies

Back in June, I received flowers from a very, very wonderful man ;)... They were Stargazer Lilies, if you didn't know this, they are an expensive flower. Even when these beautiful plants are in season during the summer months they can still be $35-$65 for a branch that will have somewhere around 4-5 of the actual flowers upon them. It is easy to see why these flowers can run so high. They are beautiful in a mysterious and exotic way.

In an effort to capture a piece of the beauty that these flowers display, I was inspired to do this tutorial. I'm sorry that the lighting is a little off. I will work on getting it better...

I hope that you enjoyed this as much as I did! Thank you, and please let me know if you all have any requests.

Heart Break Hotel

Heartbreak, we've all been there. When the alarm bells ring, but, we decide that either we know better than to listen to our gut (big mistake) or that we have to try. So we ignore that little voice in the back of our minds. We know we will regret it, but, we do it anyway...

<Insert amount of time here> passes and we realize that it just isn't working, but, neither one of us wants to be the one who ends it, so we pretend that it is working... We pretend that we are happy, only to be disappointed. The relationship ends and we are upset. We hurt, we mope, we may even cry. We tell ourselves, "I knew this was going to happen, and I didn't listen". 

We are all human, we all make the same mistakes, and regardless of what we like to tell ourselves, we will do it again. The truth is, there is no perfect relationship. There is no perfect white picket (or wood) fence. There will be fights, there will be bad nights, there will be disagreements. The part we all have to learn is which battles to pick. Which ones are worth it? Which ones aren't? Which soldiers in these battles are better left unpicked for our own emotional dodgeball games? Those are answers that only we know, despite what our friends think...

Friends are people to, which means... They will disappoint you and you will disappoint them. Like it or not that is the way it is. But at the end of the day, a true friend will be there for you. A true friend will be honest, whether you want to hear it or not. A true friend will let you make your mistake (and not think that they are superman lol). A true friend will disappoint you, but the disappointment will never be so high that they will need to be kicked out of the inner circle. And during that heartbreak, a true friend will try to help you through it. That's what we are here for.

Got Shedding Hair? Try This!

100 strands a day! That is it! I know that for my hair, it sometimes seems that, that is low. Sometimes it seems like 1000 hair strands a day. For me, the shedding is always worse after a relaxer. After many a night spent raiding hair boards, I have found help... Garlic... In your Hair...

I know it sounds very strange but it helps... At least, it helped me. I have not tried using odorless garlic capsules, although I am curious! Here is what I used...

The next time I do this, I will try it with odorless garlic capsules and let you all know how it goes. I hope this helps. Rejuvenate your hair follicles and stimulate your scalp... Happy Hair Journeying!

Getting Much Needed Moisture

If you go onto to just about any hair board, you will find that moisture is essential... Especially when factors like: ethnicity, climate, and texture are taken into account.
When you have dry hair it is never a good thing, your hair becomes coarse, (assuming that isn't part of your overall hair texture to begin with) it becomes brittle, it snaps very easily. To combat dryness, we often condition our hair. There are many conditioners on the market that add moisture to the hair. But, sometimes, just adding conditioning to your hair isn't enough. Sometimes, you need to add a deeply penetrating conditioning treatment to quench your hair's thirst.

This leads me to the steam treatment...

This is an effective way to put moisture back into the hair without spending a fortune... Here is a way that I found to do it at home.

Try this on for size, and let me know how it worked out for you. Happy Hair Journeying.

My Hair Journey

Sitting in an elementary school desk and trying to explain to the other children why my hair is different was hard... It's even more difficult when I wasn't even sure why my hair is so different... I have been on a healthy hair journey since June of 2009. My hair was barely out of the neck length category...

I'm currently somewhere between Arm Pit Length and Bra Strap Length...

I will be keeping you guys posted on this journey... While there is no final destination, it should be interesting along the way.