Protective Styles vs. Low Manipulation Styles

When I first started my healthy hair journey, there was so much information at my fingertips, I was overwhelmed. It was very easy for me to skip over important details and even easier for me to become confused. One thing that I was often confused about was protective styles and low manipulation styles. I thought they were synonymous. I was sadly mistaken and my hair took the lashings for it in some instances. Thankfully, I know the difference now and hopefully after reading through this you will too.

Protective Styles

A protective style does exactly what it implies. Similar to how a lioness shields her cubs from danger, a protective style protects your hair (more specifically the ends) from the elements of the harsh environment from day to day. Common protective styles are: braids, twists, buns, wigs, weaves (sew-ins), hair pieces (phony ponies), and cornrows just to name a few. Please keep in mind that just because it is a protective style, that doesn't mean that your hair will not break. Without the proper care in these styles, your hair can sustain severe damage! But that is for another post.

Low Manipulation Styles

When we think of manipulation, many often think about their ex, coworkers, family members, etc. It isn't very often that one thinks of hair in terms of manipulation, but, it is very easy to manipulate your hair if you think about it. Anytime you touch, comb, blow-dry, brush, or fiddle with your hair in any way shape or form, you are manipulating it. A low manipulation style is a style that requires very little fuss, touching, combing etc. Most times a person can finger-comb through the style (braid-outs and twist-outs) or it is a style that may take some manipulation in the beginning but then is left alone for days (corn rows). The bottom line is when the low manipulation style is finished being styled it is left alone for at least the rest of the day.

Now here is the confusing part, a protective style can be a low manipulation style but a low manipulation style isn't automatically a protective style. Remember what a protective style does and you should be okay to remember the difference. 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.

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!

Have You Clarified Your Hair Lately?

It's no secret, there are toxins all around us. That's why we wash our face and bodies daily. When you have ethnic hair, you are often told not to wash your hair. This, itself, throws you into a conundrum! To wash or not to wash... And with what? Clarifying! Clarifying is necessary. Without it your hair will be similar to a dry sponge covered in petroleum jelly... Try dropping that sponge into water so that it can absorb what moisture it needs... It wont, because of the build up of petroleum jelly. The only way to get the water immediately into the sponge, is to apply soap to the sponge to break down the petroleum jelly and remove it from the sponge...

I have found, for my own hair, that I must clarify once a week (I can probably go longer than that but, I got myself into a regimen). When I clarify depending on what I am trying to strip out of my hair I either reach for my ORS Uplifting Shampoo or my ORS Creamy Aloe Shampoo.

ORS UPLIFTING SHAMPOO

This shampoo tingles when you use it so you may want to do a patch test to be sure you have no allergic reaction. In my personal experience, this shampoo is very good for stripping build up in the way of oils and conditioner has built up. My hair doesn't really get flakes, so I didn't have to worry about getting those.

ORS Creamy Aloe Shampoo

This shampoo removes some of the same build up that the ORS Uplifting Shampoo does. Because it is used as the neutralizing shampoo following the no-lye relaxer, it is a chelating shampoo. Chelating shampoos remove the build up of minerals on the hair shaft. This comes in handy when you live in an area with hard water.

Regardless, of if you live in an area with hard water or if you have too much product build up in your hair, clarifying is a way to remove this and you can do the treatment right from home. I hope this helps any questions you have on clarifying your hair. Happy Hair Journeying!

The Moisture Protein Balance

The hair on everyone's head is different. Some straight, some curly. Some soft and silky, others, rough and wiry. But one thing still remains, it's all hair. Hair has to have the correct balance of moisture and protein, if not, breakage will occur.

Moisturizing Conditioners

Moisturizing conditioners will put moisture back into the hair. These conditioners will list water as one of the main ingredients as water is a necessary component to moisturize hair. Be careful when walking down the shampoo and conditioner aisle, there are many “moisturizing” conditioners that have silk proteins that will actually put more protein into your hair.

Moisturizing conditioners are needed when your hair is dry. You hair may snap off at the slightest touch. This is a good indication that your hair may be dry and need some moisture.

Protein Conditioners

Your hair is primarily made up of a specific protein called keratin. The thing about your hair is that it is essentially dead when it comes out of the follicle. Some will disagree, but I will cover that in another post. If you have relaxed hair, you may already know, the bonds in this protein in your hair are weakened in order to straighten your hair.

Protein conditioners will strengthen your hair and will most times list “strengthening” on the label as a characteristic. These types of conditioner are needed when you hair feels mushy or gummy when wet. There are soft protein conditioners and hard protein conditioners. The strength of the conditioner you will need will depend on how mushy your hair is.

In either case, adding or alternating the correct conditioners to your hair regimen is essential for retaining length and having a healthy hair journey.

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!

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.