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!

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!

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!

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.