Y’all asked for the hair post and here it is! Finally, I know, lol. Okay, so I am not a hair stylist and I don’t claim to know everything, but I do try to keep my hair as healthy and thick as possible.

I am natural, see definition here, and I have not had a relaxer in ten years- I transitioned, I did not big chop. When I first went natural, while I was transitioning, I wore my hair in rod sets or straightened (with a flat iron). Once I was fully natural, I mostly wore my hair in rod sets, twists like this, and in sew-ins. I only straightened my hair about twice a year. Now, I straighten it about 4-5 times each year.  You can read more about my natural hair journey in this post →“What Are You Doing With Your Hair???”

I only believe in taking hair advice from people who have the same texture as I do.  If you have 4c hair, and you are taking wash-n-go tips from a girl with 3A curls and then wondering “Why doesn’t mine look like hers???”  Sis, it’s just not going to, lol! (Which is OKAY!) So because I have 3c/4a hair, I take tips from women who have anywhere from 3c hair to 4c hair 🙂  I snuck a hair chart in at the very bottom to you can see the different hair types ⇓⇓⇓

The Hair Gurus:

I cannot make a hair post without paying homage to the ladies who taught me so much:  Shana at @ItsMeShana on Instagram (she had a website back in the day, but I am not sure if she still does), Nikki at CurlyNikki.com, and Whitney at Naptural85.com.  Shana was the first natural hair guru I fell in love with TEN years ago!  Her hair is GLO-RI-OUS.  No, seriously! My boyfriend would peak over at my computer and say “You’re always on that girl’s site, huh bae?”  LOL!  I really was. Later on, I found Nikki, who taught me probably the healthiest treatment I’ve ever done for my hair (but that’s a longer post for another day).  And in recent years I have found Whitney.  Her hair is INSANE!  My current goal is to do everything Whitney does…and you should, too! If you want healthy hair, follow them, like right now.

If any of you ladies- Shana, Nikki, Whitney- ever read this- THANK YOU!

Regimen:

True life: I am not consistent with my hair regimen and I am not proud, lol! I need to do better, but when I am really good, I:

• Cowash and deep condition weekly (or at least every 10 days)- With a plastic cap and a heat source (hooded dryer or heat cap) for 25-45 minutes
• Use wide tooth combs/brushes
• Keep my ends tucked away as much as possible (I used to be much better at this lol)- The key to longer hair is RETAINING THE LENGTH, which means you have to prevent your ends from breaking by taking really good care of them. The problem is not that your hair doesn’t grow, it’s that your ends are breaking off.
• Trim as needed- This is also crucial in caring for your ends and retaining length.  Some people trim monthly, some people trim every three months, but you have to trim dead/split ends. I LOVE a good hair cut, probably a little too much, lol.
• Protective/low manipulation styles- Wearing my hair in twists, buns, or a crown braid and only using my fingers to style it in between washes.  The crown braid is definitely my go-to. I probably re-braid like every 3 days.  See examples of this style here!
• Lightly mist my hair with water and add leave-in conditioner (especially to my ends) every other night before bed.  This is only when I have my hair in twists, in braids, or in a crown braid.  Read about my spray bottle in this post under “hair mister.” It’s not the normal spray bottle.
• Sleep with a satin pillow case, satin bonnet, or satin scarf
• Protein treatments at the beauty salon every 6-12 weeks (this keeps my ends strong and helps prevent them from breaking off)

Hair Chart

I looked for a long while to find a good chart and this was the closest I could find.  ***This is just for reference.  There is no “bad” hair.  That was some shit that was created by colonizers. Due to fragile egos, people a very long time ago needed to create hierarchies in order to feel better about themselves.  So, they told people- “Your skin is too dark, your hair is too kinky.” The truth is, they were just afraid. Also, lets touch on colorism. In my mind, there is no difference between a racist and a person of color who says “light skinned people and silky hair are better.” Both treat people differently based on the color of their skin, sooo morally, they’re the same. But, I digress. Point- Black skin is beautiful and healthy hair is good hair. Period.

So there it is! Hopefully I can actually stick to my regimen. As winter approaches I am starting six months of no flat ironing (I do this every year). I have some work to do to get my hair back to its full health. Let me know if you guys are interested in a list of my favorite products/shampoos/conditioners.

Thanks for reading!

Click the following links to read each month’s most popular blog post, picked by my followers:  May   June   July