Crochet Braid Video

Avocado Hair Treatment

 

Avocados are rich in nutrients and contain a lot of  vitamins and minerals including high levels of potassium, folate and fiber. Avocados provide essential fats like oleic acid (omega-9) and linolenic acid (omega-3), which are critical for cell growth. They are rich in fatty acids which are very nourishing for dry, brittle hair. Avocado is great for quick softening, moisturizing and deep conditioning. Avocados promote healthy and stronger hair. Avocado treatment once a month will help to add moisture to your hair.

You’ll need:
1 avocado (peeled)
1 tablespoon of Honey
1 egg yolk
1 tablespoon jojoba oil or olive oil
(Be sure to apply to freshly shampooed hair)

Mash the avocado to a smooth consistency and then combine all ingredients together in a bowl. Massage mixture into scalp and hair. Leave in for 25 minutes. Rinse out with conditioner and style as usual.

Coconut Milk Deep Treatment

Coconut milk is rich in protein, iron, manganese, and fatty acids. Which makes it great for conditioning, strengthening and minimizing hair breakage. It also protects your hair from the UV damage of constant sun exposure. Its great for restoring shine and softness to your hair.

You’ll need:

• 4 tablespoon to 1/2 cup Coconut milk (depending on hair length)
• 2 tablespoon of Extra virgin olive oil  & coconut oil or your favorite oil
• 2 tablespoon of Honey

Combine all ingredients in a small bowl. You can apply the cool mixture directly to hair, or preheat the mixture in the microwave for 30-45 seconds. When applying, massage mixture on dry hair and scalp. Cover with shower cap for 60 minutes. Then use a sulfate free shampoo and conditioner to rinse it out and style your hair like you usually do.

Banana Treatment

Bananas are rich in natural oils and vitamins that help to restore hair’s natural elasticity, which as well prevent breakage and split ends. Bananas, when used as a deep conditioning treatment, will also soften, restore shine and control dandruff.

The ingredients you’ll need:

• 1 Large overripe banana (peeled),
• 4 tablespoon EVOO (Extra virgin olive oil), 
• 2 tablespoons Vegetable Glycerin
• 2 tablespoons Honey

(Be sure to apply to freshly shampooed hair).

Mix all the ingredients in a blender. Apply the mixture to your hair from root to end. Leave on your hair for about 30-45 minutes. Rinse out with conditioner and style as usual.

Honey Treatment

 

Honey is a natural humectant, which means that it holds on to water molecules. This makes it a great moisturizer. Honey hair treatments are great for conditioning hair and adding sheen. Honey is also  rich in potassium, iron, zinc and vitamins B2, B6, B3, vitamin C and etc. All nutrients that aid in hair growth.

The ingredient you’ll need are:

•  ½ cup honey (more or less depending on hair length)
• 4 tablespoon olive oil

(Be sure to apply to freshly shampooed hair)

Heat the honey in microwave for 30 seconds. Then mix the honey and the olive oil together. Apply to hair, then cover your head with shower cap for 15-30 minutes. Rinse out with conditioner and style as usual.

**This can also be used as a pre-poo**

Maintaining the Balance between Protein and Moisture

Protein is what gives your hair its strength and structure. Moisture is what gives your hair elasticity. Hair breakage is the result of being off balance with either moisture or protein. The two component works together to produce a healthier head of hair and promotes hair growth. They are co dependent and neither of the two can work on its own well without the other. Women with relaxed or colored treated hair need more protein than a women with natural hair. Relaxers break down the protein bond in the hair shaft. You first need to know your hair. Reading this or anything from a different hair site wont make you know your hair better than you can. Don't jump to treating your hair and not know what is wrong or what is off balance. The best time to test the hair is when it is in it's wet state.

Test for Moisture
-Hold a single shredded strand and gently pull, if the hair snap instantly you need more moisture
-If it feels rough, brittle, hard or dry you need to add more moisture

Solutions for Needed Moisture
Do a protein treatment. You can either use Eggs, Organic Roots Stimulator Hair Mayo, Aphogee 2 minute reconstructor, etc. If you really need a heavy protein treatment use the Aphogee 2 Step treatment followed with the balancing moisturizer.

Test for Protein
-Hold a single shredded strand and gently pull on both ends to see if your hair stretches like an elastic band and then breaks, then you need more protein
-If your hair feel mushy, and over soft you need more protein

Solution for TOO Much Protein
Do a moisturizing deep conditioner.
Make sure you Moisturize daily

 

Moisture + Protein= Healthy Hair

My favorite hair products

Cantu Shea Butter Leave in

Coconut Jamaican Black Castor Oil

Elasta QP DPR-11 Deep Conditioner
 



Extra Virgin Coconut Oil

Elasta QP Olive Oil & Mango Butter Moisturizer

Shea Moisture Shampoo

Texlaxing 101/ Tips

What is Texlax?

Texlaxing is the process of  purposely under processing the hair in order to loosen the texture of the hair without completely straightening it. Texlaxed hair can allow much of the original texture and curl to remain in the hair while still allowing it to straighten easily to near straightness.

Why Should you Texlax Your Hair?

Texlaxing your hair can be extremely beneficial. For one, by allowing a bit of natural texture to remain in the hair, texlaxing is able to drastically improve the thickness of the hair. No more limp, lifeless bone straight hair. Texlaxing also helps the hair retain its elasticity so that it can resist breakage. Texlaxed hair is a healthier head of hair. It is less damaging to the hair. Texlaxing reduces the number of broken protein and bonds in the hair. This is responsible for the hair's natural strength because less bond breakage means stronger hair. Great for people that are thinking about being natural and don't want to do the big chop. Its also great for people with fine or thin hair.

Tips (1st you need to determine how much texture you want)
-Diluting your relaxer
Downgrading the actual relaxer formula strength, adding extra virgin olive oil to your relaxer formula also decreases the strength of the relaxer. Olive oil reduce this straightening power by making the creme less thick so that the curls are not weighed down and flattened as easily by the relaxer. If you decide to add oil to your relaxer, add a little at a time and check the consistency of your formula. Do not make the formula too runny or soupy, some thickness is desired. Around 1/4 cup of oil works well with a small, single use relaxer tub. Another variation of relaxer dilution can be done with no-lye relaxer formulas where a separate activator must be added to the relaxer creme. Adding only 3/4 or 1/2 of the activator to the formula automatically reduces the relaxers strength.
-Coat you hair with Vaseline or Extra virgin olive oil from root to tip. This should slow down the relaxer from processing the hair.
-When the relaxer is in your hair make sure you skip the smoothing step.
-Try to stretch your relaxer
-Apply the relaxer to the hair and remove it fast (this is what i do)

 

Very thick (6 mths post relaxer)

Alot of new growth    

                                                

Relaxed ends

 

To build a healthy hair care regimen, you will need:

Moisturizing shampoo- A good moisturizing shampoo that do not contain sodium/ammonium lauryl sulfates and will not leave your hair feeling stripped. It should be used once a week.
Products: Shea moisture moisture retention shampoo, Moroccanoil moisture repair(expensive), Elasta QP Creme Conditioning Shampoo, Keracare Hydrating Detangling Shampoo, etc.

Clarifying/ Chelating shampoo- Clarifying shampoos strip the hair of product buildup and are great for starting the hair off fresh each month. Your hair will and should feel squeaky clean after clarifying. Chelating shampoo removes mineral deposit from hard water. This should be used once a month. Products: VO5, ORS Creamy Aloe shampoo , any shampoo with sulfate.

Moisturizing Conditioners- Great for co-washing (just washing your hair with conditioner) It should be done whenever your hair feel a little dry between shampooing.
Products:VO5 moisture milk, Herbal Essence Hello Hydration, Moroccanoil moisture repair conditioner(expensive), etc.

Protein based conditioner/treatment- Protein-based conditioners and treatments are used for rebuilding the hair, and work best when followed by moisturizing deep conditioners to restore moisture and pliability to the hair. Protein treatment can range from light to heavy. light to moderate protein treatment should be done once a week or once a month. Heavy protein treatment should be don't every 6 weeks.
Products:
Light- Aphogee 2 minute Reconstructor, ORS replenishing conditioner
Moderate- Organic Root Stimulator hair mayonnaise
Heavy- Aphogee 2 step treatment and this is followed with a balancing moisturizer

 

Moisturizing Deep conditioner- Contains no protein. A moisturizing conditioner will follow your moisturizing shampoo at every wash. I recommend deep conditioning for as long as you want. Some times i leave it on for several hours.You should do it once a week, with heat (hooded dryer)or without heat. Invest in a lot of conditioning caps.
Products:Elasta QP DPR-11, Mixed chicks, Macadamia natural oil deep repair masque, Neutrogena triple moisture deep recovery hair mask, etc.

Leave in conditioner- light protein. Leave-ins usually help with detangling after shampooing and conditioning. Products:Aphogee pro vitamin leave in conditioner, Cantu Shea butter leave in, Mixed chicks leave in, neutrogena triple moisture silk touch leave in, etc.

Moisturizer- Must be water based. Used daily with a light oil to seal. Products:Elasta QP olive oil and mango butter, ORS olive oil moisturizing lotion, Luster's S-curl no drip activator moisturizer, etc.

Oils- Light oils great for sealing and adding moisture after moisturizer. Coconut oil, jojoba oil, avocado oil, grapeseed oil, sweet almond oil, olive oil and Castor oil (a little thick) Note: all the oil are 100%


Tools your going to need
-Wide tooth comb
-Denman brush
-Boars brush
-Satin/Silk scarf, bonnet or pillowcase

Outfit of the day (2)

Date Night @ The Door

 

Maxi dress & Sandal- Forever21

Denim jacket-Forever21

Protective styles pt.2

 

Quickweave bob that I made

Side view of the bob

Poetic justice braids

 



 

 

High bun

Different types of Protective styles

 Braid out

 

Draya/Rihana inspired braid

 

                                                         

V-part wig I made

 

 

 

 V-part wig on

 

 

YaYa's hair regimen

Pre-Poo every 2 weeks with Coconut oil or Honey and Extra virgin olive oil


Shampoo every 2 weeks with Shea Moisture Moisture Retention Shampoo



Shampoo with shea moisture

 



Clarify once a month with Baby shampoo


Deep Condition every 2 weeks with Mixed Chicks

 

 





Deep condition with Mixed chicks

Co-Wash (when needed) with VO5 Moisture milk or Herbal Essence Hello Hydration


Leave in Conditioner
Mixed chicks kids Leave- in and i seal it with coconut oil
Air dry in braid



Hair facts
-Yaya hair is very thick
-Hair type is 4b/c
-Hair length is mid back length

Tooked out the braid 

Combed out and stretched

Homemade Protein Treatment with Eggs and EVOO

The recipes you can get right out of your kitchen. All you will need is a egg and extra virgin olive oil

You will need

• 1 or 2 eggs (depending on the length of your hair)
• 1 or 2 Tbsp of EVOO (extra virgin olive oil) 

1.Put the eggs and EVOO in a bowl and mix them with a fork

2.First wash your with a clarifying shampoo to remove any buildup

3.Apply protein treatment. Make sure you concentrate on the end of your hair, if you deal with split ends

4.Cover with a plastic cap and leave on for 20-30 minutes

5.Make sure you wash it really well out of your hair

6.Apply a moisturizing deep conditioner and let it stay on for how long you want

7.Style your hair

Over Moisturizing

I just experienced a major set back. I never knew this can happen to me but i experienced over moisture. I was so disappointed after i removed my poetic justice braids. I had no problem detangling my hair after my braids were out. But after i washed my hair it felt too mushy and soft, so i decided to do a quick 2 minute reconstrutor. My hair felt a little better but nothing prepared me for when i had to apply my leave in. My hair was beyond knotted. I just stared at the mirror for a couple of minutes in disbelief. I knew what i had to do but it was late at night and i didn't want to do an intense protein treatment. So i decided to move forward and try to detangle my hair. I was still experiencing some shedding but i expected that i did just have my braids in for a month and three weeks. I had breakage from trying to detangle my hair, but it wasn't much. It took me an hour to detangle my hair, which felt like an eternity. I decided to wear a wig for the rest of the week. I didn't want to do anymore damage to my hair.

My Hair Care Regimen

Hair Facts
-Hair type 4a
-Hair length is bra strap length (bsl)
-Transitioning from relaxed to texlax
-My hair is very thick but its manageble

Pre-Poo once a week with Coconut oil or Honey and Extra virgin olive oil(EVOO)

Shampoo once a week with Shea Moisture Moisture Retention Shampoo

Clarify once a month with Organic Root Stimulator (ORS) Creamy Aloe Shampoo

Deep Condition once a week with Elasta QP DPR 11 Deep Penetrating Conditioner w/ oils or Mixed Chicks

Co-Wash (if needed) with VO5 Moisture milk w/ oils or Herbal Essence Hello Hydration w/ oils
ORS Replenishing Conditioner(light protein)

Leave in Conditioner
Cantu Shea Butter Leave- in
Aphogee Leave in

Moisturizer every night with Elasta Qp Mango Butter & Olive Oil and seal with coconut oil

Moisturize my new growth daily with my moisturizing spritz which consist of aloe vera juice, glycerin, jojoba oil, avocado oil, rosemary essential oil and rose water

Protein treatment once a month with ORS Hair Mayo (moderate) w/ oils or Aphogee  keratin 2 minute reconstructor (light-can be done weekly)

-I stretch my relaxer at least 6 months or more

-I use Organic Root Stimulator Olive Oil Relaxer (box kit)

-I use a heat pass once a month

-I wear protective styles as often as possible

-Air dry (always)

-I oil my scalp every other day with castor oil



Heat Protector
Tresseme Heat protector

Different types of Oil that i use:
1.Vegetable Glycerin
2.JBCO(Jamaican Black castor oil) or Castor oil
3.Sweet almond oil
4.Coconut oil
5.Avocado oil
6.Jojoba oil
7.EVOO(Extra virgin olive oil)

Hair goal is to be Hip length.

Wish me luck!

Tips On How To Start Your Hair Journey

1.Start with a fresh trim. Clip any damage ends.

2.Look at the products you are using already. Do your research and find out what ingredient are good for your hair and which ones are bad. For example, check your shampoo and if you see sulfates in it, you can use it as a clarifying shampoo. Don't use products that contain mineral oil or petroleum in it, it will only coat your hair not moisturize it.

3.Deep condition at least once a week.

4.Find the balance between protein and moisture. Protein strengthen the hair, while moisturizing locks in moisture. If  your not protein sensitive you should do protein treatment whenever needed.

5.Keep your hair moisturize. You must moisturize daily with a water base moisturizer and seal it with a light oil.

6.Use a wide tooth comb or a denman brush to detangle your hair. Make sure you start from the bottom and work your way up to the root.

7.At night PLEASE use a satin or silk scarf, pillowcase, or bonnet.

8.Wear protective styles which include high bun, twist out, wigs, braid out, braids, etc. Just make sure your ends are protected.

9.Limit the use of direct heat.

10.Learn the difference between breakage and shredding. Your hair should shed at least 100 strands a day. Also when your hair shed you should see a white bulb at the end, if you don't see the white bulb it mean its breakage.

11.And last but not least you need to start a hair journal. Start taking pictures and start documenting the products your are using in your hair. You will need to go threw a trial and error. You need to see what products work for you and what products don't work for you.

Be Consistence and Be Patient

Good Luck

Why i started my hair journey

I started my hair care journey in 2012 because after years of abuse from flat irons and blow dryer, my hair suffered some breakage. I didn't notice the breakage right away because i never really care to pay close attention to my hair. I neglected my hair for all those years and then one day while viewing a picture of myself i notice that my hair look shorter. I begin doing excessive research on black hair care. At one point all the research became a little overwhelming. But i pace myself and took a lot of notes. Then i came across the book "The science of black hair" where i learned how to build a hair regimen. Then the rest is history after that i learned how to take care of my hair inside and out.