#BackToBasics 3 - Bad Hair Practices You Need To Stop Now!

TGIF.

Its Friday!!!! For a lot of us girls it's gonna be a hair affair this weekend. From washing to styling to weaving and whatever else we normally do.

What is it you do to make your hair look good? How supportive are those practices of healthy hair. Today's blog post will be putting a spotlight on most of those things that you should'nt be doing if you are gonna have healthy hair.
Natural hair is not stubborn hair. You hair is only hard and umnannageable because you do not take care of it.
I hope you learn something new today. leego!


         ANTI-HEALTHY HAIR PRACTICES

Too Frequent Manipulation
All those lovely hairstyles on YouTube. You want to try them all. So everyday you are combing out your hair and twisting your strands all around trying to achieve that perfect style. Worse still you are using a blow dryer or a flat iron everyday trying to blend your hair with your weave, risking heat damage
You notice hair on your comb, hair on your dresser, on your shoulders. Hair that would have stayed on your head if you hadn't forced them to break with your constant styling and manipulation

You should that your hair like a delicate cashmere sweater. Your hair strands were not made to thrive through too frequent manipulation.
Your hair should be put in protective / low manipulation styles (more on this later) for at least 3 days a week. Low manipulation styles refer to styles that you can put your hair in to reduce handling for some number of days. It means that during this time you will be doing mostly nothing to your hair.
This ensures that you retain every inch you grow and also prevent split hairs and damaged strands.

I hear you asking "how can hair be manageable without combing or flat ironing your hair?" I will treat that in further posts


continue...




Using any product you lay your hands on
You've run out of shampoo, so you use your bathing soap to wash your hair.

You go into a store and just pick the shampoo with the best scent from off the shelves.

Someone whose hair is naturalyl long recommends her own hair pomade for you go buy it as fast as lightening.

Conditioner. What is that sef?

They tell you that soulmate indian hemp cream grows hair so you slather it all over your scalp everyday.

Your hair stylist recommends a concotion for you. You buy it because its coming from your stylist. She cannot be wrong.

That hairspray really makes your edges laid so you cant live withour it.

You cant find any hair cream so you use a weavon oil. Afterall its better than nothing.

All these and more like it scream bad! bad! bad! hair practices. This is why your hair is breaking.
Hair is dead once it has pushed it self past your scalp. The scalp skin is alive and that is why it can push out those strands of hair. If that hair that grows out will not look dead like it actually is, you must take proper care of it.

You need to know the right products for your hair and stick to what works.
What works for your sister may not work for you becaue you most likely have different hair types.
Never always believe what they write in the back of these product containers. Most of them are just there to convince you to buy.
Knowing what to buy would be tricky at first especially if you are just starting out on this whole hair brouhaha. However, our client regimen builder is meant to help save you the stress of trial and error  at any stage you are. Feel free to holla and get yourself one


Doing nothing about dry hair
This weather is about 34deg these days. You are under the sun for a good number of hours every week day. By the time you touch your hair at the end of the day, it's crackly and dry. Feels like something you could use to start a fire and yet you do nothing about it. You simply go to bed, wake up the next morning, comb out the hair again and off you go. Ouch!

Natural hair should be protected from harsh weather conditions. You should also replenish the moisture you have lost to the environment as often as is necessay. If you dont, your hair gets dry and dry hair breaks and hair that breaks will never grow past a certain length
                                                   
Breakage is the enemy and we must do all we can to avoid or stop it from happening

Dryness check: If you rub any few strands of your hair together and you hear a distinct sound, your hair is dry. Your hair should be soft to the touch, supple and moisurized at any given time.


Shampooing your hair
Shampoo isn't meant to clean your hair. It is meant to clean your scalp.
You are to apply shampoo on your scalp only to unclog the pores while gently massaging with the pads of your fingers (No nails please). What ever suds of shampoo are rinsed off your scalp would clean your hair as it trickles down.

Shampoo strips the hair of its natural oils (sebum) and once your hair is stripped it tends to dry out faster and tangle a lot. Shampoo should only be used in the case of product build up, to clarify scalp of gunk, dirt, excess grease and all such. This should not be done more than once a month.


Applying your shampoo more than once in one wash
Never wash, rinse, then wash again. Once is enough.
That squeaky clean feeling you are aimimg for is bad for your hair. Resist the temptation to apply shampoo more than once. If you cowash (conditioner wash) you hair often enough it shouldnt be so dirty anyway.


Piling your hair on your head when you wash.
Those TV adverts showing women washing their hair with all the hair piled on top of their head, scrubbing their scalp are not a good example to follow.
That hair stylist at the salon that will bend your head backward and scrub the life out of your scalp. He/she is doing it wrong. Your scalp should not be aching after washday
You are meant to wash your scalp one section at a time if not you will have the most annoying tangles and when your hair tangles that bad, it takes a lot of patience and time to get them all out without breaking your hair. Patience and time is something a lot of us don't have


Dyeing your hair / Visiting just any salon
I wont say much on this dye issue now, but until you learn how properly natural hair should be dyed and what to do after you dye your hair, please never buy another box of dye.
You will be shocked to know that most of these stylists know nothing about hair at all. They give you wrong tips, sell you useless concoctions but the condition of your hair keeps getting worse.
If your stylist is doing it right you wouldnt be having that receeding hair line now. Your scalp will not be scabbed from relaxer burns.
When you learn your hair, you will be able to do almost everything yourself and even when you go to the salon, you will be able to teach the stylist how best to handle your hair.

Keeping your hair in syles for too long.
Hair needs constant nourishment to stay healthy. If deprived of that for too long your hair starts to look lifeless. You will suffer breakage and splits and general damage.
Protective styles are good but could be bad for your hair if not done correctly.
One month per style is recommended and in between give your hair a chance to breathe.

Relaxers
Wait! before you hiss.
I know most people think they cant do without a relaxer. So they live in denial about how it is damaging their hair. They want slick hair all the time so they are relaxing every month and between every style. Relaxers permanently alter the texture and curl pattern of your hair. Once you have relaxed a part of your hair, it can never revert to natural so all that talk about "My hair is due", you are actually referring to unconditioned, uncared-for, dry, tangly relaxed hair.

Relaxing frequently makes your hair fragile. It burns your scalp which in turn renders some of your follicles inactive. In short! relaxer is not good for your hair. There are healthier ways around it.

Using too many products
Its not how much you use that works. Its what you use and how you use it.
Slathering your hair with products will only choke your strands and stunt your growth. Plus it will be a total waste of your products.
Also its not everything you see that you buy. Keep only what you need and what works for you. Trying out different things to often will only put your hair in a confused state. Remember, your scalp needs to breathe for it to function optimally.

Use of heat styling tools
Flat irons, blowdryers, and other heat styling tools put your hair at a risk of heat damage. Especially when used too frequently.
Heat damage is mostly irreversible and could make your hair dull,limp, stringy and full of splits. your natural curl pattern will also be messed up.
learn to make your hair manageable without the use of heat tools


Sleeping without a satin cap/scarf
Cotton draws out moisture form your hair. You deposit most of the moisture in your hair on your pillowcase while you sleep. This is why you need to invest in a good satin scarf or cap or bonnet, so that you can wake up with moisturized hair. Especially if you have moisturized your hair before bed.











This list doesn't touch on every single bad hair practice but these are the most common. You will learn more with further posts.
Starting out your hair journey and confused about what to do next? simply send me a mail: hairbyjhennique@gmail.com. Check out my IG page @hairbyjhennique

Which of these practices are you guilty off? lets discuss. Leave your comments, concerns and questions down below and I will respond to as many as I can.


Peace. Love. Healthy Fro'