Why do you have itchy hair/scalp? Personal Experience

I have noticed that I often have weeks when my scalp hardly itches and weeks when the itch is quite frequent and as such decided to find out why. My research was based on personal experience as well as some internet searches.

Personal experience
Since December 2014 I have been observing and listening to my scalp more carefully than before. The aim was to listen to my body, feel my hair's texture and just make notes of what I was experiencing. The following were my observations and lessons learnt:

• When I had a weave (for 2 weeks only) my scalp was dry and more itchy than normal. By the beginning of the second week of the weave, my itches became more frequent and the scalp began to be flaky. The lesson learnt from the 2 week period was that even if you have a weave, you should still care for the scalp and hair underneath. I missed my weekly wash and conditioning, therefore my scalp became dry and itchy. 

• Whenever I wash my hair and simply moisturise the hair strands and leave out the scalp, by the 4th day after the wash my scalp starts itching (not too badly though). The lesson I have learnt is that scalp also needs care and shouldn't be left too dry. So I now use good oils on my scalp (e.g. Monoi, coconut, avocado or vitafro (careful not to clog pores, using just enough quantity). 

• Leaving out the water spritz out of my routine makes me find my hair quite itchy. I live in a Johannesburg, it is a very hot and dry city and as such I try to spritz my hair with a mixture of water & a small amount of conditioner/Monoi oil. Whenever I get lazy and do not spray my hair with this mixture, I get very itchy hair, it also gets really dry and brittle.Lesson learnt is - consider the environment you live in and it's effects on your then perform appropriate damage control; and be consistent.

My next post will discuss itchy scalp based on Internet/scientific research. 

Happy healthy hair!!!! Team Natural Hair! Team Afro! Love your hair!

Best shampoo for Afro hair

The best shampoo for natural hair (Afro) is one that has no sulfates. The container will have writing saying "sulfate free" as per example in the picture below.

Why sulfate free shampoo?

Sulfates are a type of "cleaning agent", the technical term in the shampoo industry or chemistry industry would be "surfactant". While there are various cleaning agents that manufacturers could use in shampoos, sulfates are the cheaper form and obviously to maximise your profits as a manufacturer you would look at minimizing your costs. Hence most shampoos have sulfates in them. 

What's the problem with sulfates?

Shampoos with sulfates tend to 'over clean' natural hair and strip it of good oils that would rather be retained. As you may know your hair gets natural nourishment from oils secreted in the sebum, they travel through your hair strand (hair follicle) to give your hair a natural glow. Due to weather conditions, food we eat, lifestyle etc, these natural oils on their own aren't sufficient for moisturizing your hair. That's why it is advisable to make extra effort to moisturise your hair. 

If you use a shampoo with sulfates and don't compensate by moisturizing adequately, your hair will dry out easily and become brittle. Brittle hair breaks easily, and as such you will struggle to see growth as you won't be able to retain length! 

Happy healthy hair! Team Natural Hair! Team African Afro! 

Stretching hair with wool - no heat!

This year one of my focuses on healthy hair will be to minimise the amount of blow drying I tend to do. On average I blow dry my hair once a week (on every wash day). Last year I used to blow dry my hair the same way that ladies with relaxed hair would, but later on I discovered the tension method, which I highly recommend as it is much more gentle to my African coils of hair. Nonetheless I still want less heat on my hair, mind you when I do use the blow dryer I usually apply a heat protector so the new method of stretching that I'll explain now is just merely out of being super cautious and trying to grow healthy hair.

After washing my hair and deep conditioning, I moisturised and sealed my hair, then started plaiting it into individual braids using wool. The plaits are called 'maphondo' in my language. Here are photos of the plaits and the hair after:

The plaits

 The hair afterwards

Method:

1. Section the hair then wind the wool around each small section

2. Tie a knot at the end of the plait so that it doesn't in-do itself

3. Leave the plaits overnight or until the hair is dry

4. Remove the wool and style as desired!