How to achieve healthy relaxed hair

Most of you who follow me do so mainly because of the interest in my natural hair journey. But did you know that this doesn't mean I'm anti relaxing hair? Let me provide clarity, people often jump to the conclusion that as an advocate of natural hair one is some sort of hair activist who's trying to convert everyone from relaxing hair. Some go the extent of thinking it means there's this deep hatred and contempt towards anything sleek in texture, like a weave or wig. See me wearing a Brazilian weave then immediately start nailing me to the cross, "hao wena/ eseng wena" (translated gosh you/ no ways?), "have you finally give up on this treacherous and unachievable bushy hair stunt?". Or even say "I knew you were just going through a phase, you are now back to your senses". Really funny in my opinion, as long as you know who you are sticks and stones baby! I've once had a work colleague accuse me of having low self esteem, saying girls with natural hair have no confidence, read about that intriguing chat here under point number ten.

Now back to the topic, I do not hate relaxed hair. Even during my relaxed hair days I enjoyed my hair and had beautiful hair. Looking back though, I wish I knew what I now know because I would have grown my hair using much healthier hair practices. This healthier version of relaxed hair is called texlaxing.

How texlaxing works

• It is the act of intentionally under processing hair using a relaxer. So instead of letting the relaxer fully stretch the hair, you slightly change/relax your hair texture by loosening the curl a bit. Hence the name texlax! 

• There are many methods of texlaxing. Meaning, it all depends on your hair curls/shape and how tight they are. E.g. if you usually need a super relaxer and 40 mins of sitting with the relaxer cream on, plus combing while the relaxer is on, the texlax process might need you to change to a medium relaxer, cut the time to 20 and not comb. And if your hair usually does well with a mild relaxer you might have to dilute that relaxer to make it even milder, so perhaps add an oil and conditioner to the relaxer, then also apply vaseline to your edges and scalp. It's advisable to first test a sample of your hair, to determine what  will work for your hair.

Benefits of texlaxed hair 

• Hair is more 'manageable' compared to when it's natural. 
• You get more volume as your hair is straightened partially, and the strands are therefore thicker. 
• There's less damage to the hair, as the relaxer doesn't fully change the chemical make up of the hair. So your hair would thrive better, e.g. less breakage and seeing more length retention due to better elasticity. Be mindful though, you still have to care for the hair, especially when new growth comes out - same as in the case of fully relaxed hair you'll have two new textures to manage. 
• Moisture is better retained because the relaxer did not fully break all your hair bonds. In case you are wondering, hair is made up of protein bonds (keratin) and depending on how keratinised your hair fiber grows (genetically determined), you end up with a specific curl pattern, e.g. kinky Afro, curly or straight. In the case of kinky Afro hair, the fiber grows out tightly coiled, and when you apply a relaxer, you fully break the keratin bonds of the hair and therefore weaken the hair and make it less able to retain moisture. That's why with relaxed hair you can get to a point where you don't see growth anymore, you would experiencing breakage due to dry hair. From what I've observed, ladies converting from relaxed to texlaxed hair tend to get amazing longer hair that they never knew was possible. But the point is simple, if you take care of hair by balancing your protein to moisture ratio, hair will grow!

Cons of texlaxed hair

• You shouldn't assume an automatic pass to laziness and not caring for the hair. Yes there's less work compared to natural hair but you should still get hair treatments that add protein and moisture to your hair, e.g. hair mayonnaise and cholesterol. 
• Shrinkage! But not to the same extent as natural hair.

Happy healthy hair, whether you go the relaxed or natural route, let's just be healthy!!! 

Love - AfroMoriri

Updated winter hair regimen

My favourite opening line around this time of the year, "South African winter has finally come, mornings and evenings are the coldest, the sun sets earlier and rises later than usual and my hair is responding to the temperature change. Due to the change in weather conditions I am changing my regime until winter is over so my hair survives the winter blues".

I'll start off by explaining my usual winter hair care routine then explain the added changes that make this an updated regimen. 

General winter regimen

• Wash and deep condition hair once every 2 weeks. I use both a protein and hydrating/moisturising deep conditioner. In winter I wash the hair every fortnight unlike once a week in summer because my scalp doesn't sweat as much as it does in summer, neither does it secrete lots of oils. 
• Moisturise and seal the moisture after deep conditioning, using the LCO method. This means, liquid (leave in conditioner), cream (shea butter) and oil (extra virgin olive oil). 
• Revive moisture daily, using a spray mixture of distilled water and oils (two thirds of the water plus a third comprising of castor oil, pure glycerine and extra virgin olive oil).

Additional steps this winter

• Co-wash in place of shampoo. Co-wash means washing the hair using a conditioner. This helps retain moisture and also softens hair, making it less brittle and breakable from being dry. 
• Change protective styling to either small twists using my own hair or plaiting medium sized cornrows. Recently I did a 6 month protective style challenge (in summer, details are available here ) and my hair responded well to protective styles that allowed direct access to the hair and scalp. Hoping this doesn't back fire in winter as I might need extra cover from braiding. But I can only know by first trying right?
• Wear a satin scarf at night while simultaneously using a satin pillow case. Since my hair won't have the extra cover of braids I'd like to prevent possible exposure of my own hair in case my scarf comes off. Trust me, sometimes it comes off during the night - blame nightmares maybe?  Lol! In summer I only ever use the satin pillow case.

Love - AfroMoriri

My hairstyles during the 6 month protective style challenge

During the 6 month protective style challenge we recently ran, I had my hair in the styles below. You will notice that my hair styles looked similar, this isn't because I am a monotonous boring person; but rather, I know what works for my hair in terms of long terms styling. What this means is:

• I need direct access to my scalp
• My hair tangles less in the styles below
• The amount of build up I get is less in these hairstyles
• They are durable and don't wear out quickly
• The protective style challenge was during the peak of summer (Nov-Apr), and I cannot handle hair extensions (long braids or weaves). They get way too hot for me and my scalp itches way more than if I had them in winter. The one photo where I have a curly weave is because I went to England in December and as you know, their winter is FREEZING for us Africans :-)

The hairstyles

Below are 12 hairstyles that I had during this period. Some of them were the long term protective styles that would last 4weeks or 6 weeks. And some were low manipulation styles that I wore during the 'breathing' period of my hair. If you are curious about what this breathing period is all about, feel free to refer to the post I wrote when this challenge started - explaining what the 6 month style challenge is about here . 

Love - AfroMoriri

Results of the 6 month protective style challenge

If you follow AfroMoriri on Instagram, by now you would know that there was a 6 month protective style challenge that ran from November 2015 until April 2016. This was the first time I ever did such a challenge, therefore I invited fellow hair friends/followers on Instagram to join in. Initially, I had envisaged that we would get 20 participants but unfortunately we ended up with only 10 and that number dwindled down with time as you'll see by the final results submitted below. In case you would like to know what the motivation for starting this type of challenge was, as well as what I did (regimen) in this period, you may refer to this post written when the challenge started. Who do you think grew the most length? Leave us a comment below.

                                                                   AfroMoriri results

Buhle's results

Hulisani's results (AfroHealthSA)

Thesjozana's results

Wiwizer's results

Congratulations ladies, we are all winners because we certainly learnt something(s) about our hair during this period. Love - AfroMoriri. 

Detailed finger detangling - how often is it necessary for 4cHair?

Detangling is a process of unraveling the knots or intertwining of the hair strands. This is an act commonly found in hairs of women with curly or kinky hair and occurs due to the natural tendency of the hair to coil up. Tangled hair can be worsened by bad hair habits such as rubbing hair with a towel on wash day, wearing kinky hair in an unstretched state for long, letting hair rub against clothing (collars and scarfs), sleeping without a satin scarf/bonnet etc. Bad weather can also cause hair tangles.

Methods of detangling

• Finger detangling
• Comb detangling 
• Brush detangling
• Snipping with scissors

Depending on how sensitive your hair is, how patient you are, and how knotted your hair tends to get there are many options one can use to detangle. The above listed methods all have their benefits and disadvantages, so ensure you do proper research before deciding which method to follow. Personally I tend to use the comb detangling method as well as the finger detangling. I tend to do a quick finger detangle that usually takes me 30-40 each week when I wash my hair, and a quick comb detangle once a month. Further to this, depending on how knotted my hair is, I also often do a detailed finger detangle which usually takes me between 3-4 hours and can be done once every 4 weeks or every 6 weeks. 

Detailed finger detangling

When I perform detailed finger detangling, the following is what I do:

• Section my hair into very small sections, usually 10 to 12
• Go through each section, apply slight moisture (a mix of water and olive oil) then apply coconut oil or olive oil to my fingers and start detangling
• Within each section, I take time to really separate the strands by very small sections as I search for tangled hair
• For stubborn knots, I attempt untangling but if I fail I resort to snipping them with a pair of scissors
• The frequency of when I perform detailed finger detangling isn't preset and followed dogmatically, I usually assess the state of my hair and then decide if I need the short or detailed detangling. 

Example of the amount of knots I found in my hair after a detailed 4 hour detangling sesssion

Head scarfs, Johannesburg and warm people & colours

Hope you are having a great week so far and if you aren't may this post cheer you up. This morning on Instagram (@afromoriri) I shared a basic concept that says if you are generally able to love the home you live in, the city you come from or the city that's currently nurturing you, as well as your country or the country that's being resourceful to you; then you naturally have a positive outlook that can help make it easy to love yourself and thus your tresses. This post will share some snaps about Braamfontein and what I appreciated from it this last weekend, come see the world through my lense!

                                          Neighbourgoods Market, colour and head scarfs

Braamfontein streets, colourful buildings and warmth

New year new hair habits! Grow natural hair longer than before

Happy new year everyone and apologies for going silent on you. Just needed a few weeks off to recuperate from the previous year, unwind and focus for 2016. I am now back and have also missed you :-) !

Now let's talk about our plans for making our hair healthier and getting it to flourish even better in this new year. Please don't get me wrong, I am not trying to add more to your already challenging new year's resolution list. Simply put, I am asking you to see this as a re-assurance that you have it in you to do better this year; and if you take it a week at a time, by the time the year ends you'll be astounded at just how capable you are.

Lessons I've learnt since my healthy hair journey started in April/May 2014

• Caring for natural hair is only hard work if you perceive it that way and convince yourself of that. Remember in life, anything you believe comes to pass. Whether it's with your health, your beauty, your dreams or anything else - if you believe you aren't strong enough to exercise or don't have it in you then you'll remain unhealthy and unhappy, and if you believe you are ugly and can't achieve anything; trust me other people will see you as ugly and your dreams will only be alive in dreamland during your sleep. Change your mindset!
• Long hair doesn't come about because of hair products! There aren't any miracle products out there, trust me. Anyone who markets their products as magical and promises you phenomenal miraculous growth is simply taking advantage of the innate longing for luscious long hair that women seem to have been born with. Hair grows when you take care of it through a religious process in a similar manner as you bath everyday, brush your teeth and get dressed. 
• You have grown to accept your daily grooming requirements of waking up, bathing (for some, boiling the water first), applying deodorant and body lotion etc. So why can't you do the same for your hair and you prefer an easier, 'lazier' route?
• Every woman is different, and thus has a unique hair journey. Some people have a very remarkable fast rate of growth, some have super voluminous hair and some seem not to experience breakage at all. But this doesn't mean my hair (which possibly exhibits the opposite traits) is less beautiful. Embrace your tresses, the more you love them and care for them, the more you'll be surprised as to how much beauty exists on your own crown, your head!!

How to have healthier, fuller, longer natural hair this year

• If you don't have a hair regimen yet, build one. I have a guide on how to build a hair regimen here and this works for both natural and relaxed hair. Relaxed hair can be grown in a healthy manner too. 
• If you already have a regimen, pay attention to what you aren't doing consistently and change that. For example you might already be deep conditioning once a week for moisture but fail to revive the moisture every morning (or every 2 days) depending on your hair needs and weather conditions - so why not add this to your regimen more consistently and observe how your hair responds. Some of us live in Africa where we get summer days for most of the year, therefore harsh drying conditions that suck moisture out of hair, therefore we might need to moisturise much more than an average person.
• Get protective styles so that you keep your hands out of your hair. The less you manipulate your hair the better it will grow. Don't forget to still care for the hair underneath that protective style.
• Hair care is all about a balance between Keratin (protein in hair strands) and moisture. So make sure your deep conditioning incorporates both. However pay attention to the frequency and time needed for protein treatments as these could lead to hair damage if done excessively. For example if Hair Mayonnaise says leave-in for 15 mins, do not exceed that time as you will end up hardening your hair and causing breakage from hardened hair strands. 
• Enjoy your hair regimen process by incorporating it into your normal lifestyle. Don't try to have a separate time that is only for wash day etc. Rather, do your hair while watching TV with family or while doing house chores. If you solely allocate time to doing your hair, you'll end up bored and even fail at keeping up with this time requirement.

Love -AfroMoriri