Natural hair 101: beginner natural hair, what to do

This post is aimed at advicing new naturals on what to do in terms of routine, products and hair care. As a newbie natural it is easy to get bombarded with lots of ideas and not know where to start. Reading other naturals' journeys on YouTube or on blogs can prove to be be a rather confusing thing and lead to frustration instead of progress. So if you don't know what equipment you need, or what to do, this blog post is just for you.

Products
Natural hair has certain characteristics that make it work better with certain products over others. So it will be important for you to familiarise yourself with the types of ingredients you should stay away from.
1. Shampoos: I'd advice you to get a sulfate free shampoo. Sulfates are cleaning agents that are added to the shampoo. Unfortunately sulfates are too strong and over clean natural hair thus stripping it of moisture and making it dry and brittle. Dry, brittle hair easily breaks! For more info on which shampoo to use and why read this post.
2. Conditioner: you will need both leave in conditioners and deep conditioning ones. Leave in conditioners are good agents of moisture and you will notice as your healthy hair journey goes, kinky curly hair loves moisture. For deep conditioning, look for products that have shea butter, aqua, glycerine and natural oils. Stay away from conditioners with parabens or mineral oils as these simply coat the hair shaft and give the illusion of shiny moisturised hair; when they are infact just coating the hair shaft and not penetrating it to provide actual moisture. They also clog your scalp pores and prevent your hair from 'breathing'.
3. Oils and Shea butter: these will be essential for locking in moisture and sealing it. You may be aware of the LOC, or LCO method of locking and sealing moisture.

Equipment

1. Spritz bottle: you will realise with time that natural hair loves moisture, and spritz bottles are the best way to add moisture to your hair on a daily basis. Your concoction here could include 2 thirds distiller water and 1 third virgin olive oil and pure glycerine.
2. Wide tooth comb: as they don't get stuck between our coils and do not cause excessive breakage like the small tooth comb does.
3. Bobby pins: your styling will get easier if you make bobby pins your friend
4. Tooth brush: I prefer the one with soft bristles. This brush is great for your edges, to smooth them away.
5.Satin pillow or scarf: cotton sucks moisture in your hair so the best way for your bedtime routine is to use satin based material. I only started using a satin pillow and scarf 2 years into my healthy hair journey, once I saw the results I regretted not jumping in from the onset.
6. Old cotton T-shirts: replace traditional towels with old t-shirts. Towels cause too much friction and break our sensitive tresses.

Regime/Routine
You will have to build a hair regimen/routine. A regimen is simply your routine that you can't go without, for example, every morning you take a shower and brush your teeth right? That's a grooming regimen and you need one for your hair. Go to this link for a guide on building a regime.

Love - AfroMoriri

Worst Hair Salon experience in Randburg - be warned

Some of you maybe be aware of my latest protective style through photos I have posted on Instagram. Well, truth is I ended up seeking an alternative stylist and got the braiding done at her house instead of at the initial intended place, i.e. the Hair Salon I went to in Randburg. A part of me wants to disclose this Salon's name but a major part of me insists that I somehow deal with this in a 'dignified' manner, for lack of a better word. To give you an idea though, the Salon is located in the block of shops by Randburg mall, alongside Jan Smuts and very close to a Liquor Store within the same block of shops. Hint hint :-)

In case you are wondering why I even bothered going to this Salon let me shed some light. I had no intention of doing my hair there, I actually went to the mall to buy the hair extensions I needed for the hairstyle. I'd even bought some weaving thread and needle so that I would do my own crocheting at home. After all I am not that bad at plaiting my own hair, especially due to the great Yoda of Braiding, the Sensai called YouTube. Who doesn't know how to do their hair when YouTube has so many tutorials? Back to the point, I had my extensions and was walking past the numerous ladies at the mall who bombarded me with their invites to do my hair, I obviously lost will and succumbed to one of them. Lesson learnt, don't ever give in to these ladies, stay strong and walk away.

The following are the atrocious sequence if events that made me walk out of the salon with my hair not done:

1. My hair was braided in African Threading to stretch it, since I had washed & deep conditioned it the previous day in preparation for the protective styling.
2. The Salon Stylist was quick to roughly undo my threading while pulling my hair. She was not gentle at all, and I was worried for both the ends of my hair as well as the overall breakage that could occur due to her rough handling. Mind you, I had just trimmed my ends few weeks before and ripping the thread off my hair is one of the things that can cause split ends. So no, lady please handle my hair with care - that's what I thought.
3. Once the hair was out of the thread, she didn't take time to separate each section before attempting to comb. So since she wasn't prepared to do this, I told her I'd do it myself. If you thread your hair in order to stretch it you would know that afterwards you need a bit of oil to unravel each section before combing.
4. Once I was done separating each section, she wanted to comb my hair with a small tooth comb, which I profusely declined. She gave me hateful stares and shook her head then stepped aside.
5. She then brought a wide tooth comb but was combing from the root of my hair to the ends, so I disagreed with this and again told her I would comb my own hair. As you would know, it is best to comb natural hair from the ends then work your way down towards the root.
6.Her wide tooth comb was weird in the sense that my hair kept getting stuck in the teeth of the comb, that made me think I probably had tangles I hadn't undone before I threaded my hair. But upon detailed inspection of the comb, I noticed that some of the teeth of the comb had cracks and bits if it had chipped off, so my hair was getting stuck there. This discovery was very upsetting as this is a definite no no, chipped bits of a comb tear through the hair and break it. So at this point I was reaching my breaking point and wanted to ask the Stylist how she got her qualifications if she couldn't even meet the basic requirements of hair styling, i.e. Combs in a good condition! I chose to finger comb my hair at this point.
7. Once I was done, the lady took out her blow dryer, put in on high heat and wanted to blow dry my hair.  So I asked her to rather use cold air as I didn't want heat on my hair. She then asked why, and I told her heat damages my hair. At that point I was not only tired of her bad styling skills, but also of her horrible facial expressions targeted at me. I could tell I annoyed her but there wasn't much she could do. But if looks could kill my friends, I wouldn't be writing this post, lol!
8. She grudgingly grabbed a rat tail comb to make a parting in my hair and start braiding my hair. However she was so rough that I knew I had to stop with the process. When I said ouch she would say "but you refused to let me blow dry your hair, and it is hard".
9. I told her, "please stop, I'll go stretch my hair further at home and come back", and that was my way out. Yes I'm a sissy and wasn't bold enough to tell her I wasn't coming back, but hey, we aren't all that bold. The relief I felt after leaving that salon, wow!!!! Never again, why did I even bother when I know most black salons in this country have the wrong training for our type of hair?

Remember, be bold, be protective of your hair and speak out! The moment you hear your crying out for help, listen to it, stop that stylist and walk out!!! 

Love - AfroMoriri

Hairstyle inspiration: easy natural hair styles for work & date night

The following are easy hairstyles that I enjoy doing. To begin with, please always start with stretched hair; personally I use the African Threading method a lot. It is easy to do and quick as well. Remember to ensure your hair has been fully moisturised and sealed before you proceed to styling it.

Style 1: ideal for work, interviews or any professional setting

This is an easy hairstyle where I sectioned off hair at the front of my head and made a jumbo twist then tucked its ends in with a bobby pin. The hair at the back was pulled into a bun - I partitioned it into two: one small bun in the centre and hair around this bun's circumference. I then rolled & tucked the hair around this small bun away from the bun using bobby pins. Great protective style.

Style 2: ideal for work or any professional setting

This style is easy and quicker to do. I also sectioned off the hair at the front of my head then plaited a number of small to medium twists. These were then pinned down in different directions using bobby pins. The hair at the back was rolled going from my neck upwards, then tucked in using bobby pins. 

Style 3: ideal for date night!!!! Or a casual outing with mates

This style was inspired by Aisha O'Reilly. For a full tutorial, (easy 2 min youtube video) please go to this link. 

Style 4: ideal for all occasions! Great protective style

This style was very easy to do. I followed instructions on youtube, from 4aDaniels. She plaited 4 rows but I plaited 6. You can get the tutorial at this link.

Love - AfroMoriri

Hair tips for September

I'm cutting my hair

I've been on a natural hair journey since September 2011 however since then until April 2014 I would typically let my hair stay in braids for 2 to 3 months at a time. Once a took the braids down I would make sure that within a day after take down I have braided my hair again. My braided hairstyles rotated between very thin twists (Masaai twists) or soft dread. That was my easy regimen, I was convinced natural hair was hard work and tucking it away in braids was an easy way of 'maintaining' it.

For some of you who may not know why I decided to go natural, you may go ahead and read my interesting story here. In summary, I had an experience where my hair just literally fell off as I tried combing or even holding it with my fingers. Very scary experience trust me!

Recently, I have found myself curious, wanting to know how my hair would look if I had always been healthy in my natural regimen. Both from a volume and length perspective. Of the 4 years I have been natural, I have only had a healthy hair journey for a year and four months (thus far). And I have seen an amazing response from my hair. So curiosity has the better of me and I'm in a phase where I feel like 'I am planning to cut my hair' and start afresh. Yes people I'm wondering if any of you has felt that way? Should I decide that I'm cutting my hair?

Remember to check my instagram page on @afromoriri and let me know what you think I should do.

Love - AfroMoriri

Don't know how to build a hair regime - a guide for natural or relaxed hair

Food for thought

Let's start off with your night time routine. Do you wear a doek? If yes we need to change that. The material used for doeks and pillow cases sucks out all the moisture in our hair. So if you had moisturised that morning, all those efforts were to vain. Secondly we all toss and turn at night, thus causing some sort of friction which in turn aggravates this process of moisture loss. But it also exerts some friction that could make your hair break easily. Solution is to get a silk based duk or piece of material or pillow case. I have both, mostly sleep without the doek as I have silk pillow cases. Mind you it isn't necessary to have both. I'm just O.D.D. For example when I'm relaxing watching tv,  I always lay the satin cloth against my cushions on the couch so that my hair doesn't rub against the harsh material covering the cushions/couch. 

Everyday moisture routine

Fortunately for you, your hair is straight from relaxing it. So it doesn't need to be re-moisturised as much as mine. With natural hair I re-moisturise daily, But in your case it would be every other day or even every 3 days. Which means twice to thrice a week. When choosing your moisturiser, please stay away from lotions or creams or hair food that has parabens or mineral oil. Just check in the list of ingredients. The reason I say stay away is, these ingredients only coat your hair shaft and make it glossy/shiny and therefore give the misleading appearance that your hair is moisturised. They were a cheaper way (for the producers and in turn the consumer) of fooling us 'darkies' when marketing strategies for achieving the sleek look started. 

I recommend one of the following:

1. that you get yourself an empty spray bottle (Dischem sells them in their travel section) then add either distiller water (bottled) or cooled water that was boiled in a kettle to the spray bottle, some drops of pure glycerin, olive oil and some drops of aloe Vera juice. For example 2 thirds water, and the last third glycerin, olive oil. Then spritz your hair with this lightly, don't spray till hair is damp. 

2. buy a moisturiser that has water (aqua) as the first ingredient followed by glycerine and shea butter (no preferred order to the latter as long as they are part of the ingredients straight after water). For example, the olive miracle anti-breakage cream. Shea butter is the 5th ingredient in this cream but that's fine. Dischem and Clicks sell it. 

Fortnight haircare

If you had natural hair I would say do this every week but again, you are lucky your strands are straight and not coiled. 

I recommend that you do one of the following:

1. buy coconut oil, and apply it to slightly damp (not wet) hair. It comes hard (state) but as soon as you place it in your palms it melts from your body temperature. Cover your hair with a shopping plastic bag or shower cap for an hour to 4 hours. Personally I prefer doing this overnight while I sleep, the longer you do this the more benefits. You'll notice that your hair gets 'sweaty' when you take off the plastic cap, that's called the greenhouse effect and is a sign you left the bag on for a sufficient time. Coconut oil is the one oil that is the most closest to our hair sebum(oil that moisturises our hair and scalp naturally) so easily penetrates the hair shaft. Thus leaving your hair moisturised amazingly!!!!! Go to this link for the steps to follow when doing this treatment. 

2. do a hot oil treatment. You can do your own home made, instructions available on my blog too, at this link. Or buy the African Pride growth oil from Dischem. I love it. It has instructions on how to do a hot oil treatment.  Leave it on for 20-30 mins for more benefit. 15 mins is still good though. 

Monthly routine

You need a monthly routine, even if your hair is in braids or weave. Thou shall learn to care for your hair. Once a month, please please, do a hair mayonnaise treatment. It adds protein to your hair. If you only focus on moisture your hair will break. You need a balance of both moisture and protein. Buy hair mayonnaise at Dischem too. For your moisture routine you can do one of the fortnight recommendations. You could go get these treatments at the salon as well. 

Quarterly routine

Please make sure every 3 to 4 months you check split ends. They are a BAD for your hair's health. They are even so ill mannered they can progress by extending further down your hair strand. Once they do, you will have much more damaged hair which won't be able to hold moisture and will certainly break. So you won't retain as much length then end up thinking your hair doesn't grow.

Routine while in braids or weaves

Get a water based moisturiser or use your daily spritz explained in the beginning of this mail. 

Other related (GYM)

Don't forget that hair thrives better in clean conditions. If you gym, your scalp needs more cleaning than an inactive person due to the sweat that builds up. Plus in Joburg there's too much air pollution, so our hair needs a good clean. Please try shampoo your hair once a week, especially if you have an active lifestyle. If you sweat a lot, you might consider washing your hair mid week with a conditioner. That means you get two washes per week. The lady who helped me in my hair journey actually has relaxed (texlaxed though) hair,  her haircare suggestions are worth a read on www.hairequest.blogspot.com as they are good for both natural and relaxed hair!

Love - AfroMoriri

Washday after taking down cornrows(protective style)

My second protective style this past winter was a set of cornrows accompanied by 2 strand twisted braids on the crown of my head. This style was kept for 4 weeks. I really liked this style because it allowed me to access my scalp so that my castor oil challenge didn't get a setback.

On the day I took down the style, I was impressed with how the hair had no knots nor tangles. This came as a surprise because I usually experience knotted hair when my hair is braided. The only possible explanation for this pleasant surprise is the water and castor oil mix which I used on a daily basis as well as oiling my scalp 3 times a week for the Castor oil challenge. I mean this was the only difference in my regime in comparison to other times when my hair is braided. So in future, I will ensure to use this method of hair maintenance. In case you are wondering, I didn't wash my hair in this 4 week period.

The following is the procedure I followed in taking down the braids and cornrows:
1. I undid the cornrows in small sections of 4 rows at a time. Took down the braids in small sections too.
2. Used coconut oil to finger detangle (dry detangling) each small section of the cornrows or braids.
3. Proceeded to further and gently detangle each section using a wide tooth comb. In this process also remove shed hairs.
4. Twist the small section of the 4 rows (or braids) then proceed to undo the next 4 rows and repeat steps 1 to 4.
5. Once all my hair was in small twisted sections, I went twist by twist(the small sections I just twisted), unravelling the twist and applying a generous amount of  my prepoo mix. My prepoo mix had extra virgin olive oil, honey, pure glycerine, peppermint oil and castor oil. I ended up with 4 big sections. The reason for this specific prepoo was:

• Olive oil is a light oil that penetrates the hair and helps give moisture. It also prevents dandruff& conditions hair.
• Honey also conditions hair, giving that soft smooth feel to hair. It also helps retain moisture. 
• Glycerine also helps retain moisture. It not only helps retain moisture but also draws ('sucks') moisture from its surroundings.
• Peppermint oil prevents dandruff and promotes hair growth by stimulating blood circulation in the hair follicles (that ticklish burning like sensation).
• Castor oil benefits are explained here

6. I left the pre-poo on my head, with a plastic cap on for 4hours. In the last hour I added heat to ensure maximum penetration and benefit as my hair needed pampering.
7. Washed my hair with a sulfate free shampoo. Then proceeded to do an apple cider vinegar rinse to clarify the hair and remove product build up that would have taken place over the 4 weeks. This rinse also restores the scalp's pH level.
8. Deep conditioned with a protein treatment
9. Deep conditioned with a hydrating treatment
10. Moisturised and sealed-in moisture
11. Blow dried my hair using the tension method, and having applied a heat protector.
The following pictures illustrate the process explained above: