Hair Care on the Go

Been around the world and I can't...

It's the most wonderful time of the year. No, not winter; summer! Summer time brings about fun in the sun, laying in the shade, drinking a little lemonade, traveling and hair! Summer season is not only fun season. For many summer season is travel season. 

Traveling has it's own quirks and quivers. The woes of traveling packing, forgetting things, flight delays and long TSA lines are the typical run of the mill traveling quirks. However, when it comes to hair care the woe quickly morphs into a foe. For those who love to travel or live on the go hair care my 8 tips for hair care on the go can make hair care and hair styling your friend. 

Never fear, the author of What They Don't Tell You at the Hair Salon and writer of this blog is here with 8 quick things to consider as you travel or live out of your suitcase. 

     1. Pack Light:  Not only sounds good when Erykah Badu sings it, but it will also feel good  as you get through your travels easily. Packing lights saves you time and frees your mind. Time is of the essence when you are on vacation or living to and fro. Pack light so you will not be tossing through packed items that you will never have time to change to wear or will frustrate your traveling experience. Packing light will also give you room to fit the hair care items you need for your journey.

     2. Referrals, Google reviews and social media, oh my! Prior to traveling let people know where you are going and ask them if they can refer someone who may do hair where you will be traveling to. Read their Google reviews. Do not just look at the fiver stars. Read those comments. Utilize all the social media platforms to vet the potential hair stylist or salon. While inboxing and direct messaging are nice for scheduling appointments, nothing beats getting a good consultation in person. Be sure to talk in detail with the stylist prior to service about what you want, the time and the cost.

Pack light.

     3. Inspect and Respect Images: Scrolling through images are great. Understand those are photos. Therefore, inspect and enlarge those images to look for detail. Look into the stylist feed to see they are actually getting comments, writing responses and reposting the progression and retention of their clientele. Look for images of them highlighting them doing the hair style they are posting. Scroll to see if you notice the same face twice or more. If you are looking at different images with different people all the time; buyer beware. Cross check other social medias for continuity of posting and feedback.

     4. Cost: The cost of salon services can be easily found on a salon's website. However, if the hairstylist or salon does not have a website, getting an accurate price quote varies. Most hair stylists don't post the cost of their services or quote prices over the phone because of the varying hair care and hair styling needs that sits in their chair. Price quoting is difficult. Hairstylist needs to see the condition of your scalp and hair to determine the cost. In all fairness, visit the salon to get a consultation for the true price.

Hotel hair care? Maybe.

     5. Hotel hair care: The hair care products offered in most hotels are typically not the best for those who have textured or very long hair. While the shampoo will clean your hair, it may make your hair difficult to manage. The conditioners may not soften Afro, dense heads of hair or very long hair enough to comb it. Therefore, remember to pack what you use at home. Nothing will mess up travel experience than messed up hair from using the wrong products.

     6. Kids hair and travel: If your child has textured, dense or/and very long hair, braiding it up is best. When kids travel, they want to have fun; not get their hair done. 

     7. Heat free hair care: Heat free hair styles such as braids, braid extension hair styles, wash-n-go, weaves, locs, twists and cornrows are almost perfect for travel and the hot season. Keep in mind they need to maintained as well. Follow the directions given to you by the person who styled your hair. Do not leave braided, weaved or extension hairstyles in for long periods of time. Because the scalp is a microbial habitat, leaving those kinds of styles in beyond 3 weeks can prove disastrous when removing them. Heat free hair styles are to be in lieu of actually caring or and styling your own hair on a regimented basis. 

    8. YouTube: I absolutely love YouTube. I love the free advice people upload! YouTube gives you the behind the scenes and the how-to's of what you are looking for an answer to. "YouTube is awesome for everything except teeth and hair," is my favorite saying! Do not watch YouTube for directions on how to do your hair or child's. No two heads of hair are alike, except identical twins. Watching YouTube to learn how to do something to your hair or child's hair will almost always prove to be disastrous. Instead visit your hair stylist and ask for permission to record them doing you hair and your child's hair to learn how to do your hair or your child's hair. 

There you have it. Eight simple things to consider as you have fun this summer traveling or is living out of your suitcase. And in the singing voice of Erykah Badu, "pack light."

You can purchase my book, What They Don't Tell You at the Hair Salon at www.lwrightbooks.com, Amazon and Barnes and Noble. You can also purchase it via iBook, Kindle, Nook and Google Play Store. 

Unnatural Hair Care

The L.O.I.S Scale Hair Typing System

As a social worker turned cosmetologist, something about the natural hair movement in the early 2000's perplexed me. My gut reaction combined with my college education in social science, gave me all kinds of signals and pangs that something about this natural hair movement was not right.

20 years ago, I could not figure it out. Today, 20 years later, I still have not figured it out. While I most certainly understand, agree, empathize and applaud the efforts of deliberately celebrating varying textures of hair on people of African ancestry, I am not quite sure I understand how natural hair became specific to people of African ancestry. It is as if people of ethnicities do not have natural hair too. The other thing I do not understand about the natural hair movement is the constant promotion of the notion that chemically altered hair is not natural. If it grows from your scalp it is natural. If you alter the hair that has grown from your scalp, it remains natural; just altered. The last I checked, if you fry chicken; it's still chicken and if you dye your t-shirt, it's still a t-shirt.

My latest book, "What They Don't Tell You at the Hair Salon," speaks to the powerful influence the internet and social media has on hairstylists and the beauty industry. I am writing this blog using the natural hair movement to capture my confusion and what they don't tell you at the hair salon. For starters, what they don't tell you at the hair salon, the Internet will. While much of what is on the Internet is interesting, some of it is just plane old nonsense. Let's explore hair care and hair styling. There are like millions if not billions for searches for this topic; thus giving hairstylists and hair care novices a plethora of information to gather.

Read on as I explain the top four most unnatural hair care and hair styling techniques I have come across a cosmetologist and writer on and off the Internet. These practices have seriously influenced the minds of hairstylists and the beauty industry.

They are the LOC (Leave-In Conditioner, Oil and Moisturize) Method, the L.O.I.S Scale Hair Typing System, the Inversion Method to Grow Hair and the Monistat 7 for Hair Growth Method.

According to Google, the LOC Method is a technique for moisturizing hair. This one here perplexes me because drinking water is the best way to moisturize hair. The second reason this perplexes me is, for the most part this technique appears to be marketed to people with curly, wavy, coily and Afro hair.  For all practical intents and purposes, these textures need to be coated more than they need to be moisturized. Moisture implies the hair will be wet, damp, clammy; you get the picture. Any smart cosmetologist, dermatologist and trichologist will tell all clients that wet hair swells the cuticles and swollen cuticles are solely responsible for tangled hair. Therefore, the operative technique would be to coat these textures. And the CC (Coated Cuticles) Method would be more befitting. Leave-In conditioners, oil and creams all coat the cuticles (outer layer of hair) layer of hair.

The LOC Method

Next, thee gawd awful L.O.I.S Scale Hair Typing System. For starters I loathe this one the most. Why? Well, first of all this concept has been jacked from Andre Walker (a.k.a Oprah's old hairstylist). He created the hair typing system to compliment his private label brand over some 25 years ago and now it's being high jacked by some rogue hairstylists. NaturallyCurly.com explains the, "LOIS system is broken down by letters and incorporates all hair types for black women. L = Bend, O = Curl, I = Straight, S = Wave. I take it they are referring to the hair textures taking on the shape of the letters? Any whoot, what a crock of over cooked spaghetti noodles. If you really want to take advantage of this concept go on over to https://andrewalkerhair.com/ and get it directly from the source! Number two, "incorporates all hair for all black women..." Considering, men's hair bends, curls, waves and goes straight, I think they should be included too! Both male and females hair textures are determined by their genetics and NOT their race; however, I'll give them two points for giving me the opportunity to give credit where credit is due...#AndreWalker.

Third, the interesting Inversion Method to Grow Hair. This technique instructs folks to "heat up some oil, like olive or coconut, apply it to your scalp, comb hair thoroughly, massage your scalp for four minutes, and hold your head upside down for a few moments to rush the blood to your scalp for nourishment and growth." Because I know children read my blogs, I will not curse. But, what the French toast and ham sammich are these muffler suckers talking about? I have no clue. It is true, blood flow will carry the much needed nourishments to your hair. And true massaging your scalp for four minutes is sure to increase blood flow to it. Why hang your head upside down for a few more mintues? Jeezus take the wheel!

Last, the questionable, Monistat 7 for Hair Growth Method. Woo sah readers; woo sa! For those of you who don't know, the scalp is a microbial habitat. The microbes the scalp produces are yeast microbes. The scalp is self cleansing just like the vagina. Both do so all day every day. Both orifices needs to be cared for and groomed with the right products, the right tools and the right techniques. When the scalp and the vagina are not cleansed a timely organized fashion, the results are typically an imbalance of good and bad bacteria flora. Monistat 7 was specifically formulated for the imbalanced vagina under the notion that when used as directed for 7 seven consecutive days the flora (environment of good bacteria) of the vagina will return to normal. It is imperative to use the products formulated for your vagina on your vagina; and use the products formulated to clean your scalp on your scalp.

The Monistat 7 Method for Hair Growth

Understand this is for the environment of the vagina, not the scalp. For the record, companies have formulated shampoos specifically for people who have problems with yeast on the scalp, a' la dandruff, clarifying, and medicated shampoos to be exact. I understand how some products can be multifaceted, like vinegar, olive oil and baking soda.

For the most part, I understand what they are attempting to do with this natural hair thang. Some of it I agree with and others, I do not. Whatever my position or yours, it is unnatural for curly, wavy, coily and Afro hair to be moist, it is unnatural (it may be natural, but it ain't right...#lol) to steal somebody else's idea and make it your own, it is unnatural to hang your head upside down for a certain period of time to make your hair grow, and it is unnatural to use products formulated to improve and alleviate problems with the yeast production in the vagina to improve and alleviate yeast production on the scalp.

Understand, the concept of the right products, the right tools and the right tools concept mentioned in my book are about empowering and educating the reader. In the name of shameless plug, please buy my book. It is much more accurate and user friendly to both the hair stylist and the customer. The wrong products, the wrong tools and the wrong techniques as outlined in this blog exposes how they are all about mass marketing to produce mass dollars. They know all to well the horrible narrative of hair care and hair styling for people of African Ancestry brought on by slavery. They know all too well the narrative told to slaves by slave owners that their hair was bad, nappy, kinky and should not be combed. They know all too well those words and terms were wrong. They know all too well slaves were denied the practice of cleaning and grooming their own hair. Now, 400 years later, they know all to well the result of their abuse and miseducation has become a cultural practice for many descendants of slavery. They know all to well that it has now become the narrative of the natural hair movement: don't wash it, don't comb it, it is difficult to manage and all black women have the same hair.

They were and are wrong. No two heads of hair are alike for people of the same race, ethnicity, nation or culture, I highly suggest a buyer and user beware  attitude towards these popular techniques. They are constantly being promoted over the Internet via social media, hair salons and under educated hairstylists. A cookie cutter approach to hair care and hair styling that categorizes and classifies hair to the social political construct of race is played out. Ain't nobody got time for that. Creating and stealing hair care and hair styling techniques in name of popularity to become a social media influencer or famous, get more attention, likes, followers and money will only benefit their Racially AAA (assigned asinine agenda). 

How unnatural is that?

Flair for Elderly Hair

The beauty of  white hair!

Fear enters our lives in many facets. From the moment we see the unexpected crawl of a bug or feel the rapid beat of our heart brought on by public speaking; everyone has something they fear. While the appearance of gray hair doesn't crawl and startle you or causes your to beat rapidly when you speak in front of crowds, for many, gray hair coupled with aging is a pain in the watoosi (otherwise known as the butt)! Gray hair and aging can be difficult. Some dislike having it, some anticipate it, and others downright embrace it.

Whether you embrace your gray hair and age or fight it every step of the way with make up, color sticks, mascara, Bigen or hair dye, there are a few key things everyone who is aging as their hair turns gray must always consider...

Hair definitely changes as we age.

Complaints about aging typically includes a fuss about gray hair. The complaints primarily focus around four issues. Limpness,  turning yellow, style ability and unruliness. The complaints are not so much related to aging. On the contrary, they are attributed to hair styling issues. Infrequent shampooing, not combing hair enough and using the wrong kinds of hair care products and styling agents are what makes gray hair look bad as opposed to how old you are.

Gray hair is an actual disorder that causes hair to loose it's pigment (color). Many people believe gray changes the structure of your hair. It does not. Often mistakes are easily seen and happen more frequent on gray hair because of the optical illusion that gray hairs are more tedious and less attractive to those who have it. Your gray hair is not difficult now compared to when it was darker. Your gray is is just as attractive as you was when you were younger. It is only the difference in color that sometimes changes one's attitude when their hair become shunned.

I don't know whose worse at selling bogus hair care products; social media, info-mericals or the myriad of home shopper programs. Whatever the options, selling visions of long hair from yesteryear, all modalities are like buying a cheese burger someone one took a bite from. If you are looking to revitalize your aging hair or your loved one's aging hair avoid buying products claiming to return hair to it's youthful luster, revert your gray hair to it's natural color or making your hair thicker. Anatomically and biologically, hair changes as we age. Yep, that is correct. As we age, hair naturally become thin, gray and thinner for most people. I attribute the changing of your thick strands of hair to thin strands of hair to the mouth of follicle (the tiny hole your hair grows from). As we age, the mouth of the follicle shrinks in diameter; thus shrinking the diameter of our hair right along with it. Hair care products and supplements can not revert this naturally occurring phenomenon. Therefore, buyer beware.

Au naturale

While aging may be the inevitable, there are ways to make maximize the optical illusion of younger, fuller and with more shine without trying to look like someone you are not. The easiest and most affordable way to enhance and modify the appearance of graceful aging are: haircuts, hair coloring wigs and head wraps/turbans. I advise everyone, short of the shampoo, a haircut is thee most important aspect of a salon visit. A haircut is to hair what fashion design is to fabric. Yes! Haircuts are that important and magnanimous. Hair coloring is a great way to camouflage, enhance or outright hide the changes that occur with aging hair. In earlier times, people wanted to return to their younger years as it related to their hair color. Not today. Today hair color is art. You can do what you like. To be exact, going darker is not the best way to reverse the signs of aging. Because of loss of pigment in the skin as we age, going darker makes most skin tones look stark and pale. Wigs are quick, easy and flexible. You can purchase a wig in any style and hair color, makes wigs a great alternative. Wigs can be removed whenever you want which makes wigs an even greater alternative. Wigs can be bought in most neighborhoods, online or via a catalog makes them one of the greatest alternatives. Head wraps or turbans are great for showing cultural pride and a sense of style. They sell head wraps and turbans in varying prints and colors. Some are pre-made. While others require intricate twists and turns of fabrics, cloths and for some even old t-shirts. Whatever your style, there is a fabric just right for your style. Covering your hair is also a great way to protect your hair from the sun and will suffice for a quick fix when all else fails or if you want to boldly steal the scene!

African head wrap!

The flair for elderly hair definitely ain't the ol' gray hair it used to be. Gray hair can be natural, short, spiked, sassy, colored or covered. Gray looks great on everyone at every age. Today's attitude towards hair, "It's mine and I love it." Regardless the texture, rather it is thick, thin, or balding, long or short, natural or colored; gray hair is on the minds of many. How to care for it and alter it means a lot many. Be sure to continue to make purchases for your gray hair according to it's texture and type, using the right products, the right tools and the right techniques.

Roll Out

To hell with what "they" say.

Hair stylists listens to a lot of shop talk in the hair salon. Shop talk ranges from topics hot off the press such as the most recent preposterous government shut down for a wall to keep the country safe from people entering the country illegally, to the latest R. Kelly fiasco, to unjust killings of innocent African American men, to America's history of mistreatment of women, and of course thee old hair care do's and don'ts.

While attending cosmetology school, I recall being advised to keep our opinions out of religious and political school of thoughts. To date, I do as advised. I merely listen because they truly do get heated. But, now when it comes to topics about hair, I'm mouth all mighty.

People enter salons with all kinds of notions about hair care. The notions, I must say are all pretty much entrenched from cultural practices to the ever popular and most credited, "they." Yaaaaaas huntee, you know what "they" trumps anything and everybody; including hair stylists. This particular statement was stated around the holiday. A customer entered the salon to purchase some hair care products. She entered the salon with a head full of curls. As everyone complimented her, the customer I had just styled asked in amazement, "How do you keep your curls looking so nice and lasting so long?" "Easy, I roll my hair every night on sponge rollers," she happily replied. In astonished unison, all the other customer responded, "Sponge rollers!" "Yes. Sponge rollers." She was bombarded with statements and questions about how bad sponge rollers were for hair.

Sponge rollers are great for preserving curls.

The customer chimed in very loud, "Ladosha, did you hear what she said? What do you think about sponge rollers?" I replied, "Well, considering I told her to use them, I think they are great for what they are designed to do." Everyone was shocked. You would have thought I took my shirt off, or sneezed without covering my nose, or said I voted for Trump. With haughtiness, they were disdained by the mere endorsement and approval of sponge rollers on hair; let alone to be used to preserve curls. They all had much to say about what "they" say about rollers on hair. There were so many poignant comments about "they," Their comments were coming at me like a swirling scene straight out of Stephen King's 70's thriller movie, Carrie. It was as if everyone's comment was swirling in my ears, "They're all gonna laugh at you. They're all gonna laugh at you." I literally put my head over my ears and yelled, "Who are they?"

The bombardment of comments were silenced. "Who are they," I asked? Everyone looked around at each other, but had no response. My sentiments exactly. In hair care and hair styling refrain from what "they" say. Ignore the comments in your head about what "they" say. Ignore, any comments or suggestions from what "they" say. I honestly have no proof of who "they" are but If I could make a good guess, I'd say, people who don't know much about how curls are created and recreated.

"They" are typically the people telling people things with no merit, rhyme, reason or truth. "They" are typically the people who do not read any instructions per the manufacturer. "They" are typically the people who have lost all or most of their hair from doing too much to their hair. "They" are typically the people who did not complete their training or continue their education in cosmetology or trichology. You see, "they" are not the people anyone should be listening to as a source of credibility or assistance.

For the records, all curls are created in many forms of a rolling, twirling or winding fashion. Be it rolling a curling iron barrel, twirling of marcel curling irons, turning of flat irons, winding hair in a circular motion using two index fingers, or physically rolling hair onto a roller; in order for hair to curl, it must be rolled. Therefore, it is very obvious, for the varying manipulations used to achieve curls are all done in some rolling, twirling or winding fashion; it is practical to do the same to preserve the curls.

The ludicrous claim that sponge rollers pulls or snatches hair out is the same claim "they" make about combs. Just as people refrain and refuse to use rollers to preserve and maintain their curled hair, they refrain and refuse to use a comb to comb out their hair for the same reasons; what "they" say. Rollers not combs pull hair or take hair out.

For the sake of Pete and Pam, please stop listening to "them." Them people will not be there in the morning when you wake up and your curls are gone because you did not roll your hair. Them people will not pay for your hair to be curled daily. Them people will not be their help you with your hair, but you will. Hair styles are not like sculpting and molding a statue. Hairstyles are like sculpting and molding the blankets on your bed. Once you get out, you have to make it back up. Once you get out, you have to make it up. Hair styles like making up your up bed. Once you roll out, you have to make it up as soon as you get out the bed. The longer you wait, the more you pile things on it as you get ready for your day; thus make making your bed more difficult.

The same rules apply for rolling your hair as it does rolling out your bed. Rolling hair is best done the moment you've lived in the hairstyle and is ready to preserve it for the next day to wear it and live in it!

Keep it simple. Roll your hair with sponge rollers to keep your curls. The plastic rollers are not best for all hair textures like the sponge. Plastic rollers may fall out. Sponge rollers snap in and hold through the night. If you are seeing hair in your sponge rollers, it is probably because you did not comb your hair out thoroughly prior to rolling your hair, your hair is dirty (dirty hair sheds profusely) or simply you are seeing hair that is naturally shedding.

Now as for what "they" say about rolling hair?  Put on some Ludacris, motivating you to have them... Rollout (My Business) and roll your hair!