When Hair in the Back Keeps Breaking

Culprits: wrong comb, no protein and improper
styling technique.

"A - is  for apple; J - is for jack; you ain't got no hair in the back!" Is one of those cruel teasing songs that some of the kids would sing as they taunted girls whose hair was either short or broken off in the back.

This blog ndogo aims to capture the culprits to hair breakage, hair damage in the back and what can be done to revitalize the back of the hair. The back of the hair, for many, is the most difficult part of caring for and styling the entire head of hair. The back of the hair for many is actually a different texture and for others there is typically a "false read" on the back of the hair as a result of not combing it properly, using the wrong comb or and using the wrong hair care products. 

For the sake of not writing a long blog, I'll define the "back of the hair" as the part of the hair that

Culprits: not combing hair frequently throughout
the day, the wrong comb, the wrong product and
improper styling technique, not drinking enough water and
not boo booing.

is below the occipital (the ball of the head). The back of the hair typically can be difficult to manage when texture (curly, kinky or wavy) and length is involved. The first and foremost important part of caring for hair in the back is making sure that the scalp is flake free. Make sure the hair does not have product build up (a white/gray cast on the hair or a pasty sticky feel to the hair) on it. When the hair is NOT properly cleaned the hair will stretch, tear and snap as a result of product build up. 

Here are my instructions to revitalize your hair in the back. To ensure the back of the hair is clean, FIRST, apply ample amounts conditioner or a detangler to the back area. Second, use a comb out comb (use a comb out comb with longer teeth, if you have dense or long hair) to detangle the hair thoroughly. The hair should comb through and be free of snarls and tangles. Third, section the hair from left to right (going horizontal) across the back. Fourth, apply a small amount of shampoo and with the balls of your fingers; scrub scalp vigorously, gently cleanse the midshaft and the ends. Repeat the step until the scalp feels tingly. The more the hair becomes clean; the more it will lather, feel springy and comb through. Be sure to look and feel for all three indicators. Just because your hair lathers, does not mean it is clean; so be sure to look for all three indicators.

Best protein in the world!
Perfect for every texture and lengthe

Now that the back of the hair is clean. Condition it with your favorite conditioner and follow up with a protein spray. Yes, X-Treme Daily Repair by Philip Pelusi remains the best on the market. Let both sit for 3-5 minutes and rinse thoroughly. Do not let the products sit beyond the directions. If you let the product sit longer, you risk over softening the hair and it will tear easily during the combing and styling process.

Ok, so your hair is clean and conditioned; now properly style it to your hearts content. If you are going to blow dry your hair. The proper way to do it is in small sections working your way from the back to the front using a Denman brush; not the blow dryer attachment (the heat is too intense for most textures). If you are going to wrap it; use ample amount of wrap product to ensure a smooth and sleek style. If you are going to braid, twists or coil it; apply ample amount of styling cream, gel or mousse (which ever you like). Next apply olive or grapeseed oil to the ends, section hair accordingly, use the proper comb to comb through the section you want to braid, twist or coil and then proceed to finish your look. Please pay close attention to finishing your look meticulously by making sure the ends of the style are secure and COATED. When the ends are not coated, breakage and loss of length are the immediate consequence.

Lastly, nothing will enhance your hair care and styling practices like drinking ample amounts of

Culprits: Definitely not drinking enough water, not getting
hair cut regularly and the wrong comb.

water and eating properly. Water is responsible for your hair being pliable, strong and shiny. Having regular bowel movements are a absolute must in assuring the back of the hair remains strong and long. In wholistic wellness, the gall bladder (where bile or boo boo is made) is associated with the back of the hair; so getting on the toilet to release toxins are key! Keeping your ends cut or trimmed on a scheduled basis reduces the likelihood of your ends splitting and breaking. 

Perfect comb for dense and textured
heads of hair. And is great for
medium to long hair.

When hair in the back keeps breaking, be sure to follow the above mentioned steps and I assure you stronger, longer hair will be the result.

Girl You Betta Watch Out

The Big Chop? Folk been chopping off
their hair!

As a cosmetologist who works behind the chair, teaches, speaks and collaborates with others in the hair care industry, I meet a lot of people who say to me, "I am interested in doing hair." Whenever I hear that, I always say, "Well, I suggest that if you wanna DO hair, get a mannequin."

I would be out of my hair styling mind if I seriously believed that every person who sits in my chair are looking for a hair "DO." The first thing I realized before I became a licensed cosmetologist was that women are very serious about their hair. They are not serious as it relates to looking good, cute, pretty, fine, gorgeous, sexy, better and all that jive. They are serious in as much as they TRUST us. When a woman (man, teen or child) sits in the chair of a licensed professional they are saying, "I trust you." There are a handful of licensed professionals who thinks that, "doing" hair is one of those careers where you can make fast cash and hide it from the IRS. Which is why I affectionately named this blog, "Girl, you better watch out!"

Remember this is my blog ndogo (small), so I'm going to get straight to the point. At the salon

Exactly what is a "natural" hairstylist?

(The Reverence Design Team Hair Salon) where I work at, we do not "do" hair.  We care for hair. As a team we teach and "do" things to care for your hair as well as your image to provide the ultimate salon experience which results in a great hair doo. So, girl you better watch out for these self appointed professionals who profess to be experts at things that made their debut as a trend. Why? Because ultimately after you have your hair serviced to receive any type of service, be it natural, synthetic, organic or chemical; you are ultimately still paying for a hair style. The trending of natural hair, healthy hair, organic hair, chemical free hair is just that a trend. Natural hair, healthy hair, organic hair care and chemical free hair has ALWAYS been staples in most salons. With the paradigm shift in beauty being half for textured and the other half straight; money hungry hair care companies with their savvy marketers as well as money hungry hair styling swindlers are capitalizing on one's desire to change their hair as they see.  

Hair Extension ad.

Girl, you betta watch out for the hair stylist who is quick to jump on any sort of trend. I am not against trends. Trends in the industry are good. They keep us moving, growing and help us look different. The trend now is natural hair versus hair weave and chemically altered hair. Unfortunately, the education is not catching up fast enough to the money making ventures. As a result, hair stylists are at anxious or some times forced to meet the demand by teaching themselves. In the meantime, the manufacturers of hair and hair care products are limiting what education they offer (if any) to supply the demand. In return, that puts both the consumer and hair stylists at risk.

Hair care companies (manufacturers of hair weave as well) view the hairstylist and their customers as the same? There are absolutely no requirements for any one to buy weave, sell weave or apply weave. There is no need to quote a statistic or research. Just go to one of their websites. To meet and create the demand, these companies are selling de-scalped hair. They are calling this cut and de-scalped hair "real human" Remy, Brazilian, Peruvian, Indian, Polynesian and any other "ian"  hair to both the consumer and the licensed professional? Tisk (teeth sucking) come on, don't give me that (in my Biz Markie voice)!  Consumers actually believe they are paying for "real" hair. If it does not grow from your scalp (regardless the bulk, weft or track); it is fake. Real human hair grows from a living human body. Hair texture is pre-genetically determined and hair is biologically categorized by texture (curly, kinky, wavy or straight) not race (Brazilian, Peruvian, Indian and so on). How are women world wide falling for that kind of savvy marketing that was more than likely put together by a man who does not even have hair? You betta watch out for that kind of #trending. 

Girl, you betta watch out for front laced weaves. Now, all of a sudden the "glue in" weave, the dreadful, cancer causing; the "dun dun dun dun"

Exploited Countess Vaghn

bastard of all weaves, "Front Laced" wigs. Yes, they (licensed, untrained and unlicensed people) are about to do "front laced" what they did to the "creamy cracked" relaxer. Because they have permanently disfigured folk and made some permanently lose their hair, they are about to pass the blame on the glue. Knowing they had a responsibility to learn about every aspect of that service. Now the media with their licensed experienced talk show experts have exploited poor Countess Vaughn's image beyond repair. Seriously people? She consents to an expose' on the dangers of hair glue (medical adhesives, bonding and the likes) but at NO point does any of those million dollar making talk show doctors (you those highly educated and trained professionals) bring up the reality that licensed professionals in the United States need to be required to get at least half the education of a doctor (if not more). Considering all the varying medication people take that affect their hair and walk into a salon for service. Considering all chemicals hairstylists use, touch, exchange, roll, inhale, rub, slather, smooth, apply, wash, blow dry, press, flat, iron, and  curl daily for a minimum of 4 hours per day for 3-7 days per week?  

Is a relaxer a perm or is a perm a relaxer?

Girl, you betta watch ou! For your hair stylist has very little, if any, education on any sort of chemistry or science of hair and hair care products ingredients. They have no clue about the chemical make up and reaction about most things they use and put on your hair. We are not taught the chemistry on natural, organic or synthetic science of what we use. The most common understanding one may have about hair glue is that some people are allergic to it. Licensed professionals only know what the companies tell them about the products and hair weave they just bought. Keep in mind that your hair is not a product or accessory that you can return. Your hair and it's texture is assigned to you in-vitro. It has a genetic code that is uniquely passed to you from your parents. The mind rape, cultural rape and swap of what textured hair is and where it really comes from, is NOT hidden. The marketing mavens who the hair care companies hire are overt. They are very much in the open about what they are doing. The mind and cultural rape of hair texture has many denying their genetic assignment. Without knowing it, people are removing their parents from their image and replacing what their parents biologically gave them. They are denying their parents and replacing their genetically assigned hair with the beauty supply stores and the hair stylists for new "real human" hair. A beauty supply store and a hair stylist can not give you the hair TEXTURE you were not born with. All they can do is exchange what you want to change about your hair for change, if ya know what I mean. IJS

Since when does the prefix "co" means
in lieu of?

Girl, you betta watch out for that "natural" hair stylist. Remember that is the same hair stylist who said relaxers where the "whip." She/he is the same person who re-booked your chemical services every 4-6 weeks and would have the audacity to penalize you if you did not keep your "touch-up" appointment. She/he is the same stylist who called the perm, the relaxer, the relaxer the perm and the relaxer the creamy crack. Now the stylist is natural. Girl, you betta watch out. The same stylist now promotes, yet, another trend: CO-WASHING. "Co" means to assist. So if one was to apply conditioner to their hair to help detangle the snarls and kinks and then shampoo their hair. I'm all in. Only in the hair care industry do we change the meaning of a word like "co" to "in lieu of."  I challenge you, the reader of this blog, to turn that bottle of conditioner around, call that 1-800 number and ask the associate on the other end of the phone can you "wash" your hair with their conditioner instead of soap? Trends, schmends. I can not wait to see the research in a few years about the hidden dangers of co-washing!

Girl, you betta watch out because she/he is the same stylist that is saying permanent color is 

A rinse still chemically alters the color
of your hair.

bad for your hair. This hairstylist insists that the "rinse" is a safer. She says the "rinse" is a hair color that would rinse out. Now all of a sudden, that same stylist and others alike can not explain why that "rinse" will not rinse out. They can not explain why your gray hair has a murky metallic color of some sort. They can not explain nor do they know how to remove this safe color called a "rinse" from your hair. Really? 

Girl, you betta watch out. Those kinds of stylists are only about....that thang; that thang; that tha-a-ang!

Make It Last Forever

This hair style can be tied down at night
and spruced up with your fingers or
a rake comb!

Hair styling is a career that never ceases to amaze me! In this line of work many fascinating things come through the door and plops into our chairs. For example, beauty; OMG, I am always amazed at the vastness of beauty that comes through the salon doors. Most of the women and men are equally beautiful on the inside as they are on the outside. Another example, generosity. My goodness gracious! When I first started working as a cosmetologist, I was amazed at how people give you extra for something they already paid for. To this date, the extreme generosity of people continues to fill me with humility and amazement. Lastly, entertainers! I hate to have to admit it, while I make it my business to give all who enter the ultimate salon experience, it does something to my excitement level whenever I am summoned to service a entertainer or extend my hours for VIP. I gets pumped. It truly is something about providing services to the entertainers that has me saying, "Boy oh boyee!"

The above scenarios highlights those amazing things about being a cosmetologist that makes this career the whip. But, you guys know there is always a but! But, the one thing that amazes me more than servicing beautiful, generous and famous clients, are the clients who request a hair style that can last until they return. 

This hair cut must be cut weekly, hair colored bi-weekly and
hair groomed daily!

I can recall the time as a newbie in the industry when a guest asked me if the hairstyle I just gave her would last for two weeks. You know that sound the cartoon makes when they knock each other over the head, "boing?" Well that was the first sound that came to my head. The request rocked my brain in my skull. I was really perplexed as to how one was in search of a hair stylist who could provide a 2-3 week hair style. So I began a series of questions as to why? To make a long blog "Ndogo," here are the top 3 reasons they want the hair style to last:

1. They paid for it.
2. They do not want to have to do anything to their hair at home.
3. They have a special event/occasion coming up and they want it to last.

Well, my trusty readers (who may have had the same request) I have bad news and I have bad

This hair style can be wrapped and secured tightly
with a doo rag (a scarf may come off), do not put
a shower cap on this hair style and it will last for about
a week. You may have to bump or use velcro rollers
to re-create the volume in the layers!

news. I will start with the bad news first. The first is, hair is a pliable fiber. It moves. It bends, creases, crimps, frizz, falls and all that jazz. While wrapping, rolling, tying hair down and sleeping upright in a chair will preserve the style somewhat; there are not many of hair textures that can withstand a normal night of sleep (we are not including night sweats and passionate lovemaking) and wake up with NO maintenance.  I understand how one does not want to be bothered with curling, flat ironing or rolling; but compromising that fresh out of the salon look for a classic simple soft look will suffice most images. Second, the only care free hair style I can think of to this date is the "Care Free Curl" or Jheri curl. Those perm styles have very little to NO HOME maintenance at all. Most other hair styles will require some form of coiffuring. As far as making a hair style last for a special event, most salons offer "Special Occasions" hair styles on their menu. Most salons will guarantee that style for 1-3 days depending on how much hairspray, hair pins, hair weave, gel and all the other sticky stuff they use to get that hair doo poppin'!

This look needs to be re-twisted bi-weekly and
groomed daily.

Now that I have given you the bad news, here is the other bad news of the 3 reasons one wants their hairstyle to last. As it relates to you paying for the hair style, look at it like visiting the dentist. Ya know, you have your teeth cleaned Wednesday morning, right? Surely you would not wait for two weeks to brush your teeth because you just paid roughly $75.00 for an exam and cleaning? Just as the dentist appreciates cleaning the mouth of a patient who flossed and brushed their teeth before saying, "aaahh," so do cosmetologist likes servicing a client who comes in with a clean head of hair. While the hair style will not last till your next visit; it will be much easier to recreate the look on hair that is thoroughly cleansed and properly conditioned. Second, as it relates to NOT wanting to do anything to your hair at home; honestly ONLY thick dense (the number of hair fibers on your head per cubic inch) heads of hair have the tendency to pop right back into place after any form of a roller set, curl or flat ironed looks. Flips on medium to long hair does not last at all for most.  Again, just as you brush your teeth the same day of getting your teeth professionally cleaned, it is the same concept for a hair style. Last, for those hair styles you want to last for an event or special occasion, it is best to pay the extra and have your hair done the day of the event to assure that you will have the look you want for your important day, meeting, or event.

This look can be wrapped nightly.
Do not let steam/sweat get to it and it
must be combed frequently
throughout the day to
protect the ends!

In the end, most hair styles on one's head with their own hair requires some level of "doing" something to it the next day. While I am no fan of totally re-doing a hair style over the next day, I do understand that there will be some level of fuss as a must for my tresses. If the hair is not spritzed, sprayed, gelled, shellacked, sewed in, glued on or tape down; a long lasting hair style will not be the result. As for the hairstylist who claims they can give you a "Make It Last Forever" care free hairstyle that will last for two weeks or more....."whoa oh oh, oh oh oh, oh, oh" (in my Keith Sweat voice)!

Yeah right.