Combing and Brushing Hair

     Combing and brushing hair is important to hair care. Hairstylists encourage clients to care for their hair in between salon visits.  However, there are two school of thoughts about combing and brushing hair. First, is the notion, a paid for hair style requires no home maintenance.  Second is the notion to freely recreate your hair style at home. Which notion causes the biggest ruckus? The first one.

     To those who believe home hair care is not needed because it was professionally styled and paid for, may I suggest you lose that notion? For starters, a hairstyle is different from a school of thought. Hairstyles are physical and tangible. Hair styles are affected by the environment, weather and the human touch; unlike beliefs. Hair is not a concept. Hair is physical; it requires maintenance. Combing is mandatory to preserve the integrity of certain hairstyles and scalp. On the other hand there are certain hair styles that do not require a comb. Braids, locs, twists, extension and spiked hair styles do not require frequent combing, but they do require scalp care. Brushing is helpful because it stimulates and exfoliates the scalp. Brushing smooths hair and keeps it shiny.

     Combing and brushing hair is primarily a personal preference influenced by the hairstyle, the  home/environment or and hairstylist. Honestly, there is no science or rule that says textured hair should be combed more or less compared to others without texture. Parents, caregivers, hairstylists and barbers can assist in teaching which comb or brush is best for your hair. They can also assist in teaching the frequency needed to comb or and brush hair.

     Hairstylists, like den prefer customers to care for their hair in between salon visits, just as the dentist wants his patients to care for their teeth in between dental visits. Home hair care is vital to healthy hair, beautiful and super savings!
    

Brushing is not an absolute must in hair care. However, brushing hair is excellent for smoothing, promoting shine and scalp stimulation. Too much brushing can have adverse effect just as too much combing. The one hundred strokes theory is a tad bit outdated, but brushing a few strokes a day surely promotes sheen and blood flow. As for combing, combs are some the most oldest ancient artifacts found at many excavations sites around the world. Some combs even pre-date Christ. I encourage people to comb their hair several (4-6 times) throughout the day to redistribute oils from scalp to ends. This promotes exfoliates the scalp, promotes growth and keeps the ends of hair from drying out and breaking. Many with textured hair complain of not achieving length or believe their hair is not or will not grow because they never can achieve length. In my opinion, lack of combing, using the wrong comb and the wrong techniques are the culprit more than anything.

     There are many different kinds of combs and brushes. Haircare and hair styling are about the right products, the right tools and the right techniques. Be sure you have considered and incorporated all three into the decision making and actions of caring for and styling your hair.

A Journey to Nubia & Kemet by

Angel D. Harriott

     To get an interesting take on the history of combing hair, I recommend my readers to watch "400 Years Without a Comb," a documentary by Dr. Willie Morrow. It is available on YouTube. To learn about the rich history of the ancients and to get an excellent view of ancient combs, read Angel D. Harriott's, A Journey to Nubia & Kemet. Harriott's book is written for children to young adults. It explores African history, culture and contribution. I use it in all my presentations and at the salon to validate Africans contribution to hair and hair styling. This is one of my favorite books. As hairstylists, parents and caretakes, we should have great reading material and a good comb on hand for our clients and loved ones.

   

Top Ten Trends in 2019

     What's a blog about hair if it doesn't give the huggy low down on what was hot and was not in hair care in 2019? A bore right? Well, best believe this top 10 list will be interesting. So grab your pen or stylus and start tapping. Drum roll please. These trends in hair had everybody talking, clicking, swiping, sharing and returning in 2019.

Mr. Ivan William's Beard Game

     Coming in at number 10, Beards. Beards was the rave on men and women! That's correct both men and women were sporting their beards in 2019. I was surprised to see women not shame their facial hairs, and I was proud at the same time. I don't have facial hairs. But I do know hair on the faces of women has been taboo for quite some time. This year a few bold women, joined the men in the beard revolution to the tune of 40K per month to boom the beard business in 2019. In 2020, beards and the beard business will continue to grow. I predict colors, shapes and scents will influence their sells. Hair color wax/pomades come in at 9. Professionally, it gets a thumbs down from me. It got mixed reviews on social media by a few influencers. However, the public painted a different picture and loved it. I predict in 2020 hair color wax and pomade will fade to black and to the back of the shelves. Only time will tell. The Flexi Detangling Brush is number 8. It was another mega hit in 2019. For me it was mega miss. I do not like it for textures that are more dense, curlier and with more recoil...a la Afro hair. Again, many textured hair people loved it. I didn't see many Afro's flexin' with it, but it got many nice reviews. The man weave is number 7. The man weave came out like Diana Ross' 1980 hit, "I'm Coming Out." I predict in 2020 the man weave will prevail. It will remain an ordinary service in both barbershops and salons for no man to be to "stay in" and be ashamed of. The man weave got just as many views and likes as Brazilian, Indian and Remy hair weaves. From wig units, to pronto quick weaves, to speedy $50.00 sew in's, the man weave is here to stay and gets a thumbs up from me. Protective hairstyles are number 6. It only gets a thumbs down from me because of its name. The concept of using the word "protective" with any kind of a hair style is a oxymoron. Hair styles are not protective in nature. Neither are protective nail designs or protective sprays for the paint on your car. Sounds good in theory, but not in practice. For all who wore acrylics for its super nail protecting powers, sooner or later complained of compromised nail art. They also complained of dry, brittle damaged nails. As for the latter, we know the protective wax sprays sold to us at the car washes were bogus. I am certain in the long run, the same will be the fate of protective hairstyles.

    

That's me in the corner
wearing Knotless Braids by Missie.

Carrying on, we are down to the last 5 trends and trending hair topics of 2019. Coming in at number 5, the knotless braids. Who would have ever thunk it; moving the beginning of braided hair extension down a notch from the starting point would be so cool? Knotless braids look more natural. They allow room to create different styles with your braid extensions without compromising your scalp, hair and style. This trend in 2019 made its way on to my head and on to this list. Follow my colleague, MissieDesigns on Instagram for the hook up! Number 4 is Sarah Marantz. Who is she? She is probably one of the only White business women in the world to start a business without at least going onto to Google to do a little research before starting hers. To make a short blog even shorter. She is the White woman who was the talk of every radio and news station. She got hammered by Black Twitter. She gets the gas face from this blog for claiming to have invented the head wrap. In addition, clearly she'd never seen an image of Harriet Tubman. #lol The last three was hard. I struggled which one should be number one. So, I gave number 3 to the Crown Act. The name itself says it all. Kudos, big ups, super shout out, ring the alarm and all that jazz to this group of distinguished, courageous and passionate individuals. They took the time to write, speak and introduce into legislation a law making it illegal to discriminate against natural hair hairstyles. You got it dude. There are serious repercussions to any company or person found guilty of hair discrimination or hair shaming in any form against anyone with textured hair. Number two goes to the inventors of RevAir. Oh-em-gee! Talking about necessity being the mother of invention, RevAir is it. Anyone with textured hair who hated the ills of a blow dryer knows what I am talking about. We needed relief with a capital NEED from the blow dryer. Everything the blow dryer is, RevAir isn't. RevAir does not require any skills or attachments. RevAir does not burn your ears, scalp or hands. RevAir does not take all day. RevAir is for all hair textures and types. RevAir is excellent for locs and braided extensions. RevAir requires no oil. The process of RevAir is ambidextrous. Unlike the blow dryer that blows hot air to dry your hair, RevAir reverses the air. Their reverse hair dryer uses vacuuming technology to pull 2 - 18 inches of  hair in every texture dry. RevAir makes hair super smooth and shiny. RevAir does all this without tangling hair. All his can typically be done and achieved within 15 minutes! So by Felecia with that blow dryer. They deserve to be number 2 on this list. Visit their website and YouTube channel for more information. It was a favorite in 2019 of users, influencers, hairstylists and this blogger. I predict this device will practically suck the popularity out of the blow dryer.

Mr. Kinteh (far left), Ladosha (center) and Fatou Saine Gaye (right) 

at the press release at the NAQAA Office for the installation 

of the Cosmetology Curriculum of Gambia.

     Finally, we are down to the number one trend in hair in 2019; education. That is right. The how to of hair care came in at number 8 on Google searches in beauty. It is also number 1 in this blog. Personally and professionally, I am certain that the amount of inquiry from people around the globe is real. In 2019, my trip the Gambia (the home of Kunta Kinteh) during the Year of Return proved Google's year end top searches in beauty to be true. Via my humanitarian and developmental aid initiative, Textures Intercultural Exchange 2019. I travled to the Gambia with five Delegates to donate my writing services to create the country's first cosmetology curriculum. This was done in partnership with Fatou Saine Gaye, founder of the Gaye Njorro Skills Academy. We collaborated with Mr. Kinteh of NAQAA (National Accreditation and Quality Assurance), cosmetology school owners and cosmetology students. Epic was the experience. Giving back on the continent of the Motherland where mankind was found made my initiative number one worthy.

     In 2018, a great woman and Lifestyle Coach who I admire named Siobahn Sudberry of the BeFree Project hosted an event at my salon to help women learn how to be unstuck in their lives. In the months that followed she sent me a link to a USA Today article about Swizz Beatz. The headline read, "Hip Hop Entrepreneur, Swizz Beatz: 'If you're not making history, you're wasting your time." In the article, he attributed determination, creativity and unwavering faith to his success. For too many reasons I can write about in this blog, the article and his quote resonated with me the moment I finished reading it. Though I never fancied myself one for making history, almost one year from the printed date of that article, I did. I actually made history.

    So with that my good readers, Happy New Year! Rather you want to make history or a hairstyle, don't waste your time in 2020. The double numbers are all about doubled blessings. Bless up, stay happy, healthy and loving in 2020. Remember, hair care and hair styles are about three things: the right products, the right tools and the right techniques. To listen to my continued determination, creativity and unwavering faith in the business, education and beauty about everything hair, follow my Podcast, What They Don't Tell You at the Hair Salon on all the Anchor podcasts platforms (i.e. Apple, Spotify, Stitcher...) and plug in.

     My 2019 epic experiences are dedicated to Siobahn Sudberry and Swizz Beats. "It is always the simple that produces the marvelous," Amelia Barr.