Protective Hairstyles Advice

America is fascinated with fear.

America. Ah, the land of the free and the home of the brave! Right? Wrong. We might be free, but we most certainly are not brave. While some are brave in fighting the enemies in war to protect our homeland, others are not when it comes to having some heart to fight the ignorance and care for their hair. 

As a cosmetologist, fear in hair care behooves me. To be honest, it was working with women who were afraid of their own hair while working as a social worker is what got me behind the chair in the first place. 

Exhibit A - The famous coveted "protective
silk" scarf.

Yep, during my social work days I can not tell you how many women had children services involved in their homes for lack of hair care, abuse with hair care, trafficking drugs for hair, fighting over hair, stealing hair; they got into all kinds of mischiefs about hair. Well, everything but caring for their hair or their children's hair themselves. Why? I asked myself that question on several occasions. 

The same answer I got over 15 years ago is the same answer I get today. Fear. Don't get me wrong, America is a great place to live. However, if there is one thing I would like to change about our country, it would be our abuse and misuse of fear. Quite naturally in some instances. fear serves a great purpose. Like when there is a bear, you broke your momma's lamp or your water broke. We all can agree, a good dose of fear comes naturally and quickly in those examples. Yet, when it comes to hair, why is there so much fear?

In this blog, I will take on the fear that many women have in caring for their hair under the guise of "protective hairstyles." Yes lawd, these people with this natural hair movement need to go somewhere and sit down. I get the natural part, but the movement throws me. For starters, the guise of "protective hairstyles" that are being promoted by this natural hair movement is moving people in the wrong direction in many instances. Because this topic can get long. I will briefly cover 3 ways that "protective styles" within the natural hair movement, unknowingly promoting "NO HAIR CARE." 

Exhibit B - The most recent "protective" hairstyle, "Latch Hook" braid style.

The first way is fear. There are many women out there who are abandoning hair care in the name of protection for fear. They actually believe that if they comb, can't comb it, wash it, use sulfates, use man made products that their hair will fall out. That is not true. Have no fear because "protective hair styles" are just a fancy way of saying, "keep your hand out of your hair." That concept works great for those who just won't stop combing, weaving, styling, coloring, relaxing and everything in between every time you turn around with their hair. Yes, braiding it up will temporarily suffice. 

The "temporarily suffice" leads me to the second way that the "protective hairstyling" is unknowingly promoting fear and a clique mania within the natural hair movement. Protective hairstyles purpose is to physically cover the hair to reduce friction that often causes breakage and loss of length. Protective hairstyles do not clean hair. Nor does protective hairstyles fortify and reconstruct hair. If protective styles in all its array of choices are your prerogative to protect and grow your hair...then; "Do what you wanna do!" (In my Bobby Brown voice). Protective hairstyles simply cover your hair. Nothing more and nothing less.

But, make no mistake protecting and growing hair will never result in strong, fortified hair that will withstand the rigors of manipulating hair in its many ways. Manipulating hair is typically done via braiding, wrapping, flat ironing, combing, brushing, wearing a scarf, chemically altering it, getting it wet and so on. Hair needs protein to fortify the second layer of hair to keep it strong enough to handle manipulating it. Hair also needs reconstructors to repair the cuticle layer which is responsible for the shine and feel on our hair.

How many braids do we braid on a daily?
Me say, "Money, I mean many many many!"

The third and final problem with the promotion of "protective hair styling" is cleanliness. Next to dehydration, nothing weakens and compromises hair in every way imaginable than dirty hair. Keeping your hair covered, braided or with weaves to keep your hands out of it to keep from breaking your hair off and losing your length is understandable. However, what you really need to understand is that the yeast, dirt, and growing bacteria is the perfect breeding ground for hair eating and follicle (the tiny hole that your hair grows from) compromising micro-organisms that will always result in weak, limp, damaged, over processed, lackluster, thinning, smelly, scaly scalp, lice, and nit infested hair. That is; when you take it down.

I so get the importance of embracing what God gave you by way of hair texture. But what good will pointing out the beauty of your God given hair (regardless your race, texture and length) if you do not wash it properly with the correct products formulated for your unique hair fabric? What good is protecting your natural hair if you cover it, braid it or  "weave" it and you will not wash it and fortify it? What good is it to boast and brag about being natural and going natural when you are too busy to care for it? What good is it to be "natural" if you do not want to learn how to do it yourself or invest in someone who can?

Hair nits. The struggle is real. Do not use hair straight
from the package. Clean the artificial hair first.

I will reiterate how I get the movement. I understand. I too promote braiding it, covering it , and weaving it. But, where the movement is going and who are allowed to go on it, remains something of an enigma to me? Using fear and ignorance, coupled with unresponsible leadership will continue to move those with hair in the illusive wrong direction of protective styles that require no care, no treatment, no cleaning, no nothing; well not at least for 3 weeks to 3 months. That will never suffice and result in strong shainy hair. 

In closing, would you Google a movement, followed its directions and buty their endorsed products to protect your vagina like that?

Exactly!

Sulfate Free Shampoos

Shampooing, the key to a great hair style, Shampooing, the secret to great hair color. Shampooing, the essential of healthy hair. Shampooing, one of the best ways to the clean scalp. Shampooing, one of the most popular reasons one visits a hair salon!

For as great as shampooing is, it remains the most misunderstood and misinterpreted step in the effort clean hair to promote the health and beauty of it. In addition to be being misunderstood and misinterpreted, it is also mostly done incorrectly.

The key to understanding what makes shampooing so magnificent to know the true meaning of the word. As a licensed cosmetologist, shampooing is the once service I value and takes seriously over any and everything I do at work. As a matter of fact, when it comes to shampooing hair, I'm like Erykah Badu, "I'm an artist and I'm serious about my shit."  Once you understand the history behind this very vital process to hygiene and to clean hair; the importance shampooing regularly, properly with the correct products will resonate with your innate ability to adorn yourself.  You will also understand how hair that is shampooed properly with the correct products for your scalp and hair type/texture will result in healthy hair that looks and feel great.

So let me take you to the beginning of how it all got started way back when. Believe it or not the ritual or practice of shampooing is not nearly as old as people think. In the beginning of time, yeah I'm talking way back in those B.C and A.D days; shampooing was not the thing to do. Of course the lack of running water and exactly what to use to clean the scalp and hair was something of an enigma, so humans were busy being hunters, gatherers and trying to figure out how to survive in the elements. Clean bodies and hair was not priority one. In addition, to not being priority one, the enigma around how to clean the scalp and hair was a result of not understanding what was exactly coming from the scalp. When the varying hair textures (curly, kinky, wavy, Afro and woolen) was added to the equation; the etching into the stones stopped there. What was coming from the scalp and how to clean those strange and coiled fibers was enough to confuse the greatest philosophers of the day. Not even Confcius, Plato and all them other great thinkers could figure out the great mystery of how to clean hair especially if it had texture growing from the scalp. No sir-ree. They could pontificate the meaning of life till the constellations mapped out every zodiac, hours, days and years; but how to clean the scalp and the varying hair textures that grew from it was out of the question. Nobody wanted to be bothered with that. So "off with the hair," was the most popular resolve. While the ancient hyroglifics, papyrus' and other artifacts depict people using animal fats and essentials to clean the scalp and hair; they also depicted those methods were not best.

So what was one do? Surely, there were many of people who were not for having their cut off simply because they could not figure out how to clean it properly. For the most part soaps, salves, balms and essential oils were leaving the hair feeling very pasty, coated and hard. The practice of using those methods also left a magnificent breeding ground for micro organisms such as lice to grow, multiply and wreak all kinds of diseased havoc on  villages at large. Head lice was running rampant. So again, cutting all the hair off and making wigs just seemed the practical and safe thing to do to say the least. In spite of the all the dirty scummy filmy yeast growing, coated and lice infested and contagious hair; there were masses of people who longed to keep their own hair on their own head.  Hmm, sounds very familiar during this modern day and time, doesn't it? I mean with all the technology we have; how to properly clean the scalp and hair of the varying textures (curly, kinky, wavy, Afro and straight) that grows from the scalp still remains somewhat of a daunting task to do on a regular basis with resolve.

Somewhere along the way, the world was becoming more civilized. The powers that be decided to distinguish themselves from the haves and have nots by incorporating none other than cleanliness. Cleanliness as it relates to clean, slathered, massaged, perfumed and oiled bodies. Cleanliness as in clean hair and hair styles so people could discern who had it and who did not. To bring us to this date and time of now, one of the world's foremost historian's in the area of cleanliness, Virginia Smith author of Clean; A Personal History of Hygiene and Purity writes, "the countdown of modernity began."

Mr. Dean Mahomet, the
"Shampoo Surgeon."

And five, four, three, two, one; introducing a very modern distinguished educated well traveled Indian self made entrepreneur of sorts named, Mr. Dean Mahomet. Not that anybody asked, but don't you think that picture to the left of Mr. Mahomet lends the eye that he was actually a Black man? Oops, I digressed.  Mr. Mahomet was not only was well educated and well traveled, but he also was an author. In his writings he wrote of the many things he observed along the way. And one thing that stood out and caught his attention was a massage technique commonly practiced by the Chinese called, "Champing." Champing was basically a thorough massage that incorporated cleansing. As Mr. Mahomet settled, he decided to use what he observed in Champing and decided to open a Champing House and eatery of sorts. To his dismay and typical of the "White Man" back in those days, the British took over his business and shut him down. Yep, they made Mr. Mohamet a slave or an indentured servant to the wealthy aristocrats. Not be degraded, demoralized and belittled by his unfortunate turn of events; Mr. Mohamet decided to incorporate what he observed in watching the Chinese do with Champing and took his official title of "Washer of People" and changed it to a "Shampooing Surgeon." Yeah boyee! Instead of washing only washing the bodies of those wealthy people who shut down his business and took it; he decided to include washing their hair with washing their bodies and incorporated the fine skills of Champing to give his service more value. And they paid him for it! Well, how bout dem apples?

Somewhere between 1860 and 1898, Mr. Mohamet used the Hindi word Champi (the art of shampooing) instead of the Chinese word Champing. Later the words were translated into what we now call shampooing. American English, ya gotta love it...smh. So as you can see, shampooing was never meant to be taken lightly. Due to the intricacies of what the body naturally emits via the scalp and the varying textures of hair that grows from the scalp, Mr. Mahomet felt it necessary to pay to clean the scalp and hair just as meticulously and if not frequently as you would your other body parts. To have it reduced to something as casual as wiping your mouth after some mayonnaise has dripped on the side of your mouth behooves those of us who work in the Cosmetology industry daily. For we are the professionals who have dedicated our entire careers to ensuring that you have a thoroughly clean scalp and hair in order to make it grow, be colored, shine, flow, braid, curl, crimp, set, perm, twist, weave and loc it. In addition, our shampooing talents also lend credibility to the knowledge and skill set to do so.

Moving right along to some time in 1908, Virginia Smith also wrote how the New York Times did an exclusive article on this new phenomena called shampooing was popping up all over the world. Via a host of interviews from hair dressers world wide; the New York Times reported how it was unanimous by all the hair dressers they interviewed that having your hair shampooed by someone every two weeks at night was best. The reasons being simple; plumbing.

Now we are counting up from 1908. From a Indian (who looks strikingly like a Black man...lol) named Dean Mahomet to one of my favorites in formulating shampoo, Hans Schwarzkopf. Schwarzkopf, (German for Black head and their logo) a German pharmacist pioneered hair shampoo. He went on to invent hair spray, perms and hair mousse. Voila, we are in the now and here we sit reading something called a blog on the continuing phenomena and enigma of still; how to clean hair. This time around animal fats, perfume, oils, salves and balms are not the concern. Nope it's, sulfates.

Just when we thought we had arrived with the invention and development of Shampoo. Someone comes along and says, "off with their hair" again because soaps had moved from being derived from animal fats to being derived from vegetable oils hence Castile soaps that were exclusively made in the region of Castile in Spain where all them olives grew! From Castile pure and safe cleansers came lye soap bars which some has sulfates in them in which many feel are now bad for hair and skin. Sulfates have been working their magic on dirt for over two hundred years. Because diseases from not being clean were killing troops more than guns back in 1858, the United States Army enlisted the sulfate soldiers from Proctor and Gamble and bought over one million bars of Ivory bar from P&G to get the troops to wash up and clean up their acts to fight the war and not dirt. So again, how did we get here, to the dangers of sulfates? 

Sulfates, sulfates frustrates. Consumers started complaining about the dryness of the soaps. While pure Castile soas and lye were the most popular ingredients back then, sulfates were introduced. So exactly what are sulfates? To keep it simple and take out all the fancy cool scientific mumbo jumbo, sulfates are the derivative of salts and minerals that act as a surfactants or scrubbing agent the cleanses the hair and it caused the soaps foam and suds. It was the the frothy foamy sudsy action of the sulfates that made them uberly popular and every soap making company wanted that ingredient. Though scientifically speaking the frothy foamy sudsy cleaner is not indicator that the body, scalp and hair is clean; people LOVED it! So what's wrong with that? Well for some allergic reactions were the result. Allergic reactions can range from itchiness, to redness, to swelling, to dryness or to a taught brittle feel on the hair. In other words, it's what they call ...clean. Even though every shampoo and soap making company in the world instructs every user to DISCONTINUE USE if any form of an allergic reaction occurs; I still had to write this blog.

When I was in cosmetology school, I admit; I would not read the manufacturers instructions. I would shampoo a customer's scalp and hair. Some would complain that their scalp would still itch after I shampooed it. My immediate thought was always, "they trippin." My instructor, Ms. Jackie (God bless her) would yell across the floor as if she was reading my thoughts, "Read the directions Ladosha!" As time went on I became educated and licensed. I even had the opportunity to meet a few chemists who were actually formulating shampoos and they too instructed me to read the directions that informed users how allergic reactions to shampoos were very very common. They also said that sulfates were one of many culprits in the plethora of ingredients that are in shampoos that could cause a person could be allergic to it. And no, I am not writing a blog about those other culprits...lol
  

As you can see from reading the history of cleaning, how to effectively clean hair was and still is very difficult. When you add texture hair to the scenario, it is almost virtually impossible to quantify and clarify what it really takes to do effectively. At the Reverence Design Team Hair Salon where I am employed, we make it a point to read the directions and warnings on every product we use as well as be trained by the company and personally meet with the chemists who makes what we use. Yep, we do that. ask every customer during and after a series of questions to ensure they are not having an allergic reaction. For example, we always ask our customers if their scalp itches, if their scalp feels tight and how do they feel. We asks these same questions every time they return to the salon and have a full service. In the event a customer discloses they are allergic to sulfates or other ingredients in the shampoos, our salon is equipped with gallons of apple cider vinegar, boxes of baking soda and other less harsh products to use as an alternative for those with skin sensitive issues. Before there was sulfate free; apple cider vinegar and baking soda did the trick. I say if it ain't broke; don't fix it. 

What is my professional and personal take on sulfates. In my opinion sulfate free in hair care products is like dairy to diets. Everything is not for everybody. There are some people who digest dairy and some who can not. There are some people who can use sulfates and some who can not. There are a whole bunch of reports that expose the dangers of sulfates as carcinogenic. To date, I have never met one person who has medically proved that their cancer is a result of using sulfates, yet that does not mean it was or wasn't a contributing factor. I am no researcher and I am certainly no oncologist. As you educate yourself on sulfates be careful of reading reports. There are many reports. I mean there are reports by people who do not trust reports. Then there are reports that report only what they want to report. There are also reports that are reported by the people who control the reports of what to report to the people they want to report it to. So be careful with those reports. 

Opinions are just that...opinions!

I am not suggesting that you ditch your sulfate shampoos. I use both sulfate and sulfate free in the salon and on my own hair at home. I admit, I do like the lather simply because it is an indicator that oil, dirt and hair products are being removed; though not clean, but being removed.  I do say pay attention to your body. If you are prone to allergies, proceed with caution. Just as you should proceed with caution, you should also follow the manufacturers instructions that instructs you to discontinue use in the event of an allergic reaction. The only draw back to allergic reactions is that for many, they may not know they are allergic to something until they use it. So understand there are some risk involved when using anything that comes into contact with the skin. Rather it is sulfate, sulfate free, organic, gluten, gluten free, natural and everything in between.

Provided you are not allergic, because sulfates are surfactants that are directly responsible for removing oil, dirt and product from the scalp and hair, I say use it. Technically speaking there are only 7 types of shampoo formulas for the millions of hair care manufacturers to choose from, including sulfate free to brand, market and sell to us all. So regardless whose name is on the bottle, whose hair is in the photo and what catchy mantra they develop that vibes with your hair cleansing mission, you are really only making a purchase from those generic formulas. And just as you would guess it; within those 7 formulas are sulfate free shampoos that are are still scientifically categorized as sulfate. Why because sulfate free can also mean that is derived from sulfate compounds or derivatives simply by moving some molecules around. Dangnabbits; I know! 

But there are true sulfate free products on the market that use gentler plant extracts, seed oils, amino acids, palm and coconut oil to name a few. Understand that sulfate free implies the product is gentler. Let me type that again...GENTLER. So just as sulfates truly clean the scalp; it is only honest for me to tell you that sulfate free shampoos do not remove excessive build up of oil, dirt and product from the scalp and hair as effective and sulfates or low poo sulfate derived shampoos. Because the cleansing agent is gentler, it is not meant to be an aggressive cleanse for people who like to use products that are of oily, creamy, lotion, waxy and greasy consistency.

No poo's are not for every body.

In other words, if you are the kind of person who shampoos their hair every two weeks or more using heavy natural or synthetic products on your scalp and hair; sulfate free products may not be the best cleansing option to effectively clean a scalp. Hair that is more soiled with oil, dirt, hair care products and more yeast that the scalp produces can not be cleansed properly with sulfate free. So put it back on the shelf. You are better off using Dawn dish washing liquid to get some of those heavy oils, greases, pomades, butter, balms, creams, lotions, putty, puddings, waxes and salves off the hair. Sulfate free products lack the scrubbing and exfoliating properties of sulfate shampoos to truly lift and remove that kind of oil, dirt, hair care products and yeasts from the scalp. So while your products may be free of sulfates, the costs of what it will take to remove the build up from not cleansing the scalp and hair effectively will increase in increments of $10.00 or more depending upon the severity of the build up.

Cha ching; how is that for free of sulfates?