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?

Going Through the Changes

Change is one of those words that can go from a meaning to a story, to a topic, then to a song. There are so many adages about change. For example, "Change is the only constant," or "To improve is to change; to perfect is to change often." So as you can see, change is on our minds. 

Change is the norm that humans have to come accept in the many facets of life. And while many fight change, most conclude that change truly is the inevitable and ultimately, they surrender. Except when it comes to hair!

The opportunity to create varying looks on women through hair coloring, hair straightening, hair cutting, hair styling, hair braiding and adding artificial hair to embellish hair is an awesome gift and opportunity. Transforming and enhancing the image of a person does so much to the spirit of the person who is fortunate enough to take on the artistic task. However, when hair starts to change, our canvas or person does not quite share our sentiment. Artistic expression is quickly turned into, "What did you to my hair?"

Hair like art needs to be manipulated in many ways to create something. The challenge to designing hair when it thins or balds is everything interesting with an additional twist to the challenge. The twist to the challenge is creating something that was full and is now thin or gone.

Admittingly, there is nothing so challenging about styling and designing thinning or balding hair that a qualified licensed hair stylist cannot do. However, the mind of the customer whose hair is thinning or balding is another story. 

Thinning and balding hair begins to inform it's recipient of its parting of the ways from the scalp long before the recipient realizes or admits their hair is thinning or balding. To begin with, thinning or balding is a must for just about every human who lives past one breath. Why? Because change will come. 

Change for hair comes in the form of what is called a "life cycle." Each strand of hair has a life cycle. The life cycle of the hair begins below the surface of the scalp in a bulb called a papilla. If you have ever plucked a hair or eyebrow, the bulb is that tiny white ball attached to the strand of hair.  Within that tiny bulb is where the hair receives its nourishment from the arteries in your body that feeds every single strand of hair on your entire body. 

Each strand of hair on the scalp lives approximately 7 years. The life cycle has three stages. The first stage is the anagen. It is during this first stage that hair grows all day every day. By the end of the month, the average head of hair will have grown about 1/4th of an inch. This growth process happens for about 7 years. The next stage is the catagen phase. This phase is where each strand of hair rest for about one month. It is not growing. The last stage is the telogen phase. During this last phase, it takes about two weeks for the hair to release itself from the follicle. Afterward, a new hair grows in it starts its own cycle. Please keep in mind that all the strands of hair are not synchronized. Therefore, you will not see all of your hair fibers coming out and growing back in at the same time. The misnomer that hair has stopped growing simply is not true. The exception is for those who have disorder where the hair will not grow.

When we notice fibers of hair sticking up after our hair is styled, that reflects the varying stages of growth each strand is in. We can determine how old a strand of hair by measuring its length and dividing into those 1/4 growth increments. 

What happens every seven years as each strand of hair grows, come out and a new hair grows in; is the new hair typically grows in thinner. Some people are genetically assigned to bald. If balding is in your genes, then it is inevitable that at some point complete hair loss in a certain area will happen. Balding can be in men and women. 

While thinning and balding for some is the inevitable, one does not want to speed things up. Infrequent shampooing, using heavy creams, lotions, butters, salves and petroleum products can clog follicles. Clogged follicles prevent hair from growing in properly and thinning is the result. If balding is in the gene, using heavy products will speed up the balding process as well. 

Understand the scalp is a microbial habitat. This means the scalp cleanses itself by producing a fungus of sorts that needs to be washed away in an organized fashion depending on how one's body produces the fungus. Most people need to clean their scalps at least every 2-7 days. Anything beyond those seven days may exacerbate unwanted thinning and balding. 

Change, will come to all who have hair. While the fountain of youth offers no such liquid that will yield longer stronger hair as we age; using other liquids such as shampoo, conditioner, technique, and tools will yield magnificent anti-aging results. 

There is a upside and a downside to thinning hair. Balding hair is not something most people look forward to. The predictability of how and when one will thin or go bald has yet to be etched in stone for the masses. But, what is etched in stone is how to slow down the thinning or balding process. For example, keep your scalp clean. Yeast and hair care products can clog the follicle. A dirty scalp is the most common way to speed up the thinning and balding process. Do not use aggressive styling techniques. Loosen up those tight head wraps and caps as to no impede the vital blood flow that nourishes hair. And do not use harsh and heavy products. They will surely dry out scalp and hair, thus resulting in faster thinning and balding. 

Lastly, the upcoming Spring Equinox is upon us on Monday, March 20th. Remember the moon influences blood flow and hormonal activity. Blood flow and hormonal activity are directly responsible for the health of the hair and hair growth. Take advantage of the most powerful equinox. It will to not only balance your life and set the tone for your new year, it will also do the same for your hair. 

Change is inevitable. Yet there are things in nature that compliment the ebb and flow of change. Versus combating change, embrace the potential for goodness in your health and life. Going through the changes is just that. Something you will go through. You will come out on top. If you pay attention and not fight change, you and hair will embrace the process and blossom into what will be, will be.

Herbal Shampoos

Here we go again. Shampoos. Shampoo is one of those words in the hair care industry that I wish they would change. 

Have you ever heard the expression, "Hair is to be shampooed not washed?" In my opinion, people who use that statement or support that school of thought have no clue of how discern shampooing from washing. For the amount of heavy products, infrequent practice of shampooing and what the scalp naturally emits, washing is truly a better verb to use to teach people how to clean their scalp and hair. But, since shampoo is the proper term, let us investigate it!

Sometime during 5000 BC, the Egyptians were using all sorts of herbs, oils and tinctures to apply to hair and scalp for cleansing and beautification. That wasn't working to well due to some little tiny life forces called micro organisms. Mircro organisms resulted in scalp issues, hair bugs of lice and mice that promoted the invention and wearing of wigs. Soon, the invasion of Egypt changed things.During the same time, the Babylonians had their own methods of beautification. The Chinese method of champing was common. Champing is a massage technique using fingers, thumbs and knuckles to massage the entire body. 

During that time an Indian military soldier named Dean Mohamet observed this technique of champing during his military travels working for the elite. After the war, Dean Mohamet became unemployed. He decided to use the art of Champing, now termed Champu to provide body cleansing and massage services for Hindi sultans and nabobs. Tired of the champu technique being exclusively provided to the wealthy, he ventured away from servicing the wealthy and added soap to his champing technique to service everyday people. After being practiced in England for such long time, in 1860 champu spelling was changed to shampoo. Then it was officially recorded and entered into the dictionary as "the soap used for cleansing hair."

Later in 1908 Hans Schwarkzkopf (yes, the maker of the professional hair color) developed a powder to clean hair because he disliked soap and the film it left behind on hair. To promote his new found invention, he took an article out in the New York Times titled, "How to Shampoo Your Hair." It was an instant success. 

Not be outdone by a German, an American doctor, Dr. John Breck (yep, of the Breck girls commercials) invented the first pH shampoo, thus making the experience of shampooing hair more gentle to the touch and less tangles in the hair. 

So, now we are in the new millennium and shampoo is just now making a turn around the corner to be in the spot of hair care where it should be....from the hands, to the hair and back to the hands again!

The shampoos of today gets its the force to make the curve from its ingredients. The force of the ingredients are herbs. What are herbs? Botanists describe an herb as a small, seed bearing plant with fleshy, rather than woody, parts (from which we get the term "herbaceous").   In addition to herbaceous perennials, herbs include trees, shrubs, annuals, vines, and more primitive plants, such as ferns, mosses, algae, lichens, and fungi. So now we see herbs are the good stuff. 

What makes herbs good? Nutrient bioavailability is what makes the herb worth its weight on a shelf in your salon or shower caddy in your bathroom. So what exactly is bioavailability?Bioavailability in hair care is very similar to the process of it when consuming food. The difference is when the product comes into contact with the scalp and where the those vital nutrients from the herbs and essential oils go. For example, when you apply the shampoo to your hands the ingredients are absorbed into your skin. Next you apply it to the customers scalp and the nutrients contained in the shampoo are released from the matrix of the herbs or and essential oil, absorbed into the bloodstream and transported to their respective target tissues. In this case the target tissue would be the, papilla. Bam!

Come on now Aveda, Aryuvedic is a BELIEF in the balance
of mind, body and spirit. Not long volumizing hair. 

However, not all nutrients can be utilized to the same extent. In other words, they differ in their bioavailability. So, the first step in making a nutrient bioavailable is to liberate it from the herb (which is a food too) matrix and turn it into a chemical form that can bind to and enter the follicles (that are on your scalp where the hairs on your head grows from) cells or pass between them and work their magic. 

The question is; does your shampoo do that? Probably not. 

Do not be duped by products claiming to be organic, natural, for natural hair, for women of color, for Black women and for ethnic hair. Those terms mean nothing in the world of bioavailabiity. Bioavailability is how your hair, scalp and other organs receive or not receive what is intended to improve or maintain the health of your hair. 

Not even owned by an African,
let alone has herbs in it. 

Herbal shampoos that tout SLS-Free, Sulfate Free, Petroleum Free, Mineral Oil Free, Vegan, Gluten Free, No Animal Testing, Paraben Free are simply buzz and trending works marketing companies use to promote their client's shampoo.

Instead, look for buzz words in the ingredients or pamphlets that include words like nutraceuticals, enyzmatic activity, bioavailability, absorption, USP (United States Pharmacopeia),follicle care to name a few to spike your interest to grab the bottle, click the mouse or press your finger. 

Herbal shampoos that actually include herbs, essential oils, fruits, vegetables, vitamins and proteins will suffice when coupled with some of the buzz word used above. 

While the word "organic" gets people all warm and fuzzy inside; buyer beware. The results are more often anti-climactic for the masses. Understand that the term "organic" is a term for agriculture not hair care. Organic is all how about how. To know the efficacy of what is organic in you shampoo, look for seals from such caring agencies who test the efficacy of what is supposed to be organic. Agencies such as Ecocert and ICEA (International per la Certificazione Etic de Ambientale) have websites that provide links to hair care companies who they have certified. 

Make your next purchase via ICEA.

The Reverence Design Team Hair Salon located in Cleveland Heights, Ohio prides itself as one of the many salons worldwide who uses USDA Organic, Ecocert and ICEA certified shampoos, conditioners, proteins on their clients' hair as well as a salon who retails soaps, lotions, body butters, deodorants and toothpaste. 

How's that for herbal shampoos.  

Ridculousness

Is it me, but is there something about the "natural" hair phenomena that makes you go hmmm? Going "natural" with hair to me is like going "natural" with race. In both instances, you are already natural. Just because you alter them doesn't mean they are not natural. It simply means they are altered. And that is the natural beauty of the varying hair textures and skin complexions. You can alter both. You can alter them topically, chemically, surgically, permanently, temporarily, organically and naturally. You can alter your hair and skin color any way you like for any reason you want. For some reason, there are people who like to make people feel some kind of way about altering their hair. Regardless the method. When a person does something another person doesn't like we use words to express it. And one way we use the words are via semantics. Americans are good with semantics; we love wordplay. For example, there are individuals who are playing with the word "natural." They are using the word with hair and is taking "natural" hair to places it should never go. 

In my professional and personal opinion, "natural" hair care should never go to ridiculousness. Just a few weeks ago, I wrote a blog about the crazy "natural" things people do to their hair. I actually thought I was blogging about something. Just when I thought I touched on a topic and covered its bases, another interestingly ridiculous "natural" hair care phenomena had spewed from the mind of an individual into the homes, salons, and typed into the search bars of millions of computers world wide. What ridculous "natural" hair craze am I referring to? In the words of one my favorite hip hop groups, Stesasonic; "Brace yourself for the ultimate rare!" 


The latest ridiculous "natural" hair care craze that is spreading like the Ebola virus is the use of Monistat Vaginal Cream. Yes, there is one person who is responsible for this ridiculous non medically proven ignorant concept and practice as they tout it as "natural' hair care. You are reading that sentence correctly. Monistat Vaginal Cream is being touted as a "natural" alternative stimulant that can promote hair growth. How? Well what I've read is that, due to the anti-fungal ingredient in Monistat called ketoconazole, it is supposed to help your hair grow. There is a theory that the Ketoconazole ingredient supposedly can act as an interceptor to a gene that lies deep down inside the walls of the follicle that causes hair to thin or not grow at all. The follicle is the tiny hole that hair grows from. In theory, the ketoconazole in turn lets some of the hair grow in pretty fast because it blocks those gene receptors in the follicle from receiving the signal to not grow. There is nothing "natural" about applying Monistat Vaginal Cream to your scalp to act as an interceptor to a gene that makes hair thin or not grow because the makers of Monistat Vaginal Cream has NOT said so. While it may not be natural, it is ridiculous.

Monistat Vaginal Cream is suppose to block the thinning hair gene
from receiving the message to shrink and thin or not grow.
Yeah right.

But wait, there's more! Oh yes, my dear readers and fellow hair care junkies, there's more. The other ridiculous "natural" hair phenomena that is not cleaning hair is called; water wash.  What is this, again, you ask? I don't know. But, to me, "water wash" is very close to a oxymoron. I mean water is not a verb.  It is a noun. You know; a person, place or thing. Right? And isn't water a odorless, tastless clear liquid that is the basis of the fluids for all living ORGANISMS (microganisms are organisms). And isn't wash a verb that uses water and soap/detergent to clean? IJS (I'm just saying).

Now, don't go getting your hair into a bunch. According to what I watched on YOUTUBE, the "water wash" method is a simple technique of "washing" you hair with water with the intent to redistribute the sebum (scalp oil) oil from the scalp throughout your hair using water and hands only. NO COMB. Never mind the fact that your hand can absorb water and oil. Now, how is this "natural" redistributing of sebum oil works is weird science to me? The concept is being highly recommended by these ordinary people as an alternative for those who have sensitivities to shampoos, those who have textured hair but is low in density (number of hair fibers per cubic inch) and for those who want to maintain or improve the texture of their curly, kinky, wavy or Afro tresses. Now these people in these video; I don't know readers, but they are some dirty haired ladies instructing ordinarily sane clean haired women to do some insane stuff to their hair. Now that is not the word I really want to use, but I digress. Again washing implies the use of water and soap. So the term "water wash" makes me feel all foo foo frilly on the inside.

Something about this image reminds me of rinsing and
not washing.

Now in both cases, I must say my gut reaction was, "How ridiculous!" After my research, I am now yelling as loud as I can, "How ridiculous!" As a cosmetologist, my job's primary focus is not hairstyling, nail care and skin care. Instead, my primary job is public safety.  The Ohio State Board of Cosmetology allows me "to do" hair, skin and nails as I please. Provided, I practice public saftey and sainitation is the midst of me working. So while these ordinary people on YOUTUBE are promoting this practice at home. The "water wash" increases your chances of not being able to enter a salon almost anywhere in the United States due to the critters that will automatically grow in your head or make you a breeding gound for all kinds of micro icky stuff that will make a going into a salon illegal. Can you say microorganism, bacteria, MRSA, staph, lice, scabies and so on? Every salon in America has "state" rules and guidelines for public safety and sanitation that we by law must adhere to in order to safely serve the public, work, and let you sit in the chairs at our salons. No licensed hair stylist can provide service to a person with live bugs on their persons (hair included). To do so violates public safety. So wash your hair and wash it good with soap and water.

The Ohio State Board
of Cosmetology, by law requires
every hair, skin, nail and spa to
post the Rules, Regulations
and Law around PUBLIC SAFETY.

With that, I will conclude this blog with two informative facts about using Monistat Vaginal Cream in any fashion on your scalp to grow your hair and using "water wash" only method to clean your hair. Both are natural and both do not work. The mere act of squeezing Monistat Vaginal Cream from the tube and rinsing your hair with water as you rub your hair is indeed natural. Make no mistake. However, if you really want your hair to grow, increase your blood supply to your hair bulb located inside your follicle that is on your scalp. You can do this via washing your scalp or a scalp massage. Ketoconazole has not been medically proven to affect any gene via topical application. So don't use it and if you are, stop, 

If you want to preserve or improve the texture of your hair, you need to use soap and water. Lawd, people! Water is interestingly beneficial for you and your hair when you use it frequently properly.  I am certainly no Water Treatment Specialist and I do not work for the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency).  If your curly, kinky, wavy or/and Afro texture is being compromised from the use of any kind of shampoo and conditioner, it is because you are not 
using the right kind. You also are not using or is using the wrong kind of protein on your hair. Lastly, your hair could be coated from not being properly cleaned.  Water washing will only make matters worse after extended use. How? At one point in my life, I was a "Soap Hating" kid. One summer I decided to water wash and not use soap when I bathed. You know getting in the tub, dipping the soap in the water and rinsing off. One night I was itching profusely. When my sister and cousins asked why was I scratching and itching so much, my mother walked passed and said, "Micororganisms." When they asked, "What's that?" She replied, "The cooties!" No one wanted to play with me for the rest of the summer and I and the "cootie" touch all that summer....lol

Cootie Science Humo

The meaning of ridiculousness is "causing or worthy of ridicule or derision; absurd; preposterous; laughable. Absurdly or unbelievably good, bad crazy, etc." Now, let's use it in a sentence. Mixing Monistat Vaginal Cream with hair cream to apply to your scalp for your hair to grow is ridiculous. And to wash it off using water wash method and call it natural hair care is ridiculousness!"

Best Hair Care Products

Ooo, please let this product work on my hair!

Hair care among women is very important. Once upon a time, hair was all about style. Women wanted to adorn themselves with nice clothes, shoes, a purse, some exotic perfume topped off with a perfectly coiffed hairstyle or wig. That was back in the day before women entered the workplace, ran for office, became physically fit and so on to name a few. A hair style was an easy accessible affordable luxury that many turned to spruce up or change their image. 

Fast forward to today and hair means something totally different. One thing is for certain and two things for sure, a hair style is no longer about sprucing up. "I am not my hair," a song that many women from all over the world chant, say or simply sing along with the talented singer India Arie. She brought that sentiment to light for many. Women no longer associate femininity with size, skin tone, nails, attire, money, marital status, children or not and of course hair. 

As a matter of fact, a hairstyle is the last thing on most women minds. Regardless the race or texture, women feel they sincerely so much more than a selection between male and female. We can go on for days about the advancement of women and their growth. Now, hair care? That is another thing. Sometime during the turn of the millennium, women became fed up with hair styles and moved over to hair care. No one can exactly pinpoint what catapulted this paradigm shift from hairstyle to hair care. But it did. In my opinion, the internet is solely responsible for the end of hair styling and the beginning of hair care. I also feel that cocky, under trained and under educated hairstylists promoted the choice for many to ditch the hairstyle and the hairstylist who came with it.

The internet opened the world up to individuals who were fed up with incompetent, late and hairstylists with attitudes. Versus being controlled by the images they saw on the little screen, viewers of the internet could do something with the screen that television would never allow: INTERACTION!

While the internet can expose people to concepts from all over with the click of a button and without leaving their chair. In all its glory, it still can't do something humans can do; touch. I obviously like the internet too. If I did not, I would not be a blogger.  The paradigm shift became very visible back in the late 90's when I was a social worker. As a cosmetologist with a degree in social science, I admit I have a bad habit of merging the two together. I do something I call, "social cosmetology." I study the behaviors of people who consume and use hair care products and styling tools...lol

Though there is no such thing as "social cosmetologist," there is something very obvious in the behaviors of both customers and cosmetologists. That one behavior is purchasing. Mintel, a very reputable marketing firm reported "in 2012 hair care sales reached a whopping 864 million.They also reported by 2017 that number will have jumped exponentially to "761 million." 

Yeah, I know we have read those reports hundreds of time. People worldwide want to know, how? How are consumers and professionals spending that kind of money? Well as a "social cosmetologist," I can sum it up for you very quick and simple; purchasing the wrong products.

What if customers were to go back to the store to return all the wrong products they purchased for their hair?  They would get a refund. Those milions and millions of dollars in slaes would quickly be reduced in half. 

I just love the way the economist and researchers throw those million and billion dollar figures around. They report that as if consumers are frivelous in their spending. In reality, most people who purchase hair care products are purchasing them because they are buying what they need. They are buying what they are told will work best and what looks on their hair. Some of their purchasing choices are also make via print and media.  

Again, because things get lost in translation, print and video gives way to what things seem to be versus what things are. Caring for and styling Afro, wavy, curly or combination textured hair has some rules. Rule number one, no heavy products on the hair. Heavy products leave hair feeling stiff, pasty, dull, waxen, sullen, brittle and lack luster. All those guarantee to coat hair, promote hair disorders, scaly scalps, smelly hair, pasty scalps and hair damage. 

Because there is a popular mindset and mode of Operandi that promotes infrequent shampooing, spongy moist hair and shiny hair; people with textured hair flock to these claims like paper clips to magnets. Afro, wavy, curly, kinky and combination textured hair is not meant to feel and look moist, super shellacked and spongy. 

Products that coat hair seem to really be doings something great to hair. They are not. Initially, hair will feel great. However, after using heavy products, over a period of time your scalp and hair will become compromised. I can see how many users do not want to let these products go. But, what they don't tell you at the hair salon is those products can no be rinsed away with water or shampooed out with regular shampoo.

The Wrong Stuff

Coating hair is not the name of the game. Coating your hair will only make hair care more expensive and hair styling more difficult. Coating your hair with heavy products will dull and alter your natural hair color. Using heavy products that coat hair will also defintely alter your texture. Infrequent shampooing regimens such as bi-weekly, monthly and the likes are sure to promote thinning and damage. Infrequent shampooing also promotes build up of yeast that naturally comes from the scalp during the scalps ability to cleanse itself. Using heavy products promotes balding and thinning by clogging the follicle (the little tiny hole that hair grows out of), thus making it difficult for hair actually grow out and it makes the hair grow in thinner. You may not notice just how damaged your hair is until 6 months to 10 years down the line. Depending on how long you have have been using the products. In my experience as a cosmetologist, I find nothing more sad than to see the look on a person's face who is upset about their hair that is severely thinned and damaged. They almost always know the products were the culprit. 

After you shampoo and condition your hair, you should only be using 1-2 products to style your hair. It does not matter if you are twisting, braiding, adding hair, rolling hair, curling hair, straightening hair, pressing hair, locking or wrapping hair. Because your scalp makes it's on oil, you should not be putting anything on your scalp. Products for your scalp should be prescribed or biodegradable. Lastly, you should never apply any kind of essential oil to your scalp or body without using some kind of carrier oil.

Oooh, pick me!

So as you can see, coveting, holding on, clinging to and swearing by heavy products does nothing for the scalp and hair texture. In the beginning things will appear to be making progress. However, as the days and years go on with continued use: thinning, limp, damaged, dull and broken hair is almost always the results. In addition, your money continues to go into a pool of millions that only inflates the pockets of the people, the companies who make them. They go under you bathroom sink to sit and be kicked to the curb like "Woody" in The Toy Story hoping to be selected as the number one hair care product in your life again. 

Be wise. Seek a consultation about your hair. Understand that advertisement, videos, magazine articles and other forms of marketing are just that. Marketing. They are trying to sell you something. And what they are trying to sell you is the thought you have in your head about your hair that was put there by someone else who doesn't even know your hair. They are selling the dream of care free natural hair. NEVER readers. That will never happen. For there is no such thing as CARE FREE hair. 

Add caption

You know your hair. And you know you should not be putting all that heavy stuff on your hair.

Naughty by Nature

Textured hair hooray.....ho!

Working with textured (curly, kinky, wavy and straight) hair all day every day is way cool. Trust me, I can tell you a thing or two about theory versus practice as it relates to textured hair. Textured hair is so diverse and unabashed. It makes a mockery out of any one who calls themselves “specializing in it!”

There have been oodles of attempts by people, chemists and hair care companies worldwide to concoct a one size fit all product that will work on the varying textured heads of hair; NOT. There are also oodles of attempts by people, hairstylists and naturalists worldwide whom attempt to produce a one size fit all video that persons with their varying textures of hair can watch and duplicate; NOT. And there have been many of experts and novices who too have attempted to write books that attempt to teach and instruct people into a one size fit all 4 categories of textured hair; NOT.

I don't know if you recognize this or not; but there is a mass market appeal to tame the beast within textured hair worldwide. Folk are trying to find the one magic answer to taming textured hair like they are trying to find out how humans actually came into existence. It ain't gonna happen.

From the getty up, textured hair is difficult. Think back when you were a kid. What was your first view or words on textured hair? For most; words like difficult, hard, nappy and unmanageable quickly comes to mind. Why? Ignorance, fear and brainwashing. When folk don't know, they don't know. And ignorance mostly leads to fear. Fear makes you vulnerable to brainwashing. Yet, if you know textured hair and know what you are doing, there is absolutely positively nothing difficult, hard and unmanageable about textured hair. Even if it is nappy!

TBT (Throw Back Trig)

As a matter of fact, saying textured hair is difficult is like saying trigonometry is hard. Ask a mathematician and I guarantee; he or she would disagree. Saying textured hair is difficult is like saying children are loud. It’s the nature of the beast. And that is the beauty in working with math and textured hair...lol

Textured hair is naughty by nature. You have no option but to work with the texture you have. The confusing thing about textured hair is trying to wrap your mind around the very contrived, controlled notion and promotion of generalized textured hair versus individualized textured hair. Understand, generalizations are purposefully designed to help people along the way. The challenge is, most people interpret those generalizations, suggestions and advice as bond. They really take the word of what they hear. And they sincerely try to duplicate what they see.

In a world of nano technology, speed, quick, instant and fast; who in the hell has time for textured hair? Because anybody with or without textured hair who has the tiniest sense of knowledge in their head knows there is nothing quick about textured hair for most. So, in my Italian accent “Forgettaboutit!” And though it may not be as simple as quick as the touch or swipe of a finger; textured hair is NOT difficult.

Textured hair is unique and diverse.

Genetically speaking hair textures are as unique as the faces on the heads in which they lie. No two heads of hair alike (with the exception of identical twins). 

Understand that textured hair is like the leaves on a tree. Textured hair is supposed to feel grainy. Textured hair strands take on different shapes just like leaves. All strands are not the same. The climate affects textured hair just like the climate affects the leaves. Textured hair is influenced by its source. Just like leaves are affected by its source of a plant, tree or soil. Textured hair changes color just like the leaves on a tree. Textured hair is very unique to every unique individual who has it. Textured hair is unruly. Like leaves, it takes different twists, turns an coils as it grows from the scalp.

Imagine all leaves looking the same, ugh!

Textured hair is for the movers and shakers. It’s naughty by nature; not cuz it hates ya!

Textured hair is lovely. It requires KNOWING hands to work with it. In order to handle all its twists, turns and knots, it requires knowledge of it. It does not want to be straight. You can put all the chemicals, locs, weave, glue, thread, wigs, surgical transplants, hats, rollers, heat and products you want on it. At some point, the texture will return and it WILL win!  It wants to be wavy, curly, frizzy and big. It does not want to be shiny artificially; it wants to be shiny in its natural way. You know like a leaf. So don’t fret and fight too much to try to make it act like other textures you want and see.

Simply beautiful

Make it your business to learn your unique fabric. Remember advertisements, photos, videos, books and blogs are guides. Be selective in the products you use on your hair. Make the time to spend the time with your hair. It will never be as instant as shake and go for most. Last but not least if it works use it. Textured hair must be embraced by its uniqueness. When treated accordingly; it will yield results of beauty that would leave most speechless. 


"Smooth it out now!" 

When Moist is the Choice

Finally, the blog of the year is here, "Moisture and hair." There are not a many of folk who have curly, wavy, kinky, Afro or a combination of textures who do not want to approach the "Hair Sage," the "Dali Lama of Hair,"  the "Guru of Hair," the "Hair Shaman," or the "Hair god" with the greatest question of them all for their textured tresses, "How do I keep my hair moist?" 

How wavy hair
looks when
the saline and hydrophobic bonds are
re-arranged on hair.

I call this the blog of the year, about hair that is, because upon every consultation with every person who has curly, wavy, kinky, Afro or a combination of textures; they all ask me about what can be done to make their hair feel moist. They want to know, why does their hair feel dry? They want to know, why do they feel those little tiny brittle knots on the ends of their hair? They want to know, how come it doesn't shine? They want to know, why does it poof? They want to know, why does it draw up? They want to know, how come when it is wet it looks pretty but when it is dry it looks dull frizzy and ugly? They want to know, why when they put products their textured tresses, it absorbs all of the product like a sponge? They want to know, "How can I keep my textured hair moist?"

So, I will answer all those questions in order as simple as I can in my R.Kelly voice. Microphone please, "Well, I'm not trying to rude, but hey pretty girl I'm feeling you.." That whole moist hair thing is something of an enigma for many with textured hair. Coming from one Afro wavy textured hair person to another with textured hair; it ain't happening. There. I got it out. 

Mr. Chris McClain,
CEO/President
of Advance Beauty Inc.
who also owns the
highly favored hair
care products for
textured tresses
CANTU

Now again, I am not trying to be rude and people, I am feeling you. But I have to tell you. This is all a marketing scheme developed by people who are simply responding to what the consumer is demanding in hair care. Like a drug dealer. If a cheap high is what folk are after, then they will come
up with a product to meet the demand of a cheap high. Those who are in the business of hustling drugs for cash will deliver to all who demand it. The exact can be said for the hair care industry. I know it is hard to fathom, but it is true. What do the hair companies really care about your hair? It is the money they are after. Since "moist natural hair" is the new thing and people are now anti chemicals, as a person of interest in making money; they go and invest in what the masses are asking for. The transitioning movement is televised. The transitioning movement is real and it it coming to you live and direct. The people with the money to invest are listening. They are responding. Now here is the TBH, most  owners of hair companies who make products for people with textured hair do not even have textured hair themselves. Not that it matters, but it sure would help. In addition, nor are they licensed dermatologists or cosmetologists or even chemists for that matter. Case and point, not take away anything from Mr. Chris McClain, CEO and president of Advanced Beauty Inc. out of Dallas, Texas who holds his degree in BAA, Marketing (Bachelors of Applied Arts and Sciences) in Marketing doesn't have a lick of curl. wave, kink or for in his hair (well maybe a little wave or curl), yet he is yo pusha man. He is that brotha in the alley, givin you what you need...

Yo pusha man!

Now do not go all Black power on me, it's strictly business never personal. Do not get mad at Mr. McClain. He is simply doing his job. 

And, before I answer each of those questions in order, I will turn to who I will identify as "My Partners in Hair Care," L'Oreal. No they are not legally my partners and no, they are not all organic and junk but they care. They are vested in hair; textured or not. They have been for umpteen years. I invite all to click on the link at the end of this blog, and go on the journey of hair via their website and you too will experience why I  personally and professionally call them, "My partners in hair care." I'm not saying Mr. McClain does not have the knowledge or experience of L'Oreal but-ter-umm, well just go Advanced Beauty Inc web sit then go to L'Oreals.

"So baby gimme that toot toot.." Here we go, what they don't tell you at the hair salon or the beauty supply store is that it is the structure of the hair's protein that allows it to take on many shapes from curly, kinky, wavy, straight, Afro, crimps, straight, locks, braids, curls,  Jheri curls, spiral curls, tight curls, lose curls, flips, spikes, waves, finger waves, pineapple waves and the likes. 

My partners in hair care, L'Oreal!

So what gives hair its ability to manipulate into those varying shapes? Their hydrogen bonds. One is saline (hardens) and the other is hydrophobic (pliable). Those two bonds are so weak, it doesn't take much to manipulate them. "Water and even dampness can change the state of the bonds" per L'Oreal. It is water  in its many forms that causes hair to appear in the form of poof, frizzy, curls that have fallen, reverting and converting hair. Water in its many forms will not only make hair look different; it will result in the hair feeling different as well.  Your hair will feel different because the water, steam, dampness, HEAT or MOISTURE will have disrupted those bonds, moved them around to change the state of your textured tresses into the NEW SHAPE as a result of it's contact with MOISTURE. 

There is no need to fret because remember those bonds can be shaped or rearranged deliberately, by accident or an act of God (rain, mist, sweat...) and the hair will take on a new shape per the source MOISTURE use to manipulate them. It is only in the case of chemically altering or exposing the strongest bonds (disulphide) to extreme abuse can you permanently alter the texture (curly, wavy, kinky, Afro or straight) into a new pattern or texture.  "Let me get a beep, beep!"

How wavy hair looks when you
use heat from flat irons to
re-arrange saline and
hydrophobic bonds. Who gone
check me boo!

So now you can see why the ability have moist wet feeling hair all the time is probably not the state you want your textured tresses to be in. Also, you can see how heat is not bad for hair because those two hydrogen bonds are only temporarily responding and taking on its new shape per the source of moisture (water, dampness, steam, mist or heat) applied to it. And that only in the case of chemicals and extreme exposure to any forms of that moisture can we permanently alter the natural texture (curly, wavy, kinky, Afro, straight or combination) of our hair. 

Now, I will answer those questions in order.

1. How to make hair moist?

You wet it. But understand, that extreme exposure to moisture (water, dampness, steam, mist or heat) in any form will permanently alter the texture of your hair. That does not mean you can not put heat on your textured tresses. It means too much can permanently damage hair.

2. Why does my hair feel dry?

Because it is. Trying to make textured tresses feel moist is like always trying to make a leaf feel wet or concrete smooth. Texture hair is suppose feel textured and gritty just like leaf and concrete. To change it's state would be to expose it to extreme change in temperatures i.e the change of seasons or asphalt.

3. Why do I feel those little brittle knots in my hair especially on the ends?

A microscopic view of knotted or beaded hair. Also
known as Trichorrhexis Nodosa. Not Ladosha!

Again, if you are using products that are water based, it is the water in those products that are doing what? Arranging the hydrogen bonds. Affecting that outer most layer called keratin or cuticle causing them to knot up. That now becomes a hair disorder called, TRICHORRHEXIS NODOSA ( a problem when thickened or weak points/nodes along the hair shaft causes your hair to break easily). See, now you gotta go and pay your hairstylist or go back to the supply store and spend more money. Now do you believe me? There is a profit design in ALL of this. Either the person who is doing your hair, making the products for your textured hair or is selling the products for your textured hair do not know their hair science or they are simply selling you the hair science of hair that YOU DO NOT KNOW. Either way, you are being played like a piano. I don't do that. 

While water is natural, it also can be very damaging to hair; when? When you use it in extreme forms, again; it not only rearranges those two hydrogen bonds but now they are affecting the disulphide bonds which are the strongest of the three. To reiterate, when those disulphide bonds are arranged, permanent change in the structure of the hair is almost always the result. So if it is moist hair that you are truly after; drink it. Don't apply it. 

How textured hair looks when too
much moisture is applied to the
saline and hydrophobic bonds. 

Refrain from using products that are water base, where water is the first ingredient. Perhaps Aloe, glycerin, cetaryl alcohol which is a fatty oil derived from coconut people; not denatured. Also, oil based products are a great alternative. As the oil will act as a barrier, preventing the hair from taking on a new shape as it dries. Another great thing to do do it to go buy some litmus paper from the pharmacy to check the pH on those products. Yes, the organic and natural products too. If the pH is 7, so is what? Water. That means that product will be too drying for your textured tresses. Your hair will feel naturally taught, brittle and dry. I am not saying those products are bad. I am saying for textured tresses; they may be a tad bit too drying. A pH of about 5-6 would be ideal for a styling agent for textured hair! 

4. How come my textured hair doesn't shine?

Read number 2. In addition, because the hair is coiled, it simply does not reflect the light as well as if the hair was smooth and straight. Nothing more and nothing less. So do not go adding more product. Coloring your hair darker may help with the appearance thus making it look more shiny.

5. Why does my hair poof?

Re-read number 1.

6. Why does my hair draw up?

Again, re-read number 1. Understand that hair is skin. Hair like skin, climatizes. That means the skin and hair will adjust and take form to the climate/temperature it is exposed to. For example. if you go outside in the cold; what will your skin do? Constrict and draw up. You can feel your hands tighten. So will your hair, when it is wet and it becomes exposed to the drying air. If you go into moist steamy atmosphere, what will your skin do? Become moist, clammy and sweaty. So will your hair. It is your skin's natural response to the climate. If you don't want your skin to become clammy, sweaty and moist; you would use a ANTIPERSPIRANT.  And if you do not want your hair to frizz, you should use an ANTI HUMECTANT or DEFRISANT. Or oil! Yep oil and water do not mix.

7. How come when my hair is wet, it looks pretty but when it is dry it looks dull frizzy and ugly?

Re-read number 6.

8. How come when I put products on my textured tresses, it absorbs all of the product like a sponge?

Who ever said hair is dead, is why we ask these types of questions. Hair is dead in the sense that is has no nerve endings. When we cut it, we can not feel it; nor does it bleed. Yet,  hair has the innate ability to open and close via the cuticle (keratin) layers. Anything that open and closes; expands and swells and absorbs is very much alive.That is how we change its shape temporarily as this blog is highlighting or chemically alter it's shape, color and texture. If hair was dead, trust and believe none of this would occur. I have serviced enough people who have transitioned to know what I am talking about. Ask any mortician if you can chemically alter hair and they will tell you...no. Hair is very much alive, that is why it is absorbing what you put on it. The more you put on it, the more you are doing what? Arranging those bonds. The constant application of hair products is constantly rearranging those bonds and the hair is simply doing what is designed to to when it is constantly exposed to water; absorb it. Nothing more. nothing less.

9. Again they want to know, how can I keep my textured hair moist?

Wet it or drink water.

Drink plenty of water.

Please go on this hair journey with my partners in hair care and I at:
www.hair-science.com 

"Running yo hands through my fro..."