Listening to your hair

I know this sounds ridiculous. 

But listening to your hair is important if you want to achieve beautiful healthy hair. A lot of people, me included, just go through the motions when it comes to their hair. Wash, style, and go. If we're feeling special we might do a deep conditioning treatment here and there or we may even try a tea rinse or something our friends recommended or something we've seen on youtube etc. But most of us don't really know when or why they should use these things on our hair. Listening to your hair means paying attention to your hair, deciding what it needs and what it doesn't need, what your hair likes and what it doesn't like.

This was my biggest mistake when I started my hair journey. I was paying attention to what everyone else was doing for their hair and applying their methods to my own hair without taking the time out to determine if my hair liked/disliked the treatment. I thought, shoot, I'm doing way more stuff than I used to do to my hair it has to be helping! Right? Wrong.

I used to do protein treatments once every four weeks, because that was what someone on youtube was doing. I did apple cider vinegar rinses or tea rinses just because I saw it on youtube. I used a t-shirt instead of towel to dry or I deep conditioned without heat, all because of what I saw somebody else do on youtube. Not because I figured out that these methods were better for my hair. Just to be clear I'm not saying that these methods don't benefit your hair, I'm trying to point out things that I did only because of watching others without listening to my hair.

Okay so at this point you may be wondering..

How does one LISTEN to their hair anyway?  

• Make a mental note of any differences in your hair for the next few days after trying a new treatment/method- you can even write it down if you want in a hair diary- record how your hair does during the week afterwards in comparison to how it is normally
• Check for dryness- does you hair feel abnormally dry after trying a new treatment or does it feel supple and moisturized?
• Check for differences in your scalp. Is it more itchy than normal? Do you have less dandruff than normal
• Are you experiencing more split ends than normal in a short time frame?

These are just a few examples of things to pay attention to. 

The important message I want to get across is to pay attention to your hair! Do not blindly try new things without accessing the results afterwards. How is your hair normally? Did it change for the worst or the better after trying a new method/treatment? This will impact the health of your hair greatly! However, it may be hard to tell if there are changes the very first time you try something new. You may have to try it a couple times to determine if it is helpful or not.

Happy hair growing :)

Benefits of using natural oils on hair and scalp

Growing up if someone told me that I would be putting the same olive oil we cook with on my hair and scalp I would think they were crazy! However, little did I know olive oil, as well as other oils,  would be a staple in my hair regimen years later. Olive oil is an example of one small thing in a list of things I never would of thought I’d put in my hair.  Here I will now list the benefits of some oils that I have used on my hair and scalp. Remember a healthy scalp equates to healthy hair

Olive oil (extra-virgin)

I apply a mixture of different oils to my scalp in a squeeze bottle on a regular basis and olive oil is included in this mixture. I suffer from really bad dry, itchy scalp and dandruff is a frequent visitor of mine, ughh. But some of the benefits of using olive oil on the scalp and hair are:

•    Stronger, healthier hair because of the monounsaturated fats of the oil can apply a protective shield over hair strand
•   It contains antifungal and antibacterial properties for scalp which may help with preventing dandruff
•  Gives hair a natural sheen
•  Contains polyphenols a type of antioxidant which assists with scalp health by protecting the cells on scalp from damage
•   Moisturizes the scalp

Grape seed oil 

I tend to use this to seal in moisture on my hair after I moisturize my hair with a water-based hair moisturizer but its helpful on the scalp as well. Benefits listed below:

•       Contains antioxidants polyphenols (like olive oil) and flavonoids. However, flavonoids being a very strong antioxidant helps keep the scalp healthy
•        Lightweight, thinner oil compared to other oils-doesn’t make hair too greasy
•        High content of polyunsaturated fats helps coat the hair making it shiner and softer by locking in moisture
•       Can be used as a heat protectant with a smoke point of 420oF (for comparison coconut oil starts to evaporate at only 350oF)

Vitamin E 

This is naturally included in other oils like grape seed and olive oil for example. Benefits listed below:

•        Is a type of antioxidant that repairs damaged tissues and prevent further damage to hair and scalp
•        Can repair damaged hair follicles which are necessary for proper hair growth
•       Give natural sheen to hair

Coconut oil

·      One of the few oils that can penetrate the hair shaft providing moisture to hair. It is a solid at room temperature but melts when rubbed between your hands. I usually apply this directly to my hair. Benefits are below:

•  Contains antifungal, antibacterial properties and has antioxidants so it helps with dandruff and keeping the scalp healthy

Argon/Moroccan oil

This oil is lightweight and very thin. Its good to use on fine hair because it will not weight your hair down at all. Below are the benefits: 

•        Contains vitamin E to helps repair damaged hair and protects against split ends
•        High in fats so increases shine to hair
•        High in antioxidants which help protects scalp and help with dandruff
•        Is lightweight and easily absorbed into the hair providing moisture

Castor oil 

One of my staples in my scalp oil mixture. This is a very thick oil, I thin it out by mixing it with thinner oils. There are many types of Castor oil Jamaican, Haitian, cold-pressed, etc. It doesn't really matter which one you use. The benefits are below:

•       Can thicken and stimulate hair growth
•        Contains an important type of fat called ricinoleic acid which can stimulate Prostagladins which are known to enriches hair follicle and promote hair generation- (scientifically proven when castor oil was applied to scalp)
•        Has anti-bacterial and anti-fungi properties

These last three are called essential oils and need to be diluted with other oils before use

Peppermint oil

•       Stimulates blood flow to scalp and can stimulate hair growth

Tea tree oil

•       Stimulates blood flow to scalp
•        Unplugs sebaceous glands and promotes healthy hair growth

Rosemary oil

•        Can help with itchiness, dry, scalp and dandruff
•       Has antioxidants that can assist with preventing hair thinning and greying   

 As you guys can see a lot of these oils share similarities with slight differences. In addition, this is only a list of oils that I have tried, however, there are A LOT of other oils out there that I still haven't tried. I'd love to try others, but my BUDGET says otherwise. Sigh.. The important thing to remember is to DO WHAT WORKS FOR YOUR HAIR! Just because something works for me doesn't mean it'll work for you and vice versa, because every body's hair/scalp/body is different. But if you'd like to try these oils just remember to LISTEN to your hair to determine if they work for you. If you have any questions about anything please don't hesitate to ask!