HOW TO GROW YOUR NATURAL HAIR LONG IN 2022
By Hadassah Agbaps - December 29, 2021
SHORT WASH DAY ROUTINE FOR DRY, HIGH POROSITY NATURAL HAIR
By Hadassah Agbaps - November 19, 2021
In this video, I'll show you how I keep my wash day short and sweet!
Some days, we don't have time to have a full on, all day washday!
This routine is guaranteed to get you ready in 30 mins!
Keep watching and please don't forget to subscribe and share!
Let's grow this YouTube channel!
TOP 5 STEPS TO KEEP YOUR NATURAL HAIR MOISTURISED FOR DAYS!!!
By Hadassah Agbaps - November 15, 2021
Here are top 5 steps to keep your natural hair moisturised for days!
I have high porosity, fine textured natural hair and these steps work!!!!
HOW LONG CAN YOUR NATURAL HAIR GROW UNTIL IT 'STOPS GROWING'?
By Hadassah Agbaps - July 28, 2020
I had an interesting conversation with the beautiful @rachelasakome concerning this question.
👉Here's the SHORT ANSWER.
It can grow for as long as your genes decide!
👉Here's the LONG ANSWER.
The active period your hair grows is called the ANAGEN PHASE.It lasts between 2- 6 yrs and it is regulated by your genes. So, your hair grows for 2-6 yrs, sheds and is replaced by new hair. It's a cycle.🔄🔄🔄
The average GROWTH RATE is 0.5 inches per month or 6 inches every year.
The anagen phase and your growth rate determine the longest your hair can grow before it stops growing and has to shed. This length is called TERMINAL LENGTH.
If your growth rate is 4 inches every year and your ANAGEN phase lasts 2 years, your terminal length is 4×2= 8 inches.
Most naturalistas definitely grow more than 8 inches in 2 yrs!💃💃
On average, the ANAGEN phase lasts 4 yrs and most growth rate is 6 inches per year.
6×4 = 24 inches of hair before it sheds. That's long hair abi?
Most people rarely reach their terminal length due to breakage caused by manipulation, poor diet, use of chemicals , hair dyes, combing, heat styling etc.
So before you blame your genes, check your hair care routine!
Personally, I never knew I could grow my hair waist length considering my slow growth rate (4 inches per year) and having fine textured hair.
My hair only grew shoulder length and then hit a growth plateau due to breakage.
It was only when I changed my hair care routine that I was able to grow waist length.
Right now, I want to see if I can reach knee length. I may or may not reach that goal....but we'll see.
I don't know my terminal length yet.
I would need to pluck (not cut) a section of my hair to monitor the growth for 6 yrs or more to find out.......and I'm not about that struggle!😂
🌈 Do you believe length is determined by genes only?
Conditioner washing a.k.a co washing is a method of washing hair without the use of shampoos. Hair conditioners are used alone to wash the hair.
Naturals with very kinky, tightly coiled hair will benefit from this type of washing as unlike shampoos it cleans the hair without stripping it of natural oils.
If you notice your hair gets dry, dull and hard easily, this may be your miracle!
How do cowash work to cleanse hair?
Conditioners contain fatty acid alcohols such as cetyl alcohol, cetearyl alcohol etc. These are emulsifiers and mild non ionic surfactants. Emulsifiers help make oils soluble in water and vice versa. Surfactants weaken adhesion forces that hold grime to hair and help make it easy for them to be rinsed out.
Conditioners thus can act as auxiliary cleansing agents though with poor foaming capacity.
BENEFITS OF COWASHING
- Softens and moisturises hair for longer. Very good for transitioners because it softens new growth so less breakage at point where relaxed hair meets curly hair.
- Reduces tangles.
Conditioners reduce static electricity and friction between hair fibres. They do this by forming positive charges which neutralise negative charges in hair formed during combing, brushing, when hair is damaged and when alkaline hair products are used.
- Defines curls/coils. You get to see your real curl pattern and there's ease of detangling.
- Hair grows longer as the hair breaks less due to less dryness.
- Conditioners are usually acidic. Low pH protonates keratin proteins giving hair a more compact structure. They also help preserve dyes in colored hair.
CONS:
- Over use of conditioner can soften the hair to the point where it breaks.
So moderation is the key.
If you hair feels too stretchy and limp, you've overconditioned.
This can be reversed by doing a protein treatment.
- If you use a lot of products, stylers and creams that aren't easily rinsed out with water, cowash cleansers may be insufficient to completely get scalp clean. This could lead to buildup and itchy scalp.
It is thus advised to introduce clarification with a sulfate free shampoo at least once a month.
HOW TO USE COWASH CONDITIONERS ON NATURAL HAIR
-Look for inexpensive conditioners that contain low amounts of cationic polymers, insoluble silicones, heavy butters/oils and proteins. For this reason, deep conditioners which are usually high in the above are not suitable for cowashing.
Choose instead lightweight rinse out conditioners and dedicated cowash cleansers.
Check here for recommendations.
- Shampoo hair if it's your first time of co washing.
- Part hair into two or four sections depending on hairlength and thickness.
- Apply conditioner to each section of wet or dry hair.
- Wash scalp with fingertips by massaging in direction of hair growth. Gentle scrubbing motion helps dislodge dirt and grime for easy rinsing. Rinse out with warm water.
- Reapply conditioner...this time from the ends to midway avoiding scalp. Detangle hair gently from tips to root using a widetooth comb.
Optional: Twist each detangled section.
-Rinse using cold water. This adds shine.
- Blot dry without disturbing curl pattern, apply oil/ butter and leave to air dry.
Because this method of washing is gentler on natural hair, you can cowash whenever your hair is dirty or sweaty.
However, do not cowash often as constant wetting and drying causes hair to expand and contract which can weaken it. Limit washing to once a week.
Hi people, what's been on?
Sooooooooo......with the right handling and care of our natural hair, we shouldn't really have the drama of excessive breakage, shedding, dandruff and whatever other problems associated with hair....abi???!!
However, due to changes in weather, water hardness, products and generally because our systems enjoy surprising us once in a while.....ish happens!
This post is an answer to the question of
What treatments can I use for what natural hair problems?
What can I do if my hair feels dry no matter how consistent I am with moisturising?
What do I do if I experience unnecessary shedding and breakage despite my healthy diet and care I take during detangling and styling?
This post is an answer to the question of
What treatments can I use for what natural hair problems?
What can I do if my hair feels dry no matter how consistent I am with moisturising?
What do I do if I experience unnecessary shedding and breakage despite my healthy diet and care I take during detangling and styling?
Well, it's useful to have one or two treatments to sort of reset our hair to default setting.
Here are some suggested natural hair troubleshooting links.
1. Shedding and breakage.
- Before you think your hair has a problem with breakage and shedding, here is why seeing short hair doesn't always mean breakage and here's the reason why shedding is normal
- If your hair is fine and breaks easily, here are treatments you can do once a month to keep make it stronger.
- If your hair is longer and you are trying to reduce breakage and retain length, you can join me in my Indian oiling treatment ( you can also use palm kernel oil) and
my henna treatment once every 1-2 months
- For uncontrolled shedding, if you finger detangle exclusively, you might be shedding because of the reason I observed here. To control excess shedding, you can try the moringa tea and ginger root rinse
2. Scalp issues
- If you are battling with dandruff and itchy scalp, here's the what , why and how to stop it
3. Detangling issues
- Wrong detangling methods can lead to unnecessary pain and breakage. To make things easier, try to prevent tangles from happening in the first place and maybe try switching over to fingerdetangling. Here's how to fingerdetangle right.
4. Moisturising issues
- Don't think your current moisturiser is doing its work, here's how to make your own. A crucial step in keeping your hair moisturised is sealing. Here's what sealing is and how to seal effectively. You can try the LOC step which is explained in more details in this post
- Still having moisturising issues, it will be good add moisturising deep conditioning treatments into your washday as often as you can and follow up with daily moisturising.
Useful deep conditioning treatments include:
I've also used some deep conditioners that worked for me. Recommendations include
You can also do the green house treatment midweek to prevent loss of moisture.
Please let me know if you have any more concerns that hasn't been dealt with and if you have any tips and tricks, please to feel free to share.
Till I spill again,
Hadassah A.
HOW TO REDUCE KNOTS AND TANGLES ON TYPE 4 NATURAL HAIR
By Hadassah Agbaps - August 18, 2019
💦STRETCHED💦
Just a quick one this morning showing how I keep my ends stretched.
This is an easy solution for those who complain about single stranded knots.
This is an easy solution for those who complain about single stranded knots.
I'm using rollers at the ends of my hair. I leave them in overnight so my ends are stretched by morning.
No rollers? Do bantuknots.
Knots come with the territory of natural hair since curly hair likes to play a game of 'Tangle tag'.
Knots can't be avoided ...well unless you want to be a full time knot police for each of your 1 million + curly strands.
However, they can be minimised by keep your ends stretched, moisturised and split free (a trim will work here)
Hope this helps someone.
What's your go to method for tackling knots?
What's your go to method for tackling knots?
EFFECT OF MOISTURE AND PROTEIN TREATMENTS ON NATURAL HAIR
By Hadassah Agbaps - August 07, 2019
Hi guys, what's been on!
You know how I'm always going on and on about the importance of effective products in your natural hair care...and how the right products can make hair care super easy?🤔
Well, I finally got a perfect picture to illustrate what I've been saying.😋😋😋.
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Soooooo, I used two different products on two different sections of my hair....
Product A: was a moisturising product and Product B: was a protein product.
I applied them directly on dry hair.
I did not use water or any product beforehand.
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🌿As you can see, the moisturising products made my curls looser than the protein one. 🌿
💦The moisturising product contains active humectants that draw moisture to my hair. The weight of this moisture caused my fine natural hair to stretch...a lot like how your hair stretches out in the shower when wet.💦
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🍳 The protein product contained hydrolysed proteins that immediately binds to hair, repair peptide bonds and improve curl structure which is why my curls appeared tighter.This is why you think proteins causes your hair to feel harder.🍳
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💦A balance of both moisture and protein helps keep my hair healthy, moisturised, prevent breakage and improve length retention leading to longer hair.💦
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🌺Need help deciding what products are best for your hair and your budget?
Check me out on Instagram
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What's your favourite protein or moisture deep conditioner?
MY TOP 5 CHEAP CONDITIONERS FOR NIGERIAN NATURAL HAIR
By Hadassah Agbaps - October 14, 2018
Hi people, what's been on?
So I'm on the budget naturalista roll and I'm here to share my top 5 conditioners fro natural hair under N2000!!!!
These conditioners can also be found in any local market or beauty shop around you!
They have been indispensable to me throughout my journey and they haven't disappointed me so far.
Whenever I'm in a new place in Nigeria and didn't take my gazillion hair products with me, I can always count on finding these products unless of course, I'm travelling to visit a rock!!!
In order of priority, I would always purchase a conditioner first before getting a shampoo. That is because a conditioner can be used as a detangler, a leave in conditioner and a deep conditioner....all of which keep my hair soft, hydrated, detangled and manageable.
From experience, my staple cheapies are:
Alberto VO5 conditioner
You can always count on finding this conditioner in a beauty shop or pharmacy and it costs N700 at the very most. It's usually more expensive online so finding it in a brick and mortar store is a real money saver.
It can be used as a co wash, as a leave in and you can add in some honey and oil to transform it to a deep conditioner.
Organics Root Stimulator Replenishing Conditioner.
This conditioner is an all in one conditioner and it smells really nice. It costs around N1700. It has amazing slip so it is perfect for detangling....the comb just slips right through!
It also has protein so if your hair needs some strengthening, this conditioner should be in your arsenal. With this conditioner, you don't need to mix or add in anything. As a deep conditioner, all you need is a shower cap and you're good to go.
Vitale Olive Oil Hair Mayonnaise
If you're a regular reader, you already know this is like the millionth time I'm mentioning this conditioner! It is easy to find in brick and mortar stores around Nigeria and cheap too...max N2000 for 30oz. That's a lot of conditioner for the price!!!
The only draw back is you'll have to rinse out all that slip thoroughly and also try to get out the tiny bits of parsley leaves. I buy this in emergency cases....especially when I run out of detanglers and I'm in a new town.
Profectiv Mega Growth Detangling Conditioner
This conditioner is made by the creators of Beautiful Textures and Elasta QP range of products and is a good substitute . It usually costs N1500 and I find it doesn't weigh down my fine hair when used as a leave in conditioner. It's also good as a rinse out conditioner but I prefer it as a leave in.
Dr. Miracles Leave In Conditioner...Feel It Formula
This brand is synonymous with relaxed hair care but can still be used for natural hair care. This light milky formula has enough slip to make detangling less time consuming, I love the ultralight fragrance and really live for that tingle. It's petrolatum free and paraben free and costs just around N1500. It is actually my favorite of the lot when it comes to affordable leave ins but finding it in the market is usually hit or miss so I always try to stock up when I do find it.
My major problem with a lot of conditioners is build up and when my hair touches my face, it tends to break me out but these ones I've listed haven't posed any problems for me. They also don't cause my scalp to itch or feel uncomfortable and the best point is they don't weigh down my hair or make it feel sticky.
Here's a video showing the best way to use conditioners
Have you tried any of these conditioner? Which ones are your fave cheapies??
