Long Hair Don't Care

The TRUTH about Black natural hair growth!

 

Curly Girl Tips from the Curly Girl Expert Lorraine Massey!

Black Hair Breakage 101, vol 2

In vol. 1 of this series on breakage, we left off identifying the 3 major types of breakage most commonly experienced by Black women.  We talked about how breakage keeps many of us from growing our hair to its longest lengths and we differentiated how breakage is different from shedding.

In this post, let's explore the 3 major types of breakage in a little more detail.

Black Hair Breakage 101, vol. 1

 

If there were a #1 reason that Black hair seems to never reach it's maximum growth potential, I'd bet it would be BREAKAGE.  Hair breakage is inevitable...let me say that one more time a different way:

No matter what you do to prevent it, you will break your hair.  If you comb your hair, you are bound to break it.  If you brush your hair, you are bound to break it....if you manipulate your hair in ANY shape fashion or form, count on the fact that you will break a few hairs.

I know you're wondering now, "if my hair is going to break no matter what I do or don't do, how can I reach my maximum hair growth potential?"

The key is to eliminate as much breakage as possible and in this series of posts I'm going to give you the what and the how when it comes to Black hair breakage.

Tips to help protect your hair during heat styling!

 

I've been getting a lot of questions about heat styling since I posted my blow drying tutorial on YouTube so I decided to dedicate an entire post help those of you who are interested in regular heat styling, or even occassional heat styling.

I heavily advise against regular, consistent heat usage under all circumstances.  I CERTAINLY do not believe in using heat to make your new growth more "managable" while relaxer stretching or transitioning.  Direct heat is not good to use consistently if you want your hair to grow to optimal lengths, no matter what the texture of your hair is.  Of course there are exceptions, but those are the minority...

In my Top 10 Black Hair Growth Tips, I described how direct heat can compromise the integrity of your hair.  Direct heat damages your hair by robbing your hair of moisture and weakening the protein structure of your hair.  The combination of these two things really make your hair weak and much more susceptible to breakage.  And we all know that

 

BREAKAGE = NO HAIR GROWTH  RETENTION!

 

So, now that I've scared you off from using direct heat to style your hair, I'm done!

10 tips to grow your hair longer!

Clearly the goal for many Black women who are active in hair forums, blogs and vlogs is to grow LONGER hair!  I've been at this hair growing thing for nearly 3 years and over that time I've been able to pin point a few things that we all can be doing in order to maximize our growth potential.  So without further ado,

the forgotten hair growth step: pH

We know all about the 3C's and have incorporated them into our daily haircare practices.  We know all about how important it is to keep our scalps clean and our ends protected.  We even know that excessive heat and chemicals are the debil....but what about pH?

I'm sure you have noticed that a number of haircare brands have a statement on their packaging that says 'pH balanced'.

But what is pH and how does it actually affect your hair?

More about biotin

Check out this video!  It really gives a good (QUICK) breakdown about biotin and its benefits to hair.

Spotlight on Biotin

Does biotin REALLY make your hair grow faster????

For years, biotin has widely been known as THE hair/skin/nail supplement.  But is it REALLY???

Although many women and men have claimed to have increased hair growth by taking biotin supplements, experts and scientists don't seem to agree that biotin is effective in treating hair loss at all.  That's right folks, there has not been enough conclusive evidence to support the claim that biotin grows hair OR nails for that matter. 

But before you go tossing that brand new bottle of 5,000 mcg biotin pills down the toilet, let's explore this wonder supplement a bit more...

Keratin Protein - a closer look

In the previous protein post, we learned that keratin is responsible for keeping the hair strong and pliable.   Let's take a closer look at the different typs of keratin and their function in hair product ingredients.

Keratin protein --this will re-structure and strengthen the hair cuticle (the outer layer only & the most important layer)

The keratin in some reconstructors should not leave your hair hard like the Aphogee Treatment for damaged hair (which contains hydrolyzed animal protein).

Reconstructors that contain keratin and other proteins are supposed to have enough moisture to soften the hair therefore leaving your hair with a nice protein/moisture balance.

• Hydrolyzed Human Hair Keratin

--This is an exact match for the keratin your hair has. This is the highest quality and most potent keratin that can be used in hair products.

• Hydrolyzed Keratin Protein or Keratin Amino Acids --

this means that the Keratin molecules have been broken down and are small enough to go beyond the cuticle and penetrate the hair shaft. It will strengthen all 3 layers of the hair. That is why the term "deep conditioning" technically only refers to this kind of treatment using penetrating proteins.