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!

Topic of the Day: LHDC's Top 10 Black Hair Growth Tips!

 

So now that I'm finally finished giving y'all my Top 10 Black Hair Growth Tips, what do you think?  Do you have any questions about them?  Do you agree with them?  What are some of your hair growth tips?

We haven't had a good discussion in a long time!  I'm starting to feel like this is a read only blog (and my long time readers no how I feel about that LOL)

Can we talk???

 

LHDC's Black Hair Growth Tips!

Black hair growth tip #10

Black hair growth tip #9

Black hair growth tip #8

Black hair growth tip #7

Black hair growth tip #6

Black hair growtht tip #5

Black hair growth tip #4

Black hair growth tip #3

Black hair growth tip #2

Black hair growth tip #1

Black hair growth tip #1 + my thoughts on trimming (again lol)

 

#1STOP FOCUSING ON GROWTH

 

We all know by now that Black women can grow their hair longer than X length but STILL many never see their optimal lengths potential because 

1. You place mental limitations on yourself constantly telling yourself that "my hair doesn't grow past X lentgh..." and
   
2. Your hair is either being cut or breaking as fast as it is growing so you never see any changes in length giving the ILLUSION that your  hair doesn't grow!

Black hair growth tip #2

 

#2 PROTECT YOUR PROTECTIVE LAYER

 

This is what a healthy cuticle layer looks like.

Human hair is made up of 2-3 layers - the medulla, which is the innermost later of a strand (not everyone has a medulla); the cortex which is the middle layer; and the protective outer layer called the cuticle. Knowing how the cuticle layer responds to different treatments and processes will help you maximize the length of your hair.  For your hair to be the strongest and most resilient, the cuticle layer must be laying flat.  Stronger hair generally equates to longer hair.  The only way to see the cuticle is with a microscope. Here are some simple rules to follow when it comes to the cuticle:

Black hair growth tip #3

 

#3 SCALP STIMULATION

 

"The BEST food for hair growth is blood flow to the hair follicles."

~LHDC, Cayenne Scalp Treatment YouTube Video

Black hair growth tip #4

 

#4 NUTRIENTS

Did you know that there are certain vitamins and minerals that have been scientifically studied to determine if they assist in human hair growth?

Well, it's TRUE!