Friday 31 May 2013

Virgin hair give away is now closed....

Hi Everyone,

The Virgin hair giveaway is now closed! Many thanks to everyone who participated. The response was awesome and we are now tallying the results. We are hoping to get through everything by next week and the winner will be announced then.

Thanks again for your interest and accept my apologies for the recent inactivity on the blog. I have been super duper busy. However, I am striving to change my ways, busy or not, blog posts MUST go up!

Have an awesome weekend!

Love y'all!
B

Sunday 19 May 2013

Tailbone length... for 5 mins!

Hi Everyone,

Back in February I had a major setback due to neglect and relaxer burns which I discussed here. Since this setback I have been protective styling. This weekend, I finally braved it and decided to assess the damage and get a good trim so I went to Salon Tamika Bell. Tamika Bell is not your average stylist. She focuses on healthy hair makeovers, she spent a good hour just detangling my hair! She deep conditioned, blow dried and flat ironed... and I fell asleep! Now, that is trust. I NEVER fall asleep in a stylist's chair. I am usually awake, alert and ready to sprint out of the chair if I suspect any foul play! Anyway, when she was done, she combed down my hair and informed me that I was at tailbone length! Woo hoo! But not for long, the damage from my last relaxer was apparent in how thin my ends were. So she cut off about 4 inches. I definitely need to cut off more but we decided to do it gradually.

Tailbone length


Back to midback and still more inches to trim

If you happen to be in the Atlanta area stop by Salon Tamika Bell. With a portfolio like this, what's not to like.  See more of her healthy hair makeovers here



Now, if only I could bring her back to Lagos with me...

Have a great weekend everyone!

xoxo
B

Saturday 18 May 2013

Hair care for kids

With children's day right around the corner, I thought a post on how to care for our little ones' hair would be in order. Here goes:




1. Cleansing:
Depending on your lifestyle and the length and thickness of your daughters hair, you should plan to wash their hair once every week or two. When washing, focus on cleaning the scalp. The hair will get cleaned as the shampoo runs down the shaft when being rinsed out.


Photo: thelondonmummyblog.com


2. Conditioning:
Please do not skip this step and for those of you who have someone else wash and condition your kids' hair be sure to insist that this step is NOT skipped (I am stressing this because ALOT of kid hair braiders in Lagos do not understand the importance of conditioning!). Insist also that conditioner is applied lavishly not sparingly. This will help retain moisture and aid the next step: Detangling.




3. Detangle:
This is the step that is dreaded by lots of kids. The pulling, tugging, yanking etc. However, with the right products (moisturizing and detangling conditioner), the right technique (detangling in sections while saturated with conditioner) and the right tools (wide tooth comb, detangling brush) this step can be a lot easier that is often anticipated.




4. Styling:
Most mums opt for protective/low manipulation styles like twists, cornrows, buns etc for kids. This option is a lot easier on kids and parents as they do not have to deal with styling on a daily basis plus there are lots of cute styles to try out on your little one. It is also a good way to reduce manipulation and promote length retention.

Protective/Low manipulation style - cornrows

Length retention



5. Moisturizing:
This will not be a hair care post without me stressing the importance of moisturizing. Moisturize 3 to 5 times a week by lightly misting the hair with your favorite water based moisturizer. you can use a mixture of water and glycerin, water and aloe vera juice, a water based leave in conditioner, just water etc Apply some olive or coconut oil afterwards to seal in the moisture.

Spray bottle
WATER


CAUTION!!!





It breaks my heart to see kids with damaged hairlines. Follow these steps to prevent this:

- Do not braid or cornrow too tight, too small or too heavy. Caution your daughters braider very strongly about this. Note that the effects of braiding hair too tight can be irreversible so it is IMPORTANT that we get this right!!!
- Do not brush edges aggressively. 
- Manipulate and detangle gently
- Moisturize. Remember that dry hair is brittle and more prone to breakage.

And lastly, I'll leave you with pictures of cutie pattooties from around the globe:

Their mama probably goes through a bottle of conditioner every  week!


Afro puffs to end all afro puffs


God bless the children


Locs anyone?


'Love'ly design



Beautiful Afro

Two strand twisted cutie

I'm cute and I know it!

Enjoy the rest of your weekend.

Peace, love and light!
B


Tuesday 14 May 2013

It's giveaway time!!! Free brazilian/peruvian hair from www.theweaveplace.com

Hi Everyone,

Sorry for the lack of posts. I've been sooo busy. However, I do have a couple of posts scheduled to be up by the end of the week so look out for them...

In the meantime, I have some exciting news. The weave place has offered to sponsor a giveaway on my blog. The winner gets a full head (Two 114g bundles) of virgin peruvian or brazilian hair!!!


Peruvian hair giveaway - Theweaveplace


The rules for qualification are very simple:

1. Like The weavePlace's facebook page. Just go to the link below and click on "like" to like the page
https://www.facebook.com/Theweaveplace

2. Like my Facebook page. Just go to the link below and click on "like" to like the page
https://www.facebook.com/lushstrands

The giveaway will last for 2 weeks after which the winner will be randomly selected. So make sure to enter by liking both pages and remember to tell your friends or anyone you think may be interested in rocking some new hurr!

Love y'all
B

Sunday 5 May 2013

Head wraps and scarves for Spring/Summer 2013

This season, scarves and head wraps featured heavily on the runway: 

It's finally getting warmer, flowers are blooming. Time to invest in colorful head wraps, scarves, bold colored lipsticks and statement jewelry and enjoy the outdoors: strolls in the park, family get togethers, picnics.... and it doesn't hurt that your hair is protected underneath! Here are some pictures to inspire you. Enjoy! 










Saturday 4 May 2013

My hair today - Blonde hair don't care!

This week, I am back to wigs. I usually stick to blacks and dark browns but this time, I decided to try something new. So I went lighter: dark blonde with highlights! As usual my hair is cornrowed underneath the wig. I moisturize and seal daily. Apply the jbco on my edges. Game on.



Lace wig: theweaveplace.com



How are you wearing your hair this week? In anycase, have an amazing Sunday and a productive week ahead.

Bless!

Wednesday 1 May 2013

Save your hairline!!!


The most asked question I get is "How do I fix a receding hairline?" So naturally, I thought this should be my next post:

First off, what causes the hairline to recede? Here are the top 6 reasons:
- Vigorous combing/brushing
- Braids that are too small, too tight or too heavy
- Improper application and removal of glued in lace wigs
- Improper application and removal of glued in weaves
- Excessive relaxing
- Friction against your pillow while sleeping

7 ways to get your hairline back:
There are extreme cases of hairline damage where you have to see a doctor to get regular shots or even surgery. For milder cases, here are a few things that you can do to improve your hairline:


1. STOP brushing your hairline. I mean, do you really really need to exert all that effort when brushing your edges? I understand that you want your hair to lay flat but if you insist on smooth/flat edges, do it GENTLY, those strands are fragile and so is the scalp in that area. Infact, here is a challenge for you: Don't brush or comb your edges at all. Use your fingers, detangle your hair and smooth it back with some edge control.

Give your edges a break from brushing (pun intended :)




2. Make sure your braids/weaving/cornrows are not too tight. Make sure they are not too heavy and make sure they are not too small. Too tight and/or too heavy braids will cause trauma to the hair follicle making it incapable of producing hair. Small braids are not really an issue except for the fact that people tend to leave them in for too long and with all the movement, the braids sometimes start to twist at the base, create tension and fall off. So if you must put your hair in small braids either don't leave them in for too long or redo the edges once they start to twist.

If you have to take pain killers after doing your hair, it is too tight.

I love Ghana weaving as much as  you but tell your hairdresser to go easy. She mustn't pick every single strand of hair that is in the area. Ask her to be gentle especially around the hairline


3. Do not glue on lace wigs. If you must wear a wig, use glueless ones. If you must apply your wig with glue, make sure it is applied in front of the hairline, not behind or on your hairline. In any case, the effect of glue on your skin is not properly researched so I definitely recommend skipping the glue applications all together

4. Do not glue in your weaves. It's difficult to care for your hair when you have a glued in weave and also difficult to take out without causing damage. Opt for a sew in instead

5. Stop relaxing your edges. Ok, maybe I will lose some of you here but this is what saved my edges o. After relaxing my hair, my edges always looked extremely thin and lifeless. So I stopped. Now, when I relax my hair, I start from about half an inch behind my hair line.  So yes, the first half inch of my hairline is coarse and nappy but when I want it to lay flat,  I just get some edge control, apply to my edges and smooth it down.

Olive oil edge control




Before and after using edge control on unrelaxed edges
Photo credit: www.mswillasworld.com

6. Sleep with a silk or satin scarf. If you don't want to sleep with a silk/satin scarf then use silk or satin pillow cases. When you sleep at night, you hair rubs against your pillow and can break due to friction. Silk and satin are slippery and create a lot less friction than cotton. So tying your hair in a scarf made from one of these will prevent friction related breakage in your hairline.

Get nice colorful scarves and you can tie your hair up at night and still look cute



7. Add Castor oil to your routine. Castor oil when massaged into the scalp can stimulate hair growth. Use 3 to 5 times a week. See my other more detailed post on castor oil here

Before castor oil treatment

9 months of castor oil treatment


So these are the top 7 things you can do to nurture and regrow your hairline. Note that in cases of extreme damage to the hairline and follicle, it is recommended that you see your doctor. 

Questions? Suggestions? Let me know is the comment section. Also, I get sooo many questions and comments and can't answer them all. I figure I can address them by picking my posts based on the most frequently asked questions. So let me know in the comments what you think my next post should be.

Love!
B

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