Winterize Your Hair Routine

You've winterized your wardrobe. 

How about your hair routine?

Unlike the humid days of summer, winter air is much drier. Given this, even the

 healthiest head can experience dry hair and tight, itchy scalp.

 Avoid it all by winterizing your routine. Here's how...

• Go ahead, take the appetizer and the desert! Treat your hair to an appetizer and dessert. In hair lingo we'd call that a pre-poo and deep condition treatment, respectively. Both spoil your hair with extra vitamins, nutrients, proteins and moisture! This is one time when pigging out is a GOOD thing! 
• Learn all about pre-pooing and deep conditioning (including a DIY recipe) here>>> Pre-pooing 101

• Kick the -ates! If you haven't already, move to a sulfate-free shampoo during the winter. Sulfates are detergents. While great for cleansing, sulfates are very drying to the hair! So shelf the sulfates during the cold months. 
• Learn all about sulfates here>>> Sulfates 101

• Hold the humectants! Humectants are substances that attract water. Great, right? Not always. During the humid days of summer,humectants extract water from the air. During the arid or dry days of winter, humectants extract water from your hair! Humectants commonly found in hair products include Panthenol (Pro-vitamin B),  propylene glycol , PEG compounds, hydrolyzed proteins (ie elastin, collagen, silk keratin), vegetable glycerin, honey, and sugars (ie fructose, sucrose).

• Swap the jacket for a coat! You've packed away your thin summer jacket for a thick winter coat. Do the same with your oils! Replace your thin oils like grapeseed and extra virgin olive oil for heavier/thicker oils and butters like castor, coconut, jojoba oil and shea butter. 
• Learn about natural carrier and essence oils here>>> Oils 101
• Are you using the right technique when applying your oils? Click here to find out >>>Applying Oils

• Stop showing so much skin! Protective styles are great year-round but just like summer dresses and sandals, skin is best shown in the summer! If your protective style exposes your scalp to the dry winter air (ie cornrows, bantu knots, etc.), you'll likely notice that your scalp feels tight . If you're wearing extensions, you'll notice it even more because the added hair steals moisture from your own hair and scalp. This is especially true if you're using fake or cheap hair. Much like cloth, fake or cheap hair will absorb additional moisture from your hair. So invest in good hair and as much as possible, choose styles that shield your scalp and ends.
• Learn more on protective styling here>>> Protective Styling 101

• Spread the Love! While too heavy for the sweaty days of summer, applying sealant to your scalp is a great way to prevent and relieve winter's tight and itchy scalp. Run a little of your winter oil over your well-watered scalp! Need something thicker/heavier than oil? Prefer the feel/consistency of hair grease? Make your own!
• Try it!: Mix shea butter and natural oil to your desired consistency. A ratio of 2: 1 is fairly consistent with hair grease. Example: Add 1/2 cup of shea butter with 1 cup of your favorite oil(s). Be sure to add a bit of honey or tea tree oil to your mix. Both are natural preservatives! Just remember. If you use tea tree oil, use sparingly. Like all essential oils, a little goes a LONG way!
• Buy it!: Not a DIY type? Try my product! Quench is a mixture of shea butter, essential oils, aloe vera gel, vegetable glycerin, minoxidil (Rogaine), honey, vitamin E and natural fragrances. Got thirsty tresses? Quench them! 
• Pick it up under the "shop" tab of my blogsite!
• Note: NEVER apply synthetic hair grease to your scalp. Unlike natural sealants, the main ingredient in hair grease is typically mineral oil or one of its cousins; petrolatum, petroleum and paraffin. Shea butter feeds your hair vitamins and minerals. It protects with natural sunscreens and it stimulates with natural anti-oxidants. Mineral oil does none of these things. Applying it to your scalp seals in water but it suffocates your hair from receiving added water and oxygen. It attracts dirt and it requires a harsh detergent to be removed....and this will lead to further drying.
• Learn more about grease here>>> Hair Grease 101

• Cover it up! Despite the myth, wearing wet hair in the winter does not cause colds. Colds come from viruses, not cold weather! Nonetheless, it's good to cover your head to keep warm and more importantly, to slow down the rate at which moisture escapes from your hair. So cover it up!

• Quick Tip! Cotton and wool suck your hair dry so only cover your head with hats, hoods and scarves that are lined with silk or satin. Not lined? Fret not my friend. Check out this quick tip video for a work-around!

Voila! Your routine is now winterized!

What are some steps you take to winterize your hair routine? Share in the comments or 

come over to the chat room to share! >>> CHAT!

Beware the Bandwagon!

Ok. Here's my beef/rant/tantrum for the day. Being on YouTube, Facebook, Blogger, etc DOES NOT make you a natural hair expert. I find more people willing to simply "follow" someone's advice because they sell themselves as an expert. Fact is, if you can run a digital camera/webcam, you too can sell yourself as an "expert". I say, no matter who it is (myself included) before following someone's advice or a natural hair trend...you need to make sure that what is being said/sold makes sense and is backed up by science. I try to ensure that I give you the science...not just my two cents...when I post, blog, vlog. 

Don't get me wrong, I understand that when you are newly natural, you want to find someone who can help you along the journey. I too jumped on the natural hair bandwagon. But, while I started on that road I QUICKLY jumped off.

I started doing videos and blogs because I found there was WAY too much opinion and WAY too little science/research behind a lot of people's "advice". I say it all the time...the first step towards healthy hair needs to be education...not allegiance...education. That is why I did The ABC's of Hair Speak. I see people running to buy this, try that, etc...yet they have NO clue as to WHY they should or should not try something/some process. I do the opposite. I learn the science and then use that knowledge to decide if someone's advice is worth taking.....very often...it's NOT!  

I say all of that to say this...before you jump on the next natural bandwagon, heed the words of one Vanilla Ice...STOP, COLLABORATE and LISTEN! 

Here's some advice on following 'natural hair gurus' and jumping on 'natural hair' bandwagons....

Think I'm being overly-dramatic? Well no need to take my word for it. Grab your shoes honey. It's time for a trip down memory lane.

The Rio Hair Naturalizer System

I might be aging myself but around the time I was in high school (mid 90s), commercials began running for a miraculous new product line called the Rio Hair Naturalizer System. The line included two products, a relaxer without (neutral) and a relaxer with hair dye built-in (the "black/licorice color enhancer"). Why you ask? Hey, nothing says health like hair that's been fried, dyed, and laid to the side in one sitting (rolls eyes). 

While the Halle Berry/Toni Braxton look was just around the corner, the Rio system came out when we brown girls were trying to get the Robin Givens, Jody Watley, Karyn White, look. Hardly the fool, the World Rio Corporation capitalized on this trend by heavily marketing to African-American girls and women. Heck, you couldn't listen to "black radio" or watch "black tv" without seeing a commercial for the stuff! Be it Showtime at the Apollo, Martin, In Living Color, or A Different World, every commercial break featured a commercial/infomercial for the stuff. 

Promising to make hair bone straight by "retexturiz(ing), revitaliz(ing) and gradually releas(ing) tight curls; the Rio commercials came replete with the stereotypical prototype of beauty- a light-complexion black woman with super thick, super long, super straight hair blowing in the studio-created gales of wind (think Black Christie Brinkley). Bless her heart, not only did Debbie Allen star in the Rio commercials...she brought her daughter along as a sacrificial lamb.

As if the prospect of having Debbie Allen hair wasn't enticement enough (because face it, for many of us, it was), Rio took their advertising game to a whole new level!!! To prove itself a safe, chemical-free, all-natural product, the Rio clown...I mean spokesperson... eagerly downed a mouthful of the relaxer for our viewing pleasure. Well needless to say, the masses couldn't pull those credit cards out fast enough! Rio permeated the hood like gub'ment cheese!

Fast forward a few months/year later...

While the jury is still out on Rio as a meal, as a relaxer/hair dye, the response was resounding...OH HELLLLLLLLLLLLL NO!!!

Reportedly, the US Food and Drug Administration (US FDA) had NEVER BEFORE received so many complaints about a cosmetic product. Thousands of Rio customers filed reports (and later lawsuits) claiming dry hair, burnt scalps, discolored strands, uncontrollable breakage, and worst of all, massive hair loss/alopecia; both short and for many, long-term.

Now I don't mean to make light of a truly sad situation but y'all already know. There are very few things that can take a perfectly reasonable black woman from calm, classy, and cultured to hot, hurt, and damn-near-homicidal so quick as messing with her hair! I can't even imagine the grief those poor FDA officials took behind this! Heck, it even made the national news. Check out Tom Brokaw's special report on the fallout (no pun intended, womp womp womp).

Skip to minute 8:40 for the report:

Want to learn more about the Rio fallout? Check out this article published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA)'s September 2000 publication of Dermatology. 

Click here>>>http://archderm.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleid=190616

Want a good laugh on another bit of natural messiness? Enjoy!....

Got your own natural hair bandwagon stories? Got personal trials and tribulations you'd like to share. Please do so in the comments section. Remember, we're all in this together. One natural's mistake is another's precaution! 

My Natural Hair Journey...the good, the bad, and the ugly!

Every day, people ask me what's the secret and how to get started on the journey.

The answer is simple- JUST DO IT!

1. Start by educating yourself on the basics including the science of hair. You can do this several ways but the most common way is to dive into vlogs, blogs, websites, YouTube, Facebook, etc. While I also suggest this route, I suggest you do so discerningly. There's LOTS of great information out there but there's also lots of junk! Pick a few sites/channels/personalities and then do a bit of homework. Check out a few of their blogs/vlogs/etc. Does the information they're sharing pass the sniff-test? Does it come across as objective or is there a bit of subjectivity/salesmanship behind their opinions? Finally, fact-check what you're hearing. Don't believe everything you hear. Make sure that the information being shared is scientifically sound. Once you've found sources that pass these tests, bookmark them!

2. I won't lie. It can be hard; especially the first year! While some people have no problem rocking a TWA (teenie weenie afro), I was not one of those persons. I was HORRIFIED with the way I looked with a TWA. But with patience, prayer, and a few good wigs I made it. I say all this to say stay encouraged. The time WILL pass. Don't be afraid to try wigs, weaves, or even scarves but if you can stick through the first year (aka the hump), you'll never look back.



3. STAY ENCOURAGED!!! This short video should help!

Why did I go natural? Find out all about it in this video:

Tribute to Titi Branch, Co-creator of Miss Jessie's Products

Like many, it was with a heavy heart that I learned of the passing of entrepreneurial genius, sweet and giving spirit, and inspirational motivator Titi Branch, co-creator of the Miss Jessie's line of products.

Source: NV Magazine Obituary

Titi Branch, was the co-founder of Miss Jessie's a leading company in the natural hair care industry. She created their signature Miss Jessie’s Curly Pudding® for the Brooklyn hair salon, Curve which she ran with her sister Miko. 

As sales for the product skyrocketed the sisters decided to move the salon to the Bedford Stuyvesant section of Brooklyn where it was renamed after their family matriarch -- their no nonsense grandmother Miss Jessie. With the renaming of the salon in 2005 came the additions of Curly Meringue®, Curly Buttercreme® and later Baby Buttercreme®. Branch was not a chemist but a creative spirit who used her kitchen as her laboratory to create these products.

The Queens-native was a graduate of the University of Maryland with a degree in economics. She worked as a field producer for WABC-TV in New York City prior to Miss Jessie's. Her entrepreneurial career started prior to delving into the hair care industry. Titi and her sister were taught by their father to be independent and their first business together was a Kool-Aid stand as kids. They also ran a a cleaning business after graduating college.

 Later Titi launched a booking agency for hair and celebrity photographers called Icon Creative Artists. This led to her reconnecting with her sister, a hairstylist, in business. After adding her to the firm's client roster and the success that followed the next step was the creation of the salon, which opened originally in Boerum Hill, Brooklyn and the launch of Miss Jessie's -- the products are now on the shelves of Target, CVS, Ricky's, Duane Reade, Walgreens, Walmart and various other national retailers.

Born June 10, 1969 Titi Cree Branch died on Dec. 4, 2014... She is survived by her parents, sister, nephew and many loving relatives. She also leaves behind her boyfriend and business partner in her last venture Maestro's Classic, a line of beard care products.

In my own words....

While I never had the chance to meet her personally, I have had the chance to chat with both Miko and Titi online. Despite working in the same competitive space, I never received anything but positivity and encouragement from either. Confident, classy, creative, and always willing to lend an inspiring word; this is the legacy Titi has left with me. 

During this difficult time, my prayers are with Titi's sister, family, friends, followers, and extensive network of loved ones. Despite what many think, its not money, fame, fortune, 'likes' or 'upvotes' that make life worth living. It's the relationships we develop, the persons we love and the persons who love us. Maya Angelou once said the following:

 'I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.'

Let this be another chance to consider those words. Let those you love know it. Don't assume they know! Tell them, touch them, embrace them, lift them through your words, and most importantly, ask for God's coverage of them in your prayers. Titi may be gone but she will never be forgotten. I shall consider her whenever I remind myself that 'I stand on the shoulders of giants!'

RIP my beautiful sister. May God welcome you home with these words.....
'Well done'!!!!!!! You can come on in!

Prayerfully,
Journey to My Roots

Andre Robert Lee, a friend of Titi's put together the following video montage in her memory....




Please feel free to leave condolences, experiences, etc in the comments section below.