Detangling Your Kinks

Hey Kurlies

Sooo up until now I thought I had an excessive hair shedding problem...however, low and behold I realised that not detangling my hair properly led me to believe I had more shed hairs than I thought!

I guess I thought my afro hair was supposed to be slightly knotted and tangled (hmmm maybe thats another entry for my black hair myths!). I was scared to really get in there and comb it all out because of shedding. When really the hair that was coming out when I was combing was all the built up shed hairs that I didn't take out through detangling properly.

Also, when looking at my shed hairs I found that they were tangled within eachother (like small hair balls :s) and many single stand knot shed hairs. This means that I was probably experiencing more shedding than I was supposed to because the shed hairs that I failed to remove were probably tangling up with other hair strands, causing them to prematurely shed or break.

Now that I have started to detangle my hair properly I find that my fingers can freely glide through my hair strands and I'm not pulling out hair every time I touch my fro!

So curlies please do not fear the comb (or fingers as I like to use). Just accept the shedding, its a natural process. Its best to remove those hairs than to allow them to hang on for dear life in your hair!

How I detangle

• I take my hair down from its cornrows
• Part a piece of my hair and spray it with distilled water
• I clutch the piece of hair in my hand ( so my hand is in a fist shape) so that the ends of the hair is sticking out. I use my fingers to then puff out the ends so they detangled first.
• I then release the hair piece and begin detangle the middle of the hair strand down to the roots by simply separating the hair strands with my fingers
• On the same piece of hair I add my Cantu Shea Moisture Leave in Conditioner and use a wide tooth comb to detangle from ends to root again.

I do this all over my hair and the result is soft detangled hair with less shedding come wash time and styling :)

Daily Thought: Hairspiration

Some Hairspiration :) 

Staying motivated on this hair journey can be difficult. I believe its about more than just the fro that sits on top of our heads. 

I feel its a journey of self discovery, reconnecting with our roots, truly seeing who we are for who we are, and ultimately falling in love with our true selves.... <3 

More than LYK your curls... Love Your Kurls

xoxo

Distilled Water Spritz

The best moisturiser for our hair is water. When choosing a moisturising product the first ingredient should be Water or Aqua. To ensure my 4C hair does not get too dry I thought hey..why not just use plain ole water as my moisturiser and seal in with my Extra Virgin Olive Oil (EVOO)

HOWEVER... I live in London where we have a pretty bad hard water problem... so I was not about to be spraying that gunk in my hair errday! I was contemplating buying bottled water but figured that will run up a lot of cost. So upon research I found I free of charge way to moisturise my hair with water safely :)

How to make your own distilled water

1. Fill a stainless steal pot with tap water to about half way 

2. Place a glass boil in the water and ensure it floats, the glass boil should not touch the bottom of the pot. If you find it does, get a round baking tray and put it beneath the glass boil

3. Turn on the stove to and bring the water to boil

4. Then get the pot lid to create condensation. Place the lid upside down on the pot. For effective    condensation you need to create a hot cold barrier. You can do this by filling the lid with ice cubes. The condensation will then drip into your glass bowl.

5. When you have enough distilled water, remove from the stove and allow to cool ( the glass bowl will be very hot!)

6. When cooled store in your spray bottle and its ready to use!

Using this coupled with EVOO sealant has definitely made my hair feel more moisturised  :)

Pics of use to come!

How to stop excess shedding!

Hair shedding is a normal process in both males and females. On average we shed 50 -100 hairs a day. However, I felt that I was shedding a lot more than this so alarm bells were ringing! On doing some research I found that common reasons for shedding are:

• Heat damage
• Stress
• Diet
• Over active hormones

I felt that all these things were in check so I did some research on how to prevent excess shedding and found the Black tea rinse. DHT (Dihydrotestosterone) is a hormone that causes hair follicles to shrink, making it difficult for hair healthy hair to live. Black tea is a high in caffeine (even moreso than coffee!) which blocks DHT. The caffeine effectively removes DHT from the scalp therefore reducing hair shedding. 

Prior to the black tea rinse I couldn't touch my hair without pulling some out! But now having done 2 black tea rinses I have noticed remarkable change in the amount of hair I shed. I noticed a difference just over 1 week of doing the first rinse. I will do 2 more rinses as preventative measures to shedding.   

You will need 

- Black tea ( for us Brits this is just ordinary tea without milk, I used Tesco's Finest English Breakfast Tea)

- Pot 

- Spray bottle

1. Pour around two cups of water into a pot and add 5 teabags then bring to the boil

2. Once boiled leave tea to cool down - you don't want to scold your scalp!

3. When the tea has cooled, pour into a spray bottle.

4. After shampooing, spray tea onto the scalp ensuring the scalp is saturated. Be sure to wear a a towel around your shoulders to prevent the dripping tea from staining your clothes.

5.  When satisfied that your hair is saturated, go ahead and cover up with a plastic cap and chill for around 45 minutes to 1 hour.

 6. Times up! rinse out the tea and follow up with your favourite deep conditioner as the tea can be very drying. 

And thats it! Be sure to comment on your experience! Did this work for you?

The WITJ Natural Hair & Beauty Show

Event Details

The WITJ Natural Hair & Beauty Show, UK

Saturday, August 24, 2013 from 11:00 AM to 6:00 PM (PDT)

London, United Kingdom

Hosted in the capital city London, The Natural Hair & Beauty Show 2013 is the 1st annual showcase and celebration of naturally textured hair and beauty for women of colour in the UK. TNH&BS is for the modern day woman that chooses to wear her hair naturally, who is style conscious, EMBRACES versatility, that is looking to be inspired and educated…

Attendees can look forward to; On stage Hair & Beauty demos, Presentations on caring for and styling natural hair, the chance to purchase from your favourite UK natural hair & beauty companies and to be introduced to new brands, Giveaways, amazing swag bags filled with products from our sponsors, live entertainment and more...

VIP Ticket holder -

• Priority entry to Show & Exhibition
• in addition to gaining entrance to the show and going home with the content of the standard show goodie bags, the VIP swag bag will contain at least 2 full size products from our sponsors, 1 Reusable iRock naturally show bag, 1 Limited edition WITJ T-Shirt
• 5 raffle tickets to win selected products from our sponsors which include hair/skin products, beauty and hair appliances. 
• Refreshments

General Ticket holders -

• Entry to show & Exhibition 
• Show bag for first 50 guests
• 1 Raffle ticket to win selected products from our sponsors which include hair/skin products, beauty and hair appliances. 
• Refreshments

Featuring -

- Styling ideas for TWA wears, transitioners and fully naturals
- Loc Care & Creative Styling brought to you by Helen of www.huntresslocs.com
- A look back in history of the Afro comb with Uk Blogger Crystal of www.unitedkinkdom.com 

- Head wrapping session with sister E of the Calabash hut
- Live runway finale, showcases inspirational autumn/winter ready styles with natural hair, beauty and fashion.

- Live performances by DaddysGirls 

Event to be featured on www.essence.com, so dress to impress and get creative with those hair styles.

To exhibit, sponsor or to be apart of "The WITJ Natural Hair & Beauty Show " in any other way please direct emails to info@womaninthejungle.com

Keep up to date with all show infor mation on the official show facebok page: - https://www.facebook.com/TheWITJHairandbeautyshow

Feel inspired, Be educated, ALWAYS stylish...WITJ