I have to know my hair's porosity?!

Not only do we have to know our hair type we need to know it's porosity as well. When I read or hear fellow naturals describe their hair in type and porosity I am like “mehnnn….. una get time “. But we all know that knowledge is power and using that power is even better. 

So what is porosity? Simply put hair porosity is the ability of our hair to absorb and retain moisture. Porosity is import ant in understanding our hair and hair care since moisture is what defines and shapes our hair (relaxed or natural). The inability of our hair to retain or absorb moisture will minimize our hair’s health and potential growth and length retention. The experts say that if we do not know our hair’s porosity we won’t be able to make the best product and maintenance choices. 

There are three different levels of porosity:

Low porosity: the cuticle of the hair shaft is too dense which does not allow moisture to enter or leave the hair shaft. Hair with low porosity are susceptible to product build up and take a longer time to completely dry.  

Normal/ medium porosity: hair with this porosity absorbs and retains moisture well; product properly formulated for this type of porosity will easily penetrate the hair shaft.

High porosity: open hair cuticle allows for moisture to be absorbed and lost easily. Overly porous hair can be a result of over –processing from chemicals, heating etc.

Stand test:

To know your hair’s porosity you can do a simple strand/float test.  All you need is a few strands of hair (clean with no products on it) a glass or bowl of water. Put the hair in the water and watch to see how fast or slow the hair sinks to the bottom. Hair with low porosity will not sink after a long period of time. Normal/medium porous hair will sink at a pace that is not too fast or too slow (like huh?!... I Know!). Hair with high porosity will sink very quickly in the test. 

So you know your hair porosity, now what? Well now you can buy products that are good for your hair and maintain a routine that helps balance or maintain the health of your hair. 

Hair with low porosity should avoid product build up, use water based products but avoid over moisturizing the hair. Use indirect heat like steam to open the cuticles, also avoid heavy butters and oils. 

Normal/medium porous hair should strive to maintain a healthy hair routine including deep conditioning, proper moisturizing and avoid too much heat. Excessive manipulation and heat can change the porosity of the hair. 

High porosity hair require product layering to retain moisture, heavy butters and oils work best on this hair also daily moisturizing is necessary. Cold water rinses will help close the cuticle and protein treatments will strengthen the hair.  

To date I believe this to be the most technical post I’ve put up. So I plan on taking the float test this weekend and will post the results and pictures next week. Have a good weekend 

Conquering the twist - outs

After having two strand twist for a week I loosened the twists and have been rocking very nice twist outs. I've been learning so much about my hair and how best to manage it. I am so excited about further growth and all the new wonderful things I can do with my natural hair.

These were taken Saturday afternoon as I set out to meet up with my friends. I got a lot of compliments on my hair, which boosted my confidence in the way I styled my hair.

Now that I am getting better at handling my natural hair, I have decided to take a make-up class to also enhance my beauty skills. I think it is important and helpful to know the basics on make-up for us natural ladies mainly because we don't  have weaves to hide behind. Make-up and accessories are so important to us naturals. I hope to learn how to apply make to look as natural as possible, I am not a big fan of a lot of make up on my face as I suffered from acne as a teenager and even into my early twenties. I still get break-outs, so keeping my face clean and oil free is so important to me.

Any ways have a wonderful week.

My first twist- outs

I did my first twist outs, it started out great till my fingers become too happy and I roughed it up a little too much.

I used my moisturizing mix ( shea butter, coconut oil, olive oil and grow oil by Dr miracle ) then as I parted my hair into small sections to twist, I dipped my fingers lightly in gel and I began to twist. It took me about an hour. When I was done, I wrapped my hair in a silk scarf and went to bed. In the morning I put some olive oil in my hand applied on the hair to soften it up, then i began to take out the twists and separated each one. The end result were cork screw like hair. I accessorized with a little band with a bow on the side. 

Where I went wrong was when I decided to rough it up a little to get more volume. I've worn it for three days now and I need to redo.   

Advocate for Natural Hair

I have become an advocate for natural hair not just because I now have natural hair but also for the healthy hair  and image factors.

I go on line every other day to read and learn about natural hair, I've become addicted to a few blogs and Culry Nikki has to be one of my fav (www.curlynikki.com)

I am six months post big chop but it has been one year since I last relaxed my hair. Why you may ask did I choose to go on this wonderful journey? Well for me it was because I want fuller healthier hair.  My relaxed grew long but lacked volume so I always wore it short and colored. I have soft hair but there are other with more coarse hair that on this journey as well. Natural hair isn't local and churchy as we in Nig thought it was. It is cool, fun, versatile, hard work, makes you stand out, interesting, healthy, give you confidence and most of all makes you fall in love with your hair.  I am also of the opinion that having natural hair helps one develop a unique personal style.

So to encourage more ladies to join the revolution in Africa and Nigeria here are a few pictures of natural haired ladies.  

I especially love the dyed hair styles, although coloring one's hair entails additional care to keep the hair healthy and user friendly.

A few pictures of my natural hair journey thus far

Feb 2012. Learning to wear my natural hair

I love it when my hair has a just out of bed look

A few days after I cut the relaxed bits. Wasn't quite sure what to do with the hair

My short hair went nicely with my outfit, got lots of compliments at the wedding I attended

LOL bathroom pic. We all do it! my hair was very well behaved on this day in March 2012

Close up shot

Wanted a break so i got braids in a different color. They still hurt but I am enjoying the change.

All the goodness of honey

Two years ago a friend told me of how she applies honey all over her body as we talked about scars, spots and other stuff on our skin. She said that honey really improves the skin, so I gave it a try and the results were almost immediate. 

I am a lover of all things natural and of the earth, I try as much as possible to use organic products and I even sometimes make my own. 

For my face I mix honey, lime juice and cumber juice (when I have the time to make it). I apply honey and olive oil on the rest of my body, wait around for 30 minutes then wash off. I have a bath before I do this just because I feel it’s better to apply this on clean skin. After the 30 minutes is up, I rinse with warm water and moisturise. I do not put olive oil in the mixture for my face because I have oily skin. 

This process can be very messy and time consuming but I use that time to clean my room or something, instead of sitting around mopping LOL.

After two applications I noticed my skin became supple, healthier looking and moisturised. The spots and scares appeared less noticeable too;the skin on  my face and body had a nice glow. 

Honey helps with my acne as well, I believe it reduces the breakout and helps with the spots. My Saturday morning beauty routine for my face includes a wash then a good scrub then honey, lime juice and/or cucumber juice mask (if I can call it a mask) after 30 minutes I wash with warm water and moisturise. 

Honey is also good for deep conditioning your hair. I apply equal amounts of honey, olive oil and my treatment conditioner, cover with a shower cap and rinse out after 30 minutes.  

This link is one of many online to get useful tips and recipes on honey http://www.benefits-of-honey.com/honey-and-skin-care.html

I hope you give it a try