Five simple ways to tie scarves or head wraps

If you have been natural even for a few months you will know that there are days when you do not want to go through your daily regimen. Sometimes we try new hairstyles and they do not quite come out like we envisioned. Sometimes we just have bad to very bad hair days. It has become important to have a default style; mine is usually a scarf. I am getting pretty good at them; unfortunately I don’t have any pictures but will take a few.

So the video above from _tierraj (never heard the name before), shows five easy and popular ways to style your head with a wrap or scarf. The styles are quite versatile too and be used on different outfits and with different fabrics. 

Tip: you can use your satin bonnet or scarf under the head wrap or scarf to protect your hair from knotting up and drying out. 

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 

Getting it...

What did I say about not knowing how to style my hair properly ??

Well I did nice twist outs on  my dry stretched hair using Eco styler gel, results below.

I used a bobby pin to hold back one side of my hair and it helped that my twists came out nicely. I knew my hair was on point when I took pictures and got complients.

Che.. che... check it out...

Over night twists with Eco styler gel

Styled it good

I was feeling myself sha

Compliments rolled in

I really love my phone

Y'all can see the twists ne ?

So as you can see I am getting it.

Progress

Its going to be one year since my BC in a few days but eighteen months since my last relaxer.
Yay! to progress and commitment.....

I am kind of proud of my hair growth so far.

I have learnt a lot about my hair and have come to accept the things I can't change.
You see, I  have fine hair which lacks volume but it is soft and silky and easy to manage.  I confess that I wear my hair in braids and weaves a lot due to convenience, this has also not allowed me to grow my  natural hair style repertoire.
The humidity in Nigeria does not allow my styles to stay for longer; so my hair shirks to a small fro almost always. This is however a characteristic of  4a hair type.  Below are pictures of my hair a few days post BC and my hair today.

Today

Today

Post BC

I went natural not because it was a trend; but due to the state my relaxed hair was in. I admit I thought my hair will be something else but my hair is what it is. Seeing all those naturals and their glorious fros, locs and manes; I wanted that.
Right now my hair is healthier and fuller than it was relaxed. Natural hair is so versatile, which gives me the freedom to do almost any thing I want.
Will I be natural forever ? I don't know.... But my hair is in a good place now and who knows what it will look like in another year.


My next post should be pictures of my hair from the one year period.