In Case of Rain: What would you do?

Track practice is over. You are the only Black girl with relaxed hair on the team.  Everyone's waiting for their parents to come pick them up so you and your teammates are having "girl talk."  You start to feel raindrops.  Your next hair appointment is a few days away.  You have an umbrella tucked in your backpack.  You feel more and more rain drops, but no one else is attempting to pull out their umbrella. What do you do?

a) Continue to blend in with your teammates by not using your umbrella and not worrying about your hair getting wet.

b) Pull out your umbrella and hope that you do not distract the "conversation" being the only one in the circle holding an umbrella.

c) Pull out your umbrella and hope that some of the other teammates will gather underneath your umbrella as an act of acceptance.

d) Announce that you felt raindrops and see how your teammates respond.  If they blow it off, then you "blow it off."  If they suggest seeking shelter, then follow them to shelter. You just want to fit in.

e) Explain to your classmates that your hair appointment is a few days away, and you have to get your umbrella out.

What's the best way to handle to this situation?  

As more and more parents are sending their children to private schools.  These type of dynamics are being encountered. It is important that parents install confidence in their children's heritage so that even if they are in the minority, they can make informed decisions.

Naturally Straight: Locs versus Loose

 

These two ladies both represent naturally straight hair because neither have much curl in their hairstyle.

So which one has better hair?

Of course, this is a trick question, but I would be curious to know which picture does a 3 year old girl like best?  Which picture does an 8 year old girl like best? Which picture does a 16 year old girl like best?

We are so conditioned to have a standard in our head.  The standard may change based on the country, the workplace, or cultural exposure.

Over the years, has your perception of what was standard changed?  Mine has.

There is no right nor wrong answer.  Just an expansion of one's mind.

Mid-Year 2014 Hair Quiz

Periodically, I have hair tips that are too short to compose a whole article so it's time for another hair quiz!

See if you know the answers to these questions:

1) Roller set question: Does your hair have to be soaking wet going onto a roller in order to create a smooth roller set?

2) Hair color question: Can semi-permanent squeeze bottle hair color stain the hair permanently?

3) Natural loose hair question: At what phase in a thermal straightening hair service can hair be determined to be resistant or not?

4) Braiding question: Which area of the head can suffer ripping hair from the follicle if locs or hair is overtightened or braided too tightly?

5) Loc question: What is a good checkpoint for making sure a loctician is giving you even parting sizes?

6) Salon question: How do you determine if you have a high quality client draping/capes?

7) Can mildew form within your hair or your locs?

8) How can you tell if your headwrap or headscarf is allowing enough air flow to your scalp for breathability purposes?

Answers:
1)  Yes, the hair needs to be soaking wet.  The way that the wet hair looks on the roller before rolling the hair up is how the hair is going to dry.  So keep the hair very wet so that it can cling onto the roller and set smoothly when dry.  If you have too many revolutions around the roller, then that is a different problem.  Either use larger rollers or smooth the hair out using heat after it is dry.

2) Yes, semi-permanent, no mix, squeeze bottle hair color stain can still become permanent if the client is receiving a lot of hot iron services.  The heat from the irons can seal the "rinse" into the hair. Usually, over time, the heat pushes the stain deeper into the hair.  Roller sets do not press the color into the hair like a hot iron will.  This is another reason not to hot iron "dirty" hair.  You do not want to press dirt deeper into the hair shaft.

3) If your "blow-dry phase" is a "bear" then yes, you have resistant hair!  20 minutes is an average blow-dry time for relaxed hair and most natural hair that is not resistant.  If your hair requires 40 minutes to blow-dry, and you still have an afro to tame, then yes, your hair is resistant. Straightening this type of hair goes completely against this hair's natural behavior.  Interlocking may also introduce breakage because the interlocking technique actually straightens natural hair by uncoiling it. Traditional comb or finger twisting is probably the healthiest option for this type of hair.

4) The nape area is the most likely place to rip hair out because as we move our head up and down, our skin in the nape area stretches the most.  Have you ever had a new hairstylist to sew a weave track below the occipital bone in the nape area?  Once you bend your head down with a twist and a turn, you can hear hair ripping.  Same thing with locs at the nape, if interlocked too tightly, you can hear the hair ripping.  I have experienced both circumstances myself personally. So say "no" to tracks below the occipital bone and "no" overtightening of locs period.

5) Find your center part and count the rows along the hairline on each side of the center part.  The count from each side should match. 11 on one side and 11 on the other side.  If you have recounted twice, and you still get one or two rows less on one side then there is a good chance you have different size locs on each side of your head.  If the loctician does not pre-part your whole front ear to ear area before starting the locking session, then there is a chance that you are NOT going to get consistent loc sizes.

My Sisterlocks consultant that installed my Sisterlocks did NOT pre-part my hair nor did she count my rows.  So I have different sizes and a different row counts on both sides of my head. Ten versus Eleven rows.  It makes a difference, but a big chop to start over was not an option.  So be aware of this tip for those considering locs.

6)  Believe it or not, I just recently realized that my capes have loops to hang the capes by.  What an aw-haw moment!  It helps to visit other salons and see how they do things.  LOL!

7) Have you ever left wet clothes in the washing machine too long?  Mildew smell - right?  Well your hair is the same way!  You seal off wet hair or wet locs in a ponytail or a headwrap for a day or so, mildew may grow.  Just like you can smell when your clothes "sour" then you or your stylist can smell when your hair "sours."  You only need this to happen once to know that you need to be responsible when handling wet laundry.  So the same urgency is needed as it applies to your hair!

8) If you are ever curious if your hair and scalp is breathing properly, just smell your headscarf or headwrap.  If it smells sour, then "something" is not working.  Find a headwrap that allows more air flow.

Loc-Prints: Unique to Each individual

June 2014

More and More naturals are scoping out my hair - oops, I mean - my locs.  It is weird because I still see my hair as hair that is loc'ed.  I suppose that is a good thing because our locs are hair and can break, dry out, get overprocessed from color, be overtightened, cut too short, etc.  Loc wearers can do about everything that relaxed hair wearers do except chemically relax. 

I used to get people who envied my hair when it was freshly relaxed and grown out.  Emphasis on fresh relaxer . . . but after the roller coaster of gaining length then my hair breaking off  from flat ironing and overprocessing, even I was getting worn down over my own hair.  So it feels good to finally get people loving my hair and wanting my texture in its God-given state. 

The funny thing is that I always thought that the women born with the loose wavy hair were the most exotic looking.  Now, I have to laugh because  even though my hair is the complete opposite of their hair, it means that I also fall into an exotic category on the other end of the scale.

So trying to force my hair to look like theirs was not the answer.  Surprisingly, there is no chemical that can force their hair to look like mine even if they wanted to.  Locs are so unique as they form.  

I have my own individual "loc-print," and I finally starting to love it!

Preparation for Multi-dimensional Loc Coloring

 I had a dream that my whole head of locs were a light brown color and they looked great!!!  I have found when I wear lighter color wigs that the lighter color hair makes people see lighter color skin tones; yet, with my black locs, I think people focus more on my shadows or darker tones.  It is just natural for haircolor to make a statement. Youtube vlogger "tbey82" gave me the idea of multi-dimensional highlighting my locs one at time over time using clippies to identify which locs to color.  Look for the video called "added highlights to my already colored locs."  Her locs were at least three years old.  My locs are not quite at the two years old mark.

 The green clippie was too big for my locs.  They slid off.  The Clear clippies worked fine as you can see above.  I am only demonstrating how the clippies can strategically guide you in loc placement.  I am not ready to color my locs yet, but I may start with five or six at a time.  tbey82 mentioned foiling the individual locs and applying some heat to get the color working.  I wanted to post some of her loc coloring tips here.

 I purchased these Habini clear baby clips from a Korean beauty supply store for less than $2.00 USD.  Most people hate the clear clips because they do not usually match anything, but I think they will be perfect when I decide to color my locs.

A closeup on the closure for the Habini clear clips.

The Remington clips which are too large for my microlocks were purchased from Target stores for about $4.00 USD if I remember correctly.

I have not decided on coloring my locs for year 2 or wait for year 3.  Either way, I will only be highlighting while intentionally avoiding my roots.

I will keep everyone posted!