Protein Sensitive

As you may know, I've been experiencing some dryness and breakage. I wasn't quite sure what was going on, feeling defeated and frankly fed up. After reviewing my blog entries (I was giving it a bit of a facelift) I began to realize that I may be using too much protein. I haven't been using strong proteins, but I believe any amount of protein may be too much. In other words, I am protein sensitive. When I was relaxed this was harder for me to notice, be cause I have very fine hair and didn't couldn't really determine if the breakage I experienced back then was a result of the relaxer. Now, it's a lot easier to figure out.

To confirm my suspicions I avoided all protein based products for a few weeks. That meant shampoo, conditioner, leave in and moisturizer. Oh yes, I was using protein based shampoo. Smh. I guess I thought my curly hair could handle it. To boost my moisture level, I applied my old tested and true Banana/Coconut Milk Masque to see if I could revive my very dry tresses. It helped and I noticed the difference almost immediately. My hair felt soft and moisturized and I was able to maintain a decent amount of moisture until my next wash day. In the past, no matter how much product I put on my hair, it continued to feel quite dry. So it was confirmed. My fine locs can not handle too much protein.

I didn't want to swing too far into the opposite direction, so I completed a mild protein treatment today utilizing my Avocado Masque  (modified), which I think will keep me on the right path to healthy balanced hair. To recap, I blended the avocado and oils well in a blender until smooth then add the egg and the honey. In addition to modifying the recipe a bit, I applied freshly washed hair, from root to tip, applied 2 plastic caps and let it sit for 3 hours. My goal was only 1 hour, but I was a little distracted. I rinsed it out and lightly finger detangles and then applied AO Honeysuckle Rose and allowed that to sit while I cleansed my body. I then finger detangled again while doing my final rinse. Finally I applied homemade moisture balance spritz, sealed with my shea butter mix and air dried. That's it. Here is the modified recipe I used:

1 small hass avocado

1 egg

1 tsp each of EVCO, EVOO, JBCO

1 tsp honey

Overall, I am very pleased with the results. My hair feel soft, yet strong. I'm going to stick with moisturizing products and plan to do a protein treatment in 4-6 weeks. I will have to wait to see what my hair needs. As much as I would like to use certain products that seem to be loaded with protein, I simply can't. In this rare occassion, my hair calls the shots.

                                 

Food For Thought

I've struggled with hair loss issues for a variety of reasons. Chemical damage, poor handling, dryness have all led to breakage, breakage, breakage. I've also have a small bald patch at the back of my head and a sparse hairline due to improper extension application. If you also suffer from hair loss, you may wonder about ways to help improve your condition. Reading a few blogs and site have led me to the conclusion that food is very important part in the promotion of healthy hair growth. While hair is quite capable of growing regardless of what you do, I believe the health and quality of your hair (strong, shiny, maximum rate vs sluggish and dry) will be influenced by the the types of food you eat. It is also the healthiest and "easiest" option for improving the look of your hair.

What are the top foods that promote hair growth?

When choosing food for hair growth, remember that hair is made of protein; therefore protein-rich foods should make up a high percentage of your diet. The second most important hair nutrient is iron. Each key nutrient below lists the foods that promote hair growth (Where possible always buy fresh organic/free-range dairy and produce):

Vegan/Vegetarians:

• Protein: eggs, bean, cottage cheese, yogurt, tofu.
• Iron: whole grain cereals, dark green leafy vegetables, eggs, dates, raisins.
• B Vitamins: eggs.
• Essential Fatty Acids: walnuts, canola oil, soy.
• Vitamin E: avocados, nuts, seeds, olive oil.
• Sulfur: nuts, legumes, garlic, onions.
• High Quality Multivitamin 

Non-vegetarians:

• Protein: liver, brewer's yeast, fish, eggs, beans, cottage cheese, yogurt, tofu
• Iron: liver, whole grain cereals, dark green leafy vegetables, eggs, dates, raisins.
• B Vitamins: eggs, meat, poultry.
• Essential Fatty Acids: walnuts, canola oil, fish, soy.
• Vitamin E: avocados, nuts, seeds, olive oil.
• Sulfur: meats, fish, nuts, legumes, garlic, onions.

Green tea may help correct these problematic hormone imbalances; a low-fat diet may also be beneficial. (source)

As you make changes to your diet to help improve hair growth be aware that there are some culprits in our diets that can actually be detrimental to our hair:

• Caffeine
• Sugar
• Fat
• Carbonated drinks

For further information on hair loss and healther ways to promote hair growth please visit the following link http://www.quickcare.org/skin/foods-that-promote-hair-growth.html

                                 

Homemade Banana/Coconut Milk Masque

Given my recent battle with breakage I was reviewing my hits and miss list and it just occurred to me that I didn't post my Homemade Banana/Coconut Milk Masque recipe. Natural recipes , such as my avocado masque recipe are not something I use anymore for the following reasons, but I found this banana mask made my hair extremely soft and moisturized. Since I will not be using it for the purpose of infusing protein in my hair, I will be adding it to my regimen to bump up the moisture level of my hair. When you read my results, you'll understand why.

1 banana

1/4 C Aloe Vera juice (add more if consistency is too thick)

1/4 C Coconut Milk

1 tsp each of Avocado oil and Castor oil

Blend all the ingredients until smooth. The masque was thick, smooth and silky and smelled like a banana smoothie. If you changed the oils to flaxseed you could definitely drink it--but I digress. When I use it, I will apply the masque to freshly washed, towel dry hair, from root to tip, covered with a plastic cap and let it sit in my hair for 2 hours---without heat. If you apply heat, you'll regret it. Trust me. After I rinsed I out, my hair felt incredibly soft, it detangled beautifully, felt silky and there was absolutely no hair loss. The softness even lasted while styling, which I never feel with my other conditioners. When you compare the price for commercial conditioners (less than $1.50 per batch vs $3.50-$4 per use) and the fact that this is 100%, it's hands down the best alternative imo.

If you give it a try, let me know how you like it.

                                 

Breakage!!!!!!!!

So I am at the stage where I am frustrated with my hair. Again. Frustrated because I seem to be sitting at the same length for the last 5-6 months. This mean I am experiencing breakage. It's harder for me to really see now that I am natural because my hair is so tightly coiled, when I loose it I am not sure if it's shedding or breakage--they all look the same to me. That is a horrible excuse to cover my lack of attention and laziness. I mean, if I took the time to analyze the strain I would have known the hair falling to the ground was smaller and missing that little white bulb on the end, which is an indication that you hair is breaking. So now I am paying the price for rushing and not properly detangling my hair.  Sometimes I just get so tired of dealing with my hair....*sigh*..... I'm not going to let this get me down though. I am going to try to get my hair back on track and begin implementing practices that I believe will help my hair thrive.  In 2011 I wrote about some of the tiny changes that one can do to improve length retention, because I had suffered a few setbacks and I was quite disappointed.  I was relaxed back then and I was losing hair for different reason, however I believe these tips can be helpful regardless of the texture of my hair. To review:

1. Re-evaluate how you HANDLE your hair.

I personally can be VERY rough with my hair. When I M & S, when I detangle and when I style, I AM rough, plain and simple. I never really stopped to think about how hard I was being on my hair. I plan to put away the combs for 4 months. That is one seasonal quarter. Enough time to see progress and develop a new habit.

2. Maintaining a DAILY journal.

Since I've been natural I didn't think I needed to do this as much as I did in the past. Partly because I had my hair hidden in extensions/protective styles for much of the time. I typically update it every wash day to see how my hair has been responding to products. I make note of what I have tried/use whenever I wash my hair or use a new product. I am going to start doing this more frequently (e.g. daily). For many women this won't be necessary, but if you are struggling like I am, it might be helpful. Record what you are doing to your hair daily and weekly.  How does it feel after using each product? How does it feel at the end of the day? At the end of the week? This will tell you if the product is a keeper or should be trashed. You will also recognize when something isn't going well with you hair sooner than later because you are forcing yourself to be more aware on a daily basis vs. weekly or monthly basis.

3. THROW AWAY (or TWEEK) products that simply don't work for your hair.

Now this is a tricky "rule" as some products need adjusting to work effectively on your hair. Not to mention no one is made of money and I know I don't have the luxury of buying and simply throwing out products because they don't work the first time around. But don't feel you must commit to a product simply because "everyone" else swears by it. Products do not work the same way on every person. You know when something is working for your hair or not. My rule of thumb is to let my hair be the true judge. It may not be you first choice, but I would suggest purchasing some testing strips. I've recently started to follow the practice of "tweeking" products based on pH balance/needs of my hair and I have noticed a difference. Now I simply test a product and if it falls within the range that will respond well on my hair, it's good to go.

4. MAKE TIME for your hair

Now this is not what you think it means. As you know I take time out to do my hair on a weekly basis. What I am talking about is giving yourself the time required to do your hair with the least amount of damage as possible. These are two different things. Sure, I would deep condition my hair every week, M&S when I could (----I know, I know see the next tip), but I use to whip through this process. Sometime I did this because I did not have enough time to do these things, so I would rush through it. However, there were times when I just didn't want to do the things I had to do to maintain my hair, so I would just do a quick job to "get it over with".  I would quickly M&S for example just ripping through my hair so I could get to bed or out the door (which highlights tip #1), yet be confused when I saw broken pieces in my hand. I think taking the time to slowly do these things will make a huge difference in your hair. Small changes like waking up earlier, M&Sing as soon as you get home before you get too tired, washing or co-washing on days when you have more time to slow the process down can all be helpful in this area.

5. MOISTURIZE more frequently (new)

It goes without saying. If your hair is dry it will break. I have neglected this because my hair has been in protective style for two weeks, so I thought, what's the big deal? Clearly I was a big deal because for all the protective styling I am doing, my hair should be APL already lol. I need to figure out hair to get moisture in my hair regardless of the style I am wearing.