The Power of a Deep Conditioner...

Part 1) Deep Conditioning: How to feed your hair?

How often do you deep condition your hair? once every 2 weeks, once a month?

I do it once a week and I attribute this key-step in my regime to keeping my hair healthy.

My motto is: 'conditioner is a curls best friend' make it yours too!

There is no other single process you can do to your hair whether it is relaxed or natural that will:

a) Strengthen it more
b) make it more shiny and
c) make it generally more healthy- than a good old deep condition or DC!

This is one of my favourites!! it strengthens and adds moisture with a great smell too!

How to deep condition your hair?

• If you want to, you can wash your hair first. I simply rinse it out well and gently squeeze out the excess water with a soft towel, I do not always shampoo before hand- its not always necessary!

• Generously apply your deep conditioner to damp hair towel blotted hair, slather it on and focus on the ends. Work through with your fingers, or use a wide toothed comb to work through your hair. This is the only time I ever use a comb or brush on my wet conditioned hair. Otherwise, only use your fingers.

• Place the shower cap over hair, and then put the heating device on your head for a full 30-45 minutes. You need at least 30 minutes to allow the hair cuticle to open fully, and let the conditioner completely penetrate and feed your hair.

• After 30+ minutes or longer, (you could leave the conditioner on at this point, even all night after heating), take off your cap and let your hair cool for at least 5 minutes. This allows your hair shaft to close again.

• Rinse hair with warm water until about 80% of the conditioner is rinsed out.
  
• Do a final rinse with the coldest water you can stand. This is important to seal your hair shaft and get all the benefits of your deep conditioning treatment.

• Apply a leave-on conditioner and allow your hair to air dry.
  
• Do not wash your hair the next day. Give your hair a break after a deep conditioning for at least 24 hours.

• I suggest deep conditioning weekly. The week-ends are best for me.
  
  By doing this, your hair will will become healthier and shinier. It will regain its softness, and retain length. Moisture-robbed hair is more subject to breakage and unmanageability.
  
  

My 5 ***** Dream Conditioner wish-list:

These conditioners are great for relaxed and natural hair- but you need to fly 1000's of miles to get them as they are not sold in the UK! boo hoo ;(

One of my favourite Dominican conditioners...this will give your hair slip like you have never felt before.

Yet another favourite from the Dominicans- a fabulous product...

This one is out of this world! once you have tried it you will wonder where it has been all your life- it delivers unreal moisture to the dryest hair.

Natural Alternatives:

If your at home and do not have a deep conditioner to hand, then have a rummage around your kitchen cupboard and dig up some of these ingredients to condition your hair with:

1. Mayonnaise - this is excellent to use as a protein conditioner, add some honey to it to make it super moisturising
2. Avocado - Mash up one of these with some honey to add some moisture to dry tresses, do not use heat, just cover your head with a plastic cap
3. Eggs - Whisk up a couple of these to strengthen your strands, do not use any heat- unless you want fried egg in your hair!!
4. Honey & Olive oil - warm a mixture of these two together, apply to your head and cover with a cap for a super moisturising treat!

The key to conditioning is to ensure to use products that strengthen and moisturise your strands...so if you have no real DC to hand think out of the box or the kitchen to be precise!

The *DEEP Conditioning Challenge!

Ladies as the summer comes to an end and the humidity lessens, your hair will become dryer as we turn the heating up and start wearing our hats again.
So why not challenge yourself to up the moisture levels and improve the health of your tresses over the next 2 months!

Join us at http://www.grow-it-long.ning.com/ as we take part in our Deep Condition challenge.

It will be fun to see how your hair responds: start date is September 1st ending on November 1st, you can also join by clicking the purple GROW LONG HAIR button at the top of the page on the right hand side.

The health of your hair lays in your hands...take responsibility for it!

Peace & Blessings
xx

Get Retro for real Growth, thickness and health!

Rollerset your way to healthier hair...

Hi ladies,

Its time to dust off the rollers and the bonnet hair-dryer and get yourself ready for your healthiest head of hair yet.



HOW?

By using rollers to straighten and dry your hair instead of the fry it-limp-it-thin it-blow-dryer is one sure fire way to straighten and dry your hair the healthy way.

If you wash your hair and deep condition, apply a light leave-in conditioner- it then apply your rollers and get under the bonnet dryer to dry your hair...ok it is time consuming, but your hair will reap the benefits...

Benefits:

Thicker hair

Less breakage

Less split ends

Retain your hair length

Stronger hair

Hair with more body!

Shinier hair

Hair that moves!

Across the pond...

If you have ever been to the USA, you will notice that the women there live in the hair salon! and they also swear by their roller-sets...its a way of life for them. No matter how long or short their hair is, it has that SWANG!!

Check out this video showing a popular Dominican haircare technique used by ladies in the USA to get movement in the hair after roller-setting..

What do you think?

All you need to rollerset your own hair is:

A packet of magnetic rollers, get the biggest ones your hair can take, we are not going for granny style curls!!

A decent rat-tail comb, be careful not to buy the really cheap plastic ones that they sell in the local hairshop- they WILL rip your hair out...a quality comb will set you back at least £5.00!

A quality detangling comb, again you will not find this quality in your local Pak or hair shop!

An oldie but goody, however do not use it straight from the bottle, dilute it with water in one of these, for better results...

You can get one of these for 99p from your pound-shop!

A hooded dryer is a great investment in your hair! if not then compromise get a soft bonnet dryer, there quite inexpensive in argos!

Indirect heat like this from the bonnet dryer, is upto 90% better for your precious strands than theddirect fire of a blow-fryer- I mean dryer!!

Tips:

Deep condition your hair with heat for at least 45minutes before your roller-set, then add a little leave-in conditioner, the key to swingy hair after rollersetting is not to use too much product!

Next proceed to rollerset your hair, with your bottle of lottabody water spray, take medium sections of hair, spray and smooth out with your quality rat-tail comb and add your rollers!

Practice makes perfect...

Once your hair is dry, proceed to wrap it...to get a smoother look.

Try this for 3 months and see how your hair improves...

Blowdryers or fryers!!

I know that blow-drying your hair is quick and convenient, but if your hair is already relaxed then its weak from that process alone, so when we add direct heat from the blow-dryer it weakens and dries out the hair even further!

When you blow dry black hair, we are zapping the moisture from the hair- the water inside the hair shaft boils and sometimes can explode- creating split ends...:(

Blow-dry tips:

If you do blow-dry ensure you always allow your hair to air-dry for at least 3o mins first,use the cool setting and always apply a heat protectant spray like...

Healthier hair is there for the taking...but how much do you really want it!!

From India with LOVE xx...

The power of...Ayurvedic Haircare


Ever wondered why ladies of Indian descent always seem to have long flowing locks?

Do you remember when you were at school and your Indian class-mate with her long braids hair always smelt of a strange oil? More than likely it was Jasmine oil or coconut oil...whatever it was it worked wonders!

Well I am here to say how about adopting something Indian inspired into your life...forget about the Curries and Naan bread, I mean Ayurvedic haircare techniques.

AYURVEDIC HAIRCARE 101- The Basics

No matter what type of hair nature blessed you with, there are things you can do to keep it healthy, lustrous, looking its best, according to the tradition of Ayurveda, the 5,000-year old system of holistic healing that originated in India:



1) Oiling the hair and scalp:


A warm oil scalp massage two or three times a week will help stimulate growth and moisturize the scalp. You can use a good quality coconut, almond or olive oil.

Apply some mildly warmed oil to your hair and gently massage into your scalp evenly with your fingertips. Leave on overnight if you can, if not, leave on for at least an hour or two, then get it out by shampooing your hair. The scalp massage helps you relax and aids sound sleep as well.

Oils to use:

Coconut oil
Almond oil
Olive oil

A lovely coconut oil...

One of my favourites is this one by parachute...its a premium brand and smells divine- you'll be surprised how shiny it makes your hair. Try it on damp hair and let your hair dry naturally...and watch that shine.

Buy this from your local Indian wholesaler or grocery shop

2) Henna- Natures best Protein treatment!

This videos show how you should use it...see below for reasons why!

Henna is traditionally used in India and West Africa as a hair conditioner, strengthener and natural colourant.

Benefits:

It will thicken your strands

It will strengthen your hair and may help with breakage

It is 100% natural

Inexpensive to buy

You will see a difference from the first application

My favourite brand is...Karishma- body quality art henna

My Henna-mix Recipe:

1 pkt of Karishma Henna

1 tub of natural yhoghurt

2 tbsp honey

2 oz Olive oil

Add all to a metal bowl, mix well and leave it for 1-2 hours for conditioning benefits or overnight to use as a conditioning treatment with colour!

WARNING!!

Always apply oil to your hair as a hot oil treatment prior to using henna...do not rinse it out as the henna can be drying!

Only buy 'body quality art henna' as it is a fine grain...and better quality and purer

Do not add anything acidic to your mix- as it can be drying enough on the hair, the colour will release if left overnight naturally.

Follow up your henna treatment with a moisturising deep conditioner, add oil to the conditioner to increase moisture.

The colour your hair becomes varies from head to head- natural highlights!)

3) Using Herbal powders:

Amla, Shikakai, Maka, Brahmi or Neem

Using these Ayurvedic powders is said to have the following benefits for your hair:

• They stop hair breakage
• Strengthen the roots
• Strengthen the hair
• Condition the hair
  

How to use them?:

For conditioning and strengthening effects, use 1 tbsp of Amla + 1tbsp of Brahmi or Maka and make a tea with it, put in in a mug and let it brew, once brewed use an old stocking to strain the liquid off into a large jug and ass another cup of plain water.

Use this tea to rinse your hair with, after saturating your hair in coconut or olive oil and leaving overnight. Pour over your hair and do not touch your hair just let it sit their on the scalp for 5-10 minutes, then proceed to rinse it from your hair.

Follow up with a deep conditioner treatment for at least 45 mins!

Different tea mixes for different conditions:

(add 1 tbsp of each of the following)

Brahmi + Amala = conditioning

Amla + Shikakai = cleansing

Amla + Neem = Deep clean/dandruff

Maka + Amla + Brahmi = Super conditioning/strengthening.

My Ayurvedic experience...

I have been using henna for the past 12 months and it really has helped to make my hair stronger and thicker as well as giving an incredible shine.

I have recently started using the tea rinses and again they really are great at strengthening the hair. It takes a while to get into a routine with them, but once you do there is no stopping you.

Natural is best for me, so I love all things given to us from Mother Nature...

My Ayurvedic Results so far:

Check out the shine I have got from my recent henna treatment:

This is the colour my hair has become...I only henna every 3 months or so:

It has also helped me to retain length by strengthening my strands:

So what are you waiting for...try something natural and beneficial for your hair!

Think out the box...

You can also buy oils with Ayurvedic herbs like amla and brahmi in them, these are also great for your hair as a hot oil treatment, or a leave-in oil.