Deep Condition | Part 4

July 25, 2016 Uloaku Enyingwa 0 Comments

Hey fam!

I know looking for a good deep conditioner that matches your hair needs hasn’t always been the easiest. Sometimes we might even buy a deep conditioner based on good reviews, thinking that it’ll always work for us. But then we tend to forget that there are different hair types and textures out there and what works for one hair may not work for another. So how do you know that a deep conditioner is actually working for your hair and it’s a keeper?

• Retains moisture and hair is softer

One of the main purpose of a deep conditioner is to leave the hair feeling moisturised. Moisture should be able to last for a few days, making the hair feeling softer to touch.

• Easier Detangling

After using the deep conditioner, your hair should be fairly easy to detangle, or comb through. If your deep conditioner is failing in this, it’s bad news.

• Less Breakage

Another main purpose of a deep conditioner is to replenish lost nutrients in the hair strands, therefore strengthening the hair. Your hair should be able to stretch without breaking.

If your deep conditioner lives up to the above then it’s a winner!

How To Take Care Of Natural Hair While Protective Styling

July 21, 2016 Uloaku Enyingwa 0 Comments

One of the biggest mistake ladies make when protective styling, is ignoring their hair for weeks or months. Our hair has needs, people! It still needs to be cleansed, replenished with nutrients and properly moisturized for it to be healthy.

Most of the complains I receive from people after protective styling is that, their hair experienced lots of breakage during the take down. The cause? No or  improper maintenance.

Before the return to my natural root, my hair regimen was a total mess. No maintenance while protective styling, wash days were weeks after take down (smelly hair, Eeeww!) and zilch deep conditioning sessions. Suffice to say, I never had a regimen. Period!

Truly, this natural hair “thing” was a game changer for my hair. I can’t even use protective styling as an excuse  not to take care of my hair for weeks. Yes, it’s not as easy but your hair will thank you later.

Today makes it 2 weeks since I had my faux locs and I decided to make a post showing my hair regimen while in protective style.
According to my hair regimen, I do this biweekly. For some reason though, I’ve been sticking to weekly since I had these faux locs installed (so I’ll be changing my regimen to weekly or biweekly). See how much I love this fro of mine?

Ok, let’s get right into it.

What I used:

1. Small towel
2. Bowl
3. Shampoo
4. Deep conditioner
5. Plastic cap
6. Leave in conditioner
7. Spray bottle
8. Oil and
9. My hands. Lol.

• Mix a little shampoo with water in the bowl.
• Dip towel in the mixture, squeeze to remove excess water and use to clean scalp and roots.

I started from bottom to the top.

• Towel rinse with fresh water.

• I take some amount of deep conditioner with my fingers and work my way all over my roots and scalp.

Yeah, trying to give those edges extra nutrients (3rd pic)

• Cover with plastic cap for 30-45 minutes.

• Towel rinse with clean water.

• Mix leave in conditioner with a bit of water in spray bottle.
• Spray on my scalp and roots, gently massaging it in.

• Seal in with oil.

P.s: I moisturise and seal every 2 days.

So it takes me about an hour plus to do all these.

• You could use warm water to mix your shampoo.
• Sometimes, I towel rinse the shampoo twice to ensure it’s totally out of my hair.
• Cleanse, replenish and moisturise section by section, so as not to miss any spot.
• Using a spray bottle to moisturize and an applicator bottle for sealing with oil will make your life easier.

Until next post.
Keep the stank outta your hair while protective styling!

Love.
The Frorocker.

Natural Hair Tip #9

July 19, 2016 Uloaku Enyingwa 0 Comments

Want to achieve a perfect twist out, braid out, flat twist out etc?

• Start with clean hair, free of product build up. Styles won’t hold on dirty hair.
• Make sure hair is well detangled.

Happy styling!

Being A Beautiful Faux Locs In A World Full Of Braids

July 18, 2016 Uloaku Enyingwa 0 Comments

I think faux locs is officially my best protective style. Keeps all my hair tucked in for weeks on, very easy to maintain and getting doses of air on my scalp? Don’t I just love this protective style?!

Since the take down of my last faux loc, I’ve been itching for my next installation and here we are.
Ever since I moved to a new state 9 months ago, I’ve been on the lookout for someone with a faux loc but to no avail. My “world” seems to be full of yarn locs, jumbo braids, box braids and any other braiding style but faux locs! After my recent installation, people here virtually stop me wherever I go to ask what braiding hair I used and how I achieved this look. It’s such a novelty here, hence this post.

When I first did this faux loc style, I made some mistakes. It didn’t exactly come out the way I wanted but I still enjoyed rocking it. This second time I’m making up for it. I got it the way I want (uhmm, maybe something more lengthy but I’m still great with this length).

I’ve been rocking these babies for almost 2 weeks now and it still looks new.

Here’s what you’ll be needing:

• Yarn (wool) 
• Kinky braiding hair

The amount you’ll use depends on the length and size of the locs. I used 6 rolls of yarn and 4½ packs of kinky braiding hair for this length and size.

How to:

• My hair was freshly washed, well moisturized and oiled.
• Then my hair stylist started with box braids using the yarn.
• Next the box braids were threaded upon starting from the root using the kinky braiding hair to the tip of the box braids.
• Finally the tip was tied and burnt to ensure a tighter hold.

1. To save time, stop braiding the box braids where your natural hair ends. The rest of the unbraided yarn can still be threaded upon.
2. Burn only the tip of the kinky braiding hair. Don’t burn along it. I made this mistake the first time, it makes the take down process harder.

Have you tried the faux loc style? How did you go about it?

Hair Progress

July 17, 2016 Uloaku Enyingwa 0 Comments

Hello!
So guess who remembered she has a length check tee shirt?
Yep! This fro rocker right here!

Really, most times I do forget. I made this tee on one of my insomniac nights last year and this will be the second time I’ll be using it since february 2016.
The first length check was done almost 10 months post big chop and the second 5 months later. This makes my hair approximately a year and 3 months old since big chop.

Averagely our hair grows about ½ inch monthly. So mine seems to be doing just fine. I mean, I knew it was growing but didn’t realise it was this much. In the last 5 months I have more than 3 inches of growth.
Hurray to hair growth!!!

No hair growth pills, just plain sticking to my regimen and giving this fro some TLC.
This is really reassuring, looks like I’m on the right track on this healthy hair journey.

Until next length check (probably by the end of the year).

Oh and don’t forget to build a regimen that works for your hair and stick to it.

Xx
The FroRocker.

Deep Condition | Part 3

July 15, 2016 Uloaku Enyingwa 0 Comments

Knowing what ingredients you are putting in your hair and the effect of using them can give an entirely new edge to the health of your hair. In my previous post under this series I shared some of the common good ingredients you should look out for.
In this article I’ll be sharing some common ingredients you might want to avoid in your deep conditioner. These ingredients may not serve any purpose or may even be harmful health wise.

1.  BAD ALCOHOLS
Names like isopropyl alcohol, propyl alcohol, propanol alcohol, isopropanol alcohol, SD alcohol etc, are bad news for natural hair. Our hair needs all the moisture it can get and these alcohols do the exact opposite. They cause the hair to become dry.

2.  PARABENS
Parabens are preservatives widely used in cosmetic and beauty products to prevent microbes from growing. Therefore they make the product shelf life longer.
Studies have linked parabens to breast cancer. Cancerous cells were found to contain parabens, although it haven’t been conclusively said that parabens causes cancer.
Some examples of parabens are: butylparaben, ethylparaben, isobutylparaben, methylparaben etc.
Given the fact that parabens are widely used in lots of beauty products, it will be advisable to avoid it when one can (starting from your hair products maybe) to be on the safer side. Try looking for paraben free products.

3.  SILICONES
Silicones are great for detangling and combating frizz. To identify silicones look out for ingredient names with “cone”, “col”, “conol”, “xane” or “zane”. When it comes to silicones one has to know the one that’s good to use (water-soluble) and the one you might want to avoid (water-insoluble).

Water-Soluble
These silicones do not cause build up and can be washed out of the hair with only water. Examples include: cyclomethicone, dimethicone copolyol.

Water-Insoluble
These ones tend to cause build up and is difficult to remove. It can’t be removed with only water, one has to use a clarifying (sulfate) shampoo. So unless you want to subject your hair to sulfates (more on this later) you should avoid water insoluble silicones like dimethicone.

4.  LANOLIN, MINERAL OIL AND PETROLATUM
These ingredients may react differently according to hair type and textures. Although some with natural hair use them for sealing and taming frizz, they can clog your pores and hinder hair growth if used on the scalp aside the fact that they aren’t moisturising in anyway. If you’re absolutely sure that you want to use these ingredients, make sure you use them on your hair and not directly on your scalp. The best alternative still remains using moisturising sealing ingredients like natural oils.

BOTTOMLINE: It’s best to do a little research before buying your deep conditioner. Check the ingredient list. The higher the ingredient is on the list, the higher the percentage of that ingredient contained in the product.

DO NOT forget to always choose what works for your hair and is  healthy for you!

What ingredients do you avoid in your deep conditioner? Please do share.

Watch out next for tips on how to know your deep conditioner is really effective!

Natural Hair Tip #8

July 12, 2016 Uloaku Enyingwa 0 Comments

DO NOT detangle soaking wet hair. Your ends are likely to break, if you do. To detangle wet hair, first apply conditioner or detangler. You can also detangle while hair is damp but never soaking wet!

Ways To Rock A Twa! | Style #1

July 09, 2016 Uloaku Enyingwa 0 Comments

Calling on the TWA (teeny weeny afro) rockers! Here’s a style for you.

Rocking a TWA is something I didn’t get to experience. Sometimes I wish I had the courage to do it just to know what it felt like. Other times I let my imagination run and see myself rocking one and slaying it.
For those of you rocking a TWA kudos! Doing what I wasn’t bold enough to do. The very least I could do is give you some ideas on how you can slay the TWA look. I’ll be sharing some styles I’ve always fancied on short hair. For this weekend you can try out the one below.

You’ll be needing:

1. Comb and brush
2. Spray bottle with water
3. Styling products like gel (moisturizing gel), butters or a mix of both

How to:

1. Start on freshly washed/co-washed, moisturized and well detangled hair. 
2. Section a little part of your hair and detangle. Apply the styling product and brush through to distribute evenly.
3. Twist your hair around your index fingers starting from the roots (close to the scalp) down to the tip. If you are using comb for your coils, grasp the hair close to the root and twist until hair is coiled to the tip. Continue until the whole hair is completely done.
4. Air dry.

1. This style is best done on dry or slightly damp hair. Spray bottle with water can be used to keep hair damp.
2. The smaller the sections, the fuller the hair will look.
3. Always sleep on a satin bonnet/scarf to make coils last longer.
4. You can achieve a finger/comb coil out by separating the individual coils into smaller sections, like separating a twist to get a twist out.
5. This style can be worn for several days or weeks but be careful so that your hair doesn’t begin to lock. If hair locks, deep condition and detangle to free locks.

Natural Hair Tip #7

July 05, 2016 Uloaku Enyingwa 0 Comments

Always end your wash/co-wash days with cold water rinse, so as to close your hair cuticle and seal in moisture.

Meme | The Bandwagon

July 01, 2016 Uloaku Enyingwa 0 Comments