Black Hair: Natural Hair Care - Responding to Christine’s Post :-)
I decided to put Christine’s comment/question about hair care in its own post. I am hoping other naturals/curly haired people (I know there are a few out there that read my blog occasionally) will add their thoughts regarding what works for them.
When I do my daughter’s hair, I add 5 ounces of distilled water to an 8 oz. spray bottle. I add two tablespoons of flax seed gel (made by boiling two tablespoons of flax seeds in 16 oz. water and squeezing the seeds through a strainer or muslin type cloth) and 1-2 tablespoons of jojoba or olive oil, 10 drops of essential oils.
I massage her scalp daily as well. She loves it. Ayiana’s hair is completely different from mine. It is very fine and curly. My hair is fine, thick, coily, and kinky. According to Andre Walker’s hair system her hair type is 3A. My hair type is 4a and 4b. I had to go through hair care 101 all over with my daughter. If I had used the pink lotions (the type that I am thinking about) it would have weighed her hair down.
Aiyana’s grandmom, my mom, decided to put similar to the pink lotion on her hair. I instantly knew that something was wrong when I came to get her. Her hair had this slicked (weighted) down wet look. Her hair cannot handle the heavy products like mineral oil, beeswax, and petroleum, etc. I found I had to teach and give my mother correct hair care products. This helped when she would style my daughter’s hair. She noticed the difference and has not had a problem.
Everyones hair can respond differently. There are some naturals whose hair loves oils applied directly to their hair. I would suggest Shea butter, sweet almond oil, coconut oil, and cocoa butter. These products are natural and contain many vitamins that are beneficial for the hair and are readily absorbed into the skin. I also have spray bottles throughout the house where I have added water and a few drops of essential oils. This has aided in keeping her hair (and mine) extremely soft!
I am seeing more natural hair care products targeted towards the black community, and I think this is wonderful. There is a salon here in Maryland owned by my friend that specializes in Natural Hair Care. The only products they use are natural products.
I think there are a few pink lotions out there? The one that I can remember from college days was Luster’s Pink Lotion.
Ingredients: Deionized Water, Mineral Oil, Lanolin, Beeswax, Petrolatum Sodium Benzoate, Sorbitan Oleate, Ethylhexyl Dimethly PABA, Methylparaben, Proplparabean, Imidazolidine Urea, fragrance, red 33. Mineral oils, petrolatum, lanolin, and beeswax
In large amounts tend to be drying. They block pores, attract lint, and they can cause hair breakage. If you notice these are in the top five ingredients? They are heavily based products and sit on top of the hair follicle/skin. These products have a hard time being absorbed. They function as a barrier for keeping things from penetrating the hair/skin. Think of a few of the ingredients that are used in products for to apply to the babies bottom.
There are several products on the market for babies that act as a barrier. If you look at these type products you will usually see the ingredients such as mineral oil, lanolin, beeswax, or petroleum listed. If you rub a small amount of any of these ingredients on your skin and it will ’sit’ on top of the skin. If it does this to the skin what is it doing for our hair? Is this beneficial if it sits on top of your hair? Try applying sweet almond oil, jojoba, or coconut oil to your skin and notice which is absorbed quicker. Products that act as barriers do not allow your scalp to breather. If certain products as a barrier and it is applied to our scalp what do you think, this process does to the oils is scalp naturally produces? Hmm…
A common misunderstanding, I have noticed, regarding extremely curly, coily, kinky, etc. hair is that it is excessively dry. A lot of us have been taught that need to constantly oil our hair and scalp. This is not necessarily true. We need to change our way of thinking when it comes to our hair. ‘Black hair’ comes in many textures curly, coily, kinky, and nappy, straight.
The ones that have a potential problem with the hairs natural oil (sebum) making its way down the hair shaft is those with nappy, coily, kinky, curly hair. Why do you think it has a hard time making its way down the hair shaft? Come on think about it! The oil has all those twists, curls, coils, zigzags, it slows this process down. The oil has a hard time making its way all the way to the ends. A person with straight (healthy) hair will normally not have this problem. This can give the misconception that our hair that is not straight is excessively dry. (Massaging the scalp daily will help increase oil production. I apply light oil such as sweet almond oil, jojoba, Kukui nut oil, to our hair ends. Where the oil is needed the ends. I rinse/or condition my hair the next day so this gets rid of the excess oil.)
I have been guilty of using products that sit on top of my hair. I have memories of my mom pulling out the ‘old school grease’ aka Ultra Sheen and applying it to my scalp/hair before she braided my hair. You know I used to practice this ritual for years! Granted I had moved past the Ultra Sheen and chosen products I thought were ‘lighter based’. In appearance, they were lighter however when I looked at the ingredients years later they weren’t. I changed synthetic oils for natural oils, but my hair still was not as soft as I would have liked. I did not have that greasy feeling anymore, but I still had a slightly dry/hard feeling to my hair. I eventually learned that my hair does not like a direct application of oils. It responds better to moisture, which is not the same thing as oil. Oils can make some naturals have dry hair. It did that with my hair. I learned that my hair needed to receive moisture from plain old water. I receive moisture by spraying my hair several times throughout the day. I usually condition my hair, with a light homemade conditioner. daily in the summer.
Another thing that used to annoy me, ok it still does, about some products marketed for black hair is they use a lot of inferior ‘filler’ ingredients such as petroleum, mineral oil, lanolin, etc, but the price did not always reflect the poorer quality products that were used. In my product line I avoid the synthetic based ingredients and focus on natural ingredients. I also verify the consumer is knowledgeable about the natural ingredients, through newsletters, pamphlets, etc. they do not have to buy from me.
I have a wealth of information on my site. I believe it is important for a person to be educated about the choices they make. I will give them the tools to make their own homemade skin care products. Note that all natural products are not necessarily good for you. Are they better for you when it comes to skin care and hair care? The research seems to state they are best. Do your homework about any product, and its ingredients, before you buy it or find a site that does it for you? I could blog about natural skin/hair care all day and night. ;-)
Christine, I commend you for taking such an interest in your daughter’s hair care. That is fantastic! She will definitely appreciate that later on. Keep doing what you are doing.
[tags]natural hair care, black hair, nappy hair, kinky hair[/tags]