Let's Get Personal!!!

Alright natural beauties, let's talk hair! NO, I mean let's get real! It has been a great learning experience during my year of being natural. Learning my hair all over again was a very complicated task. When I started doing my own hair, my mother had already relaxed my hair. This was something new. Talk about finding products that worked best for you and trying to listen to you hair to determine why it was limp or shedding. Ugh!! The drama, oh the drama. So what did I do about it?! I became a huge PJ (product junkie)! I would say no to becoming a PJ because then you will end up with products you will not use anymore. My suggestion would be to grab a few staple products at a time and pick and choose which one worked and which one didn't work. Start with a shampoo, deep conditioner, leave in conditioner, hair butter and hair oil. After finding what works better for you, then you can start adding other staple products. Don't be afraid of learning your hair all over again. I am big on conditioning more than shampooing my hair. When I shampoo my hair, I use a pre-poo treatment to protect my hair from the harsh chemicals that strips your hair from moisture. Try to educate yourself throughout the entire process of learning about your hair from the trials and tribulations of being a natural beauty. In my opinion, I think it is such a learning process because we are starting over and most of us have been relaxed most of our lives. My hair is kinky and coily in certain areas. My hair also gets very dry if i dont do a deep conditioning treatment at least once a week. I usually keep my hair in twists to keep the moisture in my hair. I also wear my hair out once a week and try to keep my hands out of my head, except during the days of moisturizing. I am still developing a hair regimen that works for me. I have some things that has been working for me but not a solid regimen. Don't lose hope. As you can see, I am still learning and I have been natural for a year. It is all a process and I get upset when I see natural beauties give up and they go back to being relaxed. Try to stay in there and feel free to hit me up on my Facebook @ Kinky Kera. Be kind to your tresses!

My Henna Experience :)

Two weeks ago I tried the Nupur Henna with the 9 herbs and I did not keep it on the length of time that the package instructed. I kept the henna treatment on my hair for an hour instead of 2-3 hours. Henna can be quite drying on your hair if you do not add a few moisturizing conditioners to the henna. Depending on the type of henna you decide to use, it can dye your hair. The henna I used didn't completely dye my hair but it did add a hint of red. It wasn't bad where I was flipping out. There are a few benefits of henna for your hair:

• It strengthens your hair. As natural beauties, we want stronger hair so we can have less breakage. Less breakage means retaining hair length. Henna can replace your protein treatment if you would like to save money. Henna tends to be a lot cheaper than the name brand protein treatments. You will need to follow up with a deep conditioning treatment after washing out the henna out of your hair.
• It dyes your hair and removes grays. This could be a pro or con. Some people do not want to dye their hair but there are many alternatives. There are neutral, red, brown natural hennas out there. If you are going for the black look, then you are like me. Purchase a neutral henna treatment and then follow up with an indigo powder. (Discuss in a future post)
• It makes your hair shiny and manageable.  Henna tends to fill the roughness of the cuticles making it feel smoother. The best thing about henna is that while it is coating the hair, it locks moisture within the hair.

Before doing this treatment, definitely do your research and watch a few youtube videos to determine if this is something you would want to try. My opinion is that it is natural and it will not hurt you to try it. If you do not want to color your hair, I would get a neutral or brown henna and then follow up with an indigo treatment. I will rate the treatment 4 out of 5 stars. It can be quite drying. That is one of the reasons why I add hair softeners to the henna mix and then follow up with a deep conditioning treatments. It makes up the difference. I loved the results and I plan on doing it again soon. If you have any questions, please hit me on here or on Facebook. In the meantime, be kind to your tresses.