BASIC HAIR CARE INFORMATION FOR AFRICAN AMERICANS

The Basics

Protective Styles
Protective styles are hairstyles that keep your hair off your clothes. Clothes tend to be harsh on your hair, especially the ends. Protective styling is great for retaining length. Great styles are: Flexi-rods, Rollersets, Braids, Ponytails, Phony Ponies, Sew-ins, etc.

Stretching
Going a while without getting a relaxer. Saves money and hair.

Line of Demarcation
The point where the natural hair and relaxed hair meet.

Shrinkage
When your hair appears to be shorter because of the tight curls of your natural hair.

Breakage
Broken pieces of hair with no white bulb. Can be caused by too much moisture or protein. It can also be caused by poor hair care. Ouch

Shedding
Strands of hair with white bulbs on the root. Hair goes through a natural shedding phase, so don't worry if you're taking care of your hair and it suddenly starts shedding a bit. If you ARE worried, try using Garlic. It's been known to stop shedding.

The Baggy Method
This method is simple. You moisturize your hair, seal with an oil of your choice (I love Coconut Oil), and put on a plastic cap. You can leave on for half an hour or overnight. Your choice.

Texlaxed/Relaxurized
Not letting the relaxer take completely to the point of being bone straight Dead. Basically underprocessed on purpose. Great method for those who flat iron bone straight hair anyway. I've done it before and I love it. Gives your hair some thickness.

Transitioning
Going from permed/relaxed to natural.

CO-Washing
A.K.A Conditioner Only Washing. Instead of using a shampoo, which can be harsh on your precious strands, you can use a conditioner. This way, you can wash everyday if you choose.

CWC-Washing
AKA Conditioner washing first then shampoo and condition again. This way your hair stays softer and more manageable after using shamppo. And makes your shampoo do less harm if it has lots of harsh products.

Pre-Pooing
A.K.A Pre-Shampooing. This is a method used to give your hair some good treatment before washing. You can pre-poo with a protein conditioner if your hair hates deep conditioning with protein, or you can pre-poo with garlic and olive oil if you're experiencing breakage/shedding.

The Dominican Blowout
A Rollerset followed by blowing out the roots with a hot (Shocked I mean HOT) blowdryer and a round brush. I love getting blowouts when I'm stretching because it gets my straight enough for me to keep stretching.

Scalp Massages
Massages to the scalp that get blood flowing to help growth.