Hair Myth of the Day: Washing your hair daily will cause your hair to break.

Howdy chicas!

I grew up thinking that only ladies of certain races could wash their hair daily. I remember seeing daily clarifying shampoos by brands such as Suave and Pantene. I have always washed my hair once every 2 weeks or at the most once a week.

Well as I started my journey for healthy hair (relaxed, texturized and natural) I discovered conditioner washes. I have learned that shampoos (especially those clarifying products) can dry your hair out if used frequently. I read on a hair board about washing your hair daily with conditioner. I was interested and decided to give it a try. It is the BEST thing I have ever done. I said goodbye to dry porous hair and hello to moisturized thicker hair!

Here are a few facts about conditioner washes:

Advantages of conditioner washing

Softer hair
Less Frizz ( usually a result of dry hair)
Less breakage and shedding
More elasticity
Easier to detangle

Some conditioners that are GREAT for conditioner washes:

Suave Tropical Coconut
VO5 Moisture Milks Strawberry Milkshake
Herbal Essence Hello Hydration ** (personal fav)
Tressemme **( What I currently use)
Sunsilk

Things to avoid if you adopt this method:

Silicones
Lots of oil
Not washing frequently

Personally I think ALL transitioners should adopt this method. It makes your hair THAT much easier to detangle and it also keeps the line of demarcation moisturized. You will learn one of the most important factors in healthy hair care is MOISTURE.
Let's add this up...

Moisturized hair = Healthier hair = Stronger Hair = Longer Hair
Does anyone have a problem with longer, stronger HEALTHY hair?!


Although I wash with conditioner only on a daily basis, I still use shampoo. I only shampoo before a henna treatment or when I plan to straighten. I must say my hair feels MUCH different after a shampoo. I love conditioner washes long time... :-)

Transitioning to Natural Hair: 101

***I am fully natural now...but decided to venture back to my transitioning days to inspire those that are currently struggling with transitioning to natural hair**

More and more women are going natural these days. There are several reasons that women decide to stop relaxing their hair. Some are:
1. The relaxers are damaging their hair
2. The women are curious as to how much longer and thicker her hair will be in her natural state.
3. The women are curious as to what their natural texture is like.
4. The women are going natural to encourage their daughters that being natural is beautiful.
5. The women are just looking for a different look.
6. Some are going natural just because it is the "In" thing right now.

No matter what your reason for doing it, there is one thing we can call agree on. Transitioning is NOT easy. There are several ways to transition. You can have a short or lengthy transition. You can have a HARD transition or a not so hard transition. Your experience depends upon two things...YOU and what you make of it.

I have personally transitioned twice. The first time I transitioned I was living in Los Angeles and just about everyone in the city is relaxer free. Therefore it was very easy to find a stylist for my transitioning hair. During this transition, I went to the salon every two weeks for a wash, condition and press. I wore my hair out 99% of the time and it was painless. The ONLY reason I relaxed again...was because I moved back to the land of humidity...MEMPHIS. During this time, I was reluctant to wear textured styles. I only transitioned because a relaxer and color had eaten up my hair and left it thin, brittle and short. After 7 months of transitioning I had hair beyond shoulder length that was thick and full of body.

My second transition was MUCH different. I discovered the internet hair boards back in 2001 and I have learned SO much since then. I have had thick and healthy relaxed hair and thick and healthy texturized hair. I am aware that I can have both chemicals and healthy hair. However, I still feel as though my hair THRIVES when I don't chemically alter it. So I decided to attempt to transition AGAIN and AGAIN and AGAIN only to fail. Here are some of the reasons that I was not successful:

1. Attempting to wear straight styles. When you get past a certain point, it is very hard to wear half relaxed and half natural hair straight. One issue you will face is how WEAK your hair is. You are going to have to put allot of stress on your hair to get that silky straight look and hair with 2 different textures (extremely different textures) is not very strong. When I was doing this, my hair would start to break at the point where the two textures met. Not a good look.

2. Not being focused on WHY I was transitioning. Anything that I do, I try to do it with purpose. If you do not have a purpose for doing something, it is very easy to get off task. I had to first figure out WHY I was doing what I was doing and remain focused on that so that I could be successful.

3. Poor product choice. I have mentioned here several times that I use different products when I wear different styles. My curly hair does not like the same products that my straight hair does. My natural hair does not like the same products that my relaxed hair did. As I transitioned, I continued to use the same methods and products as when I was natural. When I was transitioning, my hair was very dry. Moisture is VERY important in a healthy transtion. I may have been more successful if I did my research and sought out products that worked well with my new texture of hair.

4. Fear. This is by far the biggest. For awhile I was seriously afraid that I would not be attractive with natural hair. All I could envision was "taco meat" lining my hair line. Not..cute. In my simple mind, natural hair was not beautiful. I had to learn to love me...and all of me. Whatever my texture is...GOD gave it to me. So I decided to find out WHAT I have...and nurture whatever that is. It also helped to browse beautiful natural images of women who have similar textures. It would do me NO good to go and view all these silky curls because that is not what I have. Who is to say that kinky hair isn't beautiful? The more kinky albums I viewed, the more I realized that kinky hair is JUST as beautiful as the silky curls. To be honest, once I accepted this LARGE small little tidbit....trasitioning became that much easier.

These are just a FEW of the issues I encountered and conquered while on my journey to natural hair. There are tons more...but I will stop here. You can rest assured that I will be back with more. :-)