Get ready to give your hair the love it deserves this fall! As the air cools and dries out, it’s time to adjust your hair care routine. Our Five Essential Fall Hair Care Tips will help you lock in moisture, protect your hair from seasonal elements, and prevent damage from friction caused by cozy sweaters and scarves. From scalp care to regular trims, these tips will keep your strands hydrated, healthy, and beautiful all season long. Check out the full blog to ensure your hair thrives this autumn!
The blog post offers practical and manageable hair-care tips tailored for busy moms, allowing them to maintain healthy and beautiful hair without added stress. The post provides strategies aimed to help busy moms achieve gorgeous hair without sacrificing time with their families, promoting self-care and well-being amidst their hectic schedules.
Who doesn't love a good protective style?! Protective styles are a great way to give your natural hair a break from daily manipulation and styling, but it's essential to care for your hair and scalp properly while wearing them. Here are some do's and don'ts for taking care of your hair while in a protective style:
Do's:
Moisturize: Keep your hair and scalp moisturized by using our lightweight, water-based leave-in conditioner and a hair and scalp oil that won't clog your scalp.Your hair should remain protected with moisture so it doesn't become hard, brittle and prone to breakage. That defeats the point of a protective style. Keep your hair protected with moisture and moisture retention.
Cleanse your scalp: While in a protective style, it's essential to maintain a clean scalp to prevent product buildup and maintain hair health. Sweet Potato Pie Moisturizing Extra Creamy Shampoo is great as it will cleanse your scalp without stripping natural oils and scalp fresh.
Consider quality of scarf or bonnet: We already know that a bonnet or scarf is great for keeping a protective style nicely wrapped at night. However, make sure to get a good quality bonnet/scarf that is soft and won't rub against your edges. Constant rubbing of a material against your edges can cause hair loss in that area.
Use a hairnet: If you're wearing a wig or weave, consider using a hairnet underneath to protect your natural hair from friction and tension. Try not to over use wigs/weave. Give your hair opportunity to breathe. If you can't stop use, let your hair out while at home.
Keep your scalp oiled: Apply a lightweight oil to your scalp to stimulate follicles for a healthy scalp. One of the goals for a protective style is to allow hair to grow and not be manipulated too much. It starts from within and coming out a healthy scalp.
Trim as needed: While protective styling, monitor the ends of your hair for split ends or damage. Trim them as necessary before and after your protective style to prevent further breakage.
Stay gentle: Handle your hair with care. Avoid excessive pulling, tugging, or tight hairstyles, as these can lead to hair damage. If you have issues with edges, try to not pull protective style away from your edges such as pulling into a ponytail. Let your hair relax.
Nutrient Intake: Make sure to eat foods that support overall hair health such as super foods like sweet potatoes, nuts (almonds and walnuts), green leafy foods (broccoli, collard greens, etc). A great Biotin supplement is our Vegan Biotin Hair Vitamin Strawberry Gummies that has 10,000 mcg of biotin that may support hair, nail and skin.
Hydrate Regularly: Your scalp loves water, even while in protective styles. Keep your hair and scalp hydrated throughout the day by using our Hydration Mist Spray Bottle and mixing a few drops of Strength Hair Oil and/or Leave-In Conditioner mixed with pure spring water.
The Don'ts:
1. Don't leave the style in for too long: Protective styles are meant to be temporary. Leaving them in for extended periods can lead to matting, breakage, and even hair loss. Aim to keep your protective style in for 6-8 weeks at most, depending on your hair type and how well you maintain it.
2. Don't neglect your hair underneath: Just because your hair is in a protective style doesn't mean you can ignore it. Continue to moisturize and care for your natural hair to keep it healthy.
3. Don't use excessive heat: If you're wearing extensions or a wig, be cautious about using heat styling tools excessively. High heat can damage both your natural hair and the extensions.
4. Don't use heavy products: Avoid using heavy creams, gels, or oils that can weigh down your hair and make it difficult to cleanse your scalp properly.
Protective Style Kit:
Strength Hair Oil for stimulating hair scalp and follicles. Great use with braids and twists.
Sweet Potato Pie Collection
Leave-in Conditioner- it is water-based loaded with nutrient-rich ingredients such as vanilla and lemon juice that are great for daily use to keep hair hydrated
Hair & Scalp Oil-great for lock in moisture to keep hair flexible and less prone to breakage
Hair Cream- extra moisture boost and excellent for high porosity hair (hair they dries out easy)
Hope this protective style Do's and Don'ts help you as you go on this healthy hair journey!! We got this! Share any tips that have helped you while in protective styles.
Let's start off with what alopecia is exactly. Alopecia is a medical condition that affects the hair follicles and can lead to hair loss. It's important to keep stress level down as much as possible and know that there are action steps that you can take to help to control either the spread and/or worsening of the condition.
If you suspect you have alopecia, it's essential to take steps to address your concerns and seek professional medical guidance. Here are some steps to follow:
Set your goals: Decide on your desired end result. Determine whether you want to grow out your natural hair completely or trim off the chemically treated ends gradually.
Moisturize regularly: Keep your hair well-moisturized to prevent dryness and breakage. Use a water-based leave-in conditioner or moisturizer and seal in the moisture with natural oils or butters. Moisturize your hair as needed to maintain its hydration.
Summer is the season of equal parts joy and frustration of our natural hair. It’s joyful to enjoy the warm weather by wearing curly hairstyles that are more casual than your winter norm. But it can also be a time of frizz, unintentional damage and curl unruliness. Just like our skin, our hair is directly exposed to weather conditions, especially the sun, temperature, and humidity. Hair, being a protein fiber, may undergo physical and chemical changes with the changing environmental conditions. As we move into summer, consumers are frequently engaged with outdoor activities, such as traveling, swimming in pools, or the ocean. Exposure to these weather conditions can affect the health of our hair. So! Here are some helpful tips for nourishing, hydrating and controlling your curly hair. Learn how to take care of curly hair…all summer long!
Interaction of solar radiations with the hair fiber
What does this even mean? Well, solar radiations possess enough energy to initiate the degradation of hair protein and color fading. Hair proteins undergo chemical reactions by absorbing light energy from solar radiations and as a result, various chemical bonds in the hair structure are broken. This weakens the structure of hair fiber, hair becomes fragile, loses its strength, and surface properties are completely changed. In other words, the more you stay outside directly in the sun, the more possibility of hair damage.
Just like we need sun protection for skin, our hair needs the same protection. Before stepping out, please ensure you have applied a leave-in conditioner that contains organic natural solar protectors. A leave-in conditioner protects your hair against photodamage, preserves its structural integrity besides improving hair lubricity. A well-balanced leave-in conditioner should not contain any synthetic UV blockers or silicones.
Hair Color Fading
Besides protein loss, intense heat and solar radiation can also fade hair color. Natural virgin (non-chemical treated) black hair becomes brown and even gray with continuous repeated exposure to the sun. Hair contains melanin colorants responsible for our hair color. However, under summer conditions, melanin undergoes degeneration by breaking its various chemical bonds and converting melanin into smaller molecules that come out of hair fiber during the washing/rinse off cycle.
Hair fibers colored with temporary or permanent hair color undergo photo-degradation even quicker and the color only lasts a few days during summer. Your hair needs protection to minimize color fading and this requires customized and special formulations designed for summer times. Hair experts suggest staying away from shampoos with sulfates, because they can easily dissolve hair colorants and accelerate color fading. Instead, rely on moisture based shampoos and leave-in conditioners as they inhibit water uptake, minimize frizz, and forms a courting at the hair surface minimizing color bleeding.
Chlorinated Pool Water & Ocean Water
Swimming pools are regularly treated with chlorine to control mold and bacterial growth. Chlorine treatment maintains the quality of pool water and keeps it suitable for swimming. However, chlorine molecules can get absorbed by the hair during swimming and can turn blonde hair into a greenish color. This may initiate chemical reactions on the hair’s surface which accelerate under the sun.
The same situation happens with ocean water, as it contains a significant level of inorganic metals, calcium and magnesium. These metal components can alter the physical and chemical properties of hair.
Now how do we avoid this problem? It’s highly recommended to use a moisture balancing conditioner or leave-in conditioner before heading to the pool or beach. This minimizes the chance of having chlorine penetration of metal binding with hair. Also to protect your hair, mist your hair with water and applying a few drops of Donna’s Recipe Strength Hair Oil. Filling the hair with moisture instead of water will prevent it from swelling. After swimming, cleanse your hair with a clarifying shampoo, followed by a moisturizing conditioner.
Sweating
The scorching heat during summer causes you to produce an unfortunate amount of sweat. Human sweat debris can form deposits on the scalp’s surface and hair shaft leaving an undesired aesthetic feel and odor. To help remove these materials from your hair, use a clarifying shampoo, then follow with a deep conditioner to hydrate your hair restoring its natural gloss and texture.
One of the biggest struggles for us curly and coily heads is figuring out the right protein moisture balance. Conquering this mixture balance is important so that your hair isn’t weighed down or overly fragile.
NATURAL HAIR AND PROTEIN MOISTURE BALANCE
Curly hair is naturally dry, considering the way it grows from the scalp. The strand automatically curls rather than falling straight. This makes it harder for the natural oils on our scalp to travel down the hair length and keep the hair moisturized. That’s why moisture is absolutely key to healthy, juicy curls.
However, protein cannot be neglected. Our hair is made of 90% protein, which gives it strength and structure. Protein in our hair is broken down on a daily basis, so if we don’t restore what was lost, our hair will become weak and fragile.
DOES MY HAIR NEED PROTEIN OR MOISTURE?
In order to keep your hair healthy, you consistently need to maintain a balance of both protein and moisture. Make sure you drink plenty of water and eat enough protein-rich foods to create the right foundation for healthy hair growth.
Everyone’s hair is different, so a balanced protein moisture routine will depend on your hair porosity. The more porous and damaged your hair is, the more protein-rich products you should use.
IS MY CURRENT ROUTINE BALANCED?
Since we all have different needs in terms of protein and moisture, you might be wondering if your current routine is balanced enough or if you are adding too much of one or the other. Well Guess What?? There is an easy test that helps you figure out your hair elasticity, which is a great indicator of protein or moisture overload.
Take a strand of clean and dry hair end and gently pull at the sides:
If your hair stretches gently and bounces back, you are well balanced.
If the hair doesn’t stretch, or even snaps and breaks, you are in protein overload.
If the hair keeps stretching without bouncing back, and eventually falls apart, you are in a moisture overload.
HOW TO RESTORE A PROTEIN MOISTURE BALANCE
Depending on whether you are suffering from protein overload or moisture overload, you will need to use different products. However, a healthy hair journey begins with removing and product build up and resetting the hair. So make sure to balance between a clarifying shampoo and a moisturizing shampoo every other wash.
With fixing a protein overload, you’ll want to focus on protein-free products that will help restore your hair’s moisture. So try using a moisturizing deep conditioner to achieve ultimate hair hydration. Moisture overload requires using protein-rich products that focus on strengthening the hair, so look for conditioners, deep conditioners or masks that include protein ingredients.
