This is the most common misconception in this natural hair
movement.
Ladies, Ladies, Ladies… I cannot stress enough how important
it is to continue to seek a professional for your hair care and maintenance when
natural. The most important things you will need from a professional stylist are... Da Da Daaaah... TRIMS. Yes ladies you do need a trained/licensed stylist to
perform trims to keep your natural hair healthy.
What are the risks of keeping split ends? Why trims are so
vital to healthy hair?
1) Trims
removes split ends – which split ends are the bane of your natural hair
existence. Why? Broken ends causes slip knots that aide in tangles. As many of
you know detangling is no fun. So why keep wasting your time on detangling day
after day after day? Getting a trim will alleviate this. I know I know
many of you are like… “But I don’t want to loose my length." Well, guess what you are
going to loose it any way if you fail to get a trim. And Nope YOU CAN NOT do it
yourself. This is not a task for
the novice or untrained hand. You can’t see the back of your head so stop
fooling yourself and save your coins for that professional stylist. It will
only make your natural hair journey that much more smoother, literally!
2) Split
ends travel up the shaft of each hair strand and eventually causing the hair to
break. So now you are saying, well my hair is not growing. That’s because your
hair is falling out and breaking off. These dead ends have no life and does
nothing keep your hair looking healthy.
3) It
also causes hair to be extremely dry, lacking of any moisture. Split ends eats up moisture products
because the hair becomes very porous. The cuticle layer (protective layer of
hair strand) is lifted and hair becomes rough. You can tell if your hair is porous by taking a single
strand of your hair and clasping it with two fingers, now run those two fingers
up the shaft starting from the end and stopping at the scalp. If your hair
feels bumpy then your hair is porous and is in serious need of moisture. If it
feels smooth then your hair is healthy.
Also you can check the elasticity of your hair by taking that same
strand and pulling it with both hands. If your hair breaks it has low
elasticity and is weak and damaged.
If your hair retracts back then your hair is healthy.
4) Split
ends causes frizz. Well hellloooo fuzzy hair. So now you are wondering why is
my hair so frizzy and doesn’t hold a style? The broken ends will never hold
curls. Its pretty much dead hair. So when you hold to your “length” by not
trimming those ends you are aiding on the side of team fuzzy hair.
Another reason to seek a professional is for color. So many
of you kill your natural hair by purchasing box color kits off the beauty
supply and retail store shelves. I don’t care how nice it sounds with all the
“oils and moisture” the box “says” it has or how cute and pretty the chic on
the box hair looks. Believe this, those models on the box 9 times out of 10 has
a weave or hair was colored by a professional not utilizing the product they
are advertising. Trust me I know, I’ve worked on sets for product advertising. It’s a shame, (shaking
my head).
The perils of box color or plant based dyes.
1) Box
colors are metallic dyes, they contain salts of lead, metallic salts, silver
and bismuth. Once you go to a professional for color services these dyes are
hard and almost impossible to lift or correct with out damaging the hair. These
dyes can make your hair, dull, stiff, and brittle. Most of the time the color
result after applying is not the desired color that you wanted.
2) Plant
based dyes such as henna can have an adverse reaction if you use other
chemicals in your hair like color or perms (to make hair curly). The repeated
use of them has a permanent effect.
Which means your hair will forever be that color unless you cut it off.
3) Temporary
and Semi Permanent dyes can have lasting permanent effects. Blacks and Reds are
notorious for this. Blacks and Reds no matter what level: Temporary, Semi, or
Demi are permanent colors that cannot be lifted safely out of the hair. Yes, there are products on the market that state they can lift blacks or reds but
honestly your hair will be so fried that you’d be best going bald. (Sorry to burst your bubble ladies) In
order to achieve a black, w/o the permanent effects, would be to choose a very
dark brown. Which to the untrained eye looks black. Reds are about the same
with continued usage. Especially if using the store bought colors and dyes.
4) Coloring
hair is a science and takes a trained/licensed professional to know how to
gradually get you to the color you want. If you don’t understand the color
wheel please do not apply color on your own.
Professional colors use low level of ammonia combined with
silk and keratin amino acids.
These ingredients may sound harsh, but they much less invasive than the
metallic dyes. Professional color will fade with time, that is a good thing.
This allows you to either go lighter or darker on the color scale. Usually most
colors will fade to a natural/neutral brown.
Color takes time, do not expect to go to a stylist and get
blonde on first visit when your natural color is dark brown. Your stylist will
take you in steps; most of the time within two visits maybe three depending on
how light of a blonde. This is the SAFEST and HEALTHIEST way to achieve desired
color results. Again ladies save your money so you can get your hair colored
the proper way, which leaves your hair in a healthy and lustrous state.
So as you see you are doing more damage than good by not
seeking a professional to maintain or guide you on your natural hair journey.
You will spend a lot more money than you think by opting to do your hair on
your own. It is in your best interest to go to a professional stylist at least
on a quarterly basis. Do this, Look in your cabinets, look at all those hair
products that you have purchased to achieve certain looks. Now ask yourself,
“How much money have I wasted on these products?” that are now doing a great
job of collecting dust. It is your choice, now make the right decision and save
yourself the time, effort, and money and schedule your appointment with your
local professional natural hair stylist today! It’s really easy to S.imply
K.eep Y.our H.air H.ealthy
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