Afrostatic Ghana 2015

If you're in Ghana this weekend come check out Afrostatic 2015, the premier natural hair and lifestyle event in Accra. The rate is free! There will be lots of discussion and showcasing of healthy natural hair practice as well as panelists who will educate on hair care in general. I hope you will be able to make it!

GHC's Friday Frotastic Feature:Geraldine the Great (Waist Length in 4 years)

Hello beautiful ladies!Its been a little while since I posted but I hope everyone is doing well. Today is Friday so you know what that means! A feature on an amazing hair icon!!
Today's article features Geralidine the Great,a Nigerian Natural Haired woman with amazing hair. She reached wast length hair in 4 years of being natural. A few of the members of the Ghana Hair Chick Facebook page requested for a feature on her and she kindly agreed to answer a few of my questions, so here goes!

Q.How long have you had natural hair?. 
A.I've been natural for 5 years.  My last relaxer was on October 2008, and I big chopped in June of 2009.

Q.How did you go natural?Did you transition and for how long?

A. I went natural after suffering from breakage post weave installation.  My hair thinned out and I swore off all manner of manipulation on my head.  I ended up transitioning for 10 months.

Q.What helped you during your transition?Any tips for transitioners?

A.I transitioned by wearing kinky twists.  I would periodically redo the twists so that they remained fresh in appearance.  I also moisturized obsessively, once I learned that my two textures of hair were fragile.  If you're transitioning to becoming natural, experiment with styles that require a low amount of manipulation.

Q.How did your family respond to your decision to go natural and how did you handle it?. 

A. My family was accepting of my transition, but I received the most amount of support from my boyfriend who actually assisted me during my big chop. I was resolute in my decision to becoming chemical free, so outside opinions and comments did little to deter me from my mission. 

Q.What has been you greatest challenge with your hair and how did you handle it?

A.My hair is extremely dense and tightly coiled.  I'm also a heavy shedder.  These qualities used to make my detangling sessions dreadful. I adapted to the task by cutting down my detangling and shampooing sessions to once a month, with co-washes in between.

Q.What do you love most about your hair and what was your proudest moment?

A.My proudest moment?  Being able to wear a bun!  Lol, it may seem silly, but if you have dense 4abc hair like mine, then you know that a lot of work goes into gathering this hair-type into a bun that doesn't pull uncomfortably at your edges.

I love that my hair is thick and dense.  I'm happy that I don't have to  work too hard to coerce my hair into appearing full.

Q.Please share your regimen/hair care routine with us.

A. I'm very big on protective styling.  When I first went natural, the tightly coiled hair mantra of the time was that our hair types liked to be left alone.  To an extent, I do agree with this sentiment, and so I employ a lot of protective styles in my regimen (wigs, twists, braids, buns).

Generally speaking, I'm quite simple in my routine- a monthly deep conditioning, detangling and shampooing session, and co-washing whenever it suits me. 

Q.What would you say is the most important thing that has helped you retain length and health of your hair?

 A.Protective styling and finger detangling have gotten me to waist length in 4 years.  These are the two biggest factors that contributed to my length retention.

Q.Any final tips/advice?

A. If you're thinking about doing it, do it.  Furthermore, if you are thinking about becoming natural, be prepared to shed a lot of misinformation that you might have had about hair care.  Keep an open mind, and lose all your hair expectations.  You are embarking on a journey that sets you outside of societal boxes, so don't regress by stringently abiding to hair rules, categories, and expectations.  An open and determined mind will push you through the moments of self-doubt and frustration.

Geraldine can be found on Facebook as Geraldine the Great and on her blog at http://geraldinethegreat.blogspot.com/

Many thanks to +Geri GeraldinetheGreat for allowing me write this feature on her..:).

Hope you enjoyed reading this and got inspired. If you'd like to see someone specific featured here on the blog, simply drop a comment below and I will try to get her here..lol. Thanks for reading and have a fabulous day!

GHC's Friday Frotastistic Feature on Amma Mama

Hello everyone!I believe we're all great and healthy and our hair is happy!Today is Friday and from now on I will try to make Fridays frotastic for you by posting a feature on a healthy haired lady.If you want to be featured here simply email me at nyvonne2010@gmail.com.You don't have to be natural to be featured,just on a healthy hair journey.

Today's frotastic lady is Amma.Popularly known as Amma Mama on social media, she has been featured on Black Girl Long Hair and has some amazing hair.Here's a short interview with her.Enjoy!

1.How long have you had natural hair?

    I have been natural for four years. I big chopped on Oct 11,2009.

2.How did you go natural?Did you transition and for how long? Did you big chop and do you have any picture from that time?

   I transitioned for about 8 months. I wanted to transition longer and allow my natural hair to get longer.
However, my new        growth and relaxed ends were in a tangled battle. I couldn't even comb my hair. Out of frustration, I let my sister-in law big chop it for me. This picture is a couple of days post-big chop. I asked her to cornrow the front.

3.What helped you during your transition?Any tips for transitioners?

    During my transition, cornrows with extensions helped me and so did roller sets. Roller sets really helped to hide my new growth but it still allowed me to wear my hair out. Natural hair blogs such as Black Girl Long Hair helped me not to run back to to the creamy crack. My advice to transitioners would be to big chop when it becomes too difficult to handle the two different textures. If you're uncomfortable with the length of your natural hair, big chop it and then keep it in a protective style until you're comfortable enough with its length to wear it out. However, don't hold onto the relaxed ends if they're troubling you like mines were. The tangles & frustration are not worth it.

4.How did your family respond to your decision to go natural and how did you handle it?

    My immediate family, my mom and three older brothers were very supportive. My extended family such as my female cousins didn't understand why I would cut off my "long" relaxed hair.

5.What has been your greatest challenge with your hair and how did you handle it?

    My greatest challenge has been dealing very DRY hair after a over processed at home dye job (BAD idea). I dealt with it by cutting the dye out of my hair little by little until it was all gone.

6.What do you love most about your hair and what was your proudest moment?

   I LOVE the thickness of my hair. My proudest moment was learning how to flat two strand twist.

7.Please share your regimen/hair care routine with us.

   I usually wash and blow-dry my hair once a month.
 I wash my hair with Shea Moisture Organic Raw Shea Butter Moisture Retention Shampoo.
I condition with the Shea Moisture Organic Raw Shea Butter Deep Treatment Hair Masque for about 30 minutes to 1 hr (sometimes under the hair dryer).
I rinse it out and then use a wide tooth comb to detangle my hair using the Shea Moisture Raw Shea Butter Extra-Moisture Detangler.
  I then put my hair into big two strand twists & then let it air dry for a little bit. I then unravel the twists and put Grape Seed Oil (as a heat protectant) on my hair from the root to tip and then I blow dry my hair. Once my hair is blow dried, I twist my hair into two big flat two strand twists which I call Celie Twists (they look like Milkmaid braids but are twists as in the first picture below.)

8.What would you say is the most important thing that has helped you retain length and health of your hair?

   The most important thing that has helped me retain length is protective styling. My hair flourishes when I am not manipulating  it. It likes to be left alone.

9.Please share a few of your favorite hairstyles and pictures with us.

Celie Twists {My hair is worn like this most of the time.)

   

Marley Twists

Blown out Afro

Bantu Knot Out

Cornrows with extensions {great protective style for me}.

I LOVE my Afro Puffs!

My first and only press in back 2011

10.Any final tips/advice?

     I would say that managing my natural has not been easy. There were times I wanted to relax my hair again. I secretly told myself that I would. However, that is no longer an option for me after four years. My hair is manageable and it is beautiful. It is work but a beautiful work created by the hands of God. Be patient with your natural hair and learn how to manage what God gave you. There are many helpful blogs, books and YouTube channels dedicated to natural hair care. Do your research and find out what works best for your natural hair. 



And that's Amma!She can be found on http://allthingsammamama.com/ and on Facebook and Instagram as Amma Mama.To be featured on Friday's Column, email nyvonne2010@gmail.com. Thank you for visiting and have a fabulous day!

Hair updates and length check pictures

Happy new year!2013 was very good to me as far as my hair goals go.I ended 2012  with my hair somewhere above my nose and my goal for 2013 was to try and retain as much length as I could.I had big chopped just months before and I hadn't learnt how to take care of my hair, so I decided to learn to do that and grow my hair out.I wanted my hair to be on my lip when stretched by the end of the year.I don't really use inches because I've never used a measuring tape on my hair.

Nov 29 2012

The great news is I actually exceeded that goal!I just checked and me hair is right below my chin!I am so excited and of course I have the pictures for you( forgive my look as I am sick today).

Dec 31 2013

 I think what helped me this year was minimal manipulation of my hair (even though I experimented a lot and wore my hair out  a lot), more protective styling, more protein treatments and deep conditioning and just paying attention to my hair in order to know what it needs.

I did (and still) struggle with shedding/breakage, but I think its because I washed my hair loose instead of in twists.Every time I've had a lot of shed/broken hair after detangling has been when I washed my hair in a loose state.If I twist up my hair before washing, I get very little shedding.If you're having issues like this then try washing your hair in twists.

Washed loose hair

Shed hair after washing hair in loose state

Washed hair in twists

Shed hair after washing in twists

I also incorporated weekly oil rinsing and monthly  henna treatments into my regimen and I am liking the results so far even though its been only 2 months.I did change my regimen up quite a bit to make it shorter in duration, but I don't think its affected me negatively.Finally,I was invited to blog weekly for the African Naturalistas blog!I will be blogging there every Friday and my first post is out, so please check it out at www.africannaturalistas.com. All in  all, 2013 was a good year.

My goals for 2014 are to be healthier generally, not just with my hair.I want to retain more length, get thicker hair and also learn to cornrow my hair( I can't cornrow to save my life..lol).In terms of health I want to exercise more regularly, eat better and drink more water.
Lets talk!How was 2013 for you?What are your goals for the year?Head on over to the Ghana Hair Chick Facebook page and let's continue our discussion!Once again, Happy New Year and may the year end with you more blessed,more beautiful, and even more thankful than 2013.

Hair Shedding and wash day updates

Hello everyone!
I believe we have begun this week ready to enjoy it.There are only two weeks left in 2013, so I recommend getting as much fun as possible out of 2013 before it goes away.And of course, if you have any health, hair or life goals left, 2 weeks is still plenty!I am definitely going to get at least one more item on my resolution list for 2013 squared off before 31 December.
If you read my last post, you probably know that I am struggling with a bit too much shedding from my hair.If you missed it, here are pictures to summarize the shedding:

Last week's shed hair

A whole pam full of shed hair

That's a whole palm full in case you can't tell! However,this was my first detangling after about 3 months, so I am guessing that may have been the cause.In order to prove that, +Annette Akye of Naturalista Gh suggested I detangle every week, collect the shed hair and put them together for 3 months in order to see if it would be this much.I've taken that suggestion and so this is the beginning!
This weekend I washed my hair in a rather abbreviated fashion.
Since I had my hair in medium size twists I untwisted about 3 or 4 twists at a time, then spritzed a mixture of olive oil,conditioner,black/herbal tea mix and coconut milk onto it.I then rubbed on more conditioner so my hair was  slippery but not dripping wet.Then I finger detangled, followed by a wide toothed comb.That was a very easy detangling!That was my prepoo step, if I was going to use a shampoo.Then I covered my hair with a plastic cap for a couple of hours before I finally co-washed.

The products used in my spray bottle

Untwisting hair-notice hair is  shiny!

After washing with my conditioner, I didn't feel I neded an Apple Cider vinegar rinse for clarifying,since I did one not too long ago.I did an oil rinse instead.This is an update to my regimen, since this is only the second time I've done it.The first time I did it was last week, and my hair was very shiny and moisturised (see picture above) even after a week, so I decided to do that consistently.The oil rinse for me is just olive oil poured into my hair while still wet,massaging it in and rinsing it out completely.After that I used the Shea Moisture leave-in conditioner and my whipped shea butter mix to seal in moisture. I retwisted my hair in smaller twists,since I will be wearing a hat the whole week.

 Here is how much hair I shed this time:

Such a reduction!

That's actually not bad for a week.I will try to keep up this regimen in addition to deep conditioning and other treatments to see how much hair I shed in a month.

How was your wash day and what are your current hair challenges?Head on over to Facebook and join the discussion on the Ghana Hair chick page!

Hair Shedding and the GhanaHairChick Facebook Page

Hello!Its a been a little while since I last posted.I hope everyone is doing well and their hair is too!Before I get into the post, a short announcement:There's a Facebook Page for the blog now!Here is the link:
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Ghana-Hair-Chick/551431108276415
Please go like and share it.I created the page so we could stay in touch even if there's no blog post.Plus,I figured it might be a better place to interact, share our stories and tips, encourage each other and ask questions.Its a community page so please feel free to post to it:pictures, questions, comments etc.
Now on to my hair!I mentioned in a past post that I had an abnormal amount of shedding when I detangled my hair.A fellow blogger suggested a tea rinse or  a variation of that where I actually soak my hair with the tea, cover with a shower cap for a while and then wash my hair.I had been doing tea rinses already so I decided to try the tea soaking for a few months.I'm still not sure if that's helping, because I detangled my hair this past weekend after a henna treatment, and there was a lot of shed hair!However, I think it may have to do with my updated regimen.
My hair had been in twists under a wig for about 6 weeks, and then under just a beanie cap for another month or so.I washed my hair several times during this time, deep conditioned,did two henna treatments and moisturised, but never really detangled.I would only undo the twists, put them together in big ones for easy washing and then re-twist without really detangling. I only used my fingers to kind of part my hair and remove really big knots and shed hair.So with this background, when I took my wide toothed comb this weekend to detangle, I wasn't sure what to expect, but it was still a lot of shed hair.
I have put pictures down below 9first one is my hair right after washing). It was enough hair to fill the palm of my hand.I don't know if this may just be normal for me, because I shed this much hair every time I actually detangle my hair (which is usually like once every 3 months).Maybe I need to detangle more often to reduce shedding, but I don't know if that would help.I read around as well, and it looks like amount of shedding is highly variable.What do yo guys think?Is there anyone having this same issue?What has helped you to resolve it, if it is resolved?Please let me know.Others may also benefit.Thanks a lot and see you over on Facebook!

Curlformers:A Ghanaian Natural's experience

Well hello!It has been forever in the blogosphere since I posted anything so here I am,back again!All I can say is please bear with me.School has been very busy so posting hasn't been as frequent as I would have liked.Hopefully today's post will excite you so much I will be forgiven :D.
I was browsing Youtube a while back and saw a 4c textured natural(basically someone whose hair is very kinky) with these really cool curls.I watched the video and she used Curlformers. Apparently those have been around for a very long time but I didn't know they existed till then.
Now for those of you who were as confused as I was,Curlformers are these rod-like things made with a more flexible plastic than rollers or setting rods.They come in various sizes and lengths,and their main purpose if to make your hair curly without having to use heat or  rollers.The reason why these fascinated me was because you didn't need pins or anything(I HATE sleeping in pins) so they looked to be very simple to use,plus they REALLY stretched the hair.
If your hair is anything like mine,that part should have you very interested.My hair shrinks like crazy,and I really enjoy styling it even when its all shrunken because I like the short hair look,but sometimes I also want to have stretched hair so I can maybe have a ponytail or a bun or just something  dressy.
So I decided to give curl-formers a try.The original ones were much too expensive for my budget,so I got knock-offs from China that were MUCH cheaper.Let me be honest and say it wasn't as easy as it looked in the videos!It took me a very long time to pull my hair through but I finally figured out a way to do it without tugging out all my hair.I put them in on freshly washed hair, which was damp, and slept in them.It was uncomfortable,but it wasn't as bad as having pins in my hair.I didn't use any setting products apart from my regular Cantu Shea butter leave-in Repair cream and a shea butter mix that I made at home.I think if I were to use setting lotion for example or gel,it would look much smoother than this.My ends still looked pretty rough,but my hair really stretched out and the curls weren't bad.Unfortunately the style didn't last as it was rainy,but the stretch was so good I could tie my hair up in ponytails the whole week.
Here are some pictures.Enjoy!