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 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!

Great products for healthy hair in Africa:Haven Organics

I have been sharing quite a bit on the resources available to help you make your hair healthy.I know however that some of us prefer already manufactured products that we can just buy and use.Great products in this category are actually available now in Africa,and I will be using the next couple of weeks to share African companies making good products available for sale.
The first company is owned by an African woman who used to live in the UK but just moved to Ghana.Haven Organics uses all natural ingredients to make products that your hair is sure to love.Here's what Angela,the owner,had to say about her products:
'Haven organics was originally born/began as an organic haircare range that was created for women with chemically treated hair however as i made my own transition from relaxed hair to natural the vision for my company began to change. Noticing and also becoming increasingly frustrated by the lack of organic but also high quality hair care products catering for coily hair textures like my own not to mention very few black/british owned brands so I set out to change this.''

Currently,they make a Seal and Shine finishing oil,Nourish and Smooth leave in milk and a curl polishing cream.
A brief description of each product is also provided by the website with the benefit of each ingredient listed.Let's take a peek:

1.Curl Polishing Cream
'Coily hair can sometimes struggle to hold a well defined frizz free curl. Haven organics Curl Polishing Cream was created to combat this problem. It creates long lasting, well defined, elongated and "stretched" curls by reducing shrinkage'.

2.Nourish and Smooth Leave-in milk

'This super moisturising leave-in conditioner is suitable for daily use.

It is enriched with the moisturising and detangling properties of south african oils; mafura, xinemina and pracaxialso elongates curls helping to reduce shinkage.'

3.Seal and Shine finishing oil
'Without sealing, afro hair can become dry and brittle losing its moisture to the environmental elements very quickly. Seal and shine finishing oil locks in the moisture already present in hair and helps maintain its lustre; keeping your coils nourished for much longer.It also helps reduce frizz; working as a finisher for curly styles like twist/braid outs.'

These look like really great products at great prices,and with shipping offered worldwide why not head on over and place an order?You can also get your order anywhere in Africa.Their website is: http://www.havenorganicsafro.co.uk/ourshop/
Haven Organics is also available in Ghana through www.ghanaianemprezz.com and also through their own shop located in Accra.Contact me if you would like more info.

I hope this helps anyone looking for good natural products.I will be sharing some more on other companies soon so don't forget to come back!Till next time,
The very best!

Can you really be natural in Africa?

First off,one of my posts is guest posted on African Naturalistas,one of the most interesting African hair blogs around.Please check it out.I'm very happy about that and I hope that the information in that post reaches more people.

And on to today's post!My aim in writing this post is to try and help us make use of the natural resources we may have,instead of going to look for commercial products from other countries which may be inaccessible to us.
Basically,this post will be about localising your regimen to use products that are available and will still help you.I may end up having to split this into two because there's a lot of things to write about.This post will be especially appropriate if you live in Africa,particularly West Africa.

A lot of ladies living in Africa don't believe it is possible to have beautiful long manageable natural hair,mainly because they believe all the products they need are not available.Well today,and over the next few weeks,I hope to remove this mindset.Before we delve into products though,let's talk about the perception of being natural haired in Africa.
Growing up,every woman has had a specific image of what it means to be beautiful in her mind.Think for a moment and call up the mental image of that beautiful woman you wish you were so badly.Now,let's examine that image.Does she have natural hair?I don't think so.She probably has a perfect body with long smooth hair,heels and some nice clothes.That right there,is the first problem we are dealing with.You will need to either completely remove the image of what a perfect woman looks like,or replace that image with an image of yourself.Your physical appearance is just a little part of you.I'm not saying neglect it,but I am

Source:http://revelinks.com/barbie/

saying that maybe its time to create a new perfect image of a woman with little focus on her appearance but on the things she's made of and has been able to achieve. If you can do that you';re halfway there.This is usually one of the biggest stumbling blocks,the fear that you will look ugly without a wig or weave or straight hair.This is simple not true.You will look beautiful,because you're beautiful..period!
The next challenge is society's perceptions,and this is easier to deal with than you might think.Its easy because once you are comfortable in your own identity as a woman who is not all about her looks,specifically her hair,its easy for others to not fixate on your appearance as much,and easy for for you to ignore people who try to fit you into the mental image they have of what you

should look like.Remember that you aren't the only one who has that Barbie doll image in her head,almost the whole world does.It takes some patience to let people begin to see beyond the hair and accept you fully.You will probably be told to go get a relaxer.You may even be taken to a salon by someone who will offer to pay to have your hair relaxed.Don't allow any of this to get to you.Consider this as a way to build your own self confidence in your ability to break outside the mold.It's not that easy,but its definitely possible.If your workplace is an issue,try and wear your hair in a way that doesn't affect your work,and these days there are so many videos with different hair-dos that it will be ok. Plus,whether you're natural or not,some hairstyles are simply not appropriate for the workplace.You can't go to work as a lawyer with a blue wig for example.It doesn't matter if your hair is natural.It only matters how you style it. I have a banker with natural hair in

Source:Black Image

Ghana,and she always looks absolutely classy,elegant and professional. All it takes is a little trial and error and you will soon be wearing your own hair to the office with no fears.In the end,your own self assurance is what will help others enjoy your natural hair too!
In my next installment,I will talk about the myth of no natural hair products in Africa.Please remember to comment.I'd love to have your take on this!

WAIT!Before you cut/trim your hair..

Here's to hoping everyone is doing great!I am still on the hair basics series and today I wanted to share some information on split ends.What they are,how they happen and how to fix them.Whether natural or relaxed we've probably had issues with split ends before and we've always been told that the only option is to cut off the split end before it travels up the hair shaft.That is simply not true!I've had to trim a least 2 inches of my hair in the past because I would keep cutting off whatever split end or single stranded knot I saw in my hair.If you wash your hair often,then you know that you can end up trimming your hair every single week,and that is simply not practical for me.Our hair grows at the average rate of 0.5 inches a month,so if I cut off an inch every couple of months there's no way I'm going to be able to retain length and get the long hair I want.So what do you do then?Here's a short video that was very helpful to me!

Hair Basics:Deep Conditioning

Whether your hair is natural or relaxed you've probably at some point been told to deep condition your hair.If you've left your hair care to a hair care professional or hair dresser then they've probably had you do a deep condish.I know I used to get them all the time,but I didn't know why I needed it.Since becoming natural and taking care of my own hair,I've realised that it is one of the single most important things helping me.Here's why:

Good Hair Practices for healthy long hair

Despite the fact that I have completely natural unrelaxed hair I will be sharing a lot of information that I believe is beneficial to both natural and relaxed hair sisters.This is because a lot of the things that work for natural hair also work for relaxed hair.So long as you're here to learn to grow your hair and take care of it so that its as healthy as possible you will benefit from this blog.I will therefore be featuring not just natural hair profiles in the Featured hair section,but also ladies with relaxed hair to encourage everyone seeking healthy hair.

Today I wanted to share a little bit about things that we can do on a regular basis to grow healthy hair.A lot of these involve the scalp because that's where the hair is growing out of,but some of it is also focused on our bodies.

1.Massage your scalp
Scalp massages stimulate your hair follicles and increase blood flow to your scalp,helping to boost how much oxygen and nutrients your hair follicles are getting.This results in healthy hair growth.Try massaging your scalp with a light oil on your finger tips at least once a day.Apart from hair growth,its very relaxing!

2.Keep your scalp clean
If in doubt,refer to the first post in the hair basics series.Clean scalp=good hair growth.Dirt will clog all the pores in your scalp and slow down the gas exchange process which is critical to hair growth.To stop this from happening,try and wash your hair and clean your scalp as much as is possible.

3.Moisture,moisture,moisture
Once again,if in doubt read the first post.Visualise your hair like a young plant.The roots will always need water to grow,just like your hair.I will do a post on the science of hair,but keeping your hair moisturised is one of the single most important determinants of how healthy your hair will be.If you're relaxed this is usually easier but its harder with natural hair.If you remember to do this,you're halfway there.

4.Drink water
Staying hydrated will help you remove waste and toxins from your body and this also affects your hair.One of the first signs of a diseased body is unhealthy looking dull hair that is breaking.Drinking a lot of water will usually help ensure that you are healthy and your hair will be too!

5.Eat healthy
Your hair is built from protein.Your body needs protein not for your hair(lol) but for other essential processes without which you would die(no kidding).So if you were your brain,sending protein that is in limited supply to the hair follicles is a misplaced priority when your immune system needs it,for example.This is why you have to eat a balanced diet.If you get enough protein then your brain can turn its attention to your hair.Vitamins and minerals work the same way.Without them your hair will be brittle and breaking off.Eat well and you'll have enough to keep your hair healthy.And when I say eat well I am assuming you know what that means because you've probably heard it too many times now!..Same applies to exercise..lol!

6.Stop fighting your hair
A lot of us do that with our combs,headbands,ties and even our fingers.Stop fighting with your hair.If you're trying to run a comb through it and its not working don't force it through.Stop trying to style your hair when its dry and resistant to any parting.You will just weaken your hair strands.One of the most important clues that you are not fighting your hair and that your hair is growing healthily is not to have pain when you're combing or styling it.If your scalp hurts,you aren't doing it right.Always remember this one thing as it will be a good way to keep track of yourself.

7.Keep it simple
This isn't just for the health of your hair,its for the health of your pocket and all those around you.Try to keep it simple with your hair.There's no need to spend tons of money on products when you can make some of them on your own.You don't have to do a different style everyday because it will actually damage your hair.Your regimen doesn't have to be complicated.You can actually just relax and enjoy yourself.Try not to obsess over your hair.You don't need to buy every new supplement that says it will grow your hair.Stick to healthy food,exercise and water and you'll be surprised at your own hair.I'm not saying don't take vitamin and mineral supplements,though that is the subject of another post.

Finally,watch this video because laughter is great for your health,and your hair!She was talking about getting thick hair but the tips work either way...Stay blessed and fabulous!

Hair Basics:How to train your stylist...and why I became natural!

I have been asked why I decided to stop perming my hair and go natural.That's a question with such an interesting and dramatic answer that I did a whole post on it here.If you don't like reading it there,try it on this one.A surprise awaits you when you click to go read it.I hope you're not too let down by my reasons for being natural.I just happen to have a very different way of looking at the reasons and motivation people may have for doing what they do and I just don't believe in looking or dressing a certain way because that's what the media has said I

Low manipulation style

should wear through movies and books and music and all that stuff.The end result is a 'fake' woman as I would call it(I mean no offense by that term).Please go read this post to see what I mean before you get mad at me!..lol. Enough ranting!On to hair!

 I have just updated the Hair Profile page with an amazing hair story that I'm sure you're just going to love.I hope it encourages someone to see that its possible to be natural and take care of your own hair,even when you live in a country where good products are hard to come by.

I know that a lot of the people who visit this blog may either be natural or relaxed,but would like to learn how to take care of their own hair.Some of us however would prefer to have hair stylists or other people do our hair for us. This post is meant to help just such people know what they have to do in order to ensure that their hair doesn't get damaged.Ready?Let's go!
Hair stylists,especially those in Africa,are notorious for damaging hair and scalps.They are usually trained to make you look good,not feel good.A common saying you're likely to hear is 'Beauty is Pain'.Even the natural hair salons that are supposed to have a bit more expertise are not really better because they only style and don't know how to really take care of their clients' hair to grow it and cause no pain.In order to hep minimise the damage likely to occur from salon visits,here are a few helpful things to do.

1.Include your salon visits into your regimen and take responsibility for them
Here's what I mean.Don't just go sit in the chair and let the stylist do whatever they want.Plan your salon visit the way you would plan your own hair care if you were going to do your own hair.Determine what day you will go,pack your hair products in preparation and have your money ready..lol. Plan your salon visits so that you know which days you get a protein treatment or a hot oil treatment.Remember those are important too!Prepare for your visit and tell yourself you're going to get pampered,not hurt.A positive outlook helps!

2.Get a bag for the salon
In your salon bag,you would keep all the products that are a normal part of your regimen.If you're newly natural and just reading this,check out my previous post on the basics of a regimen.You will be needing a good sulfate free shampoo or natural cleansing product if you plan to shampoo,a conditioner for use after shampooing or for washing your hair if you co-wash,a good deep conditioner for deep conditioning after washing your hair,a leave-in conditioner and an oil/butter such as a shea butter mix to seal in the moisture.If you will be doing a protein treatment that day,you need your protein treatment.If its a hot oil treatment day,make sure the oil is in the bag.Depending on the style you plan to get,put a styling product in the bag if you need one.Whatever be the case,be prepared.

3.Be ready to speak up
If you're going to just plomp yourself in the chair and expect your stylist to do everything right,then you have another thing coming.A lot of these stylists have no idea what they're doing to you or your hair.It is your job to tell them when they aren't doing it right.I know,I know.They will get annoyed or whatever.But remember tip 1?TAKE RESPONSIBILITY! What I like to do is to tell myself that this is an investment for my hair.I use the same salon all the time and chances are

Crazy twist-out 

so do you.If that's the case try and have a relationship with your stylist and tell him/her that you want to try and grow your hair.Therefore you're going to need their help to do so.You're going to need to tell them when they're hurting you or trying to run a fine toothed comb through your hair,for instance.Tell them nicely and they might not get offended.If they do,then you might need to find someone that doesn't get offended.You need to make sure that they don't keep doing the same thing to your hair that causes it to damage so be ready to talk.
If you feel any pain on your scalp,speak up.Tell them you like your edges and not to braid them too tight.Tell them to detangle your hair after deep conditioning with wide tooth comb and not a tiny comb.Be ready to do the detangling  yourself, if need be, to show them how to do it.This is why its important to have a relationship with the stylist.This way,you can talk to them and they're not likely to get angry.

4.Be ready for the long haul

Perm rod set on 4C hair

Don't be a salon jumper for too long.Try and find a salon that will let you stick with one stylist otherwise you will be saying the same things every week.Its easier to call ahead and make sure your assigned stylist is ready for you.That way you don't have to go and subject yourself to someone else who does't know what

you need.Be prepared to spend about 2 hours in the salon whether you're relaxed or natural.Be ready to pay for good service when you do find a good salon.

5.Your hairstyles should be helping,not hurting you
This is an important tip.If you want healthy hair,you have to make sure your hairstyles are helping with your aim.Pick hair-dos that are lovely and chic,but will not put strain on your hair.Some hair styles will put so much strain on your hair edges that you have to spend time growing them back.Others will result in such tangled hair that its just not worth it.Remember the realistic expectations post?Its important that you remember this.If you want to grow long hair for example,it might be better to get a low manipulation or protective style that will protect your hair from the damage of daily handling.Whatever style you pick,also remember that you have to take it to school or work and it needs to be appropriate.

Kinky twists

In conclusion,if your scalp hurts when your stylist is doing your hair,they aren't doing it right. It shouldn't hurt unless its getting damaged.Show them what they should do and go with the products you need.Remember that we do not scrub
the scalp with our nails.We use the soft pads of our fingers to wash our hair.If they begin to vigorously scrub your hair(like they used to do to me so much so that I got a headache) have them stop.If they try to use heat on your hair too often too much or with no heat protectant,tell them to stop.Be ready to train your stylist.It won't be easy,but beautiful healthy hair with no pain and a great stylist will be your reward.Totally worth it I'd say!

Featured blog..and the politics of Good Hair

Going natural or learning to take care of your own hair is more political than I thought.I watched Chris Rock's Good Hair recently and even though some things have changed with regards to relaxers,a lot of the issues remain the same.Its all about the money,from the relaxers to oils to combs to Indian and Brazilian hair.If you haven't watched that movie,I recommend it for anyone looking to gain insight into all the different aspects of hair on People of African origin.In effect,I believe that the change towards natural hair is cutting revenue for companies that make products for chemically treated hair.However,they are already bouncing back and making products that they market to us for natural hair.I guess this isn't a bad thing,but at the end of the day,no matter what kind of marketing they do or whatever image we are told to have,I think that it is a very personal decision how someone chooses to wear their hair and so long as they are happy and healthy its not anyone else's place to tell them what to do.However, it is really important to watch movies and documentaries like this one because then you get a lot of information and you can make an informed choice.Enough said. I've posted the trailer below.If you like it and want to know how you can watch it,please comment below and I'll let you know.




Today's featured blog is the first Ghanaian blog on hair I ever read.When I first became natural I was looking for information for my hair written by someone

Afrodiva Nally,one of the writers of Ghanaian Emprezz

Afrodiva and Abena,the bloggers at Ghanaian Emprezz

who could relate to me,especially since I am African and sometimes getting some products for my hair was difficult.I also just wanted to know that it was possible to keep this really tough hair texture natural.Its written by two lovely ladies,one with relaxed hair and one with natural hair(side note:her hair is just fabulous!).Ghanaianemprezz is also evolving to be a completely natural hair blog since Abena,one of the bloggers,is transitioning.If you're transitioning definitely visit the blog for tips on maintaining your hair during transitioning.Their old posts on relaxed hair are still up as well.They share a lot of good information

on haircare for mainly Ghanaians since they live in Ghana. However a lot of their posts are also quite applicable to everyone so please check them out.They also make videos with tutorials and hair care tips that will be very helpful.
I will resume the series on Hair Basics soon so don't forget to keep coming back!Please comment,subscribe and share any posts that you find useful.Thank you so much for reading.Till next time,stay blessed and fabulous!

To co-wash or not to co-wash?.That is the question

Over the past week we've talked about a number of things to help with our hair,and yesterday I shared the basics of a hair care regimen in this post.Following a simple regimen is the easiest way to fix dry tangled hair once and for all.For a lot of you who read and watch a lot of hair tutorials,you probably noticed that I didn't talk about co-washing and may be wondering why.

Co-washing is basically 'conditioner-washing',that is washing your hair with conditioner.For a lot of natural haired ladies,co-washing is a part of their regimen.Instead of washing hair with shampoo,a lot of us prefer to use conditioners to wash our hair.The reason for this is to basically help keep your hair soft and moisturised.Shampoos generally tend to remove a lot the hair's natural oils and leaves

Image from Officially Natural

it so clean that you have to immediately replace that moisture or risk hair damage.For afro-textured hair,its already particularly difficult to keep the hair moisturised because it is so tightly coiled and absorbs very little water.That's why a lot of natural hair ladies will wash their hair with conditioner so that right from the cleansing stage your hair has moisture.

In yesterday's post,I didn't bring this up because I think that the decision to co-wash your hair or not will depend on a number of factors.

1.Your location
I think that co-washing works great when your hair isn't exposed to a lot of dust and heat from the sun which causes your scalp to sweat.For an African living in a typical African country,you are faced with lots of dust and sunshine on a daily basis.I really don't think that a conditioner is cleansing enough to remove all of that dirt from your hair.It is purely my opinion based on my own

From Ghana Natural Hair community Facebook page

experience,but in such an environment washing with a sulfate free shampoo,mudwash or African black soap shampoo is more likely to remove all the dirt and sweat and still leave your hair nice and moisturised,especially if you pre-poo before washing.

2.Your lifestyle
Directly related to your lifestyle will be how much you sweat and how much time you spend outdoors.If you spend a lot of time outdoors,you get more impurities into your hair that you will need to wash out.If you exercise  a lot for example then your scalp will need to be cleaned better than someone who doesn't exercise as much.If you swim,then most definitely you will need a good shampoo or natural cleanser to remove the minerals,salt and chlorine from your hair.If you consider all these factors and you don't think co-washing will work for you,then you need to consider a good shampoo or natural cleansing product.

3.The products you use and your styling techniques
Dependent on where you live,chances are so far you haven't been using all natural products in your hair because you don't have access to them.These products,even after you wash them out,will leave some residue behind in your hair and scalp.For example,a lot of gels contain alcohol,parabens and mineral oils and all these are very good at sticking to your hair and staying on your scalp.Co-washing alone doesn't remove these products completely.After a while,you will notice your hair isn't

Photo from Black Girl Long Hair

as healthy,shiny or thick as before and doesn't stay moisturised as well as before.Your hair will also usually feel greasy or weighed down.In this case,you may have product build-up which happens when you use a lot of commercial products.In order to remove product build-up,you have to use a shampoo,mudwash or black soap.Co-washing will only make the build-up worse.

These are the 3 main reasons why co-washing wasn't on yesterday's list,especially since this blog is targeted mainly to Africans living in Africa..;).What I have personally found to help,is to alternate co-washing with shampooing.If I shampoo my hair once a week for example,I will co wash in the middle of the week or something like that,depending on if I have the time.I hope this post has helped answer a lot of concerns for you.My next post will probably be on the politics of natural hair and hair health with regards to physical exercise and water sports such as swimming.And I have a fabulous blog lined up for our next featured blog so don't forget to check back.Please subscribe,like,comment and share!
Till next time,stay blessed and fabulous!