With that said, I had a couple of heat related debates with well meaning people. There is is always a misconception that getting your hair styled requires heat. Granted, heat is the method of choice used to straighten hair (usually), but I opt for healthy methods.

For instance, when I do my rolos I don’t use hot air. I typically put the dryer on lukewarm, even the cool setting at times. Knowing that I’m going to use high heat from my blower is a great reason for me to turn down any other source of heat.

I also recognize that using heat too frequently will lead to dried out tresses and pulling my hair too much with the brush during a blowout may cause breakage, so I try to limit that as well.

While I keep an open mind and respect the opinions of everyone, it’s my duty to remind people that roller sets do NOT mean that you have to scorch your hair while you dry. You all know my motto. It’s better to have a head full of nappy hair, then a handful of fried hair. Me entendéis?!

Speaking of keeping an open mind…a friend of mine from NYC has been bragging about her “magnetic rollers” replacement. Yeah, this is way off topic, but I know you mujeres keep up with the hair trends and make some awesome recommendations. Anyhoo, my friend has been going on, and on, and ON about Curlformers.

When she first mentioned these things, I thought it was an appliance that she would use once, maybe twice and then be done with. However, she’s been consistently using them, stating that they require no heat, dry quicker and leave the hair with perfectly symmetrical curls.

So, if any of you ladies have used them…speak up! I looked them up and although I’m curious, I need to know before I splurge, whether or not they snag the hair when you pull the hair through the mesh. The rod also scares me a little…looks like it would rip some hair out if done incorrectly.

Ok…climbing off, sliding under my bed, my overly used soapbox

Hope you all are holding up well during the blistering heat wave.  I’m doing well, but I cannot lie…I feel like I’m wearing a wool hat on my head. It’s HOOOOOOT!

I’m trying to decide whether or not to cut a few inches off…I said a few inches, don’t throw anything at me

I did get a trim the other day, had my layers and ends cleaned up, but now considering taking my hair up to my shoulders.

They specialize in ethnic hair. They also do hair extensions , nails and body wax. the
telephone # is . Dominican hairdressers from Bronx, New York.

I’m a fan of many PM products and suspect that the quality of training is right in line with the quality of his products.

1. chemical abuse
2. heat abuse
3.  extreme handling.

Needless to say, if you know for sure that your hair is subjected to either of the three mentioned issues, STOP.

Some of us are not always aware when we have suffered damage to the hair, until it’s too later. Prevention is better than a cure. Before you relax or color at home, be thee aware that that there are risks. Before you entrust a stylist to put a relaxer or color in your hair, try a basic wash-n-set for a few times. It’s easier to bounce back from a bad blowout than it is from a bad relaxer.

If you are afforded the opportunity, watch your potential stylist as she’s doing another client’s head, particularly if she’s getting a color/relaxer treatment. If the stylist is constantly gabbing on the phone, isn’t paying attention to the time, or seems careless with the product…continue to search for a new stylist. And while it may seem cut-throat, there’s nothing wrong with eyeballing a stylist right in the same salon. Hey, it’s your money and ultimately your hair, right?

Heat abuse, well this is some times we ignore heat abuse. There are some stylists who will diligently work that blower, flatiron, curling iron or other blazing tool until every, single curl, kinky or wave relents, laying down without even as much as a bend. While we may initially be impressed with the “training” abilities that our stylist has bestowed upon our misbehaving curls, we will eventually pay the price. Burning, sizzling hair is less forgiving than one would think. There are times when those curls do not come back and the hair becomes a little thinner and limper.

Chances are, if you smell something burning…it is. For instance, I recall with great clarity, a client getting her natural, kinky hair blown out. She told the stylist, “I want my hair blown out, but I don’t expect it to be bone straight, just straight enough for an up-do.” The stylist, in her eagerness to straighten the client’s hair, kept moving the blower up and down, up and down the clients hair. She moved from section to section. All the while, there is smoke coming from the hair, blower and dissipating in the air. Now, my thoughts were…where there is smoke…something is burning, right? But, it’s not my hair and who am I to start a salon brawl? After a few moments the client finally said, “Oye! I smell something burning and it better not be my hair!!”

I felt a sense of great relief, because it’s one thing to want to get the hair straight, but not at the risk of burning it. Me entiendes?!

Keeping that anecdote in mind, regardless to whether your hair is natural or relaxed, natural or color treated, it’s important to remember your lifestyle. If  you spend quite a bit of time in the gym, sweat a bit then you have to ask yourself if it’s worth it to wear your hair blow out often. If you are going to wear your hair straight for a special occasion, great, but do not take that as license to fire up the torch. You still need to be conservative when applying heat.

Now, for you styling divas…there’s nothing wrong with being creative. I find some of the ponies and braids are absolutely charming. However, if you are pulling your hair so taut that it appears that you’ve had an involuntary face-lift…um…it’s too tight. If you are cinching your hair constantly, on top of your head or desperately trying to slick that hair down, when all your hairline wants to do is crinkle up a bit…then…you are overdoing  the do.

Wearing a pony-tail, a fony-tail, some braids is fine, but lighten up and use moderation. Do not pull your hair until it screams, “Uncle!” Do not wear your hair in the same up do constantly and learn to loosen up. When I say loosen up, I mean loosen up on the braid and pony-tail holders. Also, opt for the ouchless type of elastics. Sleek, pulled back styles are great, if you have bone-straight hair. When you have kinks and curls, allow your hair to do what it does. It’s better to contend with some hairline frizz than to late question why your hairline is receding or your hair is thinning, in general.

Remember, there are other causes for breaking or thinning hair, but the top three reasons are almost always avoidable.

Now, I can finally post pics of my hair color experiment.

As a kid, my friends and I would use Kool-Aid to temporarily color out hair. So, I figured, why put all of the “extras” in? I decided to get a little crazy and go straight to the food coloring. After all, that’s what Kool-Aid does, right? Right!

I purchased a little, itty, bitty jar of red food coloring, as my options were few; it was a choice between yellow, red, or blue. Yeah, yeah…I know that I could have just about created any custom color I wanted using the primaries, but I’m not artistically inclined and figured the red would be an interesting option and a contrast to my natural ashy looking hair.

The results? Well, let’s just say that I had a lot more ‘tude with my hair after I rinsed it out. The red was RED and very vibrant. Thank GOD I didn’t do my entire head! It’s finally fading and doesn’t look all that shocking now, but I was really surprised at how well it took. Oh, have to mention that I added the red to my left over clear cellophane.

I fell off…the wagon…

I had to do it….

I relaxed my hair! (and experimented with food coloring).

What made me do it? Aerobics is to blame. As long as I lead a sedentary lifestyle, my hair was good; I could wash, do rolos, blow and I was cool for a couple of weeks. This gym business has been putting a cramp in a sister’s hair! I don’t mind having some frizz issues, even some kinks, but half-n-half was not working for me.

For instance, I take my step class, sweat like a hair-junkie in a beauty supply store and then try to look decent, not cute, but decent to go to work. It was not happening for me. I considered cutting it all off, going short-n-natural, like my girl Anitra, but I just don’t carry short cuts well (will share the Halle Berry story with y’all later).

I did one thing differently this time. Rather than use my regular strength Mizani, I switched to the fine/color treated hair formula. I just wanted to loosen up my curls a little, not go bone straight.

Then, I got a little crazy and played around with a homemade temp color. Can you say “fire engine red?”

I’m under the dryer with the temp color in right now. I hope it looks good when I’m done. If not…it’s gonna be a long, LONG summer LOL.

I took only a couple of pics, due to technical difficulty (what that really means is I broke something and don’t know how to fix it). If I ever get things working, I’ll post the pics.

Besos,

LaNegra

I was about to order a large jar of Baba de Caracol from http://www.dominicanbeautystore.com/ at $21.99, which is a fantastic price. A 64 oz jar at $21.99 + $8.50 shipping = 29.99.

Not bad, huh?

However, I visited my favorite online spot and found that I could get a 37 oz jar for $12.59 (10% off regular price).
So, I ordered two jars + $2.00 off (no coupon necessary – you get an instant point deduction at the site) and $5.95 shipping.

That’s a whopping 74 oz for $ 29.13.

Now THAT’s a deal!

Mi familia me quiere muchisimo. My mother knows that I’m always on the hunt for new products. Although, she’s busy with her own list of things to do, she always thinks of me when she sees a product that I might be interested in.

So, I opened the package figuring I had a new pair of gym gloves (I wasn’t very subtle with my hints lol) or a pair of Nike workout pants; I didn’t expect anything that wasn’t on Santa’s list. I did get my Nike pants, a gift-certificate to pick out my own gloves and then I was shocked by the hair products in the box.

My mother packed a jar of Smooth ‘N Shine Therapy – Silk Fusion Sixty-Second Critical Repair. Guess what one of the first ingredients is? You guessed it! Silk amino acids AND pearl extracts. Now, I confess, never heard of pearl extracts, but I’m all over the silk amino acids.

Out of curious, I checked to see if there were anyone else had anything to say about this product. I was surprised that the responses were mediocre, but I’m still going to try it. One thing that I noticed is that it says it’s safe enough to use every week. That means it’s not safe for every day use and for those of us who do our rolos and blowout every other week, we may only want to use it once monthly.

I also got a bottle of Hair So Shine Instant Repair Hair Polisher 8oz, which also contains silk amino acids. The nice thing about both is that both products cost about $5. That’s a heck of a deal for those on a restricted budget, providing they live up to the standards of my beloved CHI.

If you have used either product, please let me know what you think. Sharing is caring

My question is, do you have any tips on perfecting the roller set and blow out technique. And if so, how often do you recommend doing the process a month?

First, congrats on growing out your hair! Regardless to the texture, length, thickness of your hair, waiting for it to grow, is like watching a blade of grass grow. It’s a process that seems to be well beyond slooooow. So, job well done.

I’m not going to beat you up, but if you’ve ever read any of my posts, you’d know that I do NOT like flat-irons, curling irons, or anything else that puts “fire” right on your hair. I’m a stickler for avoiding that kind of heat, because it’s just so much easier to cause damage to your hair.

Now, you may be asking, what’s the difference between using a hooded dryer, a blower and using a flat-iron or curling iron? The difference is that with a hooded dryer and a blower, the heat is not coming directly in contact with your hair and you do not necessarily have to sit under hot dryer in order to dry your hair. With a flat-iron and a curling iron you are putting your hair right in harm’s way. The hot utensils are touching your hair and it seems to me that there is very little chance of NOT burning your hair…that’s just my opinion.

So, if you are using a mild relaxer and getting good results, stick with it. There’s no point in putting harsher chemicals on your hair if you do not really need to. However, you may want to consult with your stylist to ensure that you are using the right strength.

As for your roller set, there is only one bit of advice that I can offer. Practice. When I first started doing my own rolos, I was terrible at it! It actually took me over a year to get to the point where I was competent and comfortable enough to know that I was capable of handling my own tresses.

Keep in mind that it does not matter what your roller set looks like. What IS important is that your hair be completely dry, from roots to tips. If your hair is very thick, then you may need to make your sections a little smaller, and you may want to put more rollers in your hair, but it’s not in the least bit important what direction you roll your hair, or how it looks.

As for blowing out your hair do not forget this point. KEEP THAT BLOWER MOVING! You do not want to stop the blower in any one spot and leave it there. The point of using the blower is to straighten out your curls/kinks, so that means that blower is HOT, right? Where there is heat, there is the potential to cause damage to your hair, so you really want to focus on moving your blower constantly; this too takes a lot of practice.

I do not usually do my hair more than twice a month, even if it has frizzed up, curled up or dried up. Too much of anything can be bad. I do have friends and relatives that will go every week to the salon, but I have also noticed that some of them are experiencing thinning, or dried out hair.

In the meantime, while you are learning to take care of your hair, condition, condition, condition! Moisturize frequently and keep your ends trimmed; get your trims done professionally.

Do NOT give up and if need be, alternate between doing your hair and visiting your stylist. Be as patient as your were during the growing out process. You won’t regret it

Suerte,

LaNegra