my name is khrystina y yo soy una cubana . (…welllllll a little lol) i am actually haitian and cuban and thats what i would like to ask you about. I have the ups and downs of having mixed hair. Ups: my hair is thick and full and soft. Downs: its very thick (yea, it can be downer too) and very VERY coarse. My hair only seems to be wavy when I flat iron it buutttttt ya tu subes what flat irons can do to hair. They damage it, and leave it brittle and weak. I want your advice on how to better take care of my hair to restore it to how it was when i was a little nina and your advice on products? specifically for my type of hair? I have tried regular products but they leave my hair dry (it need ALOT of moisture) and I have tried products for “colored” hair but it leaves my hair WAYYYY too thick and not as silky as I want. Any advice??

Muchas gracias

Morena

Hey Morena,

First, I totally get where your coming from when you mention the “ups AND downs” of having thick hair, but trust me when I tell you, you have way more options with thick hair, regardless of the texture.

Next, without seeing and touching your hair, I cannot make any suggestions. However, I will tell you to peruse my site and glean from it. Unless your hair is naturally straight and not in the least bit coarse, chances are your hair is somewhat dry. That coupled with heat, particularly heat that actually touches your hair, you are probably removing most of your natural moisture.

This is what I do, not the gospel, simply what LaNegra does. I shampoo no more than every other week. Because I do a lot of aerobics, I rinse my hair quite often. I’ll apply a deep conditioner to my dry hair, before even hitting the water. I either use a store bought product, or one of my oil concoctions. I’ll leave that on for a minimum of 20 minutes and then rinse well.

My favorite moisturizing conditioners are Humecto and now Baba de Caracol. There are others that I try, just because I cannot walk past them in the isle at the store, but nothing that I absolutely MUST have.

For a leave-in, I swear by CHI Silk Infusions. I don’t care what I run out of, I have to have a full bottle of this at all times. I like it so much that when I’m about half way through a bottle, I check to see if I have any other bottles on hand and if not, I order some immediately.

If I’m doing my rolos, then I let my hair dry, blow it and style it. I then spray some sheen on. If I’m wearing it natural, I just leave my hair to dry on it’s on and spray sheen only as needed.

You want your hair to be back to the way it was when you were a girl, so you’re going to have to handle it as if you were a little girl. Me entiendes? Comb your hair as if you are an infant, who might break out in tears if your hair was pulled too harshly. Avoid brushing your hair while it’s wet, because it’s weak then and prone to breaking. And as I always say…you must, must eat well. If you’re not eating well and drinking plenty of water, your hair suffers.

Always be patient, bella. Sometimes, it’s a matter of trying a product two or three times before you can properly assess it. Also, if your hair is damaged (I don’t know that yours is), it’s going to take some time to get it to a point where it actually responds to treatments. One time is not always enough to see a significant difference. If you know for sure that your hair is damaged, then I highly recommend Aphoghee Two Step Protein Treatment. I always use this every two months, as a preventative, and found that it worked magic on my hair.

Hope this helps,

LaNegra

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

Natural and Proud

Wow! Where do I begin?

*Deep breath*

Mi amiga, I do NOT claim to know everything about hair. In fact, I am not a licensed beautician and have never misrepresented that to anyone. What I am, is confident that I know MY hair and make recommendations based on my personal experiences; I share what I know, because close friends encouraged me after going through “dominican salon withdrawal”.

It’s unfortunate that you associate relaxed hair with not being proud. My decision to relax my hair has absolutely nothing to do with lack of pride. For me, the decision was based on the fact that I wanted some versatility, wanted to wear my hair in various styles. I also find it easier to comb my hair. I have friends with dead straight hair, who wish that they had some curl, so it would stand reason that the “grass is always greener…”

As for burning my hair, I post pics and videos of my hair as proof that my hair is not just long, but HEALTHY. I would rather have short, kinky hair, over long, damaged hair any day. I do not suggest that there is no risk using a blower, but I find that it’s less damaging to MY hair and logic dictates that if you repeatedly put hot tools right on your hair, it increases the risk for frail, fragile hair.

Now, don’t misunderstand…I have seen women sporting hot afros and natural styles and think that they look amazing. I think they look great and openly compliment them, but that doesn’t mean that I will look good wearing that same style. Selecting a hairstyle is a very personal decision, no different than choosing an appropriate swim suit. You may admire what one chick is wearing, but if you have shorter legs, it may not work for your body type.

Rest assured mamita, I’m not hating on anyone with natural hair. I am not ashamed of my kinks and understand enough about genetics and Dominican history to comprehend why my hair is coarse, kinky and happy.

But, here’s some food for thought…

If you believe that relaxed hair is a sign of shame, I certainly hope that you do not use any type of makeup. Mascara, foundation, eyeliner, lip-gloss. If you’re going to be au naturale, then do it 100%. You feel me?

Thanks for sharing your thoughts. They were definitely eye opening.

Dios se bendiga,

LaNegra

Anyway, hope this helps

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!

Bienvenidos Vicky,

I’m so happy that you find the blog helpful. It’s truly a labor of love and sometimes hate, because taking care of our tresses is not always easy, huh?

Just so you know, you’re not vacillating alone, LOL. I really think that I’m going to break down and relax my hair soon. It has become increasingly more difficult for me to work a comb through my hair and although, I’m gentle and feel confident caring for my natural hair, I feel that at some point, I would have to cut off a significant amount of length. My hair is very find and the new growth has been making it very challenging for me.

With regards to a longer video, not a problem. I need to work on a few new videos anyway. I keep getting requests for a longer rolo video. As soon as I get some help, I’ll get that one done. I can’t work my camera AND put my rolos in With that in mind, can you tell me exactly what you are looking for? That way, I might be able to focus on your needs better, when I do the next blowout vid. Pics of new growth won’t be a problem either

As for my regimen…I’ll list my keeps/drops when I post the new video. I hate rushing, not explaining why I made my decisions. I feels it’s always important to explain why a product did not work for me, because it may also help a person decide that it MAY work for them, based on their hair type and needs.

Please, let me know if you decide to relax again. This site is about all of us, who work hard to find the balance between keeping our hair relaxed/natural, or blowing out/natural.

Mil besos,

LaNegra

Morning amiga!

I had to post this one as a QnA, because I know EXACTLY where you’re located. I live in the ‘burgh and can tell you that there are no salons out here, near here and people will try to tell you how, “Dominican blowouts don’t do anything, but damage your hair.” Ironically, the person saying this is usually a stylist, who prefers to blow dry and fry, I mean flat-iron hair.

Teyanna’s hair is relaxed, I believe. I think she does twists and then just finger combs…could be wrong. Either way, she has a GORGEOUS head of hair.

But, I’ll get back to the subject. Here’s what you’re going to have to do. If you don’t have the tools you need: rolos, clips, hooded dryer, hot-as-hell blower, then get on it! You need to the right tools. You can pick everything up, except for the blower at sally’s. Sally’s may now carry a hot blower, but they didn’t have anything that compares to my Turbo 1500 (by Pibbs).

After you get your tools, practice putting in your rolos. I have a short video and have several requests for a longer one…I need to get that done, but you all just don’t even know how busy a girl is trying to survive perpetual snow, these days, lol. It seems I spend more time shoveling and cleaning off my car, than I do on my hair

When you work on your rolos, don’t worry about how straight your parts are and don’t even worry about whether or not you put them in crookedly. What you want to pay attention to is how much hair you put on each rolo and this is very important if you have a lot of hair. Too much hair on a rolo will cause you to spend a lot more time drying.

Be prepared to have some waves and curls at your roots; this happens to me every, single time I do my rolos. Ultimately, your goal is to focus on smoothing your ends around your rolo. That’s the very reason they call them ‘magnetic’ rollers, because your hair is supposed to ’stick’ to the roller. So, say for instance, you cannot get pull your hair tight enough to get all of the waves out, as you roll. Don’t worry about it, it’s the ends that need to be smooth. Get as much length at the end straightened out and let your blower smooth out the rest of the hair.

Also, don’t think that if you don’t have a blower, it’s pointless to do rolos. That’s not true.

I used to put my rolos in and not even blow my roots, because I was really worried about damaging my hair. You know how stylists are. They will strike the fear of God into you and have you thinking that they and ONLY THEY know how to use a blower. My stylist had me so paranoid that I almost gave away my blower. This is not to say that using a professional blower does not present the potential for damage, but that’s a risk taken even when the pros do our hair.

So, even if you cannot blow your hair out, but learn how to do your rolos, go for it! After you pull your rolos out and know for sure that your hair is dry, immediately do your dubi. Try to get your hair very, very smooth around your head and then sit back under your hooded dryer for 10-15 minutes. The results are not usually as good a blowing out the roots, but it will give you sleek ends, give you lots of body and will pose no threat to your hair.

Before you try doing your hair, take a look at the videos I have to get your started. Like I said, there’s a short video on putting in rolos. Make sure you wrap and smooth your hair around the rolo with your hand. Then watch the video I have showing you how to blow out your roots. When I do my own blowout, it’s less about the wrists and more about the position of the nozzle. You’ll see what I mean.

Lastly, rumor has it that someone out her in Pitt is attempting to open up a Dominican salon. However, they are having trouble finding Dominican stylists. I heard that they have been looking everywhere. I think it would take a LONG time for this to catch on out here, because women seem to be so resistant to trying any other techniques. Also, I heard that there’s a black girl, who works in the JC Penny salon of Monroeville Mall, who comes as close to a true dom blowout as we can get. I cannot recall the name given, but will find out if you’re interested. But, I warn you…you may get a NYC Dominican blowout, but it will not have the same DR prices that we’re all used to LOL.

Keep me posted; let me know how you’re doing with your hair and good luck in school!

Embrazos y besos,

LaNegra

Hola Rhonda, I want to first say that there are many productos dominicanos that I absolutely love, but many that I also do not like. Let me clarify, regardless to where the product comes from, where it’s made or manufactured, there will be those that help your hair and those that won’t be so good for your hair.

For instance, I have a friend who swears by Silicon Mix, but it makes my hair stiff and very difficult to comb. On the flip side, I love Baba de Caracol, and a product called Leche Cabra, but she cannot use either.

The products that I recommend for curly, kinky and relaxed hair are moisturizers. We tend to have dry hair and maintaining moisture is critical. I look for products that contain silk and highly recommend that you try sample sizes of various products, to see what gives you the necessary moisture, without weighing your hair down or making it “greasy.”

My favorite products are the ones that put moisture back in: Humecto, UNA Masque,Aphogee Two-step Treatment Protien for Damaged Hair and I swear by CHI Silk Infusion (as a leave-in). Although, I am a product junky, these are products that I instantly replace when I run out.

How long your blowout lasts depends on what the climate is like where you live. If you live in a humid area, you’ll probably have a shorter lifespan. If you live in an arid area, then your blowout may last a bit longer. Mine tend to last up to two weeks before I get frizzy or too limp. My blowouts lasts longer when I take care to put my dubis in neatly. When I get sloppy, so does my hair.

Hope this helps,

LaNegra

Hola Kelly,

I totally relate to this very question. I have not had a relaxer in a LONG time and I’m currently debating putting one in.

Here are the questions that I ask myself:

1. What is my current lifestyle like? Me personally, I workout a lot, do a lot of aerobics and end up with frizzes everyday.
2. Am I putting stress on my hair by not relaxing it, since I like to do my rolos and blowout? I very well could be.
3. Is my hair manageable without a relaxer? Um…not so much LOL.

If you KNOW that you like to wear your hair straight, over wearing it natural, then perhaps relaxing is the best choice. However, if you workout a lot and sweat heavily, as I do, then relaxing may be counter productive.

The deciding factor for me, at the moment is my current state of manageability. Currently, my hair is a difficult nest of tangles. Yes, I still condition and still pamper my hair, but it’s very difficult to work a comb through my hair. That alone may force me to relax.

Also, when I do my rolos, it takes more time for me to dry and a lot more heat to get my hair as straight. Do I really want to apply extra heat every time I blow?

Now, ask yourself the same questions and then weigh your options. Remember that getting a relaxer is a huge decision. It’s the same as deciding to chop off all of your tresses; there’s no turning back. BUT if you prefer wearing your hair straight, keep it conditioned and really have a good routine down, then it may be better, in the long run, to relax.

With that said…stay tuned, because LaNegra is still in the decision phase

Besos,
LaNegra

I am a HUGE fan of Humecto and UNA products, particularly the moisturizers. However, I may have to ditch everything in my closet for this one, special product.

I have lots very fine hair and that means lots very serious tangles. I always comb thoroughly before shampooing and avoid pulling my hair up in the shower (ya know that only looks good in the commercials right?). However, I am still left trying to work out tangles before I turn the water off.

Baba de Caracol (snail slime with silk) worked magic on my hair. I applied it after shampooing with my conditioner concoction. I used a quite generous amount, because when you have a lot of hair, like I do, it does no good to skimp on the goods. I’m sure that I used 1/3 of the jar with this first use. More hair, means you use more product, but it means that my hair remains healthy. But, for $9.99 a jar, that is only $3.33 per use and I’d pay three times that, if not more, in the salon. Get where I’m going with this?

Anyway, I applied that product and put my plastic cap on. I had nowhere to go…in case you all aren’t aware, most of us in PA are snowed in. I figured, no better time to pamper myself, like today. There are no directions on the jar, so I just figured that since it states it’s a deep conditioner I’d leave it on for a minimum of 20 minutes.

I got to yapping with my friend on the phone and the next thing you know, 35 minutes had passed.

Here’s the good part…

I turned on the water, grabbed my shower comb and expected to have to work the tangles out. Wouldn’t you know, the comb just glided through my hair, like skates on ice! I did not have to flex a muscle, didn’t have to section my hair, didn’t have pull or anything. My hair instantly felt like silk. Ahhhh!

I also noticed that I didn’t get the normal frizz. Typically, if I wait around and don’t put my rolos in right away, I start to frizz. Not this time. My hair felt a little straighter and a whole lot softer.

It gets better…

So, I put in my rolos and yapped some more on the phone. Another hour passed (yeah, yeah…I know…I chit-chat too much lol). I touched my hair to see how damp it was and was shocked at the feel. My hair felt softer than it has ever felt.

I cannot wait to take out my rolos. I’m under the dryer as I type. I’m sure that this is going to be a staple. Hmmmm….wonder if I can find Baba de Caracol by the gallon.