I get asked so many times “How did you get your hair so curly?” or “What do you use in your hair?”.  I’ve been trying to work on making my own cards to list the products I use and how I apply them to get the looks that I want.  Now I don’t claim to be the expert in natural hair, but there are a few things that I do that just about everyone can benefit from.  Below is a list of the goodies that make Sybil, my hair, very happy!

Since my hair has gotten longer I’ve been wearing more flat twist as my protective style.  This helps cut down on all the wear and tear that comes along with manipulating the hair daily.  Once a month I will do a clarifying wash with my Terressentials Hair Wash.  Since becoming natural, I’ve stopped using shampoos that contain sulfates since they will dry out the hair a lot.  Once a week I will do a deep conditioning (DC) with one of my heavier conditioners such as Hair Rules Ultra Rich Conditioner.  The slip is amazing and my hair feels so moisturized.  Once I rinse this out I use Giovanni Direct Leave-in Conditioner.  A little goes a long way, which I learned the hard way the first time…LOL.  I follow this with Vatika Coconut Oil and then apply a good amount of natty moist throughout my hair.  It sounds like a lot, but just doing this has made all the difference in how well my hair stays moisturized.  During the rest of the month I will co-wash about 3-5 times a week with a cheap conditioner such as VO5.  Co-washes come in handy on those days when I want to do a wash-n-go or when I want to try something new.

When I want to do flat twist, I complete the steps above after I wash and then section my hair and apply a small amount of Dax Olive Cream (I received this in a goody bag last May and absolutely love it for 2-strand twist and flat twist).  Next a small amount of gel is applied and then I flat twist each section.  I try to keep the twist in for up to 5 days.  Like I mentioned before, less manipulation of the hair helps reduce breakage. [Read more…]

Many of my Instagram followers know that I refer to my hair as “Sybil”.  After all of my years working with people with mental illness, this name described my hair to a T.  The movie Sybil is based on a young women who has a psychotic breakdown and in turn she has several other personalities that begin to surface.  After I did my BC (big chop) my hair behaved and reacted just like Sybil.  There were good days were she behaved well and other days when she would just “fight” with me.  After several months of finding the right medication (products) I’m happy to say that Sybil is doing much better, but we are still dealing with 2 other very difficult personalities (textures).

My hair on the sides is coarse and dry and doesn’t respond well unless I do a wash and go or finger coils.  The top and back of my hair are AWESOME!  They do what they are supposed to and my curls and coils in those area are always so nice and shiny and pretty.  And well… not sure about the crown of my hair.  That part of my hair gets the side eye almost daily.  It’s like a puff of cotton up there.  Doesn’t want to coil or do anything right.  O_o [Read more…]