Black Hair Care Questions & Tips

Transitioning from permed to natural hair presents some styling challenges. Either you’re going to end up with very short hair, extensions or a wig or with hair of two different textures. Here are some recommended approaches to this dilemma:

• Cut off the relaxed hair- depending on how much new growth and your preferences you have a few styling options. You can wear a TWA (tweeny weeny afro) or two strand twists pretty easily with almost any length hair. For other styling ideas, see http://www.ourhair.net or http://www.hairweb.com
  
  
• Braids and/or extensions- you can have your hair braided until it grows to a length where you feel comfortable cutting off the new growth and going with other styling options
• Sisterlocks^TM- SisterLocks can be started with one and one half inches of new growth at the scalp. They are similar to dread locks but with a look more like micro braids or very small twists. They leave you with many styling options. For more information (including pictures) go to http://www.sisterlocks.com

• Find a transition style- This great tip was given to us by one of our customers. “I just wanted to send you another hair styling option for those who don’t know what to do while growing out a perm and going natural. I recently did this and when my roots began growing out, I would wet my hair and add oil to it, then braid it while it was wet (Black Earth’s Crinkles & Curls Styling Lotion would be perfect for this). After it dried, my hair was left wavy and with lots of texture and this helped to blend the natural roots with the permed ends. It is important to keep your ends clipped regularly during this process so that your split ends do not continue up the hair shaft and damage the natural hair. I was able to wear my hair like this until I was comfortable with cutting all of my permed hair off and wearing my ‘fro.” (thanks Sheena!)

Trying to transition in other ways, like pressing the natural hair as it grows in underneath the relaxed hair, are going to make your hair prone to breakage and can damage the natural hair you’re trying to grow in. We do not recommend it. While transitioning, try to find a style that will accomodate the new growth coming in like twists or braids.

The number one complaint we get about black hair is that it looks dry or dull.  Before you go too far to make your natural hair full of sheen and shine, it’s best to have the proper expectation.  Natural Black or African hair will not be as shiny as permed hair or Caucasian hair.  A major part of what makes hair shiny is the structure of the hair, not just the amount of oil or moisture it contains. If the cuticles lay flat (smooth hair), the hair will reflect light better (translated will appear shiny).  If the cuticles are raised, the hair will absorb light (translated will appear more dull).  Without changing the structure of the hair (as in getting a perm or relaxer for us African Americans), our hair will only be so shiny. By applying a bunch of grease to make it shinier, you could end up damaging the hair.  Having said that, natural African hair can appear healthy, smooth and have a nice healthy sheen.

By applying a moisturizer and/or natural hair oils on a regular basis you can give your hair the right amount of shine it should have as healthy Black hair.