Which Detangling Tool is the Best For You?

Hi guys! Mariama and I recently purchased a few new detanglers: the Tangle Teezer and the Hercules Seamless Combs. We thought it would be best to make our own opinions about them and purchased them. After using them for a while now (along with our Denman brushes) this is how they all compare to one another. Enjoy!

The Tangle Teezer

PROS

• Makes detangling a quick process (it took Mariama half an hour to detangle one half of her head with it)
• Detangles gently without snagging strands
• Easy to use once you get used to it 
• Wide availability! (Although its often sold out because it’s so sought after)
• Smoothens coarse hair making it easier to twist or braid

CONS

Very difficult to get teeny hairs out

• Can become very slippery when detangling hair because of the shape but can get used to it
• Very short bristles so can’t brush through large sections of hair
• Not very easy to clean because the bristles are close together!
• Expensive for a small brush! RRP: £11.20 but can be bought for a little cheaper online. 
• Sounds as though it rips through hair  (but it's not!!) which can be off putting
• Not specifically made for afro hair so difficult to brush through coarse ends (Maz had to use the comb to go through her ends afterwards because all of the knots had bunched up and the Tangle Teezer couldn't get through)

Denman - D3 Medium 7 Row Styling Brush

We take out 4 rows instead of 3, it removes much less hair this way

PROS

• Easy to hold due to long handle
• Detangles large sections because of long bristles
• Easy to remove bristle rows to modify the brush to suit you
• Easy to clean
• Widely available and affordable RRP £6.99 

CONS

• Not very gentle when detangling (I lose more hair with the denman) 
• Can’t be used with heat styling tools as the bristles melt and snag hair
• Have to remove bristles for afro hair (although there is the Freeflow specifically made for detangling longer thicker Afro hair)

Hercules Sägemann Seamless Combs: Detangling Comb 1975 and Magic Star Jumbo Rake HS5660

PROS

• Long handle makes it easy to hold on to
• Durable product which can easily be used for years
• Can be used with heat styling tools without damage as they are made using heat resistant vulcanised rubber
• Detangles really large sections of hair very quickly and gently (especially the Jumbo Rake - it can take 30-45 minutes for Maz's whole head!)
• Less hair lost when used 

CONS

• Difficult to find in the UK
• Largest comb is very expensive and retails at approximately £15. (needs to be weighed up with its lifelong usage)
• The HS1975 detangles hair quickly and thoroughly, but still takes a little more time than the Tangle Teezer (it took Maz about 10-15 minutes longer for one half of her head)

Drum roll please...

Our winner is...

We both agreed that Hercules Sägemann ones were the best, although the Jumbo Rake is pricey (there is a mini version for £10) you have to realise that some of the comments from buyers on the website have said that their combs have withstood more than 20 years of use!! Plus you are paying for much better quality. (Ask someone to buy it for you as a gift if you really don't want to pay for it.) We do like the Tangle Teezer, but it's probably better suited to shorter afro hair as Maz had to detangle her ends with the 1975 comb.

For now, the Denman is staying in the drawer. We're using the Jumbo Rake for co-wash detangling weekly and the 1975 detangler for proper thorough wash day detangles once a month.

Here are the cheapest prices for the all the detanglers that we could find (also check TK Maxx, sometimes their hair selection can surprise you):

HS5660 Jumbo Rake (or click here for the Mini rake)
Tangle Teezer: here and here (With the one from Paks actually check that it is a Tangle Teezer, when I went to buy mine they tried to sell me one from another brand)
Denman: Classic or Freeflow. (My one was from TK Maxx for £5.99)

Zee xx

Mariama's Hair Regimen

I’m sure none of us have days to waste doing our hair, so I’ve had to reduce down my regimen so I spend as little time as possible during the week doing my hair.

I was...

• co-washing once or twice a week, but who has time for that?! When you have kinky-curly Type 4 hair, your hair can take hours to wash and condition. I tried washing my hair once a fortnight/ once a month but it would get too dirty and dry. Now I try to wash my hair once a week with either the full prepoo-shampoo-deep condition or I co-wash with a deep conditioner (Yeah that’s right, I said deep conditioner!)
• detangle three times, THREE! What a waste of a day! I used to finger detangle, use a wide-tooth comb and then use a Denman. But to be honest, once your hair is detangled, it’s detangled. Doing it three times is just pointless. I tried just finger detangling for a while instead of combing but didn’t notice any difference in the amount of hair I was losing, it took FOREVER and my hair was more knotty than when I was using combs. Now I detangle my hair wet once a month with a Denman and the rest of the time using a wide-tooth comb.
• have a lot of conditioners (…in fact I still do, heh) but I’ve decided to stop experimenting and stick with two or three conditioners. But I have allowed myself the pleasure of experimenting with leave-in conditioners, but I am only allowed to buy one at a time!
• buy expensive oils because everyone was raving about them. Now when making my own products I use only a few ingredients and I cut out the more expensive oils like jojoba oil, argan oil and vitamin E oil. Instead I use much cheaper alternatives that were already high in vitamin A & E. Macadamia nut oil is a much cheaper alternative to jojoba oil, and like jojoba is similar to sebum. If you’re allergic to nuts and would rather avoid them then you can use the even cheaper apricot kernel oil. Altogether I have a collection of six oils that I buy in bulk and use to make my skin oil, hair oil and hair butters. 

Products I use (this list isn’t here to make you run out and buy these products, it’s more to encourage you to find products that work for you.)

Prepoo, Shampoo & Deep Conditioner

L’Oreal Expertise EverSleek range + my hair oil. There are two sub-ranges: Smoothing & Intensely Nourishing or Smoothing and Moisturing, what the difference is I’ll never know. I just buy whichever one is there. I tried the EverRiche line for dry hair, but I prefer these ones instead. 

Co-wash

Depending on which one is on sale (because I like to save my pennies) I use Herbal Essences Hello Hydration, Beautiful Ends Intensive Mask (the conditioner was kind of meh, but this I like) or Dove Nourishing Oil Care Hair Therapy Conditioner.

Styling Products

I make my oil mix and hair butter myself.

For my edges, buns and puffs, I use aloe vera gel and sometimes Zainab’s puff cream (which she told me she’ll tell you about soon).

Phew, all done. Tell me about your regimens!

Maz xx

Creating a Styling Routine

After washing comes the fun part – styling:

How will you moisturise?

The most popular way to moisturise type 4 hair is the LOC method (which stands for Leave-in, Oil & Cream). This method requires you to layer a water-based leave-in then a light oil (like coconut or jojoba) and then a heavier butter/cream (like shea or mango) over one another to seal in the water. The water moisturises your hair, whilst the other products form a barrier outside the strand to stop the water diffusing out. Due to the LOC method my hair has began to retain moisture all by itself (I’m so proud!) so I no longer have to do all three steps. You will also need to moisturise your ends regularly by spraying a light mist of water and applying some oil to it.

Will you use heat?

I was a heat junkie, I used to straighten my hair every week (sometimes two or three times a week) causing it to break off and never grow past my shoulders. So when I decided to go full hog with this natural thing I stopped using direct heat for a year. To be honest I haven’t really missed it! I’ve straightened my hair once since then because I was excited to see how long my hair was, but my impatience resulted in this:

Excuse the poor quality and that I'm not wearing make-up!

It was New Year's Eve and I was going out so had to rush. I didn’t wait for my hair to dry - which you definitely should! If not, bubbles can form in the strand causing splitting and breakage) so it ended up looking like I just blowdried it. Because it wasn’t fully dry so it just poofed up once I straightened it. Anyway I’ve kind of diverted from the point. Give your hair a looooong break from heat at first, after about a year you can start to add it back into your regimen. Zainab bought me a Vidal Sassoon Hood Dryer for Christmas and I love it! No more overnight drying sessions for me! But I only use it rarely or for certain styles (like rollersets). Seeing as my hair has grown quickly without heat I don’t see a reason to use it so much anymore.

What will be your signature style?

My current favourite styles now are plain twist-outs (flat twist outs are too much effort) and big ol’ buns because they’re so easy for me. But when my hair was shorter I preferred puffs and up-dos. Braid-outs (same as a twist-out but with braids) stretch hair more than a twist-out so allow you to see more of your length, but require more time to put in and take-out. You can also do protective styles like extensions, weaves, wigs (although you should leave your hair out for at least two weeks in between weaves and extensions so your hair isn’t constantly being pulled out of the follicle), corn-rows, up-dos, buns... Just have to decide which one is for you!

Maz x

Creating a Wash Day Routine

Washing afro hair can take a loooong time, so long that some naturals can dedicate a whole day (even a weekend) to just washing their hair. Personally I don’t have the time or stamina to spend a whole day washing my hair, so when creating a wash-day routine I decided to keep it simple and you should too! 

Unfortunately, I never look this good washing my hair :P

How often will I wash?

When I say wash here I mean with shampoo. Shampoo cleanses the hair and scalp by removing the sebum coating the strands. This leaves the hair dry as it allows water to escape from the strand. This is why after you wash you have to condition your hair also (conditioners contain substances which coat the strands like oil but do not get washed away as easily as oil does). As it is more difficult for sebum to travel down Afro hair then straight hair, Afro hair does not become greasier the longer it is left between washes (in fact it gets drier as the sebum builds up on the scalp) so it does not need to be shampooed as often. Because of this I would advise when washing your hair you start off doing the least, so start off shampooing once a month and if you find your scalp becomes dirty quickly between washes add another wash day.

But won’t my hair become super smelly?

No, because you can co-wash! Co-washing is using conditioner to cleanse your hair. Shampoo strips afro hair of moisture so washing too often with it can cause kinks and curls to look and feel lackluster. Conditioners on the other hand have enough surfactants in them to remove product build-up from creams and oils (hence why they bubble slightly when you wash them out) but don’t remove all of the moisture. So your hair will feel clean, smell nice and be moisturised. I co-wash when I feel my hair is becoming pretty dry (or if my hair smells a bit frowzy :S). 

Will you pre-poo?

As a type 4 natural with very coarse strands, a pre poo (applying oils and/or conditioner before washing with a shampoo) dramatically changed the state of my hair. Applying oil and conditioner before you shampoo means that your strands aren’t completely stripped clean once you wash them, retaining moisture. One of the things that helped my dry hair retain moisture was applying a pre-poo to it the night before my wash day. If you have oils in your pre-poo, you’re better off sleeping with it in your hair as it can take 14 hours for an oil to penetrate the strand. Conditioners fully saturate the hair in about 30 mins so you don’t have to keep them on as long.

Wash loose or in twists/braids?

If your hair is quite short you can get away with washing your hair loose, but the longer your hair gets the more likely it is to start tangling up (especially if it very kinky-coily). Once again do the least - start off washing your hair loose and if it knots up too much for your liking wash your hair in twists.

Detangle before or after?

I would advise detangling your hair with just a wide tooth comb at first. Don’t worry about buying Denmans or Tangle Teezers. If you are choosing to wash your hair in twists, detangle before hand so each twist stays detangled during the wash process. If you are washing your hair free, detangling it after shampooing when you have a deep conditioner in your hair. If you have just taken out braid/twist extensions or a weave detangle before washing! Otherwise after you wash you will be tearing out chunks of matted hair (believe me it’s happened to me before).

Don’t worry about washing your hair under a running shower…

Personally I don’t like standing under the shower to wash my hair, it can get very slippery with all that conditioner plus it’s a huge waste of water! I just bend over the edge of the bath. Some people even wash their hair in the sink so you don’t have to stand under a running shower if you don’t want to. Nothing bad will happen!

Other stuff…

Apple cider vinegar: A cold ACV rinse after conditioning is a nice way to reestablish the pH of your scalp. The scalp (and skin) is acidic so even pouring water on your scalp causes the pH to change causing the cuticle to open up. To close the cuticle pour cold diluted ACV (about 2 tbsps in a cup of water) after you’ve totally finished washing your hair. This will make your hair more shiny, soft and thoroughly clean. Also clean your scalp with the pads of your fingers, don’t scratch with your nails!

Maz xx

(BTW sorry we haven't written anything in a while. I've been pretty busy with exams and my dissertation, I've finally finished my intercalated year, wahey! So back to medicine! But for the mean time I'm on my summer holiday so I should be posting more often... Zainab though... she's just lazy)

Creating a hair routine (Part One)

Creating a regimen is one of the hardest things to do when going natural. It isn’t easy and doesn’t happen overnight, but making a structured routine for your hair is one of the best ways you can take care of it. For the first year of my accidental transition to natural hair, I didn’t do any extra stuff to my hair that I wasn’t already doing when it was straightened - and it didn’t break off. So don’t worry about devising a regimen as soon as you start going natural. You’ll need to try a few things out before you can definitely decide that’s what you want to be doing. Also remember that your regimen doesn’t have to be rigid, it will change when you cut off your straight ends, as the length of your hair increases and according to the season. I recommend when going from relaxed to natural just stick to what you’re already doing, see if it’s beneficial or not and tweak it.

Ask yourself these preliminary questions:

How much time do I want to spend on my hair? (AKA How lazy am I?)

This is very important, I quite like doing my hair (It’s quite relaxing, plus I can catch up on Scandal and Love & Hip Hop while I detangle), but some people find it incredibly infuriating/boring. If you’re one of the latter then you’ll want to do things as quick as possible and limit the wash-day process to one to two times a month.

Dammit! It's wash day again! NOOOOOO!!!!!

The same thing applies to styling too. Because I accidently transitioned I didn’t take too much notice of styling or taking care of my hair. I would pretty much put conditioner in my hair in the morning, have a bath, wash it out and then tie my satin headscarf around my head and go to uni. It still grew (and pretty fast!) so I guess that proves that you don’t have to spend hours on your hair everyday for it to grow.

How much money do I want to spend on my hair? (or How much of a cheapskate am I?)

I won’t spend more then £10 on any hair product (I say that whilst coveting the Macadamia Natural Oil products). That being said you do get what you pay for, you need to use more of cheaper hair products and they tend not to be as amazing quality (like the Superdrug Naturals line. It’s awful! You can’t even use it to shave your legs because there’s NO slip) as more expensive ones. The products I don’t mind paying a little more for are deep and leave-in conditioners. 

How kinky/curly is my hair?

If your hair is comprised of very tight coils or kinks, you’ll also want to limit wash-days and styling sessions. The more you handle your hair the more it may break potentially limiting length retention. This also will determine if you want to wash your hair loose or in twists to avoid tangles, and how long you can keep your hair in various styles.

When will I trim?

Just choose a time period and stick with it. I trim my hair every six months and only cut a teeny bit off (like 5mm). But it depends on how often you get split ends.

Do I want to use heat?

You can still straighten your hair, just decide how often you will do it. For a heat junkie like me I decided not to straighten my hair for a year once I decided to go properly natural (I broke that rule btw, but I didn’t straighten it properly so I don’t count it :P). I still use blowdryers and I have a hood dryer for days when I need to dry my hair quickly and go!

What products will I use?

At first, just stick to what you know. If you shampoo your hair or use a particular brand of conditioner just continue, don’t worry about things like sulphates and silicones just yet (I still don’t worry about ingredients and stuff, I just use what works for me). As your natural hair begins to grow, try and take note of how it reacts to the products. If it seems dry or weak then make a change (but give it a couple of tries first).

Secondly a lot of people jump on the natural bandwagon once they go natural as in ‘I only use totally natural products that were handcrafted by Buddhist monks and given Al Gore’s environmentally friendly blessing!’ – maybe not that extreme, but you get what I’m trying to say. Some people disregard a product just by looking at the ingredient list rather than trying it. Just because something has natural or organic on the bottle, it doesn’t mean that it will be fantastic for your hair. Once you know your hair doesn’t like certain ingredients then you can avoid them, but when starting out just try stuff and see how your hair likes it.

'We don't have hair... but buy our products anyway! I need a new watch!'

Lastly, do you have the time and patience to make your own products? I make my own hair butter and oils, but stopped short of things like gel (I tried to make my own flaxseed gel but t came out looking like phlegm and I tossed it out in disgust!) and deep conditioner (eggs and mayonnaise are only for eating in my book). I also made my own clay wash once, but decided the hassle wasn’t worth it. If you’re not a mixtress, don’t lie to yourself! 

In the next post I will discuss more about creating a wash-day routine :D.

Mariama xx

Tools all naturals need!

Hello. My name is Mariama… and I am a product/hair care tool junkie. You name it, I got it! Flexi-rods (two sets, I didn’t like the first ones – poor quality), Curlformers (also two sets – I had to buy a new set when my hair grew out, luckily they’re not the real ones!), various bottles of oils, bags of decorative hair bands and pins, at least 3 different bottles of conditioners (I can’t resist a conditioner on sale), various shampoos blah, blah, blah… Seriously this list can go on for quite some time! Long story short, I have lots of hair stuff!

Once you start your natural journey, you’ll find it so much fun to try out new stuff – but it can be overwhelming figuring out how to start and what to use. If you don’t want to use all the pennies in your piggy bank, here’s a list of some items that you must have when you’re a newbie!

Detangling stuff

An essential is a wide-tooth comb. There are lots of other detangling aids like the Tangle Teezer or the Denman brush (there’s the normal one or you can get the one designed for thick/afro hair), you can even forgo combs and use your fingers. As a beginner I would suggest just a wide-tooth comb at first. 

Conditioners

L-R: Beautiful Textures Rapid Repair DC (doubles as a leave in), Dr Bronner's, Giovanni, Cantu Shea Butter

If you find your hair is unbearably dry, a good leave-in conditioner may be what you need! It can make all the difference to dry strands! The best leave-in conditioners have water (aqua) as their first ingredient, this means they can penetrate the cuticle and moisturise the strand from within. Good cheap ones that both Zainab and I have tried are pictured above.

L-R: Herbal Essences Hello Hydration, Frizz Ease, L'Oreal Hair Expertise, Tresemme Naturals

Secondly, a rinse-out conditioner will be your new best friend! Find a good conditioner and stick with it. It should be able to cleanse your hair like a shampoo (lots of naturals use just conditioner to wash their hair), make your hair slippery, soft and smooth.

Shampoo

L-R: L'Oreal Hair Expertise, Hawaiian Silky, Aussie Miracle Moist

Not all naturals use shampoos, but it’s the only thing that keeps my scalp clean. You may read or see other people totally refusing to use shampoos with sulphates in them, but I say you should try it first. I have used shampoos with and without sulphates, and to be honest the shampoos with sulphates clean my scalp the best. I have also used clay and whilst it did make my hair soft, I felt it wasn’t very cleansing (plus it made Zainab’s hair incredibly dry).

Creams and Oils

You use these to seal in the moisture (the water and leave-in). They act as a barrier to prevent the water from diffusing out of the strand. You can use a butter and an oil depending on the thickness of your hair or just one of them.

• Butter – There are lots of different types: Shea (which Zainab and I use), Mango, Avocado. Or you can buy a cream (which is probably easier) instead of making your own.
• Oil – Once again you can buy an already made mixture or make your own. You can use one or make a mix: Olive, Grapeseed, Jojoba, Argan, Almond, Coconut, Castor… I would suggest buying one or two cheap ones like coconut oil and extra virgin olive oil.

Headband/Hairtie

As I always say to Zainab, ‘stick a headband on it!’ A headband will save your hair do when it’s looking (let’s be honest) a bit crap. Stick it on your head –*poof* you have a high puff or *poof* you have a bun. I have had my hair tie since I was 12 and she hasn’t let me down yet. She may just be a scrap of black satin that I wrap around my head but she’s better than anything else!

If you’re buying an elasticated headband make sure it’s snag free (so doesn’t have a metal bit) and fits your head, there’s no point in a too tight headband (your hair will break around the band) or too loose (it won’t hold your hair).

Hair bands

I don’t use hair bands very often (my hair is too big so they always snap) but they can be very useful for sectioning, buns and puffs. You want plain snag free ones, just keep a couple on hand.

Bobby Pins

Get good quality bobby pins, not the cheap 100 for £1! You want quality ones that won’t bend up out of shape or flake at just a touch. 

Silk Scarf/Pillowcase

To sleep with, and once again you want a good quality real silk scarf and/or pillowcase. It’s worth it believe me, you’re going to be using it for (probably) the rest of your life, so don’t be afraid to spend a little money. I got mine from the Topshop sale but you can check eBay, ASOS and other retailers. If you still wanna be cheap, Primark sell sateen scarves that feel kinda the same (but after a wash or two they don’t really hold up well).

Hair clips

For sectioning when detangling and styling, try and get ones without teeth so your hair won’t get caught on them. The best ones are the butterfly clips.

Scissors

Buy a pair of hair scissors and do not use them for anything else! Hair shears are extremely sharp so they actually make a clean cut through the hair, rather than splitting the strands. If you use them to cut other materials, like paper, the blades will become duller with each snip. So if you catch your Dad trying to use your scissors to descale fish (sigh – yes this is my life), snatch them and run!

So that’s all you need! Take this list to your local shop and demand for a shop assistant to help you build up your hair collection!

Maz xx

Third time's the charm!

Erm... this is only the half of it :P

There are so many products out on the market and with the growth of the natural hair community via sites such as YouTube, it makes buying products difficult! So what’s our solution? We buy everything that’s out there until our cupboards overflow. It ain’t easy and it’s anything but gentle on our pockets! I decided one day after seeing Jane Carter Solution Hydrating Invigorating Shampoo that it was worth really testing how it worked. (A product review will be coming soon!) I began trying new products at least 3 times to see how my hair reacted. It’s really important to try new products, but at the same time, what works for one naturalista may not work for another. No two people are the same and in that sense, no two hair types are either. There are a few things people may look for when buying and testing a new product and these will be the same few things I will use to review my products along the way. So this is my guide to trying a product before you give it away, sell it or bin it.

1. Consistency – Is it what you expected? When I buy a conditioner I avoid the overly watery ones. They never seem to penetrate the hair shaft meaning my hair is dry and my money is wasted. Instead, I opt for the thicker and creamier types. By shaking the bottle, I can decide whether the product will be thick enough to really make a difference to my dry 4c hair.
2. Scent – I like fruity and fresh smells so anything too perfumed is a massive put off. The scent is important because if you like to layer products (the whole leave-in, oil and butter method) you may end up with a scent that is overpowering and slightly sickly.  :S
3. Moisturisationess -  (A bit of a made up one lol) How does your hair feel after using it? Your main aim is to make sure it keeps your hair moisturised. If your hair is like mine you want to ensure the overall texture has improved. No your hair won’t become like a 3a natural, but it should become softer and more manageable if the product is doing its job.
4. Slip – Is the product able to really remove knots whilst adding moisture? I find that majority of the cheaper conditioners don’t have enough slip until oil is added to enhance the product. Basically, you shouldn’t have to add something to it before it does its job) I usually go with the idea that what feels good for my skin, feels good for my hair. This is my general consensus as usually after a long detangling process, my fingertips feel “buttery” (I like making up words lol) if the product is doing a good job on my tresses.
5. Price – A very important point! Is the product worth the price? No matter how cheap it is, I feel cheated if it ends up not working. Especially when I know I was broke when I paid for it, haha! Hair products like Moroccan oil are expensive but if they do the job, it’s fine by me!

These are the only things I wanna look for when I buy something and then I re-evaluate these points after every use. Smelling the product is kinda hard with shop assistants staring at you but get in, get out and it’s alright! Stay tuned for a few product reviews guys and dolls.

Zee xx

Curl Class 7: The LOIS Hair Typing System

The LOIS system is simpler than the Andre Walker system. I personally prefer this system just because it causes fewer arguments (yes, people actually argue about hair types! Who cares that much?!) as it is based on the individual strand which is pretty much set and easily visible.

It uses several properties to work out your hair type (or whose hair ‘daughter’ you are):

• The pattern of your strands 
• The thickness of your strands 
• Hair texture 
• Sheen or shine.

Hair Pattern

The LOIS system R-L: L-type (the L is in purple), O type is coily, I is straight, S is wavy

Take a couple of shed hairs (rather than just pulling a hair out of your head) after washing and place them on a surface where they’re visible and just compare it to the chart. Your hair can be a mixture of any of these shapes - my hair is mainly O with some L and a teeny bit of S in the front. So I am daughter LOS.

Hair Thickness

The best way to determine your hair thickness is to compare the strands of hair of your head to other parts of your body that have coarse, medullated hair. Unfortunately the main places include down… there (I’m talking about your fanny, just in case you don’t get hints!) or your armpits. If it’s as thick as the strands down there, you have coarse hair. You can also compare it to your arm hair, as they’re very thin, if the strand is about the same size you have thin hair. If it’s in between both of these it’s normal. Once again you can have a mixture of various thicknesses on your head.

Sheen/Shine

The difference between shine (L) and sheen (R)

There are other properties that also may be helpful in your hair journey:

• Hair should be shiny when it is pulled straight (or straightened with heat or a relaxer) as it reflects light along the length of the strand. This is what all those hair adverts show when they have the models swishing around their locks. All healthy hair should have a shine, whether low or high; if it doesn’t your hair is dry.
• Sheen is the sparkly effect hair produces in the light.

Texture

• Thready hair has low sheen but high shine when straight and doesn’t really frizz. Thready hair quickly gets wet and dry.
• Wiry hair has high sheen, low shine and low frizz. Wiry hair reflects water so never seems to be fully wet when washing.
• Cottony hair has low sheen but high shine when straight and easily gets frizzy. It absorbs water quickly but because the water goes into the strand it doesn’t seem to get wet quickly.
• Spongy hair has a high sheen but low shine and frizzes in parts (so when you twist it over the week it will frizz but stay in sections). The strands absorb water before becoming thoroughly wet.
• Silky hair has low sheen and very high shine. The frizz varies from high to low and it easily gets wet.

Next time, I’ll be talking about porosity and density and then the Curl Classes will be finished. Wahey!

Maz xx

Curl Class 6: The Andre Walker Hair Typing System

So, in our early blog posts, Zainab and I described our hair in terms of numbers and letters. I said I had a mix of all the 4s (and a little 3) whilst Zainab said she was 4c. I’m sure a number of you thought '-_- what does that mean?’ Well, to answer your question, it’s our hair type! (Well this post is called hair typing, lol.)

Instead of just saying straight, wavy, curly or kinky or dividing hair according to race, hair stylists have come up with their own way of categorizing hair. At the moment the most popular way is using the Andre Walker system, which the team over at Naturally Curly have expanded to create a much more extensive system. The second way is using the LOIS system (additionally Mizani have their own system too).

Hair types are supposed to help you when choosing products and styles but personally I don’t find hair typing very useful, as every head of hair is different (I only use it to find YouTube gurus). What may work for someone else may cause your hair to split and break. On top of that, my hair pattern changes from the back of my head to the front of it, and has also changed over time (as I’ve learnt to properly moisturize it and also as it’s grown). So you may think your hair is one texture now, but in the future you might change your mind.

When hair typing, it’s important to know that any race can have any hair type. Just because you’re black it doesn’t mean your hair can’t be naturally straight/wavy, and just because you’re white it doesn’t mean you can’t have naturally coily/kinky hair - if you don’t believe me click here and here. (I used to think that because the front part of my hair was wavy it was heat damaged, so kept cutting it down thinking that it would grow coily like the rest of my hair – it never did and now the front of hair is shorter then the rest :P)

Andre Walker

Not everyone likes this system. Firstly some people don’t like it because straight hair is number 1 and afro hair is number 4, secondly Andre Walker has said some pretty controversial things about type 4 hair (he suggested Type 4 hair needed a relaxer to be managed - read it here). This typing system divides hair into 4 types:

• Type 1 is straight hair
• Type 2 is wavy
• Type 3 is curly
• Type 4 is kinky-coily

Then within hair types 2, 3 and 4 are classes a,b and c. 

Type 2

L-R: 2A, B and C

Type 2a-b hair is made predominately of loose s-shaped waves and usually lacks bounce. Because it is wavy and fine, it easily becomes greasy as sebum can travel down the shaft. Type 2c has a bit more of a curl on the top half of the head.

Type 3

L-R: 3A, B & C

Type 3 hair ranges from predominately big loose curls (about the size of a finger) to small pencil-size curls. It frizzes up very easily when exposed to humidity (thanks to the British weather the front portion of my hair can never maintain a twist out :P) and ranges from being very fine to very coarse.

Type 4

L-R: 4A, B & C

All hair types lose moisture to the surrounding environment over time; sebum from the scalp is supposed to combat this by traveling down the hair strand. However the kinks and tight coils in type 4 hair make it more difficult for the sebum to travel down the strand, and the sebum takes longer to get to the end of the strand. (Think of it like two cars traveling to the same place: one car travels down a straight road whereas another has to take constant twists and turns. The second car will take much longer to reach its destination). The longer type 4 hair is, the drier the ends of the hair (in comparison to another hair type). If not moisturized regularly, the dry ends break off resulting in what seems like little to no growth.

  

My hair texture (this is a week old twist out)

4a hair is made from small coils, 4b hair kinky zig-zags and 4c hair very tight coils. 4c hair doesn’t clump together naturally like 4a and 4b hair as the individual strands twist and turn according to their own pattern, additionally the coils are so small it makes it hard for the strands to unite as one.

Next time I will tell you guys about the LOIS system!

Maz xx