Protective Styling

Hi you guys, missed me much? As you know I've started stretching my relaxers. I'm proud to say I'm 10wks post relaxer and I'm hoping to go all the way to 14wks or 16wks before I relax my hair. You might be wondering why all of a sudden I have decided to stretch my relaxers. Well its simple. Relaxer is actually bad for our African hair, it makes it weak and brittle. Relaxing to often over processes your hair and makes it more susceptible to breakage. Stretching your relaxer allows you to have enough new growth so that the relaxer does not touch the already relaxed part. Stretching ur relaxer also gives you thicker more healthy looking hair.

So the next step is how do I safely stretch my relaxer.

1. Very little manipulation is key to a good stretch. From about wk6 I notice my hair starts to break if I comb it. So from about this time I have to do protective styles. I just put my hair into a bun. Or do corn rolls and wear a wig over it. Which should be fantastic!
2. Wash and deep condition ur hair wkly to keep ur moisture level up. This is the only time ur allowed to comb ur hair. Throughout the week just keep it in a protective style that does not require combing.
3. From week 10 its best to keep your hair in corn rolls . At this point you can keep the corn rolls in for 4weeks straight without washing. Just make sure u moisturize and seal the corn rolls every 2 days to stop it from being dry.
4. By wk 14. If you are not totally fed up with dew hair. You can take out ur corn rolls. Wash and deep condition your hair. You must be really careful when you are detangling your hair. When dry, redo your corn rolls and keep it in for 2wks.
5. Hurray wk16 we made it! Time to get a relaxer. By this time you should have gained 2" of growth(2 inches). Which should be fantastic!

So this is what I'm doing now. I'm glad I have made it to wk 10. So now I'm in my 4wk corn rolls. Here are some pictures. Plus a length pic at 10wks post relaxer.

So come on guys let's grow naija hair!

The Power of Dusting

Hi guys , soooooo I'm back with another post. Sorry for the delay been really busy.  Ok so today I want to talk about dusting your ends and the amazing benefits. Ok so u might say what the heck is dusting. Dusting is basically micro trimming ur hair (taking of no more than 4mm off ur ends). Because hair on average only grows like half an inch a month which is actually not a lot, I think its non productive to trim off too much after every relaxer.

Most hair gurus say its good to dust your ends every 6wks. This should totally eliminate split ends. With this method you should only need to trim your hair twice a year. Some even eliminate trimming completely.

Dusting helps to get rid of split ends, reduce breakage,and improves the overal look of your hair. Split ends are erradicated  before they even have a chance to start causing damage. The logic behind dusting is u don't need to take of too much length to get rid of a slit end which is usually only about 2mm. So taking off 4mm will eradicate it. Now that I have incoporated dusting every 6wks I have definately experienced less breakage.

Here's some picks I took of my latest dusting. . .


Here's how little I took off with each snip

Hair Update

My hair right now is 7wks post. I have stopped combing my hair and I try to do as little manipulation as possible. Hopefully I will be stretching till 9wks. Wish me luck. After this I will be stretching to 12wks. Once I have gotten a hang on stretching I will definately do a post on how to do a successful stretch.

Look out for my next post on THE BEST AND WORST PRODUCTS for hair. A must read. So come on guys let's grow naija hair! Mwuah!

Relaxer Update & Length Check

Its that time agai ladies! Its bern 9 weeks and I'm sure youre all aching to know if all the hard work has paid off...
But before we find out lets look ay the status of my hair before my relaxer


Thats a shot of my new growth ... as you may or not be able to see ... we've got quite a bit of growth. But is it up to an inch ...
In order to find out I headed to the salon to get a relaxer. For this particular relax session I used Olive Oil relaxer and here are the results:


Woo hoo definite growth! And here it is when its dry from the front:


As you can see I'm OFFICIALLY COLLAR-BONE LENGTH! !! I couldnt be happier :D It just goes to show ... Naija Hair Can Grow!!!!

The Wonders of the Pre-Poo

So I've found one of my new favorite things to do and its called a pre-poo. Some od you might have heard of it and others may not. For the benefit of those who don't know here's a short explanation of what a pre-poo is.

A Pre-poo is basically drenching your hair with moisture before shampooing. Why would you want to do this? Well modern shampoo is filled with chemicals to "clean" your hair. These chemicals don't discriminate between dirt & grease and your hairs natural oils and moisture (this is why conditioner was invented). Every time you shampoo your hair the good is stripped out with the bad, if you don't believe me shampoo your hair, don't condition & let it dry. Your hair will be clean ... But brittle and dry as well.

Now as I keep saying black hair is very dry and needs all the moisture it can get. As you can see below I'm particularly vulnerable to dryness



But we all want clean hair ... So what do we do? Pre-Poo!
So you may be asking ... Now that I know what a pre -poo is,  How do I pre-poo my hair.

Well there are a lot of answers to this question and the easiest answer is: its entirely up to you! Here are a few ways people pre-poo their hair
1. Drench with deep conditioner, cover with a shower cap and leave for 30mins-2hrs
 2.) Drench hair with an oil mixture, cover with a shower cap & hot towel and leave in for a few hours
3.)Drench hair with a mixture of conditioner & oils, cover with a shower cap & cover with a hot towel if desired & sleep overnight.

Here's my hair fully drenched



As you can see, a pre-poo basically consists of three elements: what you put in your pre-poo, what you cover it with & how long you leave it in. There really isn't a right or wrong way to do a pre-poo. So how do you decide? Again this is up to you... But here's what decides it for me ... TIME!

If I'm not going any where then I'll keep my pre-poo in as long as possible. If I am I'll do a short pre-poo. Either way here is the  minimum standard for my pre-poo: Time: Minimum 2-hours
Mixture: Conditioner + Oils (Coconut + Castor + Black Indian Oil)
Cover: Shower Cap wrapped in a towel.


So thats the bare minimum, on the other extreme I'll heat up the towel before placing it over the shower cap and I'll leave it in overnight.

After your set time, wash and style as usual. I'll still condition my hair after a shampoo even though I have pre-pooed. As far as I'm concerned my hair can not get too much moisture.

So wanna see the difference a pre-poo can make?



Look how soft it looks! And it felt even better! !!

I'm never going to wash my hair without doing a pre-poo first.

Let me know what you think about it in the comments below!

Next Week is my relaxer ... don't forget to suscribe to get the latest update and see how much growth I've gotten!

I've Discovered the Cure For Breakage! !

Hi guys  so we have been on this hair journey for 9wks and already I have learnt sooooo much. I would like to share what I have learnt with u soo u don't have to make those mistakes cos every strand we can say is worth it! Hahahhahahah
Ok so here it goes!

1. When it comes to moisturizing ur hair pls say away from any synthetic product. I was using the olive oil intensiVe moisturizer. My sister and I quickly realized that all these factory based products only coat the hair shaft and lock the moisture out thus leaving the actual strand dry and brittle. Using this product daily caused my hair to break badly. The best moisturizer for hair are nayural oils! COCONUT OIL is actually the best cos its the only one with molecules small enough to penetrate the hair shaft. Once I started using this the breakage reduced drastically.

2. I have decided never to use heat on my hair! Yes guys I said it! NO HEAT. I have found ways so style my hair without using heat. I do an air dried roller set and the results are amazing. And guys my hair has started to change texture. I previously used to go under the hooded dryer every wednesday and that left my hair dry and brittle. So now I just let my hair air dry in the rollers. Curls are bouncy and soft. Pls try it.
Note that it takes about 4hrs for hair to dry. So be ready to walk around the house in ur rollers.

3. Wrap ur hair to sleep! I can stress this enough. Just one day of not wraping ur hair to sleep on a cotton pillow can suck out all the moisture in ur hair.



4. Now guys finally PRE POOING. Before I go to have my hair washed I drench my hair in coconut oil and wear a plastic cap for 2hrs. This gives my hair some deep moisture and prepares my hair for the chemicals in the shampoo. Everytime we wash our hair we strip it of its natural oil. Thus the coconut oil increases the moisture level so as to allow some moisture be left after washing!

Ok guys that is my cure for breakage! Pls try these 4 tips and write back and let me know how it goes for u. As u can see from the pictures ! My curls look shinny and bouncy without any oil in it! This is the air dry roller set result!

So join me guys and let grow naija hair

HEAT is The DEVIL!!!

Ok guys soooooo I have come to the conclusion that HEAT IS THE DEVIL when it comes to ur hair journey. Soooooo every wk as I said earlier I go to the salon and get my hair washed and set. Most times it takes about 45mins under the dryer to get my hair dry.
Here's what it looked like with a dryer set:

After doing this for 4wks I realized my hair was shedding and breaking a whole lot. Even with all my steaming and protein treatments nothing seamed to work. My hair felt dry and brittle. I realized that going under the dryer was practically frying my hair. My sister on the other hand was not experiencing this problem even at 6wks post relaxer. The difference was that she air drys her hair. So at 5wks I decided to air dry my hair after my wash and deep condition. Voala! The breakage reduced drastically I was amazed! Here's what it looked like air dried: So guys no more dryers for me. I will just let them put my hair in rollers at the salon , tie a scarf over it to secure my rollers and allow my hair air dry! I will be doing this for the next 6wks and see how it goes. I will definately let u guys know what the results are. If at all u have to use heat on ur hair never let it be more than twice a month and pls pls use a heat protectant! Remember heat is our enemy and moisture is our friend! Sooooo come on everyone let's grow naija hair.
Take care yall. Talk to u soon.

Relaxer Update

Hey guys its Aramide and I'm finally back again. Sorry its been so long since I did a post been sooooooooo busy. Ok so as u all know I have very coarse hair and I noticed that once I get to 5wks post relaxer my hair starts to break. I was then adviced by my hair stylist susan to relax my hair every 6wks as opposed to 8wks to avoid my hair from breaking. Soooooo guess what I'm trying to say guys is I relaxed my hair at 6wks this time! Sooooooo sorry. So I want to do a quick reveiw So during my 6wks I followed my regimen to a T. I took my vitamins and drank lots of water. I'm happy to say in 6wks I got 1 inch of growth. Watch the video to see the growth I could not believe it. Usually I would get like half an inch in this time frame. So definately something is working. I think applying castor oil to my scalp 3 times a wk really helped with the growth. Actually this time I will be using jamaican black castor oil which people swear by! Lol for faster growth and thicker hair. Plus I will be drinking moringa tea and eating a lot of fruits and vegetables. I want to see if I can get an inch and half growth this time in 6wks. Wish me luck guys. I will be putting up another post titled HEAT IS THE DEVIL. This is a must read! I've decided to cut out going under the dryer every wk during my wash and set and just air dry in my rollers. I will explain better in my post. So enjoy ur hair guys and remember naija hair can grow! So let's grow naija hair together.

Air Dried Curls

Hi guys, Just wanted to share the awesome curl I got with air drying my hair with flexi rollers

There was no dryer involved and this is the day AFTER ... so 24 hours and the curl is still tight!

Aramide's Very Detailed Hair Regimen

Hey guys sooooooo if ur a hair junkie like me , then this hair regimmen is for you. Ever since I can remember I have always been obsessed with all things hair! Lol I'm actually surprised it has taken me this long to start a hair blog! Anyways this is the regimen I will be following to acheive our goal of waist length hair. You might say we r black this is impossible! But as my sister and I have said we are here to debunk this crazy stigma that nigerians can't have long flowy hair. Ok so here is my regimen! Enjoy ladies!
 So I'm first going to give u my daily regimen for monday to sunday then what I will be doing every wk for 8wks!

Monday
Moisturize my saclp with castor oil and massage for 10mins. Then moisturize hair with organic root stimulater replenishing mosturiser , seal the whole hair shaft with castor oil to lock in the moisture. Then before I sleep I would tie my hair in a satin scarf and sicure with a hair net or bonnet.

I would repeat this procedure every other day ie wednesday, friday and sunday.

WEEKLY REGIMEN
This regimen is for my wash days.
I will be relaxing my hair every 8wks and washing my hair every wk. My wash day is usually on wednesdays! I use the range of keracare produts for my hair.

Wk 1
Wash and deep condition then roller set under hooded dryer.

Wk 2
Wash and apply egg yolk with olive oil. Stay under plastic cap for 30mins. Then steam with deep comditioner under staemer for 45mins. Do not cover ur hair with a plastic cap! U need the steam droplets to penetrate ur hair shaft!

Wk 3
Just wash and condition. Then roller set.

Wk 4
Just wash and condition. Then roller set.

Wk 5
Hot oil treatment with coconut oil. Then roller set.

Wk 6
Wash and deep condition.Deep conditioner should be left on for minimum of 45 mins under plastic cap and hooded dryer. Then roller set.

Wk 7
Wash and set. Apply leave in conditioner always before u set ur hair. Pls never use setting lotion. Just set with good old water. Ur curls will be bouncy and soft.

Wk 8
Relaxer day. I relax with MVP olive oil relaxer. I will post pictures later.
Also pls use a heat protectant before u go under the dryer. Make sure the dryer is not to hot!
On my relaxer day I always steam my hair! Its the best time to steam cos ur cuticles are open and can absorb all that juicy moisture

Now that we r done with what we will be doing to our hair daily and wkly. Now its time for what we will be putting into our bodies.
 1. Must drink at least 4l of water a day.
2. Take a daily multivitamin(high potency) I take Zurion
3. Take moringa capsules daily.Moringa grow hair faster and thicker so its a must have. We will be selling some so u can send us an email or text and we will send u some.
4. Eat a lot of proteins. Eg eggs, fish,meat
5. At least 2 fruits a day. I love apples, oranges, mangos
6 . You must eat vegetables daily. I love carrots! They contain biotin which grows the hair faster.
7. I highly recommend biotin tablets. But since I'm acne prone I won't be taken them. But u can. People swear by it that it grew their hair.

Ok guys that's my detailed hair regimen! So join me and let's grow naija hair! Lol

Hair Regimen ... The simple version

Hey Everyone!
So it's time to let you know just exactly how we are going to pull off this no heat madness and help our hair GROW, GROW, GROW!!!
Since we're different people with different hair, personalities and levels of obsession (lol) .... Mide & I will have different regimens. Mine will be the simple, less fuss version cos that's all I have the patience for.
So here it goes: I'm going to be doing a 9 week regimen, that is I will repeat my cycle every nine weeks beginning with my relaxer and co-washing when I feel like. For those who don't know what co-washing is its basically washing your hair with conditioner. We'll have a more detailed post/video about that later. But for now on with the regimen!

The Regimen

Week 1: Relaxer & Steam
Week 2: Deep Condition
Week 3: Clarifying Wash + Protein Treatment
Week 4: Deep Condition
Week 5: Steam Treatment
Week 6: Deep Condition
Week 7: Clarifying Wash + Protein Treatment
Week 8: Deep Condition
Week 9: Relax & Steam

As you can see I'm not doing much and it should be pretty easy to follow. Here's a description of each treatment. (Don't worry we'll have more detailed info about each later)

Relaxer: Chemical straightening (I wish I didn't have to but if I don't my hair will break sooo bad) as my hair gets stronger I'll start stretching out my relaxers more and more.
Deep Condition:  Drench hair in conditioner and hair mix (more about the hair mix in a later post) let it sit under a plastic cap for at least 45mins and air dry
Clarifying Wash: Strips the hair of all the product that has been building up in the hair. Keeps the hair light & bouncy but can be very drying so make sure hair is conditioned properly.
Protein Treatment: Protein is the outer covering of the hair. Adding back protein helps strengthen and protect the hair.

So that's it my entire hair regimen!
Subscribe on to the blog/ on youtube to get details on everything, video walkthrough tips & tricks!

First of All Introduction....

As you may or not know Nigerian women love their weaves, braids and chemical treatments! We spend so much money on fake hair that its ridiculous  There's a popular myth that Nigerian women don't look good or neat or pretty when they carry their own God given hair. We are here to DEBUNK that myth and prove that it is just a myth. We want to prove to the world that Nigerian Hair can not only grow, but it can be manageable and look just as good (if not better) than all the Peruvian, Brazilian  Indian and whatever hair there is out there that we are spending thousands of Naira, Dollars and Pounds on.

So you may be wondering, just WHO ARE WE?

Our names our Aramide and Temi and well we are a just a couple of Nigerian girls (pure Naija.. no mixes) Our dad is Yoruba and our mom is Itsekiri so you know you are getting the real deal. Aramide lives in Ghana and Temi lives in Lagos Nigeria. We have another sister Tomi (who lives in London at the moment and who we are still trying to convince to join us). We have different personalities and different hair, so you get the benefit of two different types of regimens and routines.

So why are we starting this Blog/Vlog

Well there are several reasons that we are putting our hair journey out to the world. First we want to prove that it can be done and second we want to be held accountable! So poke us, prod us, harass us and remind us. We're not just doing it for ourselves, we're doing this for you! If our hair can grow so can yours. And we want to show you that you can CARRY YOUR HAIR
What are we doing?
Basically we are doing a simple low to no heat, protective styling, no weave or braid routine. We'll have more on what we'll actually be doing (the complete regimens) we will be doing later.
And yes your read right ...NO BRAIDS and NO WEAVES! We will carry our hair and IT WILL GROW.

So lets do it ... Let's grow Nigerian Hair!
Love
Temi & Aramide