curly hair – mayah's site

my hair routine (nov 2017)

hey y’all! it’s been forever since i’ve posted my hair care routine (I actually need to do a review on this homemade deep conditioner my roommate and I made). I just wanted to give you all an update on what I’ve been doing!

this was my hair in August of 2017

this is my hair this week!

isn’t it crazy how much it’s grown?! well here’s how I did it

major tips:

wash once a week

I used to wash my hair every ten days, with a shampoo that helped my eczema and then co-wash every five days. I thought that doing this was helping to keep my hair moisturized. After I had my sew-in I really realized how much I was overwashing my hair. Your hair needs water, but it doesn’t need to be washed that often. I shifted to washing my hair once a week and deep conditioning. I really like it, plus it’s easy to keep up with.

deep condition weekly

I cannot stress the importance of deep conditioning. What I’ve recently been doing is adding my deep conditioner (I’m using Natural Deep Conditioner by EDEN), deep conditioning for 15 minutes under the drier and then detangling after. The deep conditioning makes it really easy to comb through.

use a satin bonnet AND a satin pillow case

I only use satin products on my hair. I have two satin wraps, a scarf, a long bonnet, two regular size bonnets and two pillow cases. though my bonnet normally stays on, I like having the satin pillow case just in case my hairline comes outside of the bonnet. Plus the pillow cases are really pretty lol.

drink lots of water

I know I drink WAY more than most people do. I drink probably around a gallon of water a day. It keeps my body hydrated and my hair moisturized. You should at least be drinking half of your body weight in ounces!

detangle outside of the shower

As my hair has gotten longer, detangling takes a lot longer. I started detangling in the mirror outside of the shower for a couple reasons. One, I was tired of my hands turning pruney from being in the shower too long. Two, I wanted to see my hair as I was detangling it. This has allowed me to see tangles earlier so I’m not just ripping out my hair. Last week, I kept my hair in two french braids for a full week to see how much I shed, so I could get a basis for how much I should be shedding.

This is how much hair I shed after a week! I believe my routine along with detangling gently allowed for this to happen.

trim your hair (NOT YOU A PROFESSIONAL)

Getting trims are so important to maintaining healthy hair. I get a trim just about every time I need one- since I go so long with curly hair, I get them close to every time I get my hair done. After a trim my curls are so bouncy and beautiful. You should get your trim done by a professional- they went to school to learn how to trim properly and it is impossible to accurately trim your hair. My hairstylist has been doing hair for at least 20 years and told me she still struggles trimming her own hair. It’s just hard. So let someone else do it for you! And make sure that person is a professional.

keep a regime

Keeping a regime is crucial. As a college student, I’m busy. So I want to make sure that I can manage my school work, personal life and hair. Knowing how I’m going to do my hair helps me manage it all.

actual routine:

Wash day

Normally I wash my hair on Saturday or Sunday. I use Shea Moisture’s Jamaican Black Castor Oil Strengthen and Restore Shampoo. I normally wash three times.

Deep Conditioning

I use EDEN’s Natural Deep Conditioner when I deep condition. I lather it on my hair, then I put on a clear shower cap and sit under my drier for 15 minutes. I detangle outside of the shower; then I rinse my hair out with lukewarm water, then after it’s all out I use cold water to seal in the moisture.

After I rinse out the conditioner, I put a cotton t-shirt on over my head to dry it. After a while (I can leave mine on for like an hour and be fine, but I try to leave it on for like 10/15 minutes- my hair retains a lot of water), I take my hair down.

L (Liquid/Leave-In)- I spritz my hair down lightly with water. I then use Aloe Vera Gel (just regular from target) and Miss Jessie’s Leave in Condish.

O (Oil)- I use OGX Coconut Milk and Shea Butter. I try to limit my oils because I can get heavy handed (lol). When I use too much oil my face ends up being really oily. So just using the Coconut Milk with Shea Butter has really helped.

C (Cream)- I use Cantu’s Coconut Cream and Camille Rose’s Curlaide. I like the coconut cream becuase it’s really thick but the Curlaide leaves my hair feeling more hydrated so I use both.

Protective Style

I try to make sure that I do at least one protective style a week. Last week, I did french braids and left them in all week (I did wear a turban for about 3 days because the braids got a little too curly to wear out). This weekend one of my friends twisted my hair. That was on Saturday night, so I wore twists Sunday and Monday. Tomorrow, I plan on taking the twists down. Since twists work really well for my hair type, I will just add aloe vera, coconut milk and shea butter each night until I wash it again (this will preserve the curls and keep my hair moisturized). I love aloe vera gel because it goes on really easy and keeps my hair looking really nice (but it’s not water based so putting it on twists won’t ruin the twist out). Shea butter also can work as a cream!

These are recent pictures of my hair straight! I’ll do a blog pretty soon on how I care for and maintain my straight hair without heat!

I hope this helps! Let me know if you have any questions!

eczema care

I have eczema. I’ve had it for a pretty long time and as I’ve gotten older it’s become easier to deal with. My mother is very big into self-love and self-care, so I’ve always gone to a dermatologist. Even when I was younger if I had a flare up I would be in the dermatologist office. We’ve gone through two dermatologists and the one I have now is a keeper. I’ve had a series of bad flare ups on my scalp and my hand.

When my eczema on my scalp got bad it caused damage and hair loss. I ended up using a prescription shampoo every week for a good chunk of a year. I stopped and started again, which is when I really started going natural. As of now I use a couple shampoos for it (pictured below) and it keeps it pretty well-managed. I wash my hair pretty often though (about twice a week) and it keeps my scalp itch free. I made a promise to myself that once my scalp started itching I would work to become itch free. My hair is starting to grow back pretty quickly and I’m very proud!

I didn’t have eczema on my hand until December 2014. It started off as just dry skin and I tried to manage it. I did for a while but it came back July 2015. And that was horrible. It blistered and had cuts. Mind you this is on my hand so I was extremely self-conscious. I ended up going to the doctors (I couldn’t get into the dermatologist) and they gave me some cream and told me to use a thick lotion like Eucerin. It cleared up and I continued to use the Eucerin. I had a small flare up and ended up running out of creme earlier this year. I tried a new dermatologist who refilled my creme but told me to stay out of some much water and use the lotion. The lotion alone pretty much cleared up my skin. Even though I use the thickest lotion out of all of my friends, my eczema stays pretty clear. I also use the Aveeno eczema relief (my sister uses it more than I do) and the Banana Boat Aloe after sun lotion keeps my skin really moisturized all year round.

There are some known triggers to eczema: water and dairy. Decreasing the amount of dairy and exposure to water helps your skin. My old dermatologist told me to take 5 minute showers. Though my showers consistently are longer than 5 minutes, I have taken 5 minute showers. It can be done. If you think about it most of the time you’re just standing in the shower. If you stop standing there you can take a 5 minute shower.

My advice is find products that work for you. Many people don’t go to the dermatologist like they should, whether it’s for money or time reasons. But there are things you can do at home to help your eczema. The lotions I use I purchased at my local drug store. I know I got the Shea Moisture shampoo at Walgreens (their African Black Soap brand is specifically for people with eczema I usually use the deep cleansing one I just bought dandruff control on accident). I read online that the cleansing shampoo is sold out but you can request to be placed on the waiting list. Start taking care of your skin! You deserve to feel comfortable in your own skin.

Winter Hair Tips (again)

Hi loves! I just wanted to mention something that was brought up to me in my last hair care blog about winter hair tips. My blogs about hair are mainly (though never limited to) women with curly hair, when it is in it’s naturally curled state. For those of you who know me, you know that more often than not my hair is actually straightened (I go to a professional and get my hair done on a regular basis). Because of my hair type, I shouldn’t wash my hair more than one every week and a half or so (I have a mix of type 3c, 4a, and 4b hair when it’s curled), so it’s easier to just get it done every two weeks (plus I don’t press my own hair, so if I wash it I leave it curly). I’m mentioning all of this to say that when my hair is straight I DO NOT oil my hair everyday. I may oil it once a week or so, and then wrap and protective style. Thank you Lauryn, for pointing that out, I greatly appreciate that. And for oil I go to my local Lee’s Beauty Supply Store (though Sally’s or Ulta will do) and get Hollywood Beauty Coconut Oil, Castor Oil and Olive Oil. I like the coconut oil the best because it’s supposed to help your ends stay moisturized. Sometimes I’ll mix the two and use little to none (again when my hair is straight) I only add one drop, if that. My straight hair absorbs oils easily. If I oiled my hair every day my hair would look stringy (and horrid). As far as oiling every day I only might do that when my hair is curly (mostly because I wear it curly in the summer when I do wash-and-gos or co-wash my hair). I still suggest you all drink a bunch of water and take some hair vitamins. The vitamins really help. I go to Trader Joe’s, a take one of their women’s hair and nails vitamins. I have my hair goal (which I’m so excited to share since I never post pictures of my hair), which is below. I’m currently trying to grow out my hair, it was in layers and some of those layers where shorter than others. It was cut the end of January to above my shoulders when it was straight. After tons of work on getting my hair healthy and happy, I’m just growing it out now. I hope you all have your hair goals planned out and ready to go! Feel free to comment any hair topics you want me to address, I’d love to hear from you all! Stay fabulous!