Long Curly Hair Blog

Is it bad to get your hair wet every day?

2008-07-29T18:58:00.000-07:00

The short answer is, it may or may not be.

The long answer is a long answer.

According to Lorraine Massey, our hair will let us know how often it wants to be wet down. (By the way, I'm a total hypocrite when it comes to thumping Curly Girl canon. I refer to it when it suits my needs, and ignore it when I don't agree with it. I am like the preacher in Footloose.)

So according to this, my hair is letting me know that it wants to be wet every day. It is accomplishing this via refusing to look like anything besides a
shit sandwich if I don't get it wet.

There is absolutely no way I can wear it down and curly without wetting it first. I have tried leaving it in a braid or such for several days, though. Even if I put oil or stuff like that on it, it dries out. It really seems to demand actual water. For me personally, I also find it more convenient to get it wet when I'm in the shower, rather than try to keep it out of the water. And the water feels good too.

If your hair doesn't dry out all funky like that like mine does, then I don't believe you have to get it wet that often either. If it retains water better than mine, or if it is curlier and harder to detangle, or any other things preclude you from getting it wet all the time, then by all means, don't. My point is more that the taboo against getting hair wet frequently when one is trying to grow it long, does not hold in all cases. In some cases, I am sure that it does. Just not all.

"Don't try too hard."

2008-07-28T23:51:00.000-07:00

This has come up often lately in my various internet travels. I tried to make a joke about it the other day and no one got it.

Years ago, I used to play a videogame on Regular NES called Faxanadu.  In the game, occasionally you could visit a shopkeeper.  The shopkeeper could dispense useful
items such as "Dried meat to bring energy, 50 golds."  He also dispensed the following advice:

"Don't try too hard."

This usually resulted in my housemates and I jumping up and down, and shouting, "What do you mean DON'T TRY TOO HARD??? It's six AM and we've been playing this thing for eighteen hours!!!!   DON'T TRY TOO HARD????"

The more people I see who are in the trenches of trying to recover from a hair disaster though, the more this advice comes to mind.  At times it is like
"I put a chemical process on my hair and now I don't know what to do!  I conditioned it five times today and nothing helps!"
And then I am like, "Dude, settle down, let it rest for a while."  Then they come on an hour later and go,
"I just used two different protein packs and four conditioners and it's just making it worse!"

Some of the best hair products are time and rest, and they are free.

I'm not an advocate of the idea that we are only supposed to rarely get our hair wet and condition it. My hair seems to love being watered and conditioned regularly, just about every day. What I am mostly against is trying a zillion new things in a day, and that much rinsing and manipulation.

If you try so many things in a day, and still have problems, it may be just from trying so many things in a day. Even if it is a specific product issue, no one can ever diagnose which one, if you tried so many things.

The times that I've peroxided my hair into puffiness, or done other terrible things to it, I had to leave it alone for a while. Yes, deep treatments and other things did eventually help, but not all in one day. It just had to settle down for a while first.

I'm saying this in the hopes that it will help someone with a hair disaster. If your hair is long enough to put up, put it up and forget about it for a bit. It will settle some.

Don't try too hard!

Protein.

2008-07-27T23:37:00.000-07:00

How do I figure out if my hair needs protein or not?

Grab one of your shed hairs that came out in the shower. You are only detangling in the shower with conditioner, right? Good. So grab one of the hairs that came out.

Stretch it.

Did it snap right away without stretching at all? If so, it has enough protein and needs more moisture.

Did it stretch way far and if you let go of one end did it not return to something close to its original length? If so, it needs protein.

Did it stretch to about 20-30% of its original length then return to something like its original length when you let go of one end? Congratulations, it is perfect! Continue to monitor it though. It can change, and fast.

Henna.

2008-07-22T01:35:00.000-07:00

A lot of people are curious about henna. And why shouldn't they be, it's a natural hair dye that actually improves the condition of most hair.

There are a lot of frequently asked questions about henna.

Is henna permanent?

Oh hell yes. You probably can't even bleach it out. Don't henna your hair unless you want red/orange dye in it until the day it is grown out and cut off.

What if I have dark brown or black hair? Will henna make my hair bozo orange?

No. The analogy I hear most often is crayons on construction paper. If you color with a reddish orange crayon on blonde construction paper, you will get a more dramatic result than you will by coloring on dark brown or black. Henna never removes your natural pigment, only adds its reddish orange onto it. If your hair is a very dark color, you will only get a red sheen in bright sun or other bright lighting. However if you have lighter natural (or artificial) highlights, those will turn red/orange. And if you attempt to bleach or peroxide some highlights at any time while still having the henna in your hair, it is extremely likely you will be unable to lift out the henna, and can only get them to red/orange.

What henna should I use?

I would recommend to use only body art quality henna from a reputable supplier. There are some sketchy hennas going around. Even health food stores offer brands of henna that come in "blonde," "brown," "black," et cetera. Frankly, henna is only orangeish red. Any other product claiming to be henna and be a different color is lying. Even some of the "reputable" brands sold at "reputable" health food stores, people have emailed about and the bottom line was that the manufacturer basically had no idea what they were selling. Take responsibility for where you get your own henna. Body art quality is the way to go, and IT'S ALWAYS ORANGEISH RED. On hair, I mean. It looks green when you buy it.

Do I have to mix henna with lemon juice? Won't that be drying?

Yep, lemon juice will be drying, and no, you don't have to do it. I started out that way at first, then switched to mixing it with just my tapwater. My tapwater is pH 8.3, so it might not work if your tapwater is very alkaline. Distilled water which is 7.0 (neutral) should always work.

An interesting note on tea: a lot of people say if you're afraid your tapwater is too alkaline, then make it into a tea for some acid. Well. I made some strong green tea using my 8.3 tapwater, and then tested it. 5.6. It had acidified. So I added it to the henna that I have and mixed it. The mix reached 4.7. Guess how much the henna was when I just added it to my tapwater? 4.7. I'm not convinced tea is doing anything, but I only tried the once.

Does henna dry out or moisturize your hair? What's up with that?

I don't find it moisturizing, at all. What I do find it is strengthening. And it adds way shine. I usually have to moisturize afterwards. My hair gets stronger, but it's slightly tore up from the floor up from the rinsing process and everything. Some people have had luck with additives like oil, conditioner, honey, but I haven't even tried that since I've been trying to get as much dye out of it as possible, and these things are said to impede uptake of the dye.

How can I dye my hair brown or black with henna?

Mix it with indigo, or for black, use a two step process with indigo.

If all this is such a pain in the ass, why would I want to use henna?

It's a natural way of using a plant to dye your hair, and while it may not seem so immediately, it really is beneficial for hair in the long run, at least in my experience. It is definitely not for everyone though. Chemical dye was faster, but it smelled horrible and made my eyes water. And washed out in a week while leaving behind peroxide damage. I'll stick with henna.

The basic Curly Girl method.

2008-07-22T00:13:00.000-07:00

Others have explained this better than I can. Most notably, Lorraine Massey in the Curly Girl book. But there are some pretty good summaries here and here.

To summarize: stop shampooing and stop brushing. And stop blowing it straight and flatironing. And start deep conditioning. Easier said than done, right?

If your hair is long enough, stop there and start wearing it up as much as you can, at least for a while. My hair is always in the best condition when I wear it up as much as possible. And I can even throw extra oil in it and have it not look gross.

If your hair isn't long enough to wear up, read on. There are styling products and diffusers. I don't particularly think these are damaging, if the styling products are carefully chosen and the diffuser is set on 'cool.' Drying alcohols are bad; heat is bad, but these are not found in good stylers and diffusers that are set on 'cool.'

I'm trying to wear my hair up as much as I can, but I still like it down with the gel and diffuser sometimes. Otherwise I miss my curls. What's the point of having them if I can't ever see them?

The reason for this blog.

2008-07-21T23:53:00.000-07:00

O hai!

The reason for this blog is that while there are sites about curly hair care, and sites about long hair care, information can be slim about doing both at the same time. A lot of the information out there about long hair care is geared for straight hair. As in the series Little House on the Prairie, brushing our hair a hundred strokes each night? Nooooo.

I also want to keep my hair at a length where I can wear it down and enjoy the curls sometimes. Wearing it up or braided is a nice break for it, but I have no intention of growing it so long that I can't wear it down.

My personal history is that I had my hair sort of long (but kind of fried and gross):

Look at that one sad lonely little curl on the right, just trying to pop out and make itself known. I love you, little curl.

And in a few months got it curly and shiny:

Yes, it is shorter in the second picture. I only discovered the curls when I cut it, but amazing things have happened since then. I wish to grow it as long again, but this time keep it curly and healthy, and explore what things are stretching it out, or helping it curl.

That is the reason for this blog.

Join me!