Moisturize Your Hair with E.A.S.E.: 4 Easy Steps

Whether you are relaxed or natural, we all have challenges keeping our hair properly moisutrized. This challenge is magnified during the colder months when there is little to no moisture in the air to aid in moisture retention. Yet it is ever more imperative to keep proper moisture balance in the colder, drier months.

It would seem easy to moisturize our hair, right? After all, most of us remember sitting between our mother's, auntie's or grammy's legs getting our hair "greased" on Saturday evening? :)

When we began our HHJ (healthy haircare journey), we were told this was NOT good for our hair. However, we were told to still moisturize our hair. And ever since, the moisture balance has been a cat and mouse game.

Hopefully the following 4 easy steps will help add some "method" to the madness of keeping hair properly moisturized. Believe me, you can do it with E.A.S.E.!

Edges

The first step in moisturizing hair properly is to apply your moisturizer to your hair's edges. You do this by applying some moisture mix or oil to your fingertips and apply to your edges all the way around your hairline. Do not rub in circular motions, but from your forehead going back to your crown area. This will also help smooth your edges.

All Over

Next take a quarter-sized amount (at least) and apply it all over your hair. This will help to make hair more pliable for the next step. If your hair is longer and thicker or finer, you may have to adjust the amount based on what your hair is able to withstand.

Sections

Part hair in 4 sections: ear to ear and front to back. Take at least a  quarter-sized amount of your moisturizer and apply it to each section. You will have to determine exactly how much moisturizer your hair needs in order to maintain proper moisture balance without being greasy or heavy.

Ends

Sealing the moisture in the ends is extremely important to maintaining proper moisture balance. The ends are the oldest part of your hair strand. It's drier than the rest of the strand. Excessive dry ends can lead to split ends and breakage. We often do not pay enough attention to our ends. But in order to really obtain the full benefits of properly moisturizing your hair, it is imperative to apply some sealant oil to the ends of your hair. It is easy to do this since your hair is already in sections from the previous step. Among the most popular oils to seal your ends with are EVOO (Extra Virgin Olive Oil), coconut oil and castor oil.

Now that you know how to moisturize your hair with E.A.S.E., your hair will thank you by retaining length even during these cold, dry months ahead.

The Be-Attitudes of the Summer Style Series

In order to gain the most out of the Summer Style Series, there are some "Be-Attitudes" you should consider....

BE Open: Use this time to explore new ways of doing things and new ideas. It is important for your personal development and growth to have new experiences and to learn new things. While this series may seem to focus on outward beauty, the ultimate goal is to celebrate your inner beauty and enhance your outer beauty.

BE Yourself: This is definitely a time to become more comfortable in your own skin (and hopefully you will have a natural glow when we’re done). Determine your personal style and your signature self. Allow this time of growth & rejuvenation to put you closer with your authentic self. You will be glad you did…and so will those around you!

BE Reasonable: You may not see instant results as you institute the techniques and habits we discuss. But remember, “slow and steady wins the race.” Generally you can see visible result in 2-4 weeks (sometimes longer). So don’t give up!

BE Daring: Try new things! It’s as simple as that… :)

BE Safe: I’m NOT a medical or beauty professional. The techniques & products I discuss are ones that are part of my personal beauty & health regimen. When appropriate you should consult your doctor before starting exercise, vitamin or other health related regimens.

If you adopt these, you will have an INCREDIBLE, beautiful summer!

Stay beautiful!

S3: Summer Style Series!

I've been remiss in keeping my blog readers informed about the Summer Style Series, S3. Not because I don't love you, because I do! But mostly because I didn't want to be cheesy or lazy and just embed the videos here. I wanted to give you a bit more commentary at least about the videos. But that takes quite a bit of time...time I'm struggling to find right now. But I promise you, as I can post things, I definitely will. In the meantime, please feel free to check out the series here. It's some good stuff actually! And I would love to hear how some of the tips and products work for you!

Also, if there is something you would like to see discussed or featured in the series, let me know. If you are doing something similar on your blog, let me know. I'm especially interested in makeup looks (not my forte :)) Let's build a summer style series community!

Stay beautiful!

Haute and Hair: Protective Styling Until My One-Year Nappiversary

I'm still trucking along on my natural hair care journey. I've had some good days, bad days and some hills to climb...but as the song says, I won't complain :).

Well, my only complaint is that my hair isn't growing at the rate I feel it should or as it has grown in the past. So in preparation for my one-year "nappiversary" I plan to wear my hair in protective styles and basically "hide my hair" until June (hopefully). I will say, I already miss my curls, but hopefully they will be longer and poppin' when I reveal my hair for my nappiversary!

So to the left <--- is what I'm rocking right now...Kinky Twists. They are a little over a week old. The first week was a challenge because they itched so badly! But after consulting my trusty LHCF and YouTube, I decided to wash them. And my scalp is grateful! Before washing, I was not sure if I was going to make it even a month, especially not the two months I was hoping to keep them in. But now a month is going to be doable (I like to change styles so often, I can't commit to anything past a month right now :).

I'm working on a style tutorial on the style I'm rocking. It's so simple! Ten minutes and you're done!

Let me know if you are on a protective style challenge (personally or part of a group) or if you're hiding your hair and how you're rocking your hair while hiding.

Stay beautiful!

Back Full Circle...Picture Comparison

Hey everyone...

I apologize for neglecting the blog...YouTube has kept me busy! But I will try to balance writing with recording videos. Now if someone can get me another 3-4 hours in my day, I'll be doing a 100! LOL

Anyhoo, I wanted to share a couple of pictures with you. Below is my hair when I began my "healthy hair journey" back in December 2007.

Here is my hair when I made the decision to go natural...

Here is my hair when I BC'd on June 26, 2009

Now here I am back full circle in February, 2010...

Essentially I am back where I was when I started my healthy hair journey a little over two years ago (my layers are a bit shorter than 2007). All things considered, I think it's not a bad place to be.

I can't wait to post pics on my Nappiversary in June. I am debating whether or not I'm going to "hide my hair" until then or not. I tend to get bored really easily with protective styling, so I don't know. Keep checking back for the latest in the ongoing saga that is called "My Healthy Hair Journey!"

Happy Hair Growing!

Trendy Socialite

The 2009 Hair Year in Review

Below is a video of my hair journey during 2009! Enjoy....

I'd love to see your year in review...Post links in the comment box.

Happy Hair Growing!

The Best $2-3 You Will Spend on Hair Care

I sleep wild...very wild!!!! All over the bed; under the cover, on top of cover....I'm never quite sure how I will wake up the next day. Needless to say, this is problematic for me while trying to protect and hide my hair. Because after a night of wild sleeping I wake up with my hair on top of my head and uncovered. I've tried every type of product known to man, so of course of I was skeptical when this product was recommended on LHCF.

I purchased it at Wal-Mart a few days ago. And can I tell you that I LOVE IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! For the first time I have found a head cover that stays on all night. Through tossing and turning, flipping and flopping...it stays completely on.

If you purchase this and it doesn't work, you clearly sleep wilder than I do (if that is possible). You might want to get that checked...LOL

The only CON I see with this product...it's a head cover! It's hard to be cute (when going to bed with your DH or SO) when wearing most any head covering, especially one that is meant to protect as opposed to one for fashion. But if that's the only thing that I can find wrong with it, then I'll suffer through it...

I truly believe this is the best $2-3 you can ever spend on hair care...I don't think you will be sorry!

Simply Fascinating Hair Candy

My latest obsession...making flowers for my hair!!!! Hair candy at it's best