Myths and Legends Afro Hair - Part 2

Greasing the Scalp vs Essential Oils

How many hair dressers and relatives have told you to grease up your scalp after it has been washed as you hair needs grease. I don't even know who told me  to do this, its just something that I had always done. Greased my scalp with a pomade or other petroleum based oil. Probably because I grew up with my Mummy greasing up my scalp too.

You hair doesn't need grease, it needs moisture and possibly an essential or carrier oil. You can read about Essential Oils and Carrier Oils by clicking on this link. Products with petrolatum, or petroleum do not moisturise your hair. They coat your hair preventing moisture from getting in. To solve this problem, I sometimes very rarely only if I need it use a good scalp oil and I moisturise my hair and then seal in the moisture with a good carrier oil.

Scalp Oils that I recommend:

Mizani Comfiderm, £12.25 at Leilu's Amazon
Doo Gro Anti Itch Growth Oil  £5.95 at Leilu's Amazon
Avalon Kera Care Essential Oil  £7.54 at Leilu's Amazon
Phyto Nectar Treatment  £13.50 @ Leilu's Amazon
Paul Mitchell Tea Tree Range also at Leilu's Amazon


For the hair itself a daily moisturiser (very little) is all that is required particularly on the ends. Bare in mind that your ends are the oldestpart of your hair and need the most care. First moisturise your hair with a good leave in conditioner, your hair does not have to look greasy and then seal that moisture in with a good carrier oil.

Leave in Conditioners/Moisturisers that I recommend:
Mizani Moisturising Silkening Liquid Gel £16.95 @ Leilu's Amazon
Silky Locks K2H 365 leave-in conditioner", £5.99 @ rootsandsculpture.co.uk
Suki Skincare’s Hair Scalp Conditioning Oil @ Harvey Nichols


Carrier Oils for Sealing that I recommend
Olive Oil 
Palmers Olive Oil Formula Hair Scalp Conditioner Spray £4.70 @ Leilu's Amazon
Coconut Oil
Palmers Coconut Oil £3,59 @ Leilu's Amazon
Castor Oil
My preferred is Jamaican Black Castor Oil, but there are others available at Leilu's Amazon
Jojoba Oil, Vitamin E or Carrot Oil are also good.

Can't get JBCO - COMING SOON! - AFRODEITY'S ONLINE STORE.


Alternatively read Jamaican Black Castor OIl Breakdown: Where to Buy
If you stock JBCO in your store, wherever you may be in the UK, please let us know.
afrodeityuk@yahoo.co.uk

Embrace Your Inner AfroDeity
Leilu

Myths about Afro Hair 101


Skeptics, Non Believers, Myths and Legends

Do you have this problem, people thinking you are crazy to take care of your hair. The myths about black hair being so ingrained into some peoples psyche that they wont even try to be open minded about your efforts.

Whenever people come to visit, I get the usual, "Wow your hair has really grown" or " My God, you wash your hair twice a week!! Are you out of your mind, you'll damage it and wash out all the natural oils"

Sigh! The latter really winds me up considering the former. If someone told me that they never wash their hair or they wash it every day and they saw results I would say go with it. (Though from personal experience I know these methods definitely don't work for me!)
Anyway... I thought I would start writing a couple of posts on myths and legends.

Myths and Legends 101 
Lesson 1 - Washing black hair too often damages it!

Let me start by saying that water is good for our type of hair. I know your mother, your grandmother and every female relative you have have told you to wash your hair as infrequently as possible.
However, did you ever notice how gorgeous your hair looks after it has been washed.
Nothing to do with leaving it to get as oily and dirty as possible. Washing frequently (twice a week), can do wonders for your hair but you have to do it right.

You know what can be damaging for our hair - Shampoo or the wrong type of shampoo.
Our curly hair gets very dry (especially in the winter months) and while washing the hair can add that much needed moisture shampooing your hair is another matter all together.
Your hair needs the moisture and your scalp needs to be clean in order for it to grow. However what you dont need are any more harsh agents on the scalp or on the strands.

I recommend PrePooing and Cowashing to alleviate these problems and also using a sulphate free shampoo or at least a more oraganic or natural shampoo or a shampoo specifically for our type of hair.
Please steer clear of head and shoulders, look at the ingredients on main stream shampoos  and educate yourself, these strip the moisture and essential oils out of our hair. You do not need to spend a fortune or a lot of time to make your hair grow, thicken or look good.


“Every time you wash your hair you strip out moisture, so you have to add it in with the products you use” explains Amir Delijani
Experts Recommend
Joliette Nourishing Shampoo  £10 and Hair Mud Mask £15 at The AfroDeity Store
Alterna Caviar Moisture Shampoo, £17.99 and Conditioner, £26.35 by Alterna at Leilu's Amazon
My personal favourite from this range is the Alterna Caviar Treatment Hair Masque £28.50







“Shampoo twice with a moisturising or detangling shampoo, massage into the scalp, roots, middle and then end. When you condition, towel dry first, then apply conditioner to the hair concentrating on the ends” explains Errol Douglas.

Please see my post on how to wash ones hair correctly, including Pre-poo, Shampoo and Cowash.

I hope someone out there gets something from this- Click on the links to expand on what shampoo, cowash ad prepoo really mean.

Embrace Your Inner AfroDeity
Leilu

Discount Codes Black Hair

Don't Forget to use your voucher codes to get some money off at the following retailers

AfroDesire would like to invite all current and future followers of AfroDeity and AfroDeityUK to use their special discount voucher.  Just to start off with they have created a £5 off voucher with a minimum spend of £100.  
The discount code is: AD-AFRODEITY and that can be used during checkout on www.afrodesire.com.

For more offers and discounts Click Here

Embrace your Inner AfroDeity
Leilu

Leilu UK Spreadshirt


Finally available Leilu's UK Spreadshirt, with a diverse range of T-shirts, mugs, beautiful tote bags, aprons and even a few baby towels.

Come and take a look @ Afrodeity's Apparel



Also dont forget for the US Spreadshirt - Leilu's Spreadshirt


Embrace Your Inner AfroDeity
Leilu

Chris Rock's Good Hair: British White Male


Finally got to see this. Gosh, didn't realise I was going to have to wait this long.

I sat down to watch this with my husband, who is white British. He grew up in an entirely white neighbourhood, didn't have any black friends until he met me 10 years ago and the only black women he had ever seen on TV and taken any notice of was Grace Jones in a James Bond film, the Cosby Show and the Fresh Prince. So I thought that having a black wife it might be a good idea for him to see this radically bizarre film. I had previously tried to describe to him what it was I spent an entire Saturday doing to my hair but I dont think he really got why I had to spend so much time and money tinkering with it and what type of psychological craziness we as black women deal with.

So after the film had finished I asked my husband several quick questions?

AD: What did you think of the film?
H: It was all right, if not bizarre

AD: Have you ever seen my hair in its natural state?
H: Wasn't it it in its natural state when I met you?
AD: No that was a curly perm (which I then had to go on to explain)
H: Then No!

AD: Would you prefer that I shaved my head or had a weave?
H: If it meant that we could eat that week then I think you should shave your head, but if we could afford it I would rather you had straight hair, but I love you and your hair is part of you and I accept it and you however you are.

AD: Would you let our daughter or our son straighten their hair?
H: I didn't realise how harmful the chemical could be, but I would accept whatever they wanted they wanted to do to their hair as long as they were old enough to make that decision and pay for it themselves. (laughs)

He also thought that it was more just a exaggeration of what all vain women and men go through not just those who are black. Whether it be by dying their hair or turning themselves orange with self tan. He referred to the two contesant on the Bronner Brother Show, one who had botox that looked extremely painful and the other that was wearing 4 inch heels on stage.
He felt that black women seemd so comfortable with their figures but have this obsesseion with their hair, whereas white women (he has two sisters and a mum) spend countless hours and pounds worrying abouth their weight and their figures. 


He also said he didn't realise how much the industry was worth and didn't realise it was controlled by other nationalities.

All in all he said he had learned something and it was an interesting documentary.

My take on the film:

I am litle confused as to why so many people had such a problem with a film that highlighted the contradiction of the black female (and some male) and their hair.  I know African Americans have a slightly different take on this, but being third generation of a caribbean family living here in England, hair and anything to do with colour is generally a taboo subject.

The idea that we straighten our hair to look white is a bit of a reach though, I certainly would not like to have the hair of any of my white colleagues, frankly its dull, drab and flat and I love the variety that I get with my kinky, coily hair. I would however comment that fashions change, the afro is seen as 70s dated style, trying to make a statement and the current style of all women, black, white, purple and yellow is a more scandinavian look. My Japanese friends dye their hair blond and my white friends cant live without their GHDs to make their hair straight, to conform to todays fashion. However if the fashion changed tomorrow and the curly perm was back in I am sure we would all toss out our hot combs.

In England, unless you live in a big city you will more than likely be in a minority of the people around you. Up until two months ago I was the only black female at my place of work for the past 5 years, and one black male had worked there for a couple of months in that period. I never used to talk about my hair up until recently and the idea that for two of the years that they had known me I had sported a weave was a surprise. One of my white colleagues did surprise me when she forgot her GHDs at a friends and freaked out for a week that her hair wasn't straight enough, I mean how would she cope. So it really does boil down to our society and the way we interpret and look at beauty. Obviously my opinions are one of a black English girl and the American market although similar is a little different to ours. Also it took almost two years to be released here and for Chris to appear on several chat shows here (talking about other films - 'Death at a funeral' etc) before this was even mentioned on mainstream British TV.

I think Chris Rock did a good job addressing so many of the issues in one film and making it entertaining enough that I didn't fall asleep.
You can buy this film from Leilu's Amazon by clicking on Add to Basket  or it is now available to rent on Love Film!

Embrace Your Inner AfroDeity
Leilu

Where to Buy: Edgestick

Before I embark on this post, can I warn you away from the "Carmen Root Straight & Shine Hair Styler". Only one review on Amazon from and it was from someone with afro/relaxed hair and it was not a good one. This product is only £13.99 so might seem tempting but according to this reviewer not a good idea.

Places to Buy the Edgestick:

My New Edgestick



Wow!!
Okay so I know I am late to the party, but my lovely Mummy bought me an EdgeStick for my birthday and I have to admit it is the best present I have gotten since I got my GHDs.

Really worth it. So I know I have been raving about these for about a year now, these and the Tangle Teezer and although I own a Tangle Teezer I had yet to try the Edge Stick myself. So I gather that many of you out there must be going " but has she even tried it" and I can now say with confidence yes I have.

A short video of it use and some pictures of before and after to follow. My Mummy loved it so much she wants one for herself now.

After washing and blow drying my hair, I took it out of the packet and I could instantly see how the engineering and design made it work, its kinda like a pair of hot combs wrapped around curling tongs. When I finally read the instruction and figured out how to work it (seamlessly simple to use). I then combed out a section at the front of my hair and combed it through, it became straight instantly and I decided to continue around the edges. I was bit frightened at first to put this thing so near to my hair as when I put my hand around it, it was actually hot, but I soon realised this was the heat from the barrel and all that heat wasn't going to touch my head. My hair looked like it had just been processed. You know what its like you get to 7 or 8 weeks and especially if like me you stretch to 12 no matter what you do to keep your hair neat there are always those tell tale edges that you cant straighten or brush and they just detract from the look. These solve that problem completely. I canerowed my hair in two after touching up with the EdgeStick and the difference was amazing.

I really loved this tool and I will definitely be posting a video in the next couple of days. If you too would like to find out more about my experience email me at leilu@afrodeity.co.uk.


Embrace Your Inner AfroDeity
Leilu