Search Results: NaturallyCurly
Coloring your hair opens the cuticles, so we must be sure to close them back down!
Deep conditioning after any permanent chemical dye is a good way to lock moisture into your hair. Chemicals will only further damage dry, over-porous hair, so it’s important to maintain the proper moisture levels in the hair.
Silica supplements, usually from the plant horsetail (Equisetum”> can increase the thickness of hair and help it maintain its strength and elasticity. Plant-based forms of silica have varied absorption rates. Choline-stabilised orthosilicic acid has been tested and demonstrated to be effective, but is more expensive.
Silica supplements should be used with caution: horsetail herb can cause liver damage and vitamin B1 deficiency if overused.
Try a warm oil scalp massage two or three times a week to stimulate and moisturize the scalp. Use good-quality coconut, olive or almond oil, slightly warmed, and gently massage the oil into your scalp with the pads of your fingers. Leave on at least two hours, preferably overnight, then shampoo the oil from your hair. You can also use Ayurvedic hair oils containing Bhringaraj—also called “king of tresses”—and Brahmi.
Want to add slip (detangling”> to your cleansing? Add oil to your shampoo. Coconut oil is wonderful for hair, evening primrose oil is soothing and healing to the scalp, canola oil is light and has little scent. You can also use melted shea butter or cocoa butter—any vegetable fat found in most natural hair products will do.
Add 1/8 teaspoon to 1/4 teaspoon to a very shallow palmful of shampoo for fine hair, or 1-2 teaspoons for thick or very curly hair. Your shampoo will probably foam more than usual, but your hair will be left feeling silky.
Ayurvedic herbs that promote healthy hair health include Eclipta alba and Gotu Kola. Eclipta alba is called “Bhringaraj”—literally, king of tresses. It nourishes the hair and offers resistance to stress as well. Brahmi, sometimes called Gotu Kola, also helps balance the mind and nourishes the hair and scalp. Since Ayurveda considers the health, color and luster of hair so dependent on overall mind/body health, synergistic Ayurvedic herbs are also wonderful for healthy hair.
Once a week, apply a keratin hair mask to just-washed hair and leave in for ten minutes. The conditioners in the mask coat the hair and seal the cuticle (which helps prevent frizz”>, while the keratin treatment strengthens hair to help it resist damage.
Hops, a vine whose flowers are used to flavor beer, has cleansing and bodifying properties for hair. Make a hair rinse with 2-3 teaspoons dried herbs (or 3 tablespoons fresh flowers”> to 1 cup of boiling water, let it steep for 15 minutes, strain out the herbs and use it as a hair wash or rinse when it has cooled.
If you can only find powdered hops, tie the powder up in a square of old t-shirt or put the herbs in a coffee filter and pour the water over them, let the filter and herbs soak in the water, tied with a rubber band or string. Leave this rinse in your hair.
Straw sun protection hats can be your greatest asset at the beach. Not only do they offer shade from the beaming sun, but they also protect hair from potential heat damage caused by UV rays. To avoid the sun’s damaging rays, cover up with a stylish fedora or wide-brimmed hat as a trendy protective measure. Headbands and scarves are also fashionable alternatives.
In high humidity and water, hair can swell up to 15% in diameter, but only 2% in length. Sodium lauryl sulfate (in shampoo”> causes hair to swell in a similar manner, but causes more damage because of its ability to de-grease. Avoid too-frequent wetting of hair or prolonged wetting, and always watch hair for signs of needing special treatment such as breakage.
In a professional business setting, it is best to keep hair out of the face, clean and neat, no matter what texture your hair. Longer than shoulder-length hair should be pulled back. If you choose to wear long hair down, it should have an intentional, polished style.
Messy or even casual hair is a definite business-dress “don’t.” Avoid strongly fragranced products; nobody should be able to smell your hair.
Topical niacin may be an effective thinning hair treatment for women. A special form of niacin is required—one that is lipophilic (myristyl nicotinate”> and can penetrate deeply into the skin (this type is often used to treat photodamaged skin”>.
This treatment requires a prescription. Large doses of oral niacin can have serious side effects and will not improve hair growth unless one is niacin-deficient. Oral niacin supplements should not be applied to the skin.
Coloring gray hair requires special coloring consideration since it is often thinner and more delicate. Semi-permanent hair color is less damaging than permanent and lasts about 20 washes. Space your washings apart and co-washing can help to make the color last longer. Use protein treatments and deep conditioning treatments, but not within a week of coloring as the scalp will already be sensitive.
Remember that gray hair loses color more quickly than pigmented hair and is more susceptible to all kinds of damage (sunlight, water, combing”>. Be sure to use products such as Curl Junkie Curl Assurance Gentle Cleansing Shampoo and beauty routines that will help to maintain color.
“Hair Lust,” a series of drawings by illustrator Laura Rosenbaum, will debut at the opening of HurlyBurly, the Graduate Illustration group show opening at the Museum at the Fashion Institute of Technology on June 7.
Rosenbaum portrays characterizations of hair envy, lust and fascination in her sketchbook. Using lines and simple poetry, she expresses how women feel about their different hair textures and how they use their manes to define themselves. Describing the project, Rosenbaum said, “Nothing else quite compares to the way a girl sees herself through her hair. My capstone project, ‘Hair Lust,’ is a series of intimate drawings and prose about the introspective relationship between girls and their hair.”
“My drawings speak to this magical fiber, its silky lure, and all the yearning it induces,” she adds. “Whether it is curly, straight, wavy, kinky, fluffy, or thin, hair slides, bounces, and dances, creating a life of its own.”
The images in “Hair Lust” present beauty through a spectrum of different hair types. Sometimes humorous and sometimes longing, Rosenbaum’s hair art and prose flirt with magic and desire.
Juliane Pieper, of “Jitter Magazine for Visual Design,” writes: “Laura’s girls rule their world with untamed hair and manicured nails in rainbow colors. The artist’s sassy writing adds an ironic bite to the elegant and playful line she uses to draw her females. Her handwriting is as fresh as the girls in her images whose edge is their mystery, their strength.”
The Museum will host an opening from 5:30-7:30pm on June 7. The show will be on view through July 2. The Museum at F.I.T. is located at Seventh Avenue and 27 Street. It is open to the public Tuesday to Friday (noon-8pm”> and Saturday (10am-5pm”>.
Laura Rosenbaum is an illustrator, writer, and designer living in Brooklyn, NY. A half Jewish/half Dominican native New Yorker, she is inspired by her scattered freckles and abounding curly hair. She uses paper, ink, digital media, and makeup to create illustrations that mix girlish sass with fashion magic. Her clients include Glamour Spain, Nylon Japan, the New York City Department of Education and KnollTextiles.
Store brand, generic products can be the same as salon or more expensive products, but for a much lower price. If you’re trying to replicate the results you get from a brand name product, compare the ingredients lists. You want the ingredients to match as closely as possible. Look for salon supply stores or drugstore brands for inexpensive versions of pricier products.
For a boost in hair strength and growth, consider a supplement. Dermatologists recommend taking a multivitamin with biotin and fish oil to make your hair stronger.
Fragrant and moisturizing, a sweetly old-fashioned spritz for your parched hair and skin:
- 1 cup distilled or filtered water
- 2 tablespoons vegetable glycerin
- 5-10 drop rose hip seed essential oil
- 1/4 cup fresh rose petals or 1 tablespoon dried rose petals
- Boil the cup of water and add the rose petals.
- Let this steep overnight, then strain out the rose petals and add the glycerin and rose essential oil. Combine these ingredients in a spray bottle that has been sterilized with rubbing alcohol, shake and refrigerate.
Other herbs could substitute for the roses and rose oil—chamomile teabags, dried or fresh leaf rosemary, lavender buds, other essential oils or evening primrose oil.
Many protein and deep conditioning treatments recommend using heat during the treatment process. But does heat really do anything?
The simple answer is yes. Heat speeds up chemical reactions and helps products bond to the cuticles of our hair. Heat may also improve the ability of the active ingredients in these products to adhere to more sites on the cuticle.
Many ingredients in conditioners (oils, butters, emollients, emulsifiers”> also become more liquid with heating. This may improve their ability to diffuse through the cuticle. Water also causes hair to swell, making it more permeable to conditioners. The result? Heat, moisture, and product combining to create, softer, silkier hair.
Root touch-up pens can be used to cover the color of your roots between colorings—whether you have highlights, are covering gray, going lighter or darker or a different color completely. Root touch up pens/markers are used like a magic marker to color the roots, but will wash out next time you cleanse your hair.
