YOUR HAIR NEEDS | NATALIE PURSUE:INSPIRE

Happy Monday lovelies! 

Also Happy 60TH Ghana Independence to any fellow Ghanaians reading! 

Waaaaaaay back in a January post I mentioned that one of my hair goals was “to maintain healthy hair by looking at past experiences, doing research and implementing a consistent routine”. When you first go natural after perming, naturally you start to look for products that will work will with your “new” texture as your old products may not work on your hair as well. Part of my journey was making a list of different ingredients which were great for hair and the reasons why. I then started purchasing different oils and butter and make my own homemade products according to what qualities I wanted to bring out in my hair (back then it was mostly fast growth). 

I lost that discipline (and actually maybe that list) over the years but it’s something I’ve been wanting to relive to two reasons:

1) I get to pick what goes in my hair creams

2) I don’t become a product junkie haha!

However this time round instead of focusing on what I want to bring out in my hair, I want to think about what my hair NEEDS! That really should be the primary thought that drives us to research and buy products that will benefit our hair’s health, instead of just jumping on the latest hair trend. What should I be looking for in terms of hair needs? What question should I be asking to narrow down my search? Here are a few suggestions/pointers:

How porous in my hair?

Is my hair fine or coarse?

Is my hair always dull looking?

How well does it retain moisture?

Is my scalp intolerant to anything?

Does my hair break easily? If yes, why?

There are so many more questions you could ask but I’ll leave the suggestions there. When you have answers to your questions, you can go ahead and do your research. Read books and blogs on natural hair, google keywords such as “oils for moisturising natural hair” and note down your findings. This will help you to make more informed decisions when picking and trialling what’s best for you, as well as making notes on what didn’t work.

I must say that I can’t completely knock jumping trends as through that I found out my scalp does not like pure coconut oil at all! They’re just not compatible.

As much as hair has been categorized from 1 to 4c, no two people in the same banding’s hair is identical. We all have specific needs depending on how we look after our tresses and our genetic make up.

Happy researching!

Natalie | @pursueinspire

Damp Detangling VS Dry Detangling natural hair| ELEANOR J'ADORE

After having worn my hair in wash and gos for 2 solid weeks, I was in need for a serious detangling session over the weekend. I usually detangle with coconut oil and conditioner, but for some reason I wanted to only use coconut oil and leave it in my hair overnight, as I know that coconut oil can really penetrate the strands deeply if left in the hair for a number of hours. Due to sheer laziness I ended up not doing it on Friday night, but found myself reaching for my jar of coconut oil on Saturday morning only, ready to tackle the mane with oil alone. I’d barely started when I stopped to ask myself why on earth I would think applying oil to my dry hair would be a good idea?

I know that there are many curly girls out there who detangle just with oil, and I thought that I wanted to get in on the action too, but alas, it was not for me. Here I summarised the reasons why damp detangling works so much better for me than dry detangling.

Damp Detangling

Conditioner / Water and Oil

• The added moisture makes the hair softer and more pliable.
• The softer hair allows for tangles to be worked through more easily.
• Conditioner coats the hair strand and smooths the cuticle, providing slip, which makes it even easier to remove tangles.
• I love how the combination of moisture (water and/or conditioner) and oil makes my hair feel.

Dry Detangling

Oil only

• It can become painful if there are too many tangles and knots present.
• It takes much longer to detangle the hair dry than damp.
• If the hair is already quite dried out and brittle, it can lead to breakage.
• I don’t like the feel of oil only on my hair.

Detangling is necessary for all naturals, whether you choose to do it with a comb, your fingers, a brush, or any of the nifty detangling tools on the market. And whether you choose to do it on dry, damp, or soaking wet hair is up to you, but I would definitely say that experimenting for yourself to see what you prefer is key. Ultimately the goal is to get get rid of as many tangles as possible without sacrificing length.

Do you detangle on damp or dry hair? If you detangle on dry hair please share some of your tips and tricks below.

By Eleanor J'adore

How To Maximise Growth With Braids! | BOLU NOELLE

So last week, I got the urge to re-join braids gang for the first time in over a year. One thing that stopped me from getting braids for such a long time is the fact that, although hey are known to be a protective style, heavy box braids are also infamous for ripping out edges.

I really wish to still have edges when I'm 50, so I had to figure out a way around this.

I wasn't really too keen on the idea of crotchet braids since it limits the styling options and can be more pricey than traditional braids.

Here, I'm going to show you a few of my tips for doing my braids:

1) LEAVE YOUR EDGES OUT.

I remember asking Indiana Ifill how her edges were still popping despite consistently wearing bum length braids and locs. This was her reply and it seemed so simple and obvious. But many times when we or our stylists do our hair, our desire for the freshly braided neat look leads us to snatch our edges into the braids. This is the key problem! I have baby hairs, so before braiding, I brushed them forward with a soft bristle brush so I didn't include them in the braids. They are softer and weaker than my main body of hair- plus, I like the look of braids with slicked baby hairs so its a win-win.

2) DEEP CONDITION AND MOISTURISE

This one, I'm sure you already knew. Before putting your hair into a long term style, ensure it's richly moisturised and sealed. This will minimise breakage whilst putting in and taking down the braids.

3) DO MINI TWISTS BEFOREHAND!

This is another key to success. Part your braid sections the day before, after moisturising and do mini twists. This further protects your hair as they are secure in twists within the braids. Also, this reduces breakage when installing the braids as your real hair wont be involved in any tangles and knotting. This is the same with the takedown of the braids. Do this while catching up of your favourite TV shows, Youtubers, sermons, podcasts etc. The time will fly and it is worth it.

4) OIL SCALP MASSAGE

Before installing, moisturise scalp. Whilst style is in I would only recommend spraying with water daily, as any product could lead to build up at the base of your braids which will cause breakage at takedown.

5) DONT PULL BACK TIGHT

The whole point of a protective style is that it is low manipulation and therefore allows your hair to flourish without being brushed and pulled at. However, I know that I personally used to do every style possible with braids. In fact, I loved their versatility. I'd do half up half down, top bun, French braids.. and now, I just leave my braids down. I'm much more cautious when styling my braids of how hard I'm pulling them back.

That's it! I'll be doing braids a lot more often now. Hope this helps.

Love,

Bolu Noelle

x

p.s: follow me on Instagram @bolunoelle to see more braid pics!

Body Care | NATALIE PURSUE:INSPIRE

So Christmas is long gone and we are well into 2017. I'm sure getting rid of the Christmas weight has been HIGH PRIORITY on our goal lists, but for some of us going to the gym is a chore and a burden on our finances.

Can I introduce a cheap, even free way, to stay in shape? 

YouTube. Yeah I said it. YouTube!

Most of us go onto YouTube for hair or make up tutorials but maybe not so much for exercises (if you do, share with a friend!) I, for one, have been making use of this gem more recently at home (just about every three days with a rest day and personal strength exercises in between) and I've really had to push myself to be consistent. Even though it's free, I find myself sitting down for 30 minutes saying "I don't want to exercise" and eventually convince myself it'll be worth it in the end to tone this food baby-fied figure.

GYM vs HOME

The beauty of signing up to the gym is (hopefully) you are more motivated to go. Why? Because you've paid and if you don't use the facilities essentially you're wasting money. The beauty of exercising with YouTube is that you can do work outs from home for free. Both require the motivation to get up and get going, which can be easy or hard depending on our mindset and your goals.

So since I've been speaking about YouTube workouts, let me share some of the videos I have been using/used.

Recently I've been starting off with Tiffany Rothe for a warm up and Kearia Lashae's dance videos like this African inspired one as the main workout, as well as her cool down via BeFit. They're energetic, fun, encouraging and very challenging. For me that's what exercise needs to be! I have also worked out with the guys at FitnessBlender, in addition to this home exercise video with DeStorm.

If you use the Tube of You to keep fit, who are you watching? Whose work out would you recommend? If you gym, what equipemnt are you using? Have you got a personal trainer? Does money increase your motivation to go o the gym? Let us know below in the comments.

Also to point out that having a healthy lifestyle with regular exercise and a balanced diet helps with hair health just as much as it does your body as a whole. Let's take care of ourselves. After all if we don't have our health, how can we live life to it's fullest?

Stay blessed and don't forget to comment below!

Natalie | Pursue:Inspire

Getting Back in Routine | NATALIE PURSUE:INSPIRE

If you're anything like me, you've managed to hold a semi solid routine for a couple of weeks, Christmas has interupped and now you're stuggling hard to get back into the flow of things. Admittedly I took a break from my personal blogging platform and it's been a bit tricky to get back into the swing of pursuing and inspiring. 

HOWEVER!

The area of my life that has been the most affected by my lack of routine is my crown! She has been kind of neglected though protective styling with a wig. My habit of spritzing with water slowly dwindled and I wasn't adding extra moisture on top of that.

Luckily a fast approaching photoshoot made me more conscious of the state of my mane and after I shampoo, conditioned, moisturised and blow dried (for the first time in about a year or so I might add) my hair it felt great! I did also have to resurrect my conscious efforts to moisturise my hair and keep her healthy... and now she's back under a wig for a while.

I'm honestly feeling lazy when it comes to hair maintenence. I've had conversations with a few friends and my husband about cutting my hair and just starting all over again, but after my last wash day I realised that I just need to put specific goals in place. When you don't have goals you lose vision. That's why in Habbakuk it says “Write the vision And make it plain on tablets, That he may run who reads it." I realise more and more that this also applies to my hair!

So briefly, what are my mane goals for 2017 and how do I plan to stick to them?

1) To maintain healthy hair by looking at past experiences, doing research and implementing a consistent routine;

2) Maintain length by keeping styling to a minimal and protecting my ends. I did some research and quite a few ladies mentioned that they only style their hair twice a weeks o I'm going to try this and see how it goes.

The beauty of goals and their execution is that they are subject to change as time goes by. I may find other ways to maintain length that don't necessarily work for one person but do for me. Also as mentioned in my previous post, it's ok if goals get broken as long as I get up and pick up from where I left off asap.

Do you have any hair struggles? Do you have any goals that you are working towards? Share them with us. You never know who may be helped by your comment!

Natalie | Pursue:Inspire