Should I Use Henna On My Fine Hair Strands?

Is Henna Good For Fine Natural Hair Strands?

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What is henna?

Henna (Lawsonia Inermis) is a plant. The leaves of the henna plant contains a natural coloring pigment. Lawsonia bonds to protein, which is what our hair is made of. Henna does not penetrate our hair; it coats our hair cuticles. Each time henna is applied, it adds another coat of color to our hair. It naturally, but permanently, colors our hair. The color results depends on the hair color it was applied to. Henna does not lighten your hair. If we want to see the henna color on our dark hair, look at it in the sunlight. :)

Henna and Fine Hair:

Fine/fragile strands are prone to breakage. Coating our fine strands with henna overtime will result in thicker, denser, and stronger hair. Because henna coats our hair strands, our hair cuticles lay flat which gives us smoother, shinier, and less tangled hair. It is almost like a protein treatment because it makes the hair stronger and less prone to breakage. However, henna is not a protein treatment and should not be used as a replacement for a protein treatment if we need one. Henna may cause our hair to have less shrinkage and hang more (if used often) in contrast to sticking up.

Application and Ingredients:

Not all henna is made the same so make sure you have pure henna. If you experienced an allergic reaction to henna, it's probably because it's not pure henna. Henna application can be messy, so keep that in mind. Follow the directions on the container--one cup henna to one cup hot water (add more water as needed to make it creamy looking and not dry). Add other ingredients that your hair may benefit from.

Henna may be applied to shampooed hair or dry hair before being shampooed. Clean hair helps the henna bond more easily. The longer the henna is our hair, the richer the color. Cover the hair with a plastic cap and sit under the dryer for about 45 minutes. Or cling wrap the hair before bed and rinse out in the morning. You can use henna every 4-6 weeks.

Special Recipes (updated/added - March 4, 2015)

Add brewed, hot, black coffee in place of water to henna mix to tone down red tones, deepen brown-red tones, or cover gray. You can also deepen red tones by adding a darker shade of henna.

After allowing tea to steep for 20-30 minutes, bring to a boil, and add it to your henna mix in place of water. Black Tea prevents shedding. Ceylon or Black China Tea will add gold highlights to Light Brown Henna. Red Zinger Tea enriches red tones henna. Chamomile Tea brightens and adds highlights to neutral and blonde henna tones.

Add 2 tbsp of Apple Cider Vinegar per mixture to help henna bond to gray hair.

Add 2 tbsp of lemon juice to henna mix to lighten blonde tones.

When applying henna to dry hair, add 1 egg, 2-4 tbsp of olive oil, or 2-4 tbsp plain yogurt to henna mix to condition the hair and to help with the application and rinse process.

Warning:

Do not use henna over chemical dyes or use those dyes right after you henna'd your hair. However, you can add semi-permanent color, which may or may not fix the color you're trying to correct.

Questions:

Do you dye your hair? If yes, have you tried pure henna? What were your results?

Benefits Of Castor Oil For Hair

The Benefits of Castor Oil For Hair

There are many hair benefits of castor oil: improves circulation, hair regrowth, hair darkening, hair shine, prevents hair loss, controls split ends, sealing moisture, moisturizes scalp (fights dandruff or dry scalp), and moisturizing and thickening the hair.

When you think of hair, don't forget about your eyelashes and eyebrows; castor oil is great for thickening and regrowing those as well.

Source:  Med-Health, Living Strong

2015 Castor Oil Challenge: May - June

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Creating Hair Regimens From Our Hair's Porosity

Creating Hair Regimens From Our Hair's Porosity

Porosity is our hair's ability, or inability, to absorb moisture/water. There are three categories: low, normal/medium, and high.

"Black hair tends to have low porosity naturally and is usually less porous than Caucasian or Asian hair types unless it has been chemically processed."

-- Audrey Davis-Sivasothy, The Science of Black Hair

Porosity Test

Do a porosity test on a clean strand of hair (no products). Place the strand into a glass of room temperature water and let it sit for about 3 minutes.

• High Porosity Hair -- hair sinks to the bottom. Normally, this hair soaks up moisture then becomes dry because hair cuticles are wide open and/or damaged. This category is due to damage from heat styling tools, chemical relaxers or color, the sun, and/or sulfate rich shampoo. Maybe genetics like some have suggested. Needs protein treatments to fill-in the holes/gaps.
• Low Porosity Hair -- hair floats at the top and takes a long time to sink. Normally, this hair takes forever to get wet and/or to dry. Products sit on the hair and won't penetrate. This category is due to genetics. Needs moisture and steam.
• Medium/Normal Porosity Hair -- hair is in the middle of the glass. Continue to do what you're doing. Your hair is normal porosity because of genetics or proper hair care.

Porosity Levels

There are different levels of each category--our hair strand sinking all the way to the bottom means we have extremely high porosity and our hair floating at the very top means we have extremely low porosity hair. The closer the strand is to the middle, the easier it will be to take care of it. Also, when we are transitioning or if we treat one section of our hair differently, we can have more than one porosity type on the same hair strand or in different sections of our head.

Basic Regimen Based On Hair Porosity While Using the LOC Method

When using the LOC Method to moisturize our hair, the product we use should depend on our hair's porosity. The LOC Method is the order in which we use products on our hair. We may have to use the LCO instead at certain periods of our hair journey/length or if our porosity prefers the switch, but that's another post/topic. LOC:

• L-liquid or leave-ins. High porosity should use cool/cold water or aloe vera juice, creamy leave-ins, anti-humectants products during heat or high humidity, etc. Low porosity should use warm water or liquid leave-ins, products with humectants (honey, glycerin , etc) products during heat or high humidity, etc.
• O-oil. High porosity hair should use heavy oils. Low porosity should use light oils.
• C-cream or butter. High porosity should use heavy cream or butter like shea butter. Low porosity should use light creams like hair milk.

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Is Keratin Good For Our Natural Hair?

A Keratin Hair Story

The other day I was at a friend's house helping her with her natural hair. Her husband is very supportive about her natural hair journey and wants to learn as much about it as she does. Right now, her hair is unhealthy and as a new friend and someone that knows a lot about natural hair, I wanted to help her. They have two daughters--one is transitioning from the relaxer and one is completely chemical free. The girls like their hair straight, so it is flat ironed straight every 3 weeks and wrapped and covered up at nights to keep it straight. My friend's husband ensures that they use a straightening keratin shampoo and conditioner as their only cleanser and conditioner.

A few days ago when my friend washed and conditioned her hair with their keratin straightening shampoo and conditioner set, she called me over to help her because she wasn't seeing any curls. Because she wasn't seeing any curls, she bought a hair jelly and it did nothing for her hair. I told her to stop using the straightening set and that curl jelly's are more for type 3 hair types, not her type 4 hair. I also explained to her that she has to look at ingredients before she buys her products from now on.

My friend's low porosity hair needs more moisture enriched products. She should do a protein treatment only when needed. The hair cuticles on low porosity hair is already tightly closed, which prevents moisture from getting in; therefore, adding too much protein, especially large proteins like animal protein for instance, will make it worse. (Click here to learn how to test your hair to see if it needs more moisture or protein.) In the case of her straightening shampoo and conditioner, it was ingredients that were preventing her from seeing her curl pattern. Please note, not all straightening treatments or products are made equal.

What is Keratin?

To simplify, it is the protein in which 90% of our hair is made up of. It is the main structural constituent of our hair, skin, and nails. Also, in feathers, hoofs, claws, horns, wool, etc. 

Functional vs. Hydrolyzed Keratin

The difference between functional and hydrolyzed keratin is the process by which it was extracted. Hydrolyzed keratin is extracted from animal horns and hooves using acid and extreme heat, which degrades the protein. Functional keratin is extracted from sheep's wool using techniques that do not use acid or heat. Therefore, making functional keratin more true to its original form. Most hair-care and skincare products use hydrolyzed keratin. Hydrolyzed keratin can easily absorb into the skin and penetrate low porosity hair, which makes it ideal for skincare products that requires absorption into the skin and naturals with low porosity hair. For naturals with high porosity hair and/or anyone with chemically treated hair, functional keratin is required to protect/repair your hair.

When shopping for keratin products, look at the ingredients on the back of the bottle or container to see which type is used in that product. Replicine Functional Keratin protein is the only functional keratin protein on the market. Products with Replicine Functional keratin will have the words, 'keratin', 'functional keratin' or 'oxidized keratin' on the ingredients label.

Is Keratin A Hair Straightener?

While keratin is a major component of keratin straightening treatment, it is not a hair straightener. As stated previously, it is a protein found in your hair, skin, and nails. It's only an ingredient in the hair straightening process and products. The word 'keratin' is popular, so a title of "Keratin Straightening Treatment" is better than "Formaldehyde Straightening Treatment". This also makes it difficult for some naturals to tell which keratin product is a straightening treatment and which is an actual a protein treatment. In any case, keratin plays a positive role in the treatment because it conditions and strengthens the hair after the actual treatment damages it to get it straight. If your goal is to keep your hair straight, then Keratin Straightening Treatments are for you. In addition, if you're going to the salon, ask to see the ingredients on their bottle/container. For the sake of your health, make sure the product is formaldehyde-free. 

Keep in mind that products with formaldehyde help keep the hair straighter for longer, so products without it won't have that long lasting effect. Which is it going to be? Also, if you stop doing keratin straightening treatments, it may leave your hair damaged because of the long term usage.

Is Keratin Good For Our Natural Hair?

Keratin protein is great protein treatment (not talking about straightening treatment). The problem with Keratin straightening treatments are the harsh ingredients that are added, not the keratin protein in the products. Functional keratin is more true to its original form; whereas, hydrolyzed keratin is a lighter/broken version. Light proteins, like silk protein, are good for low porosity hair. Heavier proteins, like vegetable protein, are better for high porosity hair.


If you have any questions or comments about this article, please post a comment below. Have a great day!