I had my BC last summer and I have 6-9cm long pen spring curls when contracted and 14-16cm long when stretched.  I have literally no hairstyles for my hair other than pulled back loosely in head bands which is starting to take its toll on my hairline.  Please can you give me some hairstyle ideas? 

Thank you..and Merry Christmas!

curlcatastophe any chance you could post up a pic of what your hair looks like to give us (well me for one!) some ideas of what you could do for a change? Sometimes seeing what its like now will give me some inspiration.

Hey Curlcastrophe, I’m also feeling hatred for my hair at the moment.  I’ve been natural for 18 months but stayed under extension braids/canerow for 17 so I’ve only been trying to find out what works with my hair for 3 weeks now so I know I have a looong way to go but this morning I have woken up with dry scarecrow hair and am now sitting here wondering what to do as I need to go out.  I have done 2 twist outs, one big twists and the other smaller twists which looked ok curl definition wise but still felt dry.  I tried a puff but for some reason my roots feel drier than the rest of my hair so I gave up and spend most of my time with a headscarf on only venturing out when I have to.  At the moment I am using the SheaMoisture Raw range and almond or jojoba to seal as well as a homemade leave in but nothing seems to be working and as I am now unemployed, it’s harder for me to just keep spending money to try alternative products.  I don’t want to go back to extension braids/canerows as that has played havoc with my hairline. My hair and scalp hate coconut oil and I hate the smell of castor and olive oil. 

naturald71.  Sorry to hear about your plight with dryness this winter. It sounds like we have a similar hairtype. Though porosity may be another issue. Looking at my signature, you can see that most of the products I use are high street product/paks/supermarket kind of products. Natural hair care need not be expensive.
Could I recommend a simple cheap mix to you. It’s simple combination of castor oil +  pure aloe vera gel from Holland & Barratts or EBay. Yes I know u said you can’t stand the smell.. but how about adding a few drops of any fragrance oil you like before adding the mix to your damp hair? I can’t recommend this simple 2 ingredient mix enough for battling dryness and frizzy/bushy ends. To jazz it up a bit more add your fave leave-in conditioner. Sometimes less really is more..
Has the itchy scalp issue being resolved?

Hi curlcatastophe, I was exactly the same - I also noticed my hair suffered when I wore this style over and over so I had my hair cornrowed to the centre (without extensions which kill my hairline) and I bought a clip-on hair piece which I attached in the mornings.  Had that for one and a half months, other than that I had twists (though not for more than 2 weeks at a time- can get quite tanglely) but if you’re not into the natural style thing then wigs are quite good for winter as they protect the hair and you can wear them over a cornrows. It’s a difficult stage but you do get past it.

@naturald71 - Did you moisturise and oil/seal your hair while it was in extension braids and cornrows? This prevents dry roots for me.

Good/cheap moisturise - black strap molasses - you can add 2/3 tablespoons to your regular (wash-out) conditioner -  about £1.50 a jar - holland and barrats, tesco’s nutri centre -  it is messy but it works. I leave it in for hours as I go about my business - indoors at least.  A reasonably priced leave-in conditioner is Boots Naked Style Miracle Worker - it’s creamy and thick,  about £5, it’s CG and you don’t need to pay for shipping either I use shea as a sealant as it’s quite oily so I wonder if you need to be using a more water-based moisturiser, unfortunately I can’t recommend anything cheap but I’m not against using a leave-in as far as it’s sealed with oil afterwards. Jojoba which you use I like as it’s nice light so it doesn’t weigh down the hair. But please do say what type of hair you have though, because different hair types need different care.

It took me ages to find out what was good for my hair - first 6 months of cycling through regimes and products my hair was breaking like straw and I hated it too, but you do get there with time.  Good luck!

Ketchup, thank you for the castor oil + aloe gel suggestion, I will give it a try as soon as I buy the aloe gel as I already have castor oil.  How much of each ingredient do you suggest or is it just a case of try and see what works?  The itch has eased off a little as I tried an ACV rinse last week but I do still get moments where I catch myself digging away at my scalp with my nails which I know is no good.

Catz, no, I didn’t moisturize and seal my hair in braids so I know I only have myself to blame for the condition it is in now.  I just used braid sprays and on the odd occasion, I used grease (elasta qp) but stopped with the grease as it aggravated my itchy scalp problem.  I will also give your molasses idea to my leave in to see if it helps, thanks for the tip.

Glad to hear you are considering it. I really hope it works for you. I’d say start of with equal amounts of each, and see what works for you. You may need to emulsify it further beween your hands even more as the two don’t mix together easily, but they should work together wonderfully once on your hair.
HTH

If you suffer from itchy scalp, I find the brown sugar exfoliator a life saver!

Mix 1 tablespoon of unrefined brown sugar with 3-4 tablespoons of your usual co-wash.  Mix, and apply to scalp, rubbing well in circular motions for about a minute.  Rinse well (you need to get rid of the sugar!), and condition/style as usual.

I find this great to get rid of the itches and it removes dead skin cells, leaving your scalp really clean.  Also great to use as a cheap body exfoliator!!

HTH,
Emma.

Hi Curlcatastophe, I feel your pain. My hair is short but it’s not a TWA so I’m in the middle some where…..?  Your head bands might be too tight or made of the wrong material if it’s damaging you hair line. I’ve worn head bands and scarf for ages and it’s never done anything to my hairline. I’m not a fan of those super tight elastic rubber band like ones. I like the soft cottony or satiny ones or a plain satiny scarf anchored with a few hair pins.  You might try pinning your hair up loosely with hair pins (make sure they have the little ball on the end). you could try cornrowing, plaiting or flat twisting the sides up into a fro hawk or a curly hawk. Just don’t pull too tight and try to leave out the baby hair line strands which you can later smooth down with shea butter, bees wax or your favourite gel. Get on you tube too.  The girls on there got all sort of styles to practice!

Ah Naturald71, I’m with you on the dryness and this weather isn’t helping!  I noticed you haven’t mentioned your washing and conditioning technique. So here a bit of a quick run down….Avoid shampoo, if you must avoid sulphates, co-wash every other day. Try a pre-poo with olive oil before washing. Do a deep moisture condtioning treatment twice a week or more. Lay off the protein. Too much protein appears to make some people’s hair dry and brittle. Check the ingredients on your products for protein.  In winter my hair/head is covered most of the time with a satin scarf and hat or my half weave and hat. Winter really isn’t the season for wash and go-s. As for itchy scalp I recommend tea tree oil or rosemary oil. Sometimes the raw ingredients are the best and cheapest ingredients instead of something pre-mixed. I’m unemployed too. HTH Cheers

naturald71 - 18 December 2011 05:33 PM

Ketchup, thank you for the castor oil + aloe gel suggestion, I will give it a try as soon as I buy the aloe gel as I already have castor oil.  How much of each ingredient do you suggest or is it just a case of try and see what works?  The itch has eased off a little as I tried an ACV rinse last week but I do still get moments where I catch myself digging away at my scalp with my nails which I know is no good.

Catz, no, I didn’t moisturize and seal my hair in braids so I know I only have myself to blame for the condition it is in now.  I just used braid sprays and on the odd occasion, I used grease (elasta qp) but stopped with the grease as it aggravated my itchy scalp problem.  I will also give your molasses idea to my leave in to see if it helps, thanks for the tip.

Not to be a product rep or anything, but my friend produces a range of natural hair products which have been gaining a lot of good reviews in the natural hair community lately. She produces a scalp treatment solution which has pretty much cured my scalp issues. I suggest checking out her website: root2tip.com. Contact her via the site and ask a few questions. She’s more than willing to help in any way possible. If it wasn’t for her stuff I’m not sure where I’d be on this whole natural hair journey.

I will also give your molasses idea to my leave in to see if it helps, thanks for the tip.

Oh sorry, didn’t say but please don’t add to your leave-in, you won’t like the result! In fact if you tried that in summer you’d probably have wasps after you! It’s sweet, sticky stuff, in fact too sticky to use on it’s own -  I add a couple of tablespoons to my regular rinse-off conditioner. Used it today after a protein treatment and hair came out soft and tangle-free. Used my regular leave-in afterwards as usual. Also good for grey and some say minimises breakage - so bargain in a jar I think, well worth the effort/mess.

Oh and other thing I do is once a week, night before a wash, apply a mix of oils - extra virgin olive or virgin coconut or black jamaican castor oil base (castor oil I can’t use otherwise - too thick/heavy) with a few drops of tea tree which can be a bit harsh on its own, then massage into scalp, apply to hair and plait into 4. I pop on a shower cap and go to bed. Next day I wash as usual, when I suffered from a dry, itchy scalp this helped. It’s not as uncomfortable as it sounds and you can use your favourite oil as the base. You can add a few drops of an essential oil too - jasmine, ylang ylang etc as you mentioned you didn’t like the smell of olive oil.  BUT extra virgin olive oil is really good for the hair and not too pricey. I use ylang ylang oil for scent - cost about £5.00 for 10ml (30 drops is about 1ml and you only need 2 or 3 drops a go) so not as expensive as it sounds. Some people opt to heat the oil and go for a shorter hot oil treatment instead.

Having just re-read the above, I realise I spend way too much time on my hair but no-one said it would be easy!

Emmab, funny you should suggest the brown sugar scrub as I had read up on it and tried it before I saw your post. The scrub felt great and as with the ACV my scalp was a lot less itchy at first but it still creeps in.  I think I may need to go and see a trichologist.

Marleyhill34, since I’ve left my hair out of extensions, I have only been washing it once a week with a deep conditioning treatment each time.  I did my first co-wash on Sunday using the Shea leave in mentioned in my signature.  I was pushed for time so did not deep condition this time but used the Kimmay leave in after.  My hair feels better, a lot less dry and I can only hope that it will get better from now on.  I have scanned the ingredient list on the products I use and there are no proteins.

Ebonyrock86, thank you for that, I will have a look and maybe give these products a try once I’ve used up what I have now.

Catz, thanks for the update but does it have to be blackstrap molasses?  I have already been adding oil to my hair pre-wash but never thought to do it overnight.

Thank you all for your help ladies  

Curlcatastrophe, have you managed to find an alternative style yet?  So far all I’ve done myself are two strand twists and a twist out but will be trying some of the many ideas shown by the talented ladies on youtube.

I would strongly suggest you buy the science of black hair to get a really good understanding of how to moisturise etc. It really is amazing and you could ask for it as an xmas present. I can’t really add much more than has already been said. I used wigs and canerows as my protective style and to help maintain length and moisture in the winter. U can see what products I like in my signature. The Taliah W product is an amazing moisturiser for canerows, but does less well when my hair is left out.