Sulfate Free Shampoos: Wanted

I am doing a post about Sulfate (Sulphate) Free Shampoos and I would like it to be relevant to you!

If you use an SLS free shampoo or sulfate free shampoo, please name it in the comment box so that I can look up the leading cleaning ingredient in it.

This way I will not blather on about things that you do not use.

Thank you!

Hair meet up: Catch me there

So I am 'going' to my first hair meet up ....... ever! Well, I am technically cheating and skyping in to the meet because it is in (the very much missed) UK and I am not. It is the Midlands (Birmingham) Natural Hair Meet up and it is taking place this Saturday 26th of May.

I will be doing a skype Q&A for those attending answering any science/hair related questions.

My thanks of course to Lorien who is organising the meet up and who has invited me twice now. Hope to 'see' some of you there if you can!

For details on the meet up, tickets and charges, see the facebook page here - http://www.facebook.com/events/160615000661212

Detangling Dry Natural Hair : Why it works

The question today is should you try detangling dry hair? Normally people relate dry detangling with broken hair especially if you use a comb or brush and the teeth get stuck at points. This point is the reason why I think that hair that is not straight or wavy generally does not respond well to being combed when dry with a comb or brush.

However, finger detangling where you can feel tangles and not rip through the hair is a different matter. For some natural hair, dry finger detangling or mildly damp hair (water misted or light conditioner applied) works better.


The Experiment : How  natural behaves when wet

 I made a swatch using 25 strands of my shed hair. Each strand was selected because it had a visible follicle and therefore could be correctly aligned. Hair strands that were cut to a fixed length of 10 inches.
 
Simulation of Wet Detangling: If your hair has a high level of shrinkage, very wet hair will only cause it to coil up defeating the purpose of detangling. The coiling means that each strand is able to interact with other strands and therefore intertwine and possibly knot (a reason why you should also consider not washing this type of hair free)

In this image the hair swatch has been soaked in water for 1 minute, wiped dry and then photographed

In this image the hair swatch is braided first, soaked in water for 1 minute, wiped dry, unbraided and photographed

Simulation of Dry Detangling: On dry or semi dry hair, the situation is different. The strands are forced to align making it easy to find tangles and when left loose tend to stay relatively apart from other (i.e stay detangled)

In this image the hair swatch is dry and is stretched out

In this image the hair swatch is dry and loose (i.e the force holding the stretch is removed)

Note: Dry detangling is not suitable for everyone. If your hair naturally forms spirals or corkscrews, can clump up when conditioner is applied to it or has a loose wave or curl, dry detangling is not ideal for your hair. The clumping of the curls protects your hair from breakage as the strands are strengthened by being in a cohesive group. Additionally your hair is probably best styled by encouraging this clumping. Therefore conditioner combing on wet hair is most suited for that type of natural hair.

The Natural Haven in Netherlands

Well hello from the Netherlands! Remember how I said it would be two weeks, well it was not! It was a serious nightmare getting all my stuff from UK with the shippers (see the side note).

On the plus side, I am back and ready to blog. I have 67 comments on the blog that I have not moderated yet (I love reading your comments so yay.....lol).

New blogs will resume tomorrow and we can get all serious and scientific :)

My Random Tidbits on The Netherlands

Fun fact: Did you know that it is actually The Netherlands and not Netherlands? I keep saying Netherlands though for some reason.

Natural Hair: The hair scene in Netherlands (Eindhoven) so far is not much natural hair at all. I see a lot of braids and weaves on Black women.

English: There is a myth that people in Netherlands speak English quite well. It is a myth. The truth is that the level of fluency really fluctuates and when it really matters (i.e you have to fill out an official form or get a work contract) it will always be in Dutch. I have the advantage that my husband is fluent in German and English and technically Dutch is a mix of the two so although he cannot speak it, he can actually read it extremely well. If you want to live in Netherlands, learn Dutch - you really need it for your tax refund at the end of the year (and with the level of taxation here, you want your refund!).

Weather: Many Dutch people think that their weather is quite miserable. I guess it is a matter of perspective because if you are from UK, this weather is fantastic, warm and actually quite dry (trust me when we say it sometimes rains all day in UK, we actually mean ALL day for 24 hours with no pause).

Green Points: Bikes, bikes everywhere.....it is very nice to see. Also, the type of bikes here are called Holland bikes and people ride with their backs quite upright. I cannot ride a bike (no natural balance, do not want to fall off in practice) so I am seriously getting myself a trike (yep like a kiddy trike but for an adult - driewieler fiets volwassenen:))

Money Matters: Netherlands is overtaxed and overpriced. You can save yourself quite a bit of money by going to amazon.de. Ordering from Germany (including delivery) is usually significantly cheaper than ordering locally especially for anything that costs 200 euros or more.


Side note: In case you are wondering, I used Anglo Pacific to ship. I read many negative reviews online but ultimately chose them because they offered substantially better pricing. If you have to start work in your new country or if you are relying on your shipment to start work, I would tell you, please never use Anglo Pacific. The UK part of the service is excellent (you get a good quote, you get free heavy duty boxes, they will load your goods for you) but that is where the service ends. Never ever request anything retrospectively, it will not be done and whatever arrival date you get, plan for at least 3 more. Plan to call the company internationally several times and never expect a phone call to be returned. Additionally, plan for bruises because although the delivery to your door is supposed to be on a palette (i.e all boxes wrapped together), some vehicles used cannot offload the palette which means you have to physically off load the boxes yourself.

On the move!

Het is goed he. Two virtual mangos if you can tell me which country I am moving to! Yes, I am currently on the move and will no longer be in brilliant Blighty (sob sob).  I am going to abandon you for a couple of weeks. There is still lots and lots of juicy stuff in the archives though and in preparation for the upcoming posts that you requested, I really recommend reading

1. How shampoo works (related to sulfate free shampoos)
2. Curls and Kinks (related to midshaft splifts)
3. Is deep conditioning a myth (related to part 2 of the same series!)

If all that is familiar to you then you have to try The Academy or Natural Bloom!

Hair Science - Your Vote

I decided to get a little more efficient and prepare in advance. I would like to ask what would you like to see next on the blog.

I am currently working on
-sulfate free shampoos (are they really gentler)
-the science as to why dry detangling work for some hair
-why do midshaft splits form, how can they be reduced
-is deep conditioning a myth (part 2 ...dum dum dum)

What else would you like to see in the coming months?

How to dry finger detangle hair

This video is the best one that I have seen demonstrating dry finger detangling on type 4 hair. Yes it takes forever and a day (literally) but the advantage is that if your hair is fine and kinky, you can with patience preserve more of your hair by reducing breakage.

She does go on to detangle again with conditioner. This is something I do not do because I find the dry detangle to be sufficient. Anyway, the point of this post is to say, here is a video on how to dry detangle hair.