Natural Afro Hair on CNN.com

First The New York Times, now mainstream broadcaster CNN.com has an article on afro hair (take note UK press!)

Called ‘Can I Touch it? The Fascination with Natural African-American Hair’ the article tells of a woman just about to leave a restaurant when a middle aged white woman tried to touch her natural hair, styled in twists:

"She missed by mere seconds, she was actually going to grab my hair as I walked past her," recalled Winfrey Harris who runs the blog What Tami Said. "I turned around and she said, 'Oh, your hair is neat.' It just floored me because who does that, just reaches out and touches strangers?"

Good question. And Winfrey Harris is not alone, the articles tells of countless others who’ve been asked the rather bizaare question: “ Can I touch your hair?’

As children a lot us us had our white friends asking, and sometimes not even asking, to touch our ‘cotton wool hair’. Now we get less requests but will never forget one black lady asking if our shoulder length hair was real. It was but she didn’t believe. Cue her hands feeling around for the tracks!

Have you ever had strangers asking to touch your natural hair?

Read the full story here.

Solutions to Common Problems with Black Hair

Purely through trial and error, we’ve tried a lot of products on our hair over the years. Some good, others not so much. What we’re listing here are things we’ve tried that are too good to keep to ourselves, and others that, while not especially for our hair type, work well on hair that comes with any kind of curl.

Dry Hair

Organic Hair Systems Aqua Boost Shampoo and Conditioner
They say: Contains certified organic extracts and oils, vitamin 5 and wheat protein to nourish and protect dry hair.
We say: Works very well on natural afro hair and certainly left it feeling soft and nourished.

£9.95

Aveda Dry Remedy Shampoo
They say: Drenches even the driest, most brittle hair with moisture, leaving it soft, supple, and touchable.
We say: Yes, it lives up to the hype. Natural, relaxed and mixed race hair all felt tons better after using this shampoo.

£18

Damaged Hair

Most of us have been here! A little over eager with the blow dryer and irons or simply frazzled from the sun, these products will have your hair back to normal in no time.

Aveda Damage Remedy Intensive Restructuring Treatment
They say: Use weekly to help repair, seal and smooth even the most damaged hair
We say: We don’t always wash our hair every week (!) but we used this a couple of times in a month and, after abusing our hair with sun and GHD’s, putting this on certainly made a difference.

£21

Organic Root Stimulator Hair Mayonnaise (who knew you could get this in Boots now?!)
They say: The original treatment for damaged hair enriched with olive oil, egg protein, herbs and a boost of wheat germ oil.
We say: Slather this on generously, put a shower cap on and leave for 20 - 45 mins. Your hair will love you afterwards.

£6.03

Dry Scalp

The jury is out on whether you should put oil on your scalp – trichologists say it’s a no no – but we all know someone who (if it’s secretly not us) still does.

Organic Root Stimulator Olive Oil Aloe Shampoo
They say: Removes calcium build-up and restores moisture to hair whilst it gently cleans and neutralizes
We say: After continued use, we noticed our scalp was much less flaky. But use it every time you wash your hair as the one time we strayed, the dry patches returned.

£3.47

Mizani Supreme Oil
They say: Hydrates the scalp and relieves dryness
We say: Yes, yes, yes! Read our in depth review here.

£17.99

Defining Curly Hair

For days when you want to work with what is just growing out of your head.

Mixed Chicks
They say: Non-sticky, alcohol free and lightweight products really define your curls and lock in moisture at the same time.
We say: All the products from the range are great and work perfectly.

Shampoo £13.09. Conditioner £17.50

Aveda Be Curly Curl Enhancer
They say: Intensifies curls, tames frizz and heightens shine.
We say: Shampoo and condition your hair, follow the instructions on the packaging and you’ll have defined and bouncy curls. We were surprised at how good this is!

£17

Straightening Curly Hair

Whether your hair is natural or relaxed, sometimes you want to wear it straight. If you don’t want the permanence of a relaxer, these products will help you on your way.

Aveda Smooth Infusion Glossing Straighter
They say: Use with the Smooth Infusion full range for all day straightness and shine.
We say: We like to mix and match our products so didn’t use the whole range but the glossing straighter is amazing. Towel dry your hair, divide into very small sections and apply to each section before blow-drying. Works like a charm and smells great.

£18.50

Paul Mitchell Super Skinny Serum
They say: Lightweight silicones smooth, condition and seal hair with added shine.
We say: Use very sparingly, a little goes a long way, but your hair will swish like that girl in the Pantene ads.

£16.75

Cloud Nine Wide Straightening Irons
They say: Ceramic plates add amazing shine and reduce static, allowing you to glide through the hair with ease and speed.
We say: They have temperature controls so you can adjust the heat according to your hair type. Keep the temp low if your hair is relaxed or fine and turn it up for use on extra thick, coarse hair or hair with a tight natural curl.

£129.95

Don’t get your hair looking all fabulous then ruin it by sleeping on a cotton pillow. Either wrap your hair or sleep on a silk pillowcase. We reviewed one earlier here.

That’s our list of what we think works well and we know we haven’t included everything. We’re sure you know of other things that are great for curly, relaxed or natural hair, so please share!

The Mizani Afro Catwalk Awards

The Mizani Afro Catwalk Awards are a competition especially for those who work with afro hair where the winner can secure a place at the L’Oréal Colour Trophy - the industry’s longest running and most fashion forward competition.

The six finalists were:

Craig Chapman Salon, Cornwall
Cutting Room Creative, Leeds
Junior Green, Knightsbridge
Hype Coiffure, Brixton
TONI & GUY Bristol
TONI & GUY Regent Street

Each team had two and a half hours to create a look on a model of African or Caribbean descent and include their knowledge of Autumn/Winter 2011/12 catwalk trends before presenting it to afro hair specialists Alexi Rosso, Anne Veck, Sandra Webb and Errol Douglas MBE.

2011 L’Oréal Colour Trophy Mizani Afro Catwalk Award Finalists:

Craig Chapman, Cornwall

TONI & GUY Bristol

TONI & GUY Regent Street

Junior Green, Knightsbridge

Hype Coiffure, Brixton

Cutting Room Creative, Leeds

The 2011 overall Mizani award winner will be announced at the L’Oréal Colour Trophy Grand Final on July 4 2011 at the Grosvenor House Hotel in London (tickets still available).

If you're looking for a good hairdresser, these six would be a good place to start!

Tried and Tested: Wen® by Chaz Dean Hair Treatment

Wen® is a range of hair products from Hollywood hairdresser Chaz Dean (he’s worked on stars at the Oscars and MTV Music Awards) that are free of SLS and nasty chemicals.

We tried the Re-Moist Intensive Hair Treatment which was designed for use before and after any chemical treatments (i.e. relaxers) to add moisture, body and shine and to restore your hair and give it a bit of strength.

They are so sure you will be pleased with the results they offer a 60 day money back guarantee – even if the containers are empty!

Our tester is mixed race with dry, unruly and thick relaxed hair (her words not ours!). Here is what she had to say:

Feel: The product feels substantial and has the qualities you'd expect of an intensive hair treatment; heavy, creamy and rich.

Smell: A sweet coconut aroma which is relaxing and smells 'clean' without the greasy oiliness that coconut products often have.

Texture: A thick, rich, soothing texture which immediately made me feel like I was using something substantial on my thick, dry hair.

The conditioning treatment was very easy to use with a simple application after shampoo, on wet hair. The hair treatment definitely helped smooth my hair whilst blow drying, which makes me believe it worked in nourishing my hair. The scent was sweet and the texture of the product was very relaxing and felt nourishing.

The only thing I would change about it is perhaps the packaging as it wasn't entirely aesthetically pleasing and probably isn't something that I'd take off the shelf in a shop. Aside from that, I would give it 4 out of 5 and don't doubt that continued use would be beneficial in soothing dry, coarse hair like mine!

WEN® by Chaz Dean Re-Moist Intensive Hair Treatment - Cucumber Aloe. £18.95

www.wenhaircare.co.uk

Hair Inspiration

When we want a new hairstyle, it isn’t as simple as opening a copy of our favourite glossy mag and pointing to a celeb/model and asking for her hair – we have to search that bit harder.

We’ve been thinking about a new look and have found it hard to find relevant people in the public eye to get ideas from. With that in mind we’ve put together this mini look book. It’s for us as much as it is for you! One to ‘cut out and keep’ for the next time you’re at the salon perhaps?


Short

Midi

Up

Long

Pony

We know we've omittted curly but that's the subject for a whole other post!

Solange, Selita and Cassie Talk Hair

Solange Knowles, Seltia Ebanks and Cassie are the new faces of Carol’s Daughter – a US based company started by Lisa Price (whose Mother is called Carol, hence the name) that produces natural haircare products for natural, relaxed, curly, healthy and damaged hair types.

Selita, Solange & Cassie

The three spokeswomen sat down with Lisa and discussed all things hair.

Watch the video here.

Bye Bye Beadhead!

Now ladies, we all know we should wrap our hair at night – but do we? Every night? We know we don’t! Our intentions are good but not only is the look mildly unattractive (to put it lightly!) sometimes the scarf slips off, we’re too tired, we actually want to look cute at bedtime – the list goes on.

So we were quite excited to come across SilkPerfect Pur – a 100% pure mulberry silk pillowcase.
Most of us know silk or satin is better for our hair but do we know why? Now for the science bit!

Hair strand after sleeping on cotton pillowcase

Hair strand after sleeping on silk pillowcase

Silk is exceptionally smooth on a microscopic level which helps to avoid friction of the hair shaft, leaving the hair looking glossy and smooth from the moment you wake. Silk is made up of strings of amino acid which has the same ph level as your skin. These proteins help to prevent frizzing and split ends. Silk reduces the loss of natural hair oils and moisture by preventing osmosis, leaving its natural shine intact.

We tried the SilkPerfect Pur pillowcase and have to say that it really does work! Our hair was much less frizzy, dry and crazy looking in the morning.

Recent customer surveys by the company found that 79% felt their frizz was improved and 80% saw a reduction in knots and tangles. We agree! As does celebrity fan Alexandra Burke.

Alexandra Burke

The pillowcase we tried – the SilkPerfect Pur – costs £25 for two and at the moment is on offer with buy one get one free!  Post and packaging is £3.50 no matter where in the world you live or how many you buy – a pretty good deal.

Visit the Silk Perfect site for more info.

Hair - Are You Ultra Sleek or Messy Chic?

Two key looks that emerged from the catwalks this season were ‘ultra sleek’ and ‘messy chic’. The look can be applied to a variety of hairstyles.

Long hair
The sleek look is very flattering on square and round faces. Blow dry your hair with the comb extension on the dryer and/or with a round brush. Use irons to straighten small sections at a time ensuring you use a protective serum. We like Paul Mitchell Gloss Drops  and Aveda’s Smooth Infusion Glossing Straightner as they don’t weigh down the hair. To be very on-trend, part your hair down the middle.

Chanel Iman at Gucci

For the messy chic look, it might be easier to use extensions if you don’t want to damage your own hair. Use a volumising spray on damp hair, twist random pieces and leave to dry naturally.

Jourdan Dunn at Emilio Pucci

Hair up
The sleek look is easy and you probably wear your hair like this anyway. Pull into a low pony leaving the ends inside the hair band and use a gel or hairspray to tame any flyaways. Job done!

Melodie Monrose at Gucci

The messy version is just as simple. Use a texturing spray to create a little interest, pull into a pony at the crown and leave a few random ends free. If it’s a little too messy, pin some of the ends into loops.

Chanel Iman at D&G

Braids
Pull into a sleek low pony and plait the ends into a fishtail braid. There’s a very handy video here that gives a step by step guide.

For the messy chic look, sweep hair to one side, plait the stretched out sides and pull out the ends for a scruffy finish.

Natural Hair Heroine – Solange Knowles

We’re not sure we’d like Beyoncé as our sister. No offence B! Could we ever step out from her formidable shadow? We like to think we’d handle it a la Solange Knowles and style ourselves in the polar opposite fashion direction.

Solange and Beyoncé

Beyoncé seems to favour lace front wigs and blingaliciousness while Solange likes to keep it a lot more urban and natural. We like her style.

Solange Knowles

She’s been spotted recently with short natural hair and now braids (as has Brandy – again – and Kim Kardashian). Is the style a bit 1996 or has Solange brought them back to the present day?

She works the turban!

President Obama Preferred Fundraiser for Barbara “The Hair” Boxer Than Gulf Memorial Service

Are you surprise that Obama doesn’t have priorities straight?

Look for Barbara Boxer to ask Bill Clinton to stump for her instead of the president.

No, thanks Barry, you’re more toxic than the oil in the gulf.

From CNN:

According his official schedule, President Obama did not attend the May 25 memorial service in Jackson, Mississippi for the workers who died in the Deepwater Horizon explosion because he was en route to a fundraiser for Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-California, in San Francisco.

At Thursday's White House briefing, Press Secretary Robert Gibbs was asked why Obama did not attend the service. The president's spokesman answered, "I'd have to look at the schedule. I don't know the answer."
Full story

Obama gets heckled at the fund raiser but gets drowed out by the Obots in the audience. It’s easy to identify an Obot. They usually yell, Yes We Can!


Via CNN

Via Memorandum

The Last Tradition