Grow African Hair Long GAHL

I know that just from the title of this blog some of you are already frowning but please take a minute and hear me out. If you have been following my journey you know this already but if you are new to my blog trust me, you want to hear this.

May 2017 4years post relaxer (Natural)

I started my healthy hair journey in February of 2010 with relaxed shoulder length hair. My hair had been shoulder length pretty much my whole life and I honestly thought that shoulder length was the longest my hair could ever be. You have heard this before “my hair grows till shoulder length and then it stops” In reality it doesn’t stop,it just breaks faster than it is growing causing the stagnation.

The turning point came after watching ladies with long relaxed hair on YouTube and I decided I was going to take better care of my hair just to see if it could really grow longer.

Pre hair journey days. 2009 (Relaxed)

February 2010 start of my hair journey (Relaxed)

I made so many mistakes at the beginning and instead of seeing progress my hair was just breaking and I retained zero length for the first six months of the journey. My mistake at the time was using a strong protein treatment twice a week in the name of deep conditioning. Once I corrected this the progress was undeniable.

I went from shoulder length to mid back length hair in about two years (I was still relaxed/Texlaxed). I am now fully natural and my hair is a few centimetres shy of mid back length which is my current hair goal.

31.1 2013 Last relaxer

31.1.2013 last relaxer

So what is the moral of my story? Genes may play a big role in how long our hair can grow but unfortunately we might never see the real growth potential of our hair if we don’t care for it properly. I know you are probably thinking of that friend of yours who does absolutely nothing to her hair but it has grown down her back, believe me she is lucky because the majority of us need to actually care for our hair for it to reach its full potential.

May 2017 4 years post relaxer

On that note, hair doesn’t have to be long for it to be beautiful, it just needs to be healthy and regardless of its length it will look attractive. I prefer short healthy hair to long damaged hair any day.

If your aim is to retain length then all you have to do is reduce breakage and here are a few tips for you.

Protect your ends. The ends are the oldest part of your hair and they are your length. Keeping them on your head will ensure length retention. You can do this by making sure the ends of your hair are always moisturized and keep them off your shoulders to avoid friction with your clothing. Protective styles also play a big role in length retention as they keep the ends hidden.
Detangling. Always detangle your hair from the ends upwards this reduces unnecessary breakage.
Combing. Never comb your natural or transitioning hair while it is dry! This causes unnecessary breakage!
Manipulation. Find hairstyles that don’t need daily manipulation, I personally go for hairstyles that require me to touch my hair only once a week. Over manipulation causes breakage.
Stay positive. Growing hair takes time and you might meet people along the way who will not hesitate to ridicule your efforts. Don’t give up; if something isn’t working get help there are so many healthy hair enthusiasts willing to help.
Know your hair. African hair comes in different textures and your texture plays a big role in how it should be cared for. 4C hair for instance is not the strongest hairtype, it is the most fragile and most prone to breakage and needs the most care.
Track your growth. Find a way to track your progress and celebrate little accomplishments. i like to take pictures and today i am so glad that i have been doing this because now i get to share with you :) you can also use a tape measure.
Goals. Make realistic goals. My hair grows half an inch per month (very average). I set my hair goal lengths according to my hair growth rate and my trims.
Magic products. They Don’t exist!

Lastly, I am not saying that everyone’s hair can grow down their waist but one thing is for sure. You will never know how long your hair can grow unless you actually give it that chance.

Make a decision to start a healthy hair care journey today and comment below if you need help starting :)

Thanks for reading,

Joanne.

Exactly 4 years and four months ago, I decided to stop straightening my hair using chemical relaxers. This was the best decision I ever made concerning my hair because it has never been this healthy.

During these four years I have learnt a lot about my hair and I would like to share these lessons with you.

Accept your hair as it is

After ending my transition it dawned on me that my hair just didn’t look like any of the YouTube gurus I had been following all through my transition. The texture just wasn’t the same and my hair shrunk like crazy. If you have recently gone natural or are currently transitioning to natural, chances are that your hair will look different than what you expect and special in its own way.

Less is more

The less I do with my hair, the more it thrives. Most of the hairstyles I do usually last a week and need very little if any manipulation at all. If you are a length chaser please keep this in mind.

Health over length

In as much as I love long hair, I prefer healthy hair more. Healthy hair looks attractive regardless of its length. It helps to get regular trims to keep the hair looking healthy.

Braiding is not for everyone.

Braids are a beautiful protective style, but the reality is that if you have a sensitive hairline like me. Braids are not for you!

There is no one size fits all.

At the beginning of my natural journey I used to co-wash my hair because that is what most naturals were doing. The truth is my hair hated it after co-washing its was as if I had done absolutely nothing and even styling was a problem afterwards. I opted to shampoo my hair with every wash-day. Even though there are natural hair rules that you have to follow, take time to listen to your hair and give it exactly what it wants.

Scalp oiling is not for everyone

I came to the realization that my scalp produces enough sebum. Sebum is the oil produced by your skin, have you ever shampooed your hair and rinsed it off only to find that your scalp still had some whitish looking residue? That is sebum and it is actually healthy for your hair if it is not completely washed off. If your scalp produces enough sebum then you don’t need to oil your scalp but if your scalp is naturally dry then light oils for your scalp will come in handy.

Check out my natural hair update video and please subscribe!

Thank you for reading ,

Love Joanne.

Happy 2017!!!
I had taken a break from blogging and now I am back with a detailed update of my healthy hair journey in 2016.

A hair journey can be a challenging task but just like any other journey in life, there is a fulfilment when goals are reached. However, most of us in healthy hair journeys focus so much on length retention that we actually forget to have fun with our hair and just enjoy it. So in 2016 I decided that I was still going to chase length but at the same time I was gong to have fun while at it. This was a good decision because in the process of trying out new things I ended up learning more about what my hair actually needs, what works for it and what doesn’t. Below are some of the hairstyles I tried out in 2016

My hair care routine for 2016 was also very simple and entailed:

Pre shampoo treatment (tropical coconut oil brand Alison)
Shampoo once a week (herbal essences hello hydration shampoo I recently incorporated African black soap to my routine).
Condition with a moisturizing conditioner once a week and a protein based (has hydrolyzed proteins) conditioner once a months (I am yet to settle on any particular brands). I do not use any deep conditioners.
Stretch hair using twists and bantu knots(Check tutorial on my YouTube channel)
Moisturize and seal with an oil or butter every other day.
Wear one hairstyle per week to reduce manipulation.
Always wear a scarf to bed.

When it comes to retaining length and maintaining the ends of my hair, protective styling comes in handy. If you are reading this and you have always thought that hair had to be braided or in a weave to be protected I hope to convince you otherwise. A protective hairstyle is any hairstyle that keeps your ends off your clothes and ideally hidden to avoid damage. Buns are a great way to protect your hair and still have access to it at all times. To protect my hairline I create a loose pompadour or loose mini buns at the front to reduce the pressure applied on my hairline.

braid out pompadour

braids are the most common protective hairstyle in Kenya and in Africa as a whole. They are also one of the main causes for hair damage and more so hairline damage. The last time I had braids done was about a year ago and I loved the braids. But unfortunately I suffered so much damage that I promised myself that I wont ever braid my hair again.

Mini twists are a life saver for those weeks when the last thing on my mind is my hair, they are not only versatile but also easy to wash and care for.

All buns and no afro makes me a dull girl so 2016 was also full of afros and some variation of the afro, remember my goal was to have fun but not damage my hair at the same time. to achieve this I made sure that these kinds of hairstyles would only last upto three days to avoid knots and tangles.

I like to stretch my hair out because my curls are so tight which makes tangling and knotting very easy and my go to ways of stretching is either blow drying on cool to medium air using the tension method or using bantu knots. Please check for the link below for a tutorial on this method.

Thank you for reading,

Joanne

YouTube tutorials I shared in 2016

Wash day: https://youtu.be/bqQdBgq4za0

Hair care routine: https://youtu.be/Uay8pPOqXu0

Stretching hair without heat: https://youtu.be/9IaryAJX_Xs

How to wash and care for braids: https://youtu.be/ZY3HXfHzfss

How to undo braids without breakage: https://youtu.be/2DFKD4BYoKM

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I ended my long-term transition to natural at 17 months post relaxer; this was back in June 2014. I would be lying if I said that it was a challenge to deal with my natural hair immediately because it was not. My biggest challenge was Knots and tangles! I had these bad guys literally everywhere! There were hundreds of them all over my hair and it was just frustrating. Seeing that this was an issue for me I shared a post explaining my ordeal with knots and you ladies were so awesome in giving me tips which really helped me to reduce those knots. With the tips I got as well as my own research and experiences I managed to reduce the knots by 90%.

1. Wash and go´s

Before going natural I always dreamt of wearing a wash and go and of course after going natural this was the first hairstyle I tried out and truly loved, however I came to realise that with this hairstyle my hair also developed countless knots. Due to the serious shrinkage that occurs as the hair dries up, kinky hair tends to curl up in itself and loop around itself causing knots.

I decided to avoid this hairstyle until recently when I discovered that a wash and go could be kept knot and tangle free by doing conditioner washes every other day and properly detangling the hair. The only problem with this is that the process is time consuming and because of this I will continue to avoid wash and go´s.

2. Split ends.

Stubborn knots should be cut with a pair of scissors and not pulled out or snapped at simply because this will lead to split ends. I had to learn this the hard way.

3. Detangling, moisturizing and sealing

Moisturized hair keeps the hair soft and manageable which makes it easier to detangle. Detangled hair is less like to knot.

4. Stretching natural hair.

Keeping natural hair stretched will keep knots away and will definitely help with length retention because you will not need to trim your hair often. There are several ways to get stretched hair which include, twisting, African threading, braid outs, all sorts of rod sets and blow drying. My technique of choice is twisting. After washing and conditioning my hair I keep my hair in twists and eventually moisturize, seal in the moisture with an oil then I proceed to finger detangle my hair carefully smoothing it out and stretching out the curls with my finger. If you would like a video tutorial on this technique please leave a comment below.

5. Sectioning hair.

I don’t always section my hair but I know that working in smaller sections make detangling much easier than working with a huge section at once.

6. Combing

Combing or finger detangling your hair from the roots towards the ends is a sure way of creating tangles and knots. Avoid this at all costs.

7. Protective styling and low manipulation

Protective styles that keep your hair stretched are a great way to avoid knots and tangles. Braids and cornrows are great for this but you need to make sure that they are done correctly and not too tight.

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