The top ten mistakes that damage our hair!

every day you could be doing something very damaging to the hair without even knowing so today im am going to out line th top ten hair damagers people don't know about.

now lets talk about hair, it can be chemically, physically, environmentally and nutritionally damaged and in theses four was most of us are guilty! i know i was guilty of 3 of those and didn't know it at the time, but know i am helping my hair to recover from my mistakes and hopefully preventing you from committing the same crimes to your hair.

1. this is the most physical damage that many people suffer from or have suffered from at least once is HEAT DAMAGE!!! those hair curlers and blow dryers etc..... yes it may make out hair look pretty for the meantime, in between time but in the long run it leaves our floor covered with evidence of short broken hairs. i remember my friend once said to me, do you know what she told me?  " chantelle, i don't really understand why people say that heat damages your hair? i mean when ever i use heat on my hair it looks healthier but when i let my hair air dry it always looks frizzy and more damaged, i need heat because it makes my hair healthy!" . and do you know what i told her? " when you apply heat to your hair it covers up the true condition of your hair at the same time damaging the strands, the true health of your hair shows when its airdied that why it looks better heat styled and this is an indication of hair DAMAGE!".
2. hair colouring causes dry, limp & brittle hair if done to often or applied incorrectly. this chemical damage can be avoided if you only dye your hair 1-2 shades darker or lighter than your natural hair colour and then you will need less touch ups, resulting in less chemical used.
3. relaxer! yes i know im guilty of this one, this is a common chemical hair damager  in the afro Caribbean/ black community however there are many women with healthy relaxed hair and they achieve this with stretching their relaxers, this is extending the time period you get a touch up relaxer. maybe waiting 3 - 6 months before getting a new relaxer.
4.   daily over manipulation of the hair this is another common hair damager people don't know about over brushing the hair, using small tooth combs, rough towel drying, tight ponytails and hairstyles all create stress on the strands and produce breakage and hair dryness.
5. a common eviromental damage your hair suffers from is sun damage this causes dullness and dryness to prevent you should wear sun hats and sun protection on your hair.
6. another eviromental damage is swimming in sea water or chlorine water this also leaves the hair dry and more prone to breakage. make sure to wet hair before entering a pool because your hair is like a sponge it sucks in the water so if theres already water in your hair it will suck in less chlorine/ salt water. also use a chelating shampoo after swimming pronounced key- la- ting.
7. next stop is cold weather! it strips the hair of moister which leaves hair dry and brittle. so to combat this in the cold winter months you should do weekly or even twice a week deep conditioning with a nice thick mask or make your owh hydrating mask olive oil and half a ripe advricardo. also try to keep ends of hair wrapped up in a bun to stop the ends from drying out and wearing a protective hat outdoors.
8. poor diet is the direct link to poor hair growth and poor health in general. most people over look the nutritional damages poor eating can cause to the hair. our hair is 80% protein so eat more protein this can be found in eggs, chicken and lean meat etc... having a balanced diet will help with overall well being and hair growth.
9. water water water!!!! you need to take care of your self internally to see the outside results aim to drink half you body weight in water to maintain a healthy body.
10. smoking will result in poor hair growth because it will cause hair loss and malnutrition

hair journey

ok so this is kinda gonna be a sorta hair diary. ok i don't think that sentence made sense but bare with me its 1am and i im tired, i had a sudden inspiration to document my hair growth journey. lol. anyway so in the photo above is to pictures side by side documenting my growth between dec 2008 - october 2010. so i started my hair jorney in 2008 not really know what to do to make my hair grow i followed the hair forms and people on youtube, i also researched the web for hair growth tips. with this amount of overwhelming information about hair some  of it was wrong and some was useful but i didn't know what was was right and what was wrong so i just did everything to my hair aimlessly a hit and miss so thats why it took me two years to get from earlength to shoulder length its progress either way but hair grows 1/2 an inch every month so i should have really had 12 inches of growth instead of  4 1/2 inches in 2 years also being stupid i forgot to document what worked for my hair and what didn't so im going to keep a blog update for this journey. i didn't grow my hair to the fullest potential. when i saw the lack of growth i had i gave up my hair journey i became lazy with my regimine and regressed back to clip in exstentions and slowly and surly my hair was hurting. i stoped taking regular hair pictures during this time because it wasn't looking good.

so this is august 2011 my hair was thes same length and the ends were thiner  so i started to care for my hair again but then i got lazy once again and stoped because it was too much effort.

so then last month febuary 2012 i decided to start up my hair jorney again and this time no more lazyness!!!!! im going to document what woked for my hair and what dosent on this blog and make little update so i can track my progess. so my origanal goal was bra stap length and it still is but my mini goal is arm pit length hair i just need to get over the shoulder length hump. starting with my regimin. so i am taking my old regimin that took me from neck lenth to shoulder length and changing it up a bit because i know my hair like new things now. i also need to get into the healthy practice of triming/ dusting my hair i always say im gonna do it but then i end up not doing it.

so my old regimin was

my regimin was deep conditon once a week with ors mayonsie conditioner or herbal essencese.

i conditioner washed my hair 2 x a week with vo5 or herbal essnceses

i henna my hair once a month this strengths the hair and promotes growth.

used a hot oil treatment once a month

moisturised my hair daily with s-curl

when i first used henna i had alot of growth thickness when i got lazy i stoped doing my henna and i think that was the main thing that contributed to my hair loss and thining.

my new regimen is

Pre-Poo 1x a week with coconut oil

 Deep Condition 2x a week with organics olive oil "Deep Conditioner" or Aussie "3 Minute Miracle luscious long Deep Conditioner"

Co-Wash when needed I use vo5 moisture rich

Leave in vo5 strengthening leave in

Moisturisers every night with S-Curl Activator and my oil mix (olive oil, coconut oil, Castor oil)

Protein every 3 weeks with Aphogee 2 minuet, Henna, mazuri olive oil or Ors hair mayo

Clarify every 4 weeks organic root stimulator creamy aloe shampoo

Relaxer every 4 months

so i have kept somethings that worked for my hair in my new regimen and i have removed some.

i hope to keep this journey up and i hope to keep Strong and keep going until i reach my min goal apl.