Hellloooo my coily/curly haired babies!! It’s been so long gosh, how’s everybody doing?? I know I know I have not been active but guys, I am back again and HERE TO LAST. And hey, guess what? Back in my final year in school, a group of friends and myself focused on natural hair care for our final project and I am proud to say My partner Grace and myself are Co-Founders of a new hair care business called Natural Space. Yes guys! I am so excited to have come this far and safe to say I have brought the hair care to you! No more stress with finding out what your hair type is and what it needs. Natural Space has got you with all the customised handmade organic products that your hair needs as well as all the routines and regimens that you need to follow towards achieving the best healthiest hair with very easy to follow remedies. Anywaysss, all excitement behind lets get down to business. Today’s topic is all about Moisture 💦GOOD HAIR IS MOISTURISED 🌿 We’re about to open a new chapter in managing natural hair; moisture retention, what it is, what tips you need, and whether it varies in hair types? And so on. Moisture Retention is simply learning how to keep your hair moisturised and prevent it from going dry. Sometimes we think we are doing all the right things and using the right products, but still, in some way, our hair continues to feel so dry that we think it could snap! Well, sometimes it’s not always the obvious reasons why our hair is so dry. Now let’s look into what some of the common causes of dry hair are: Nutritional Deficiencies – this just means that you’re not providing yourself with the necessary nutrients that your hair uses to promotes its health. Some nutrients to look out for in food are Vitamin A, D, B5, C Zinc, Iron, Omega 3 Fats & Biotin. Some foods that help keep the hair healthy and strong are eggs, carrots, avocados, salmon, greek yoghurt among others. Excessive sun exposure – just like getting a tan from staying in the sun for too long, your hair can also be exposed to excess sunlight which causes the hair to feel very dry and brittle. If you tend to be out in the sun a lot then it is advisable to stay away from the use of coconut oil because this will speed up the drying process. Excessive Hair Wash – yessir you read right! Excessive washing of your hair ends up stripping away so much moisture from your hair that your basic moisturizing regimen could become useless against how much moisture is lost in the first place. Heat Damage – it is very true that when you keep using heat products such as blow dryers, straighteners etc. for your hair all the time it tends to damage the texture of your hair and as time goes on your coils find it hard to warp back to its natural goodness. It’s best to keep heat tools on a low unless entirely necessary. The use of harsh ingredients in products – I’m sure you’ve used products on your hair that say they’ll do something good but just ends up leaving your hair feeling dry and brittle. Most of the times it comes from the harsh chemicals that are being put in these products. Here are some harsh chemicals you should avoid in hair products: parabens, silicones, sulfates, sodium chloride, some alcohols like SD alcohol, Denatured alcohol, Alcohol Denat and SD Alcohols 40, 40B, 38B, 39B, & 40-2 among many more. In another post, we would delve deeper into these harsh chemicals to avoid and why. The factors mentioned above are more or less the most common factors you could find out there as to why your hair feels so dry, but have a look at these other factors and see if any may apply to you: Am I moisturising enough? – sometimes we feel like we are giving our hair the right amount of moisture it needs. It’s good to play around with moisture levels till you find the right balance that your hair needs. Also, look at the ingredients to make sure there are moisturizing ingredients in the product. Am I Deep Conditioning Right? – I’m sure some of us feel like shampooing and conditioning is enough to retain healthy hair. Well, folks, that’s not always the case. Deep conditioning improves product penetration and reduces breakage. When we deep condition, our other products tend to penetrate the hair shaft more effectively. It also promotes curl definition and elongates the strands hence reducing the opportunity for tangles and knots leading to breakage. And again deep conditioning techniques and types also depend on your hair type. But that’s a story for another post :). Am I using the right sealing oils for my hair type? – yes some sealing oils are not necessarily good for all hair types so it is good to research and try your hands on different kinds to see which one works best for you. A universal sealing oil that I would personally recommend to all my naturalistas is castor oil. If you have really thick hair or are in Hair Type 3B going down to Type 1, stick to normal castor oil and if your hair is thin or you want for volume, stick to Jamaican Black Castor oil. Am I staying hydrated? – Believe it or not, well-moisturized hair starts from within. Drinking plenty of water will feed those follicles and work along with your external moisturizing regimen to help you maintain a healthy, soft, and manageable crown of curls Here are some extremely moisturising organic ingredients that you can acquire or look out for in your hair products: Note that not all oils mentioned here are for all natural hair types. Some are specific to each hair type. So now you know what moisture retention is, some of the common and not so common reasons why your hair feels dry, as well as some organic ingredients that are amazing for moisture retention. Good job you’ve come this far and honestly I am so proud of you for showing such interest in your hair. Kudos to you fellow naturalista🌱 you climbed up one step towards attaining healthy lustrous curls/coils. I hope this article was helpful and you learned some new thing s about your hair. Join me next week as we explore the various moisturising types and learn which one works best for you to add to your hair regimen 🌿. Don’t forget to head over to Natural Space: http://bit.ly/3f8HVy6NaturalSpaceGh to book a consultation and get to know your hair properties or simply just message if you want to get some products customized to your hair type. If you have any questions hit me up in the comments or message me on Twitter @Nickiiii_B Always happy to chat!!!

Hey my curly girl fairies! I hope you’re all excited for my new blog post as much as I am. Well I bet you’re not as excited seeing as I’ve been MIA on here. Stuff happened and I just lost motivation to post on here. I apologize for my lack of commitment to my blog but I can assure you that I am back and ready to help all my curly girl fairies. Today’s discussion is on dyed hair, is it your friend or an enemy in disguise? Well through my research and personal experiences, I have come to a realization that it is an ENEMY but can become your friend lol. Let’s get into the discussion shall we. Once you have coloured/bleached your natural hair, it is important that you take the process and products used for washing hair seriously. Your hair could end up looking and feeling dry and/or dull. We don’t want that now do we? When you have dyed hair, no matter how much you hate to admit it, wash days become more often. Once a week is the best to retain moisture and stop your hair from breaking but if that feels like too much of a task then once every two weeks is highly recommended. Coloured/bleached hair requires more TLC due to the rate at which the hair could dry up and look dull. Trust me I’m talking from experience here 😂. Let’s start of with the processes and products involved in coloured/bleached hair: Shampoo – you need to find the best shampoo which is free from sulphates, parabens or silicons. I know what some of you are thinking; “that narrows the choices down”. Well yeah but that also helps you be able to find just the right products that your hair deserves. You need to shampoo way less than you normally would have at first. Swap shampooing for co-washing and shampoo only once a month. Shampoo strips off the nutrients from your hair and may leave you with dry hair yet again but co-washing retains the moisture. You can use your conditioner to co-wash but i recommend using a designated co-wash such as the Cantu Co-wash. Remember to wash your hair with luke-warm water. Conditioning & Deep Conditioning Treatments – Conditioning your hair every time you wash it is very essential for us curly hair fairies. This goes for deep conditioning as well. When you have coloured/bleached hair, it is important to deep condition your hair on every wash day. I know that’s a lot of work but hey it’s all worth it to have healthy well defined curls. Deep conditioing as well as condtioning helps keep your hair soft, deeply moisturized and healthy looking. My favorite deep conditioner is from Shea Moisture as well as the Cantu Deep Treatment Masque. Protein Treatments – dyeing your hair weakens the structure. That is why protein treatments are here to help by filling the gaps in the hair shaft left damaged by the chemicals in the hair dye. Protein treatments are to be done at least once or twice a month to help strengthen the hair. It leaves your hair feeling restored and stronger, Protein treatments are not meant to be left in your hair for too long or else it’ll leave your hair feeling straw-like. Protein treatments can be bought or home made. Homemade protein treatments will be posted to my blog soon. Moisturizing – it is best to look for products that contain essential oils that help make your hair feel healthier. Avocado oil is an excellent choice for colour treated hair. Argan oil promotes softer and stronger hair which protects your hair from breakage. Coconut oil promotes hair growth and helps moisturize dry hair – apply it to your hair between wash days to keep it from drying out completely. These are just a few oils that are good for your hair but as long as you already have some oils to help moisturize the hair then you’re good! Other Creams, Butters & Leave-ins – this is my favorite type of moisturizing. There is a process to moisturize your hair and I call it LOCO. This stands for Liquid(water), Oil(feeder oil), Condition(Leave-in conditioner/cream) and Oil(sealant oil). Note that the oils mentioned above are feeder oils while Castor oil on the other hand is a great sealing oil. Feeder oils provide the nutrients and benefits that our hair needs while sealant oils seal in the moisture that you have given your hair. This process means that you are required to wet your hair a bit, feed it with some oils mentioned above, moisturize the hair with cream and seal it all off with some castor oil. Shea moisture leave-ins and butters for curly hair are recommended for this process. Styling & Heat Avoidance – you would need to keep manipulation at a low and do more protective styles. To be honest I do not do this lol. I hate twisting my hair before sleeping but I’m trying to become more responsible because looking at my hair the next day after not doing any protective styles is kind of sad. My hair looks dry and is always tangled up! Ladies, do protective styles before bed!! Now with the curly girl method, you are required to keep the use of heat to a minimum and try to avoid as much heat as possible. If you want to stretch out your hair by doing a braid out. Well these are the fundamentals to be followed when dealing with colour treated hair. In my opinion dyed hair is an enemy lol but with the help of these tips, you can turn your colour treated hair to your best friend!! And that my fairies is how you take care of your dyed natural hair. If you have any questions hit me up in the comments or message me on twitter @Nickiiii_B Always happy to chat!!! Join me next time for more exciting tips and tricks to achieving healthy and well defined curls! I hope this post helps!

Hi curly babies! I hope you’re all as excited as I am for today’s post. Today’s all about understanding your hair. Before we dive into the wash days, the hair treatments and the do’s and don’ts, it is very vital you understand what hair your dealing with first. Let’s talk about hair textures. Do you know your hair texture? There are three different textures of hair that you need to know. Fine, medium, and coarse/thick hair. Now let’s go into detail and determine what YOUR hair texture is. Fine Hair – This is the most fragile and can easily be damaged. Fine hair tends to be oilier than other hair types and usually cannot keep a hairstyle up for long without the hair falling flat. It tends to look thin as well as stringy when weighed down with heavy products Medium Hair – This is the most common hair type and often covers the scalp very well. It’s not as fragile as fine hair and hence, can be made into styles easily. Medium hair usually looks thick and is not prone to breakage unlike fine hair. Thick/Coarse Hair – This texture is said to be the strongest due to its three hair layers. Now I’m not here to go all technical and science on you because that’s boring lol. Anyways, this hair texture usually takes longer to dry than other textures and can (CAN, personally not advised) be resistant to various chemical treatements such as hair relaxers. This hair texture tolerates heat (personally, use as little heat as possible 😊) and resists breakage when taken care of properly. Thick/coarse hair appears full and holds styles very well and can (CAN o lol) be resistant to hair coloring. Let’s talk about hair porosities. Porosity is your hair’s ability to absorb moisture and is broken down in to three categories: Low, Normal, High. Today’s focus will be on low and high porosities. Do you know your hair porosity? If not then today’s your lucky day! Just follow the link below to answer a few simple questions that would help determine your hair porosity. https://www.curlsbot.com/porosity/ Normal Porosity Hair Maintenance: This means you’re not in the red zone! When you have normal porosity, it means your hair is able to hold moisture and shine for a long period of time. This hair porosity is often desired but hardly achieved and hence if you have this hair porosity, stick to a healthy hair care regime to maintain the normal porosity of your hair. REMEMBER, if you use heat often, your hair porosity may change over time. High Porosity Hair Maintenance: Now if you either took the test to find out or already know you have high porosity hair then this the section for you! Having high porosity hair means your hair is able to absorb products quickly but loses the moisture just as fast. High porosity could either be a natural property of the hair or a result of damage from chemical processing and environmental damage. Even bathing, swimming and shampooing can create more damage. Here are some tips to help manage your highly porous hair: Deep condition often Include Protein treatments Avoid using HEAT & HOT Water Avoid Chemical treatments & Hair dyes as much as possible Use Butters & creams to style Use Aloe Vera religiously! Also rinsing your hair regularly with an apple cider vinegar mix can help manage high porous hair. There is no way to completely repair high porous hair but you can manage it from more damage! Low Porosity Hair Maintenance: If you just found out or know you have low porous hair, this section is for you! When you have low porosity hair it means your cuticles are a little tight and pretty resistant to receiving water and moisture. People with low porous hair cannot absorb products easily either. Here are some tips in which you can take care of your low porous hair: Deep Condition with a hair steamer Clarify you hair to remove buildup Use warm water to open cuticles Use cold water to close cuticles Use less proteins Use light/thin oils Use humectants religiously! (Coconut oil, honey and water based products) What’s your hair texture??? If you have several, what is the dominant one? Join me next time for more exciting tips and tricks to achieving healthy and well defined curls! I hope today’s post was helpful for all you curly babies! Until next time! ☺️🧚🏽‍♀️🧚🏽‍♀️