I found these hair tips on (UBH) Ultra Black Hair to be very useful. These are questions that I have had during my natural hair journey. I hope they will answer some of your questions as well.
Hair Tip 1
I am still unclear on co-washing. Could you provide greater detail as to why you do not support co-washing?
My thoughts are, when you take a shower you don’t rub lotion all over your body and say you had a shower, you use soap. When you wash your clothes, you don’t put fabric softener in the machine and say your clothes have been washed. The same is true of your hair. You cant possibly "wash" your hair with conditioner. Conditioner will not remove oil, dandruff, dust particles etc from your hair. So basically you are only conditioning your hair and never washing it if you never use shampoo - not something I recommend.
Hair Tip 2
Why do you not support using hair brushes?
Hair brushes destroy the hair shaft of afro textured hair (even when it is straightened). Any white person that wears a perm will tell you they don’t use a brush on permed hair. But we are taught as children that we are to brush our hair to stimulate our scalp. Brushes break the hair in the middle of the hair shaft. (brushing my hair was one of the experiments I did when I was researching black hair. I actually brushed bald spots in the crown of my head, trying to brush it to make it grow down my back). It is a myth that we need to brush our hair and when we do brush, it destroys our hair.
Hair Tip 3
My hair is relaxed and I workout 5 - 6 days a week. I sweat a lot to the point of my hair is soaked like I just washed it. How do I keep my hair from breaking?
Sweat does not break your hair. That is a myth. I workout 5 days a week and am dripping sweat too. It has no adverse effect on your hair.
Hair Tip 4
Is it safe to use WEN and UBH conditioner together? Wen is supposed to replace deep conditioner shampoo detangle conditioner.
WEN is a product that is marketed to ALL hair types. Afro hair characteristics are very different than straight hair. You have only seen them demonstrate on a "curly" hair model (what we used to call "good hair") Never have you seen them "transform" a Kinky hair model on stage and you never will. A curl is different than a coil. I also strongly disagree with "co-washing" which is what they are advocating with their shampoo/conditioner product. I have no plans to try WEN because based on what I know to be true about afro hair and what I see WEN is offering, WEN in my opinion does not address the REAL needs of afro textured hair!
Hair Tip 5
My oldest daughter’s hair is so thick and she has the nerve to be tender headed (you can probably imagine the screaming and how long it takes. It is a job in itself; what should I do?
Her little head hurts when it is pulled and tugged so to make this part of her hair care less stressful, I would suggest using UBH Silky Spray moisturizer after you shampoo to help soften and detangle her hair. To further lessen the tangling and matting, before you put any water on her hair I recommend you put her hair in 2-3 scrunches to prevent it from shrinking. (It is a technique I call “controlled handling”) then wash her hair with the scrunches on it, removing them only to rinse, then replace them until you are ready to do whatever you do to style it. Use my Satin Crème moisturizer on her hair daily to help smooth the hair cuticle, making combing her hair a lot easier. It is not greasy and a small amount will go a long way. Try that and see if it works.
Hair Tip 6
I shampoo plus condition my daughter’s hair once or twice per week and blow dry just to remove water. I use the curling iron at the root to remove kinks. My biracial daughter is 11 years old and has healthy shoulder length hair. The only complaint is her sides and neck line get curly and are shorter. I appreciate any suggestions you can give me.
If her hair is relaxed get rid of the blow dryer and dry her hair under a hooded dryer then straighten with the flat iron. If her hair is natural you can blow dry to straighten also ensure she is sleeping in a bonnet or scarf to keep her hair from tangling and matting. Bet this will help her side and neckline problems. And please tell me you have tossed out your brush!
Hair Tip 7
I have not been able to get my hair straight with a curling iron. My hairdresser told me that ceramic flat irons are not as damaging to the hair as other irons. Would it be alright if I allowed my hair to air-dry and straightened it with a ceramic flat iron?
It does not matter what you straighten your hair with as long as it is not heated on one of those little stoves and it is NOT a pressing comb at all! The curling iron or flat iron must be the plug in kind.
Hair Tip 8
If products like petrolatum and mineral oil are lubricants instead of moisturizers, are other oils (such as olive, canola, wheat germ, sweet almond, safflower, castor, sesame, jojoba, emu, peppermint, evening of primrose, coconut ) lubricants as well? And if so, are they bad for black hair since lubricants do not penetrate the hair?
ALL oil is a lubricant. Not necessarily bad for the hair, but it is bad when put on the scalp! The two oils that I know will not penetrate the hair or the scalp are mineral oil and petroleum.
Hair Tip 9
What does it mean when the ends are split up the hair shaft? What causes this to happen? How can I avoid this? I don't use hot curling irons, only wet sets. I condition each week?
Hair splitting all the way up the hair shaft is a "myth" perpetuated by the hair care industry. It is neither logical nor possible for every hair to do such a thing (the top layer of the hair is like shingles on a roof) as I have never experienced it nor do I believe it to be true. Hair can split ANY WHERE along the hair shaft caused by things you do to is like brushing. And if every hair on your head is prone to splitting up the hair shaft, you might as well shave it all off and start over because trimming the hair will not help!
Hair Tip 10
How can I identify hair growth gimmick?
Hair growth gimmicks have been around for decades. Because we spend 3-4 more per capita on our hair, everybody wants that money. There may be one or more of these qualifiers in their message. Here are the ones I am familiar with: 1. If the person in the picture does not look like you (Caucasian, Spanish, etc) and they are marketing to you, it is a gimmick. 2. If they are using children with long hair in the advertisements and the children are biracial (Madame Walker used this gimmick with May a biracial child with long hair to sell her products), it is a gimmick. 3. If the website looks hokey and the person claims to be a professional in some capacity, it is a gimmick. 4. If they can only produce very few made up "testimonials" of other's successes, it is a gimmick. 5. If they are marketing a product alone without accurate instruction, it is a gimmick. 6. If the website is up for years and never changes, it is a gimmick. 7. If the method mentions trimming the hair as a requirement to make the hair grow, it is a gimmick. 8. If the person is a known wig wearer, it is a gimmick. 9. If they are marketing an internal treatment alone (aka hair vitamins), it is a gimmick. 10. If the company offers a product line with a bunch of products you can buy cheaper at the local store and the product line contains grease with vitamins in it, it is a gimmick. 11. If a website offers a “downloadable book” only available on the website and steals the very words from my book and website like “common sense” and “proven system for growing hair”. There are no before pictures and the pictures on the website look like fake hair. They claim some “breakthrough system” that was just developed in 2004 when it steals the very words from my literature that was written in 1989. And the testimonies are typed in HTML as opposed to REAL testimonies. They claim to have done some research but it is obvious that the only research they did was on my website and in my book! It is a gimmick.
Source: Ultra Black Hair
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