Hair update

I took down my braids this past weekend I have had two sets of twists/braids installed in the last 9 weeks.  The twists lasted three weeks I had to take them down because they kept falling off and unraveling so I got my friend to install medium box braids which I carried for 6 weeks I had a 3 day hair out break between the two installations. I normally detangle as I take down each single braid but I still finger detangle my entire head once done to ensure there are no knots or tangles still left. After finger detangling I wide tooth combed my hair then did an overnight hot oil pre poo with a mix of avocado, olive and coconut oil. In the morning I applied my henna mask which I had prepared the night before. I mixed the henna with cold black tea infused with cinnamon bark, garlic and dried rosemary leaves and left it overnight for the dye to release. I had the henna on for about two hours rinsed it off then shampooed with TRESemme naturals shampoo, did a tea rinse with the left over infused black tea from the previous night’s henna mix. I then detangled with Enliven coconut and vanilla shampoo rinsed that off and then did a mild protein treatment with ORS Replenishing conditioner for ten minutes just because I felt like it; normally the henna mask would be enough treatment for me but I felt like adding something extra. I t-shirt dried sprayed my Crème of Nature strength and shine leave in conditioner, applied some coconut oil on my hair, blow dried on cool, applied my castor oil mix to my scalp, and then moisturized with ORS carrot oil. I got tree braids done afterwards,  I had been taking out my box braids from Thursday night and being very creative with covering the taken out parts when I had to go out, so different parts of my hair had a  4 – 1 day hair out break before my next protective style installation. I wore a top bun all day Friday which easily covered the taken down middle bit of my head.

I love these curls however this hair that I am using for the first time sheds a lot plus I really don’t like how the front part looks it’s not as full as I would have wanted it to be I have had to be very creative with how I style the front bit. In hindsight I think I should have gone for two or three rows of single plaits the length of my real hair in the front for a fuller look before getting the corn rowed tree braids installed. If I get time this weekend or next I will rectify that because I really am not feeling the front bit. I had these done at the braiding salon but I will need to rectify this situation. Looks like we will have to take down the entire head and re do it again with single plaits at the front. The lady who did my hair at the braiding salon did a good job; she has previously done two sets of tree braids for me which I loved, it’s just this new hair that is not falling in place and framing my face like I would have loved it too.

Regular tea rinses; good or bad?

It is said that we shed between 50-100 strands of hair a day and this is perfectly normal and necessary since the shed hairs have reached the end of their growth cycle. If you read hair blogs or are on a hair journey you have probably heard about tea, coffee, garlic rinses etc that help combat excessive shedding. Thankfully I do not currently suffer from excessive shedding, I tried a black tea rinse out of curiosity but did not like the stiffness that came as a result and so I decided to leave any shedding related rinses for when I actually needed them due to excessive shedding. Excessive shedding can be attributed to many causes stress, medication and postpartum shedding among others. If your shed hairs are more than what you are used to seeing in the bathroom drain or comb and goes on for a long period then you probably have excessive shedding which is where natural remedies like tea and garlic rinses come in handy; if your hair is coming out in clumps however you may want to see a dermatologist or doctor that is not normal.

Does doing constant black tea or coffee rinses defeat the purpose of natural shedding; I mean if you are not suffering from excessive shedding why try to combat normal shedding which is a natural part of hair growth? By constant I mean that you have normal shedding and are tea rinsing after every wash so assuming you wash once a week that is four tea rinses in a month. I am not sure if there are any studies or research done out there on the negative effects of tea rinses to combat normal shedding so if anyone knows of any please add a link in the comment section if available.

What do you ladies think can doing constant tea rinses in the absence of excessive shedding cause more harm than good?

Black tea rinse

Black Tea

Tea rinses have been known to effectively reduce shedding; some people confuse breakage with shedding. Shedding is a natural process where hair that has reached the end of its growth cycle voluntarily falls of your head from the roots. It is different from breakage which usually occurs when hair breaks at a point above the roots. To identify shed hair you will notice a little white bulb on one of the ends of the fallen hair. Shedding is normal, excess prolonged shedding on the other hand is not and could lead to hair thinning and eventually bald patches and may be caused by a number of factors ranging from change in diet, medication and stress among others. If you experience excess prolonged shedding please see a dermatologist/doctor to check that out.  Where I am from Henna is normally mixed with black tea or lemon juice sometimes both and it just occurred to me that women who use henna for hair and mix with tea have been doing indirect tea rinses without knowing it from time immemorial.

On my last shampoo wash day I boiled one black teabag in three cups of water about 750ml and let it cool while steeping.  I prepooed, shampooed, tea rinsed and then deep conditioned on top of the tea rinse in that order. Results; my hair felt really dry and brittle while sectioning it for deep conditioning. On final rinsing after DCing a little softness was back but it still had a dry feeling which I did not like I was so tempted to pour a cupful of coconut and almond oils on my hair just to get rid of the dry and hard feeling. As my hair air dried the dryness reduced but the texture still felt hard. Having read reviews from other bloggers on tea rinses I somewhat expected it to be a bit dry but definitely not feel like straw. Andrea over at Lengthening Locks had a similar dry hair experience first time round while Tendayi over at African Hair Blog and Jen over at Just Grow Already had really positive results. Some people live by tea rinses others do them once in a while. The dry and hard feeling bothered me so much I had to cowash the next day to regain soft feeling hair, that straw like feeling was not doing it for me at all. I will not be incorporating this treatment into my regular regimen but will only do it on a need to basis when I experience a little more shedding than usual or maybe even try a garlic mix instead.

Have you ever done a tea rinse? 

Wishing you all a very happy new year and plenty of blessings in 2013.