Is your hair preventing you from working out consistently?

Since the Madam CJ Walker’s straightening tools were invented, working out has conflicted with hair styling and maintenance, for many in the black community. People would straighten their kinks and curls, but any slight moisture on the scalp would cause their precious straight hair to revert back. The time and pain experienced during this process, meant that reverting back so quickly was not an option. Parents would  warn their little girls to look after their hair, to preserve the style for as long as possible. Even playing outside and running around could pose a threat to the hair.  In an 1982 article by Ebony Magazine, reader Pam Proctor recounts the many missed opportunities to swim or participate in sports because her hair would ‘go back’.  Then came the years of relaxers, which, are still going on til this day.  Some subscribed to this notion of ‘sweating out the perm’. This may be why stereotypes have  formed about black women in particular, not participating in swimming.  Not wanting to get their hair or weave wet, has typically been a reason given for avoiding it.  Of course there are always exceptions to the rule, but many of these stereotypes started because of hair..

So how have attitudes changed since then? With access to the internet and the growth of the information age, people are becoming more informed about health and fitness. More of us, from all races and backgrounds are learning about prevention rather than cure. People are taking responsibility for their health and know that a lifetime of dependency on prescription drugs and medicines isn’t their only option.  Unfortunately, certain diseases are attributed more towards people of African descent (type 2 diabetes, certain cancers for instance). Most health problems are connected to poor diet and a lack of physical activity, Staying active is a huge step towards taking control of your health and breaking the cycle of disease.

Hair should be the last thing that prevents you from working out. For those who don’t want to be another stereotype or statistic; here are some tips on staying motivated to workout and not allowing your hair to get in the way.

Plan your hairstyles around your working out, not the other way around

After styling your hair in a fresh twist out or spending an uncomfortable night with your hair in flexi-rods, the last thing you want to do is go to the gym and sweat profusely. A fresh new hairstyle can instantly switch your mind off workout mode. However, you could workout Monday to Friday and do a new style for the weekend. Consider flat ironing your hair as a treat rather than a necessity. Even if you regularly flat-iron, you can still wear curly and wavy styles, don’t be so hung up on achieving that bone straight look all the time.  You could even plan your styles around certain workouts that aren’t as strenuous. If it’s cardio day tomorrow, keep the hair in a bun, but if it’s weights day, your hair should not get too frizzy. If you have a special occasion coming up, you could prep your hair after your workout, and it will be ready for the event the next day.

Find your workout hair style

This depends on how you are styling your hair for the week. A protective style is probably the easiest style to manage when working out. Two strand twists, pinned up or put into a ponytail, work well. I prefer to put my hair in a puff, as it is the most convenient style for me.  If I want to preserve a twist out or curly style, I work out with my hair in a loose pineapple. Go for a style that keeps the ends of your hair away from your neck and off your forehead, so they remain dry. If your ends remain dry, your twist-out will still be somewhat evident, even if the roots become a little damp or frizzy.  I also find wash and gos hold up well when working out. To maintain a wash and go, I put my hair in low pigtails. Then I take them down when I am finished, give the hair a little shake, and I am ready to go.

Keep your hair up for as long as possible, after a workout

Unless you are taking your hair down to wash, perhaps leave it in a puff or pineapple. This will prevent your ends from becoming frizzy while your scalp dries.  It will also keep the hair taut at the roots so your hair is more stretched when it is taken down.

Avoid working out with your scarf or bonnet on

Sweating helps to regulate your body temperature by removing excess heat. We usually lose a lot of heat from our head. A scarf may cause you to retain more heat during a workout, as the heat is restricted from escaping. It is important that your scalp remains breathable, so the body does not become overheated. This can end up having a negative impact on your workout overall. If you want to keep your hair sleek, spray your hair with a mist of water after your workout, and then put the scarf on to sleek the hair and edges down. After 15 minutes or so, the hair will appear sleeker once the scarf is removed. From my experience wearing a scarf while working out never really prevented my hair from becoming frizzy anyway.

Practice co-washing more frequently

If you are working out during the week you will want to wash your hair more frequently. Many would want to avoid exposing their hair to frequent shampooing because of the drying effect this can have. Frequent co-washing is considered kinder to the hair and even moisturizing. Wash and gos may also work well for this reason. Check out the post: Stretching and styling your hair after washing for convenient styling ideas.

Focus on the benefits of working out

Frizzy hair is not as serious as obesity, heart disease, diabetes, stress or depression. Just a few health issues exercise has been proven to prevent or treat. The hair challenges that exercise may present, are minor in relation to the benefits. Such benefits will not be seen unless you workout consistently and make it a lifestyle rather than just a New Year fad. People who exercise also have a longer life expectancy and generally are better off physically and mentally. Besides, when you take care of your body, your hair and skin will thank you for it!

We have all been guilty of it at some point. How do you manage your hair when working out? Share your tips below.

Is Relaxed Hair Really Easier to Manage?

Here I discuss this misconception and review some of the major mistakes I made when my hair was relaxed? Perhaps this explains why my hair never grew past a certain point.

A certain reality TV star was quoted as saying that natural hair isn’t for everyone. This was puzzling to me and many others in the natural hair blogosphere.  How could a person’s natural hair not suit them? Was he claiming that for some women the only option was to alter their hair texture permanently or to be constantly reliant on weaves?  This is fine if it is a choice but it’s unfortunate when women believe they have no choice but to rely on relaxers.  This implies that there is something inherently ‘wrong’ with their natural hair.

 It’s very rare that you hear people of other races make such comments. This idea simply isn’t true and is a major misconception.   After making these comments he later ‘clarified’ on Twitter that he wasn’t being critical, he was simply pointing out that not everyone knows how to ‘manage’ their hair in its natural state, so thus it isn’t for everyone.  Really? I use to think like this, ask many women with relaxed hair or those that tried to go natural and have since returned to relaxer. Some will say the same thing.

However, is relaxed hair really that much easier to manage? All I know is when my hair was relaxed it didn’t grow past a certain point. Now this may not be the case for everyone but many of us can relate to this. During my time with relaxed hair I also had to deal with occasions where my hair was over processed, which led to breakage and regular setbacks.  Looking back now, I simply wasn’t aware of good hair care practice.  The principles that I have learned since going natural are also important for women with relaxed hair. They don’t just apply to natural hair but are integral for promoting healthy hair in general. For example both relaxed and natural hair benefit from protective styling. If I had incorporated this principle when my hair was relaxed I may have seen better results.

Check out vlogger KinkyCoilyCurlyMe’s story below

Unfortunately, I believe many of us are still unaware of the effects of relaxers to the strength and overall health of our hair. This may be the reason why black women are considered to have the shortest hair length or  hair that ‘doesn’t grow’.  Relaxers may be one of the main reasons for this. Although there has been an increase in the percentage of women with natural hair in recent years, the majority still opt for relaxers.    After reading The Science of Black Hair, by Audrey Davis-Sivasothy, I became more aware of  what chemical relaxers do to the hair. I realized where I was going wrong when my hair was relaxed. I wasn’t incorporating the practices needed to combat the negative effects of chemical relaxers.  I believe many women with relaxed hair are still not aware of how to manage their hair.  I’m not simply referring to styling, which is usually put before health.

Relaxers weaken afro textured hair because they strip the hair of its elasticity. With little elasticity, hair is more susceptible to breakage. Afro textured hair is naturally fragile as every kink and curl presents a potential breaking point. The American Academy of Dermatology found that relaxers make curly hair even more fragile and may therefore be the reason why the hair doesn’t grow beyond a certain point.  Afro textured hair certainly grows, that’s why we have to get a re-touch every 6 to 8 weeks. So the logical explanation is that the hair is breaking off from the ends and doesn’t reach a certain length as a result.

Good practices for relaxed hair

So what are the good hair care practices that would have helped me to manage my relaxed hair better?

Avoid bone straight hair

Hair care experts suggest that you should not relax your hair to the point where it is bone straight. Generally it should not be more than 80% straight; this leaves some elasticity in the hair.   I certainly didn’t know this when I relaxed my hair and my hair stylists didn’t follow this rule either. Instead they would wait until my scalp started to burn before they would even consider washing the relaxer out, this is not good hair care practice. Most of us believed that the straighter the hair the better. If  our hair wasn’t bone straight after a relaxer session it would have been considered a failure.  This doesn’t mean that such hair care experts are condoning the use of heat either in order to get the hair bone straight. In fact using heat on relaxed hair is not recommended, as this can cause dryness and breakage on hair that is already lacking in elasticity.

Wavy Relaxed Hair

Relax the hair less frequently

Hair care experts also recommend that you relax your hair every 10 to 12 weeks rather than the popular 6 to 8 weeks. This is simply because of the harsh effects of the chemicals in relaxers and the risk of over processing. The more time that passes between relaxers the better, as this would reduce your overall use of chemicals.  How many of us followed this rule when we had relaxed hair? I relaxed my hair every six weeks without fail because I couldn’t handle the re-growth.  I didn’t like the very appearance of it. If you were going to follow this rule, you would have to learn to blend the two hair textures. Again, the use of heat to do this isn’t encouraged and it is stressed that such usage should be minimized. Using heat on the new growth is futile because any slight moisture on the scalp will result in the hair reverting. That’s why many of us fell into the trap of using heat too frequently, in between relaxers.  Some of us used it daily!  It would be beneficial to try braid-outs and twist-outs in between relaxers as this will blend the two textures well.

Don’t relax damaged hair

Dealing with two hair textures in between relaxers sounds like hard work to me and indicates that relaxed hair is not as easy to manage as people would love to have you believe. From personal experience the longer I waited in between relaxers the more shedding I experienced. This gave me the false idea that my hair was breaking without the relaxer and so I needed to relax it as soon as possible. The cause of heavy shedding between relaxers is still unknown and this topic has been debated.  It is suggested that you should wait for this period of shedding to subside before getting another relaxer.  Relaxing the hair is such a harsh process and should be done when the hair is in the best possible condition.

Respect the mark of demarcation

This is the point where the new growth reaches the straight, relaxed hair.  Hair care experts stress that when you relax your hair, you should not apply any of the mixture to the hair that is already straightened. You must only apply the relaxer to the new growth as this can lead to over processing. Well, I know from experience that this is almost impossible to do in reality.  Audrey Davis-Sivasothy suggests that you cover the relaxed hair with a thick cream or oil to form a protective barrier between the new growth and the relaxed hair. This may be the best way of preventing over processing. In practice, I know many of us did not take this rule seriously and I have seen hair stylists applying the mixture to about half of the hair. They certainly didn’t take care to ensure that they only applied the relaxer to the new growth. Hence, this is why many of us endured over processing as a regular occurrence.

Protein and moisturizing treatments

How many of us knew the difference between protein and moisturizing treatments when our hair was relaxed? And the importance of balancing moisture and protein with our treatments and products?  I can now concoct my own homemade protein and moisturizing treatments and I’m aware of the benefits. I don’t do protein treatments very often because I don’t have to, but with relaxed hair frequent protein treatments are a must.  Getting the protein/moisture balance right takes time and practice.   Protein treatments combat the weakening effects of the chemicals in relaxers.   Regular moisturizing treatments are also important in between relaxers. Relaxed hair is even more prone to dryness due to the chemicals in relaxers, despite clever marketing to convince you otherwise.

I only had treatments at the salon once in a while and the treatments I bought from the shops were mainly moisturizing treatments. I probably should have been having more protein treatments but I was unaware of the difference.  According to expert advice, protein treatments should be done every two to three weeks and moisturizing treatments should be done weekly with relaxed hair.

SimplYounique’s natural hair growth

After truly researching the effects of relaxers, I do not consider relaxed hair easier to manage. It also takes time and effort to maintain the health of relaxed hair. Dealing with the effects of chemical relaxers can be more of a headache, literally and figuratively speaking.  I think it was a miracle I made it through my relaxed years with hair still on my head, because I broke so many hair care rules.  Besides, you can still have straight hair when it is natural without the use of chemicals. If you are happy with your  relaxed hair that’s great!  You may still believe it is easier to manage.  We are all allowed our own opinions and our individual experiences differ.  However, I would suggest doing your research and adopting good hair care practices whatever your hair texture.

Click to check out hair Chime Edwards on YouTube

Whether relaxed or natural we should all learn to manage our hair correctly and no longer be stereotyped as the race that has the hair that doesn’t grow. Or that women with long hair in the black community must be bi-racial. I know there are black women with healthy, long relaxed hair too. But when I was growing up they were always the exception, not the norm.  For me personally, it was not a healthy period for my hair or for my self-esteem. Now my hair is longer than it has ever been. It is a wonderful experience to not have to rely on weaves or extensions for length and thickness.  It takes time to learn how to manage your natural hair but it is worth it!

What do you think?  Whether you have relaxed or natural hair, share your thoughts below.

Sources

·         The Science of Black Hair, Audrey Davis-Sivasothy; Saja Publishing Company 2011

·         www.blackhairscience.com

·         Ultra Black Hair Growth II, Cathy Howse, UBH Publications 2000

·         Grow It! Chicoro; ChicoroGYM Publishing 2009

·         http://www.curlynikki.com

Natural Hair in Australia

What is it like to live in a country that doesn’t have an endless supply of black hair care products and numerous salons that cater to black hair?

The City of Adelaide
So I arrived in Adelaide, Australia last month and will be here for the foreseeable future. Adelaide is the capital city of South Australia and the fifth largest city in the country. It isn’t huge but still has all of benefits of a big city, yet maintains a level of calm about it. I did arrive during the festival period which was a lot of fun. There was an African festival across the road from my hotel which had some excellent live performances of traditional African music. One of the first things I observed when I arrived in Australia was how diverse the people are.
In Adelaide there is a wide choice of restaurants, from Asian restaurants in China Town, to Sudanese restaurants in the outskirts of the city. Quite clearly Adelaide has a growing African community which consists of those from countries in East and South Africa. Over the last two decades, Africans have come to Australia either as migrants through Australia‘s skilled and family reunion programs, and as refugees through Australia‘s humanitarian program. Other communities that live in Australia include those from the Polynesian islands such as Samoa, economic migrants and refugees from countries in Asia, and of course the indigenous aboriginal community. Australia is a nation of immigrants, other than the indigenous aboriginal community everyone there is likely to have connections to other parts of the world.

Rymill Park, Adelaide

Somerton Beach, Glenelg

Adelaide Zoo

Natural hair community?
It is a wonderful country that I cannot wait to explore. I couldn’t wait to interview some of the African women about life in Australia and to find out whether or not they have heard about the natural hair community, that is prevalent on YouTube and on internet blogs or forums. Of course it has taken off in the U.S.A in a big way and continues to grow in the UK as well. One thing I also noticed is that black beauty products are not readily available like they are in the United States; it reminded me of the UK ten years ago. Growing up in London, I had to go to specialist afro hair and beauty shops to purchase beauty products that catered to my hair and skin tone. In the United States they sell these products in regular stores such a Wal-Mart or Target. The availability of products has improved greatly in the UK but in Australia this simply doesn’t exist. For instance they have Target in Australia but when I browsed through the makeup section I noticed that the darkest color available was caramel.  There certainly wasn’t any black hair care products either. I didn’t see any black hair care shops like Paks Cosmetics in the UK. Fortunately, in America you could go to a regular beauty supply like Sally’s and pick up products that cater to afro hair and those specifically for natural hair.

So I was curious to find out where I could go to get my hair done. Fortunately, since going natural and even before, I have learned to do my own hair and I no longer rely on going to the salon. My hair also thrives with basic products such as Shea butter, coconut oil and plain water. I have learned good hair care practices, so the health of my hair is not dependant on product brands. Therefore I wasn’t panicking because I had moved to a country where I couldn’t pick up any Shea Moisture products or any other popular brands that are freely available in the U.S. However, I still wanted to know where the African women in Adelaide go to buy hair products and if there were black hair salons.
Looking around I saw that many of them wore weaves and braid extensions. The first girl I interviewed said that she mainly relied on a family member to do her hair and she visited the salon occasionally. She told me about the areas where the African shops were and reassured me that there were black hair care shops and salons, you just have to know where to go. Surprisingly, she had never heard of the natural hair community on YouTube. She wore weaves a lot and her hair was relaxed, although she didn’t relax it very frequently. There was also a beautiful young lady from Kenya that I interviewed with immaculate braids, again she had never heard of the natural hair community. Only one person I spoke to was aware of it and she had considered going natural but said she loves her weaves. :D. I explained to her that she could still be natural and wear weaves.

I did see a couple of girls with natural hair though. Two had cute TWAs (teeny weenie afros) and another had two-strand twists. So there are women there that wear their hair natural and I’m sure there is some knowledge about natural hair but it is yet to grow in Australia. It doesn’t appear to have taken off here and I couldn’t find any Australian natural hair, YouTube vloggers.  I am use to seeing blogs and vlogs from women in the UK, Nigeria and the US.  If you know of any or have natural hair and live in Australia, please drop by on this blog and let us know about your experience so far.

Click to check out Miranda’s story on BGLH

Update: here is a link to Miranda’s blog: http://www.StyleGallivanter.com

Good hair care practice
If you have recently gone natural, focus on good hair care practice as opposed to products brands. It is good hair care practice that will promote the health of your hair, not necessarily the products you use. You never know when you may no longer have access to your favorite products or may need to save your money at that particular time. Besides, I find that my twists outs come out beautiful by simply using water and Shea butter. In fact some of the products I’ve tried made my hair too frizzy and were not suitable for twist-outs.

Do you live in a country that doesn’t provide much choice for black hair care and beauty products? How have you adapted to this? Share your experiences below.

Love Your 4b Hair

I was recently watching a YouTube video by a vlogger who decided to go back to relaxed hair. Her main reason was that it is her hair and therefore her choice. I couldn’t agree more and I am not against women relaxing their hair.   However, one point she made that I didn’t agree with was that she had the ‘real African hair’ and that therefore her hair was somehow harder to manage as a result.  Although she may have meant it as a joke, I do believe there is this misconception within the natural hair community that some hair types are harder to manage. Also, instead of saying good and bad hair we now say 3b or 4b hair.   I get the impression that some see the 4s as inferior to the 3s and out of the 4s, 4b hair is seen as the ‘bad hair’ type, by some people.  I do not necessarily subscribe to hair typing but for the purpose of this article I will say that my hair type is 4b.

4b hair is kinky and tightly coiled.  It has a zigzag curl pattern instead of spirals.  Hence, 4b hair types usually have a more fluffy appearance and a less obvious curl pattern.  This is NOT to say that 4b hair doesn’t have a curl pattern.  Afro textured hair is ‘textured’ by nature and therefore has some sort of curl pattern (I’m aware that some black people may have naturally straight hair though).

Styling

I have only tried a wash and go once and I did not get the same results as women with different hair types. My wash and go did not result in loose or tight spiral curls because that isn’t my natural curl pattern. I will try it again using a different technique but I know that no product is going to make my hair do anything it doesn’t already do naturally.   This certainly doesn’t make 4b hair inferior to others.  All hair types have perceived strengths and weaknesses. Even if my hair doesn’t curl up as much as a 4a or type 3, it doesn’t mean that I cannot wear my hair in a super curly style using perm rod sets, bantu knot outs or twist outs.  4b hair is still very versatile and easy to manipulate. It holds styles well and is a lot of fun in my experience.

As for managing my hair, the more I learn, the easier it becomes to manage. As I always say; it is never our hair that is the problem, it is simply our lack of knowledge. Learning more efficient techniques of managing your hair and even learning from your mistakes, is all part of the fun of natural hair.  One of the greatest challenges with my 4b hair was shrinkage. However, after learning different techniques to stretch out my hair (without heat), shrinkage doesn’t even bother me now. In fact, if my hair didn’t shrink, this would indicate that there was something wrong with it.   So in my opinion 4b hair isn’t any harder to manage than other hair types it simply needs to be managed differently. I subscribe to YouTube channels of women with different hair types and I have seen the beauty of them all, but they all have their challenges.  For example very curly hair could be more difficult to manipulate as the natural curl pattern could interfere. If I had 4a hair I would have to learn how to deal with this, it wouldn’t make my hair harder or easier to manage, just different.

Negative comments

I have heard negative comments about natural hair looking ‘more African’ and 4b in particular being referred to in this way.  Black hair reflects African heritage. So to say someone’s hair looks more African (in a negative context) just because it’s natural or 4b, is plain ignorance. Why is something inferior simply because it looks ‘more African’ anyway? That’s implying that hair which reflects European or Asian heritage is more beautiful. That shouldn’t make it more beautiful, it should just make it beautiful in a different way. It’s a shame that these phrases are used and a lot of the negativity is coming from within the black community itself.  African hair is extremely diverse; no two hair textures are the same. Many women find that their hair is made up of more than one hair type anyway. Their hair may be 4a in the front and 3b towards the back for example. Again, this is the beauty of natural hair and these differences should be embraced, not used to create competition within the natural hair community.

Time consuming?

You learn more about your hair as time goes by. It used to take me four hours to detangle my hair, now I have learned to do it in less than one hour. This was simply by trying out different techniques. Saying that you don’t have time to be natural is again something that I do not think is a valid excuse. My profession required me to take a lot of work home with me in the evenings and it was a high pressured work environment. I simply had to learn to adapt my hair care regiment accordingly. I wore my hair in protective styles more often, which allowed me to leave my hair alone and gave me a break from dealing with it. Plus, since going natural I no longer spend my Saturdays travelling to and from the salon and waiting around for hours. I have always styled and managed my own natural hair. So  I may spend more time detangling but I spend less time and money going to the salon to get my hair relaxed, treated or weaved.

So whatever your hair type, embrace it because that’s what your hair is like naturally and no product or styling technique is going to change that. Don’t buy into the ranking of different hair types.  The hair typing system is supposed to be used as a guideline not as a ranking system of ‘good hair’ verses ‘bad hair’. Don’t go back to relaxer just because you have 4b hair, 4b hair is just as beautiful as the other hair types and has its advantages just like the others. Whatever your hair type, you are going to have to learn how to manage it and deal with challenges.   If you love your hair other people will, if you see it as inferior then that is the message you give to others. There’s enough prejudice out there, surely we can do without the kind that comes from within our own community.

.Celebrities with 4b hair?

Jill Scott

Shingai Shoniwa

Erykah Badu

Janelle Monae

My favorite 4b vloggers

Kinky Curly Coily Me

http://www.youtube.com/user/BlakIzBeautyful

African Export

http://www.youtube.com/user/africanexport

CharyJay 4b/4c hair

Kinksgalore

http://www.youtube.com/user/Kinksgalore/videos?flow=grid&view=0

CharyJay 

https://www.youtube.com/user/160Days2Lose2

Stayed tuned for next week where I explain how I manage my 4b hair.

Do you have 4b hair? What do you think about hair typing? Share your thoughts below:

Happy New Year! – 2012 Review

A huge thank you to all the followers and subscribers of this blog, whether via WordPress, Facebook or Twitter. There have been 20 000 views!  I am grateful for anyone who has taken the time to read and comment on my posts.

Today is my one year anniversary with WordPress!! I started this blog as a way of sharing my experience and advice about natural hair and other interests.  It has been a great year.  Look out for more to come in 2013.

Have a wonderful year everyone! x

Here’s an excerpt:

4,329 films were submitted to the 2012 Cannes Film Festival. This blog had 20,000 views in 2012. If each view were a film, this blog would power 5 Film Festivals

Click here to see the complete report.

Why is it so difficult to find products that are 100% natural?

Shea Butter

I’m sure there are people reading this question and thinking the exact opposite, it isn’t difficult to find such products, what is she talking about? However, look at it from the point of view of someone who lives in an area that only has the major stores such as Wal-Mart. They may not be internet savvy and know what websites to go on to find such products, or they may simply believe that retailers wouldn’t sell anything in the shops that could be harmful.

I’ve lived in the UK and I am now living in the U.S.A and it’s the same.  Unless you are aware of where to go to find natural products you are pretty much stuck with the major stores and their lack of variety. When I go into my local supermarket (whether here or in the UK) it is virtually impossible to find shampoos, body lotions, shower gels, deodorants etc that  have 100% natural ingredients. Since going natural with my hair, I have also become more aware of the ingredients of many popular brands, and the effects of such ingredients.  Why is it impossible to go to my local store and find products that don’t contain parabens, sodium lauryl sulphate, mineral oil, petroleum and other harmful ingredients and preservatives?

I stopped using relaxer, and was glad, because I became aware of the harmful chemicals used in them. Only to find that the same chemicals are used in my moisturizer! Why should a moisturizer contain sodium hydroxide? Why aren’t natural products available in major stores? I’m sure if I lived in a bigger city I would have more options, and I know that the larger stores of Wal-Mart now have  a ‘naturals’ section. That’s great, but what about people who do not live in major cities, why don’t all Wal-Mart’s have a ‘naturals’ section?

It upsets me, because the majority of people don’t know about the effects of certain chemicals and manmade preservatives.  They simply assume that if it for sale, it must be safe to use.  The fact is the majority of popular beauty brands produce products with chemicals that can cause skin or scalp irritation, allergies and in some cases, an increased risk of cancer. If I decide I don’t want to use a deodorant with aluminium in it I should be able to go to my local store and have the choice to buy a natural deodorant. I shouldn’t have to go to a special store or search on the internet, to order one from a company that is based overseas.

When I was in the UK I loved Holland and Barrett. I was upset to find that they don’t exist in the U.S. However I wasn’t a fan of their natural deodorant (it  left me smelling musty by the end of the day), but I didn’t have a choice. As far as I was aware it was their brand or a popular brand that was guaranteed to have aluminium in it. Thankfully in the U.S they have the Toms brand and I think their deodorants are great and they smell good. If I was still in the UK, I probably wouldn’t be aware of this brand, but if I was, I would have to order it online and pay shipping fees to have it delivered. What a pain, having to order online and wait for the items to be delivere.  Only to be told that the delivery came when you were out and you now have to go to the post office to collect it, I digress .  The point I’m trying to make is that, I wish I could just pick up the products I need when I do my grocery shopping, just like everyone else.

There are people suffering from dry scalps or dry skin and they think it’s simply something wrong with them and something they are prone to.  The reality is, many of us are suffering from these annoyances due to the products we use on a daily basis. My husband (who has European hair) noticed the difference when he started using the shampoos I use, instead of the generic one he picked up from the store.  He would regularly suffer from dry scalp and would constantly be scratching his head. It use to drive me mad. Then I realised that it’s not only women with afro textured hair who have ‘gone natural’ that should avoid shampoos with sulphates.  Anyone could benefit from doing so, whether you have afro textured hair or European hair. He switched to the shampoo I was using, that had no sodium lauryl sulphate and his scalp improved. When I went further and not only avoided sulphates but also chose to avoid shampoos with silicones, he noticed the problem improved even more and it is no longer an issue.

So the ingredients that are in products do make a difference.   I can understand people who don’t know any better,  using products that aren’t  natural.  However, I don’t understand when people who have been made aware of the dangers, still choose to use products with ‘junk’ in them.  Maybe it’s because of the inconvenience of having to find all natural products, or maybe they believe products that are 100% natural are more expensive. It is, when you have to order them from oversees and pay for shipping, or buy them from a specialist store that probably has to charge more, to cover their costs.

I don’t think 100% natural products are particularly more expensive, it depends on the brand and where you get them from, but a few dollars or pounds extra is worth it, in my opinion.  Besides, you can always make your own hair products and body lotion by simply mixing a few oils and butters together. However it’s a shame that natural products are considered specialists products.  They should be the norm and consumers deserve to have choice, variety and convenience when they shop. They should not be penalised through cost and time, simply for wanting the best for their health.  I guess if something is worthwhile it requires a little bit more effort. The companies that make natural products are doing a great job, I just wish they were just as accessible as general brands.

Sources

http://thegoodhuman.com/2007/06/21/what-are-parabens-and-why-should-you-avoid-them/

http://safecosmetics.org/article.php?id=291

http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/factsheet/Risk/AP-Deo

Ingredients in a moisturizer I purchased from Wal-Mart. I bought it because it had Shea butter in it. Well I realised, that wasn’t all it had in it!

It says on the bottle: infused with pure African Shea Butter and uncover radiantly soft skin. Skin Enriching Cream with a high concentration of pure African Shea Butter, a natural source of antioxidants & vitamins. This sounds great but look what it contains……….

Ingredients
Water, Butyrospermium parkii (Shea Butter), Cetearyl Alcohol, Glycerin, Petrolatrum, Ceteareth – 20, Hydroxyethyl urea, Mangifera Indica (Mango) Seed Butter.

Ethylhexyl Isonanoate, Tocopheryl Acetate, Octyldodecyl Myristate, Hydrogenated Polydecane, Cetylesters, Cyclopentasiloxane, Dimethicone , Fragrance, Isohexadecane, C13 & 14 Isoparaffin.

Sodium Hydroxide, Stearic Acid, Carbomer, Mineral Oil, Phenoxyethanol, Methylisothiazolinone, Methlparaben, Propylparaben.

Look up the safety of most ingredients or products at: http://www.ewg.org/skindeep/

Do you find it difficult to find natural products? How can this problem be improved?

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