Shea Butter- Benefits to the hair

Hey Readers,
                     I've been researching in-depth on the benefits of shea butter to the hair, and i felt i should share.
I've always known that shea butter- containing products are beneficial for healthy hair journey and mantenance, but now as i am still troubleshooting with hair care products to establish an ideal regimen, i feel its a good time to know the exact benefits of certain products like shea butter, aloe vera, olive oil, coconut oil, avocado oil, biotin, etc. In this post i'll be talking about shea butter only though. Others would come in subsequent posts.

What is Shea Butter?
Shea butter is an extract from nuts of a tree (the Shea- Karite tree) found in Africa. This tree only begins to produce nuts after about fifteen years and it can take up to 30 years to get the first quality crop from a particular tree.  The producers are waiting for the nut to contain a high concentration of irremovable fatty acid.  It is this unique fatty acid that gives Shea Butter its unparalleled healing properties and makes it much more sought after than other butters like cocoa butter.
The fat in shea butter is extracted from the kernels of Vitellaria paradoxa Gaertner (Sapotaceae), which is also known as Butyrospermum parkii (not like we really need all the scientific bla blaah, but i felt details would be worth sharing).
Shea butter contains five fatty acide; palmitic acid, stearic acid, oleic acid, linoleic acid and arachidonic acid- all in vaying proportions depending on the region from which the product is obtained
What does it do for my hair?
Shea butter is very effective as a moisturizer. It adds moisture and lustre to dry and damaged hair, making it very useful for restoration of heat damaged hair. It is also a good way of preventing split ends.
A major (but indirect) benefit of sheabutter is prevention of breakage. Note i said indirect, cos the breakage prevention comes from the moisturizing effect. Hence if your hair was breaking due to excessive dryness, the use of shea butter might be a God-send. This could also enhance the growth of your hair.
It is essential to note that in all my reading and research, i have not seen any article that directly says shea butter would make your hair grow, so i must say (not conclusively though) that shea butter is not a growth stimulant. However, it will help prevent dryness and the breakage thereof, helping the hair to grow.

This maynot be part of my blog, but i think its not a bad idea to mention that shea butter can be used for dry scaly skin, and various skin conditions like dermatitis, psoriasis, etc.
Back to the books, i got more learning to do- and as always. It'll be a pleasure learning from you, so feel free to comment.

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Protective styling

Hey Readers,
                   I've come up with a list of protective hair styles that can be worn during stretches/ transitions. I'll try my best to upload video tutorials soon. Hope you find thise helpful.

1. Single braids and twists
2. Braid outs/ Twist outs
3. Sew-ins/ wigs
4. Loose bun
5. Bantu knots
6. flexi rod/ rolller set waves or curls
7. wet wrap ( for those who want to wear it straight)

these are styles i am quite familiar with, but i have decided to make further enquiries and research into more styles. I'll keep y'all updated as i learn.
Please remember to comment.
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Relaxed Hair Care: Stretching vs Transitioning?

Heyy Readers,
                      Sorry i have been unable to update my posts for some weeks. Its been super hectic!! Today's post is specifically for relaxed girls.
So you figured out your hair is all fried and dried.So you tried the protein treatments, moisturizers, cowashing, healthy hair care tips, hot oil treatments( will talk about hot oils in a few posts' time)- and the limp hair only showed minimal improvements, if any. You're tired of wasting your products, looking at your hair in the mirror frustrates you. You've even decided to braid or do a sew in just cos you can't deal with this!!
Good job!! I did the same too, its a natural reaction. Frankly, its the right reaction.

Here's where we're at now, weave/ wig/ braid in place- we're wondering; "should i cut it all off at the new growth (a.k.a BC) and start all over? Should i do the 6 month- 1 year stretch and trim the ends as i go? Should I avoid the BC and transition ( almost like the stretch, only its an everlasting stretch)

The second and third questions are usually the plague for women who can't deal with short hair. I'm one of those. Its difficult to know what to do with short all natural hair if you've never had to. I know a lot of you may say its actually easier-but trust me, not everybody knows what to do.

This where my post comes in handy. Sorry to disappoint you, i'm not here to tell you what to do. I'm only here t outline all the benefits and challenges involved in both options. The idea is you (being grown up enough to read my blog) would be able to weigh what you can or can't handle, and make a decision.
As always, i like to hear what other have to say, i like to share your experiences with you, so add your comments/contributions. There's something to learn from it all.

Something in common:
1. For both methods, you would have to deal with caring for two different textures; the fragile relaxed hair, and the ever- so - annoyingly tough new growth. The point of maximum fragility is the transition line. Its important cos breakage occurs at the point of transition and it could get really bad if care is not taken. Best management in this situation is a lot of conditioning and moisturizing. This helps to soften the new growth while preventing excessive breakage.
2. You'll also have to deal with a lot of matting if you're braiding or using sew-ins. For tips on how to manage this, check my earlier posts.

Stretching:
 If this is an option you're considering-Having dealt with the above challenges, you have just two more things to worry about;
-the relaxer that is most suitable for your hair.This is because relaxers are big on the healthy hair journey. Being very strong chemicals themselves, they could be solely responsible for the hair trauma you're currently recovering from, or they could be contributors to a whole cascade of unhealthy hair decisions. So take time to think about your old relaxer. was it good for your hair? do you need something new? consulting a specialist could help with this. Its vital to make the right decision.
- Second thing to worry about is protective styling in between stretches. The common thing to do is masking the hair under a wig or weave or braid. But bear in mind, this isn't necessarily helpful for all hair types. Braids and weaves could cause extensive breakage if you have certain type of hair.
I do suffer a lot of breakage from braids, especially the tiny ones, but weaves are more gentle on my hair. Nonetheless, i didn't want to be bored with weaves, so i decided to learn about some no-heat protective styles i could wear inbetween stretches. youtube came in really handy for me in this regard. you can watch some video tutorials there. Hopefully it would be a post for another day. Remember; avoid very tight hair-dos!!!

Transitioning:
Here's where you decide that you actuallu want to get rid of the relaxed hair, just not in one BIG CHOP. You'll hae to deal witht he two different textures for a little bit, at least till you take off that bit, then your challenges kind of deviate. You should have the following challenges in mind:
- "Do i want to go all natural eventually? or would i be considering milder options like texturizers?" A lot of people often agree that texturizers are milder and more gentle on the hair, though some people may debate that. Personally, i am of the opinion that if your hair is very kinky and dry, softening it helps, and saves you a lot of time with conditioning and other measures to try to make your hair more manageable.
-If you;re all natural, you may want to consider styles, cos you;ll be in a whole new world of hair with the natural. Its supposedly easy (this is based off of people's experience cos i have never gone all natural in years). But even when they tell me that, i can't help but wonder what they do for styling -apart from braids, that is. It may seem like those going on the locks are the lucky ones. But then, witrh locks there's also a few protocols to observe in order to ensure healthy hair growth.

That's a lot of talking from one person( or typing in this case), so here's the part where i remind you, i could learn a lot from your own experience too. So Please please and please, tell us about your Stretch/Transition experiences. your comments are very welcome.

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