Sulu Hair

Deep Conditioning Treatments

2010-02-12T16:15:00.001-05:00

by: Eboni

Deep Conditioning Treatments: How Effective Are They?

Deep conditioning treatments have long been identified as one of the premium hair services in beauty salons world-wide. Go into any beauty salon on a Saturday afternoon, and you will see an endless row of hooded dryers lined up like British soldiers. Women sit underneath, flipping through the latest magazines with plastic caps and rollers on their heads, amidst smooth undertones of sultry jazz layered in the background. Paint a familiar picture? I’m sure it does. What really is the purpose of deep conditioning treatments, and are they really that necessary? Besides, who has time to sit under the dryer for another 30-45 minutes when doing your hair already takes so long away? Well, let’s see…
The purpose of deep conditioning treatments is to allow maximum penetration by using heat to open up the hair shaft and allow the conditioner to penetrate at a deeper lever. Deep penetrating conditioners and reconstructive treatments have been advertised and sold as the cure all for hair damage and breakage, but in all actuality, they are a band-aid solution and not a permanent fix to your hair problems.

What Deep Conditioners Can Do

 Remove tangles for ease of combing and manageability
 Provide an appearance of thicker fuller hair by plumping the hair shaft
 Add shine and moisture on the external layers of the hair
 Add temporary strength and vitality to weak damaged hair
 Temporarily slow down the breakage process of damaged hair
 Prevent frizz
 Sooth itchy scalp
 Smooth hair cuticle

What Deep Conditioners Cannot Do

 Repair chemically damaged hair
 Grow new hair
 Repair or remove split ends
 Repair damage from daily styling and heat abuse
 Repair over-processed hair

The Recommend Method to Incorporate Deep Conditioning Treatments

Deep conditioning treatments should enhance your hair care routine, not be viewed as a total solution to fix a problem. To maintain a superior balance of moisture and strength, add the following three deep conditioning treatments to your hair care regimen. Rotate use of each one, or choose based on your hair’s current needs. Although there are many quality ingredients to choose from, a key ingredients list has been provided as a general guide to help you select effective products on your next hair shopping trip.

Hot Oil Deep Conditioning Treatment

 Purpose: Pre-shampoo treatment to retain moisture, add shine
 Key Ingredients: Olive oil, coconut oil, shea butter, almond oil, apricot kernel oil, coconut oil, rosemary, lavender, geranium, tea tree

Protein Reconstructive Treatment

 Purpose: Add strength, slow down breakage process
 Key Ingredients: Magnesium, amino acids, keratin, panthenol, animal protein

Deep Penetrating Moisturizing Treatment

 Purpose: Seal moisture into hair shaft
 Key Ingredients: Wheat protein, keratin, panthenol, collagen, chamomile, nettle, rosemary, glycerin

Deep conditioning treatments are effective tools in a regular hair care routine. However, it is important to understand the benefits as well as the limitations of these products. Ultimately taking better care of your hair is the absolute best conditioning treatment you can offer yourself.

When it comes to our hair

2009-12-01T16:35:00.001-05:00

There’s Always Something to Learn When It Comes To Our Hair

By: Eboni G., Sulu Marketing Consultant and Product Expert

Growing out your hair can be such a rewarding journey, but there are days when the frustration of it all can make you just want to say forget it! So many products, so much patience, gentleness and time we spend trying to perfect our hair can just send a sista woman over the edge. It’s as if we are playing this cat and mouse game with our hair, or like trying to righteously discipline an unruly child when you really feel like closing the door and leaving them out on the doorstep (just kidding CPS). But all jokes aside, I almost had a come to Jesus meeting right there in my bathroom after washing my hair with a bottle of neutralizing shampoo.

Just to rewind a bit to the previous two weeks, like many of you, I too have taken a liking to the no-poo method, and washing my hair with creamy fragrant moisturizing conditioners. It was to the point that I had omitted shampoo of all kinds from my regimen, including those that claimed to be sulfate free or all natural. Well, things seemed to be going well for a while, but it started to seem like my hair was becoming more and more susceptible to tangles and knots. I couldn’t figure out what the problem was, so I decided that just maybe I needed to use some shampoo to get the PH balance back on track, so off to the beauty supply store I went.

You already know what an adventure it is to go into the beauty supply store for a Black woman. Checking out all the new products, and getting excited about what they “claim” they will do, whether they work or not. So there I am in the beauty supply store, money already tight, but I am definitely not leaving this store until I get some shampoo. As I make my way to the back of the store, I finally hit the jackpot: Sulfate free shampoo for $3.99 (or so I thought until I got home).

Fighting everything in me not to scoop up 3 bottles of conditioners, 1 jar of hair grease, and the ceramic flat iron on sale, I make my way up to the counter to close the deal. But of course the sales woman behind the counter is trying to get me to pay an additional $5.00 for a customer rewards card so I can save more money. Since when does a customer have to pay to have rewards???? “No thank you”, I tell her kindly, but what I really wanted to say was, “You ask me that every time I come in here, and every time the answer is the same.” But of course I didn’t. I make it out of the store and head home like a bat out of hell in panting anticipation to use my unique find.

As I rush home, stepping out of my clothes, leaving a trail from the bed to the shower, I do a quick check to make sure I have all my hair utensils before I finally shut the shower door behind me. I almost break off the shampoo bottle top trying to get it open in all of my excitement, but thank goodness it stays intact. As I begin to lather up my hair, I notice how much sud action I was getting- not a good sign for a sulfate free shampoo… disappointment number one. Trying to keep the shampoo primarily on my scalp as opposed to my hair strands, my hair begins to feel like a brillo pad, and becomes more and more tangled by the second. Out of sheer panic, I slather half the bottle of conditioner on my hair hoping for some resolve to no avail… disappointment number two. I am pulling out all my hair tricks out of the bag: focus on the scalp, wash in sections, detangle in the shower stream, but nothing is working… disappointment number three.

Turning off the shower, I can feel my heart beating like a rabbit out of sheer panic. As I make it out of the shower, and over to the bathroom mirror. I can’t believe my eyes. My hair is in a HORRID tangled mess. At that moment, I had multiple scenes flashing through my mind. I thought about the year and a half that I wore a wig to grow my hair out… all for nothing. I thought about the no heat regimen for 8 months to decrease breakage… all for nothing. I thought about the up do regimen for 4 months to maintain length and moisture… all for nothing. At that point I did the only thing that I could do, prayed to the Lord then called my mother in Arizona!!

Well I am happy to report, that both the Lord and my mom came through for meJ. It took me 4 hours to comb out my 4b-texurized-just about-bra-strap-length head of hair. I did have a tad more breakage than I would have liked, but overall- it was very minimal. However, my hair was still balling up like a cotton ball, and continually wrapping itself in knots and tangles even after it was combed out.

After I called my mom and told her about my ordeal, she said, “Baby, I know what you need-neutralizing shampoo.” Traumatized by the shampoo experience, I waited another week before I could even make my way back into the beauty supply store. As I mustered up enough courage to go get the neutralizing shampoo, I find myself back in front of the cash register looking face to face with the same sales person asking me the same question: “Would you like to purchase a rewards card today for $5.00?” “No, thank you”, I say again politely.

When I leave the beauty supply store this time, I am not as excited to get home and try the shampoo. I am literally scared out of my mind of just what might happen again. As soon as I get home, I head up stairs. “Should I, or shouldn’t I?” I think to myself. Glaring at my reflection in the mirror, I see a lonely strand of tangled hair dangling from my bun. Hmm… I decided to use the neutralizing shampoo on the tiny strand of knotted hair to see how it pans out. I place a small dab of neutralizing shampoo on my finger, then directly to my dangling hair strands at the nape of my neck. As I gently work in the shampoo along the length of my strands, the cuticle immediately became smooth and straight!! Simply amazed, and hoping it isn’t just a fluke on a strand of baby hair, I was eager to loosen my bun and try some more shampoo on the front of my hair. Again, the same amazing results! I pulled down the rest of my bun, jumped in the shower armed with my new detangling weapon-neutralizing shampoo. As I poured the shampoo in my hand and massaged it along my hair strands, the slip was UNBELIVABLE! Cuticles were smooth, no tangles, and no knots, unlike anything I ever tried. In all honesty, I used my wide tooth comb for a good 5 strokes total to comb through my hair in the shower to get out all of the kinks.

When I stepped out of the shower and felt my hair, I almost had my come to Jesus meeting. Unbelievable soft, manageable hair in all of 35 minutes from wash to blow-dry. I didn’t even need to comb my hair once I got out of the shower. This was definitely a totally different picture from the prior week, standing in front of my bathroom mirror with a matted mess and tears in my eye. I guess the old sayings are true, mom really does know best, and the Lord is only a prayer away.

Lessons Learned:

 Tangles are the devil

 All my hard work on my hair is not in vain (neither is yours). My hair held up like a champ during the severe detangling incident.

 Always keep neutralizing shampoo on hand for severe tangles- it will work unlike any detangling solution you have tried.

 Wash with neutralizing shampoo on a regular basis to maintain proper PH balance and prevent tangling- especially if your hair is chemically relaxed. Even if you are not experiencing rough tangles, I still recommend rotating in a neutralizing shampoo to minimize breakage while relaxer stretching, or growing out a relaxer.

 In a bad tangle situation, without any neutralizing shampoo on hand, wait until the hair is partially dry (or partially dry the hair on your own) so the hair is not soaking wet when attempting to comb out tangles. You will experience a lot more breakage and damage working with wet hair. Be sure not to use any attachment on the blow dryer when drying your hair. Simply remove all attachments and allow the warm hair to remove some of the moisture.

 Manipulate the hair with your hands, applying a leave-in detangling spray, and a few dabs of cream conditioner. The hair should only be slightly damp-not wet.

 Gently pull the hair apart from root to tip, going through the same section (small sections work best) several times.

 Next comb through the hair with a wide tooth comb, following up with a fine tooth comb to catch small knots and tangles.

 Twist/or braid up the combed out section, and tuck away while repeating the process until all hair has been combed out.

From your girl that truly understands,

EG

The Connection Between Minerals and Hair Health

2009-10-27T13:08:00.001-04:00

The importance of mineral dietary balance in our daily diet has been consistently overlooked in the quest for optimal hair health and growth. Common hair disorders such as shedding, thinning, and balding have been directly linked to mineral deficiencies of zinc and iron levels in the body. Many of us have leaned toward topical treatments and intricate hair regimens to achieve growth and manageability, and even started taking vitamins to improve our health. Although zinc and iron deficiencies are the most prevalent mineral inadequacies related to hair loss, topical application and dietary inclusions of sulfur continues to provide promising results as a growth enhancement and hair loss treatment.

Zinc and iron are essential dietary minerals that are present in almost every cell within the human body. Clinical studies have found that patients diagnosed with various forms of alopecia (temporary to permanent hair loss) have decreased levels of zinc and iron present in the body. These same studies have also shown that once zinc and iron levels were increased to the appropriate biological levels, notable progress was achieved in correcting the hair abnormality.

Dietary sulfur has been found to be a promising solution to remediate common hair abnormalities. Similar to zinc, sulfur has been utilized in traditional medicine for centuries as a topical solution to treat skin and scalp conditions such as eczema, acne and psoriasis. Sulfur is found primarily in the structure proteins that make up the hair, skin and nails. In most recent years, medical and naturopathic doctors have begun to investigate the efficacy of sulfur based products and dietary supplements to treat hair abnormalities such as shedding, thinning, and baldness.

Enjoying a healthy diet and utilizing topical products that contain sulfur may be the power punch you need to mitigate hair disorders and increase hair health. If you’re considering dietary changes or supplementing with vitamins, you should always consult your physician first to ensure you’re choosing the right vitamins and using the proper dosage.

Coming soon...

2009-10-19T14:54:00.000-04:00

We're going to talk about all your favorite hair-related topics...health, growth, styles and more. If you have any topics you want to hear about just comment here or send an email to nikki@suluhair.com.