... All Things Ankara

I find myself running back to the city a lot at the weekend, its tall rise buildings, edgy flair and ever present touches of modernism have become a lot more homelike and comforting to me than the suburban area where I've grown up and currently live. Home will always be home so I appreciate my local eyebrow threading lady, small talk with neighbours and the odd and occasional bumping into an old class mate or teacher situation...  but there's something special and refreshing about the City and what we all know as.... Central London

My plans for the weekend which of course on this blog are usually referring to H-A-I-R, went awfully wrong! My twist out was a success but my hand molding hair style skills were not, hence why I threw on my fave Ankara print fabric and decided not to get stressed out by the not so good hair day! You know the ones that have you thinking the only solution is the blow dryer?! [The devil is a liar!!!] [don't you love the things African parents say?!]

So here I am Ankara loving, heat free hair repping... enjoying another London river view! P.s. I've not used a drop of heat in over 9 weeks now!!! Feels so darn good y'all!!!

What are you all up to? Any weekend plans? 

Photos by GrandCulturePhotography

Avec amour...
Fiona

p.s. If I'm not here you'll defo catch me on on Instragram ^_^ @loveyourtresses

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Deep Conditioning | But are You doing it Right?

Soooo this may seem like a very silly post title especially for all of the advanced Hair Lovers who can shampoo, deep condition and even flat iron with their eyes closed! But we all get caught up in the activities of life [busy, busy, busy!], and often tend to find quick fixes/shortcuts when it comes to Haircare, which to our surprise may actually be a bigger waste of time than we actually know!

   For many years I was of the school of thought that whatever you smother onto your hair, better well penetrate right through the shaft and fix any rusty nuts, bolts, perforations, heat damaged black holes that were in existence. However, truth is in most cases your average Deep Conditioner has just a few, dare I say 3 or 4 ingredients, that can actually penetrate your hair. In most cases the other 5, 10, 15 ingredients are purposed to serve another very important role during the deep conditioning process; which is to help smooth down the surface of the cuticle, keep hair moisturised and also soften the outer strands of our hair, otherwise known as adsorption.

So what does this mean and what habits may be preventing you from benefiting from adsorption and penetration???
Penetration

This may just be a reminder to myself of my past time lack of knowledge [so take no offence if you've never done this!], but if you've ever been one to expect penetration from Oils which you've heard penetrate e.g Coconut Oil, and are doing this on wet hair post shampooing... waste of time! Oil repels water so there really is no hope for the Coconut Oil molecules [forgive my lack of scientific terms!] to penetrate past the barrier of H2O molecules. Hence why using penetrable Oils on dry hair is when you can enjoy their full benefits... Secondly, if your ultimate goal is penetration, picking the cheapest DC for convenience may not be the best idea. Looking at this not so very long list of ingredients that can actually penetrate, may be a great start in your search for products to look for when "Deep Conditioner for penetration" shopping:

- Water -
- Hydrolysed Wheat Protein -
- Coconut Oil -
- Cetrimonium Bromide -
- Caffeine -
- Panthenol - - some Amino Acids - 
- artificial Peptides -
- some Silicones or Amodimethicones
- Hydrolysed Palm Oil -
- 18MEA -
[please note this list is subject to hair typing i.e natural, relaxed etc. Will post research links at the end for Hair Nerds like myself ^_^]   
Adsorption
1) Shampoo --> Deep Condition --> Rinse 2) Deep Condition --> Shampoo --> Rinse
3)Deep Condition --> Shampoo --> Condition--> Rinse 4) Pre-poo--> Shampoo --> Deep Condition --> Rinse

It would be wrong for me to say either of the wash day methods above are wrong or the only way to deep condition, however, having experimented with all I believe and find Step 4 offers the most benefits for both penetration and adsorption. Let me share the reasons why:

- You treat your hair to some Oils or beneficial Pre-Shampoo treatments e.g. [my Staples List] before shampooing which help reduce Shampoo stripping effects.

- You Restore the necessary ph balance in your hair by counteracting the negatively charged Shampoo with positively charged Conditioner.

- You then finish by rinsing this out to prevent any product build up and to commence with styling.
Looking at method 1 this would be a joint 1st place as sometimes let's be real there simply isn't enough time to pre-poo. As for method 2, not finishing with Conditioner will leave hair dry and with the wrong ph. Finally step 3 does not seem harmful, but there's a whole extra post that would need to be dedicated to the topic of hygral fatigue a.k.a causing our hair to expand too much... let's leave that for another day shall we or check out the research links below!

I could go on forever guys but I'm sure this is a long enough read as it is! I was sent the HairTherapyWrap some months ago and have used this religiously on wash days for deep conditioning, especially if I pre-poo with Coconut Oil which did you know can take up to 16 hours to penetrate?!!

-  So what next... should we talk favourite DC's?!
Research articles: Huge credit to Natural Haven for her extensive Hair research of which this Post refers to mainly [1] , [2], [3] , [4]

Avec amour... Fiona

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A Wintery London Spring

The UK weather man must have such a boring job, I mean every day reporting the same old grim, grey, wet spells must have some sort of negative effect on your mojo right?! Anyway #I'mNotInvolved2013! I took myself away from the comfort of my warm, and welcoming duvet sheets to a nearby pond for some alone time [didn't end up being alone though!]
Why the need to dress up you ask? Well I leave that down to Creta, as you folks may know I've been feeling super sassy and diva-ish since getting her :p so I figured there was no reason not to dress up right?!
Oh and did I mention wig wearing means I really don't trip over my hair getting wet or blown in the wrong direction anymore! It's so liberating ladies you should consider it!  Here was a lucky no-rain, a tad of sunshine and a whole lot of wind kinda day in photos!

Talent behind the camera: GrandCulturePhotography

Anyway that's enough of me already! I apologise for the lack of posting of recent. I had quite a few things going on and found it easier to keep you posted on all things Me & Hair on Instagram!

Before I go any recommendations on a great vendor of human hair wigs similar to my Creta girl, she's giving up on me already... *sigh* the joys of synthetic wigs?!
Avec amour...
Fiona
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