Frizz Fighting Hair Smoothie | The Natural Socialite

I found this recipe this past weekend by curl expert Mahisha Dellinger, creater of CURLS organic hair care line and it sounded SO amazing that I just had to share it with you Socialites! My hair has had its fair share of frizz since I moved a few weeks ago, so this will definitely have to go on my to-do list to try very soon! Enjoy!

Ingredients:

1 can of pure coconut milk (hydrates, conditions and defrizzes hair)
1 ripe avocado (natural source of protein)
2 tablespoons of pure honey (conditions and adds sheen)
2 tablespoons of olive oil (moisture)

Directions:

Add all ingredients into a blender. Mix at high speed until your concoction reaches a smoothie consistency.

• Section the hair into 4 parts
• Apply mixture evenly through your hair from root to tip, concentrating on your ends
• Smooth hair into a protective style (ponytail or bun)
• Leave mixture in hair for 15-30 minutes
• Rinse and enjoy your frizz free hair!

Substitutions:

• Feel free to substitute the olive oil with any natural oil that you prefer
• Add more oil for extra dry hair try one tablespoon
• Add more honey for hair that needs more sheen, try 2 tablespoons

Karen’s Body Beautiful Product Review | The Natural Socialite

 

Check out my product review of Karens Body Beautiful’s Heavenly Jojoba Oil & Sweet Ambrosia!

 

 

This product line can be purchased at www.karensbodybeautiful.com

Have you tried any of Karen’s product line?  What products do you use & how do you use them?

 

Rosemary Honey Hair Conditioner | Natural Socialite

The extremes of heat and cold we endure throughout winter can make even the greatest of hair look and feel like straw. This nourishing conditioner blends honey for shine; olive oil for moisture and essential oil of rosemary to stimulate hair growth.

You’ll need….

• 1/2 cup Honey

• 1/4 cup warmed Olive oil (2 tbs for normal to oily hair)

• 4 drops of essential Rosemary Oil

• 1 tsp. Xanthum gum

Instructions :

Place all the ingredients in a small bowl and mix thoroughly. Pour into a clean plastic bottle with a tight-fitting stopper or lid.

Apply a small amount at a time to slightly dampened hair. Massage scalp and work mixture through hair until completely coated. Cover hair with a warm towel (towel can be heated in a microwave or dryer) or shower cap; leave on to nourish and condition for 30 minutes. Remove towel or shower cap; shampoo lightly and rinse with cool water. Follow up with your favorite conditioner. Dry as normal and enjoy shinier, softer and healthier hair the natural way.

Source: The National Honey Board

Is your night time “Head Wrap” turning your man off? | The Natural Socialite

I am literally cracking up over here! LOL! Essence.com recently posted an article entitled Sound -Off: Is a Do Rag Really Okay in the Bedroom?, and I was tickled to death about how serious the guys that were interviewed felt about their Boo’s nightly head wraps. I mean, you all have heard me say time & time again…. If I don’t protect my hair at night, you might as well call me Florida (Evans) when that alarm clock goes off in the morning! lol. My hair ends up looking like the Black struggle & low self-esteem after just one night of neglect.

Our hair should not be interfering with our love lives, or our nighttime romance. Redefining ourselves means we are open to feedback, to listening and to changing if need be those things about our habits, rituals and personalities that end up costing us the love, happiness, and fulfillment we seek.

It is a well-known fact that natural hair and cotton fibers don’t mix, and the friction caused from tossing & turning at night can strip your hair of its natural oils and cause breakage. I will just have to tell my husband that I’m deeply sorry (not really) if my silk scarf is causing him problems, but a girl’s gotta do what a girl’s gotta do. Honestly, I’ve never noticed any “lack of attraction” on his end so………….. *Kanye shrug*

I howled with laughter, then I realized he was quite serious. Another gentlemen in his early 40s chimed in, “Yeah, I have begged my wife to at least give the hair thing a rest a few nights a week — it is hard to feel connected sexually to my wife when she has hardware in her hair, or her hair is covered up and I cannot touch it. Very frustrating, but if I say something about it we end up in a huge fight. So I don’t say anything anymore to keep the peace.”

Now I don’t want to seem insensitive to this group of Black men, but I cannot understand how a scarf or bonnet makes one less attractive to their spouse or partner. I mean, would you rather your woman sleep without her “hair equipment” at night and look busted at work tomorrow, so that you can get your night of “sexual connection”? What will that do for the attraction you feel for your spouse when you awaken from your night of passion?

Lucille Ball wearing a sleep bonnet in I Love Lucy

The idea of wrapping hair for sleeping is nothing new, nor is it something that is exclusive to Black women’s hair. Back in the 1940s women would get their hair done in the salon once a week or so and, in order to preserve the style, would wrap their hair in head scarves so that they could get as much “wear” out of the style as possible before having to have it re-set.

If my husband felt completely turned off by my bonnet and asked me to oblige, of course I would. Just for one night though…. Don’t get too used to that though sir. I kid, I kid. I have been considering investing in a nice satin pillowcase, so I just may go ahead and make that purchase in order to preserve my sexy.

~Charlotte

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Green Tea Health Benefits & Hair Remedies

One of the most popular herbal agents being used these days is green tea. This herbal tea is packed with antioxidants that combat harmful free radicals, deliver cancer-fighting flavonoids and disrupt the production of bacteria. The same antioxidants that help your body fight the free radicals that attack your cells also help your scalp when you use green tea shampoo. It protects your scalp from infections and gets rid of the impurities

Health Benefits of Drinking Green Tea

Cancer:  Clinical studies have proven green tea helps prevent many types of cancers, and there is research to support polyphenols may actually kill cancer cells and arrest their growth.  Bladder, breast, ovarian, colorectal, esophageal, lung, pancreatic, prostrate, skin, and stomach cancers have all shown to be positively affected by green tea.

Heart disease:  Natural News reports:

Research at the Graduate School of Medicine in Kyoto, Japan confirmed that green tea polyphenols can protect a heart from oxidative stress, as well as maintain good left ventricular function after ischemic arrest (restriction in the heart’s blood supply) and reperfusion (tissue damage caused when the blood supply returns).

Green tea also protects the heart by preventing hypertension.

Weight Loss:  Drinking green tea boosts the body’s metabolism. The polyphenols also help burn fat.  The World’s Healthiest Foods explains:

A human study, published in the January 2005 issue of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, confirms green tea’s ability to not only reduce body fat, but damage to LDL cholesterol as well. After 12 weeks of drinking just one bottle of green tea each day, 38 normal-to-overweight men in Tokyo had a significantly lower body weight, BMI, waist circumference, body fat mass and amount of subcutaneous fat compared to men given a bottle of oolong tea each day.

Green Tea & Hair Growth

Using green tea to grow hair probably relates to the evidence for influencing
circulating hormones in the body. A high intake of green tea correlates to higher levels of sex hormone-binding protein – or globulin, which carries hormones like testosterone around the body in a bound, unusable form so that tissues cannot use it directly. Testosterone is usually carried around the body by this binding protein, therefore, reducing levels of free testosterone, so that it cannot be converted to dihydrotestosterone (DHT) in the hair follicle, which is thought to shorten the hair cycle and cause hair loss.

Soothes Dandruff and Psoriasis

Research also suggests that green tea can help with scalp conditions such as dandruff and psoriasis by soothing skin and reducing inflammation. Using a shampoo that contains green tea or using a green tea rinse after shampooing can help reduce scalp irritation. Many commercial anti-dandruff shampoos contain carcinogens, making green tea products a safer alternative. When choosing a green tea shampoo, look for one in which green tea appears close to the top of the list of ingredients and that does not contain harmful chemicals such as sodium lauryl sulfate or parabens, which could contribute to scalp irritations.

Strengthens and Conditions

Green tea also contains vitamin C, vitamin E and panthenol, which are all common ingredients in hair conditioner. Vitamin E restores dry or damaged hair, while vitamin C guards against damage from UV radiation. Panthenol, a provitamin, strengthens and softens hair and prevents split ends. Choose hair products that contain real green tea extract or EGCG.

Do you use Green Tea products as part of your beauty and health routines? How do you use Green Tea?

Always check with your doctor about the use of green tea for hair loss and regrowth as well as whether you should add it to your diet.  I only post this information for educational purposes.  Green tea contains caffeine, which has all the side effects of caffeine. 

How Porosity Levels Could be Causing Your Dry Natural Hair

 

Is your hair dry, brittle or damaged? If you have tried every moisturizing treatment and deep conditioner product that you have seen on various natural hair boards and your hair is still as thirsty as the Sahara, then you could be suffering (yes, suffering) from issues of porosity.

What is porosity?

Porosity refers to the hair’s ability, or inability, to absorb water or chemicals deep into the cuticle layers and cortex. All hair is naturally porous and somewhat permeable to water. Hair is literally like a sponge, capable of absorbing water and other substances from the environment, and also susceptible to losing precious moisture and lipids to the environment. Maintaining an optimal balance of moisture in your hair preserves its suppleness, strength, and shine.

What causes your hair to have porosity issues?

Excessive abuse from combs, brushes, and heat styling tools, the sun, over processing from chemical relaxers [perms] and permanent colors, as well as the continued use of sulfate-rich shampoos and changes in hormone levels are all reasons that your hair could have issues of porosity.

Note:  I would seriously invest in some ph strips to test the acidity of your hair care products. High pH shampoos lift the cuticle allowing moisture to evaporate, so make sure you are using shampoos that have ph levels under 6 (pure water has a ph of 7).  Elasta QP Crème Conditioning Shampoo is good. You can also opt to eliminate shampooing every time you wash and just do conditioner only washes (co-wash).

How do I know if my hair is suffering from poor porosity?

There are a few ways to check for poor porosity, but I think that this is the easiest way (at least for me) to tell. Take a few strands of shed hair from your comb or other styling tool and place them in a bowl of water. If your hair sinks to the bottom quickly (less than a minute or so), then it’s porous.  The sooner it sinks, the more porous your hair is. If only one part of the strand sinks, you have a spotty porosity problem. This is not uncommon.

You can also get a fair gauge of your hair’s porosity by paying attention to how quickly your hair dries.  Porous hair dries very quickly, and hair that takes a long time to dry is typically less porous.  If your hair is almost completely dry before you dry off after your shower, then your hair is likely porous!

What can I do to fix this?

The easiest way to fix the damaged cuticle layers of your hair is through protein conditioning. Protein fills in gaps, binds to damaged places, and mends individual exterior scales along the cuticle. Regular protein conditioning improves the hair’s porosity by reinforcing the cuticle layers and allowing the hair shaft to better hold on to the moisture it is given. Don’t overdo the protein treatments though.  Too much protein will make your hair even drier.

Suggested Product: Mizani Kerafuse Intensive Protein Treatment

[Note: This is the only commercial product I have tried to correct porosity, so this is the only one I feel comfortable recommending.  There are other protein treatments available on the market such as Aphogee & Roux Porosity Control so look at the suggested application methods, price, etc. to determine what’s best for you]

Tips for use:

1. Shampoo, rinse & towel blot
2. Separate hair into 4 sections for easier application
3. Apply approx 2oz of product to the hair, making sure to cover the entire hair shaft
4. Cover hair with plastic shower cap and use heat cap or sit under warm dryer for 10 minutes
5. Rinse thoroughly with cool water to close the hair shaft [which keeps hair shiny].  Hair is now ready for deep conditioning treatment. It is ideal to use a plastic cap and condition for no less than 30 minutes.

 You can also however opt for a natural alternative to porosity treatments. Apple Cider Vinegar rinses are great for hair that has raised cuticles because the acidic nature of the ACV helps tighten and close those raised cuticles which will help your hair to retain moisture. In my attempt to keep from spending so much money on hair products, I have made this my go to treatment and because I don’t have serious porosity issues, it honestly works just as well for me.  If you can deal with the smell, then by all means go for it.

Apple Cider Vinegar Rinse

1/3 cup ACV

3 cups of Distilled Water

How to use:

Combine both ingredients in a plastic cup and rinse hair with mixture after you have shampooed & deep conditioned.  This should be used as a final rinse and should not be rinsed out.  This is also a great clarifying rinse & can be done once per month.

 

 

To Sulfate or Not to Sulfate… Natural Hair Faux Pas?

One of the first pieces of advice that is thrust upon newly natural & transitioning Socialites is to avoid Sulfate (Sodium Lauryl Sulfate) inclusive shampoos like the plague.  Even though this advice is quite widespread in the natural community, many still don’t know why. 

Sulfates (Sodium Lauryl Sulfates) are used in many of the products we use on an everyday basis, but we usually only discuss their use in Shampooing products.  Products such as toothpaste, soaps, and detergents many times use sulfates because of their ability to create a foam/lather/sudsy effect.  There are over 150 different names that Sulfates are labeled by, but the effects are somewhat similar.   Companies continue to use sulfates in their hair care products because they are cheap, and keep the costs of their products down.

Just like mechanic shops use sulfate mixtures to clean oil from car engines,  the use of sulfates in our everyday grooming items removes oils from our skin and hair, creating a drying affect.  The “no poo” method developed Curly Girl Lorraine Massey refers to the use of sulfate free shampoos to avoid over drying your natural tresses and stripping the strands of much-needed natural oils.

Kinky-Curly Come Clean

Burt's Bees more Moisture Raspberry and Brazil Nut

Miss Jessie’s Cream de la Curl,  Burt’s Bees More Moisture Raspberry & Brazil Nut ,  Kinky-Curly Come Clean and Giovanni’s Tea Tree Triple Treat shampoo’s are all sulfate free options that are worth trying.

Giovanni Tea Tree Triple Treatment Shampoo

The options for more hair healthy shampoos on the market are plentiful, just make sure that you are reading the product labels and mindful of the included ingredients.  No one can tell you the “best” product to use or what will be “right” for your hair; this is up to you to decide.  I recommend requesting samples of any product you are interested in trying when experimenting with shampoos, conditioners, and styling products.  Just remember….. healthy hair is happy hair!

Til next time Naturals!