Combating Breakage in Dry Desert Climates

 I recently came back from the west coast for a work trip, spending a week in Los Angeles and 2 days in Las Vegas. A few posts ago I had mentioned how ever since my hair's been long enough to go into ponytails, that's exactly what's been happening with it... I had been moisturizing daily and making sure to tuck my ends under whenever I did little buns, but one day while removing my ponytail holders, I saw a few broken strands of hair and totally freaked out!!! I knew it wasn't the ponytail holders because I got some new ones I really love that don't snag my hair at all. I knew my hair had been feeling dry with all of the dry desert heat, visits to the pool, and tanning, but I never thought it would start breaking. All I could think of was all of my hard work, feeling like I've been working for it forever and then watching it going down the drain.
Immediately, with my small resources (seeing as how I wasn't home I didnt have everything I needed) I began putting together a concoction of what would be the deepest conditioner possible at the time... A mix of whatever conditioners were on hand, and some Palmers Cocoa Butter Body oil. Thank goodness it worked! I started mixing the oil into my conditioner every time I washed my hair, and left a good amount of conditioner and oil in my hair afterwards too. I'm so glad I've come this far in my haircare to understand that what I saw was breakage, and to have had an idea of how to combat it.

How have you dealt with your hair under different climate circumstances?

Quick and Easy After Pool/Beach Up-do

One thing I always remembered about the summer, was always needing to have some way to contain my hair during water activities. For the most part, as a child, I lived in box braids and single strand twists, so going in the water meant nothing but shrunken hair... which at that point meant nothing because my hair was always shrunken anyway. lol Since I was never the one in charge of my hair and my mother worked a lot, styles like braids and twists were essential to my mother, being able to easily rinse them and not have to worry about combing hair if she didn't have the time.
This time around while out in LA, I figured going in the pool with loose hair couldn't be that bad, now that I'm old enough to do my own  hair (lol) and my hair is now long enough to go into a ponytail... that would be my saving grace, and it was! I grabbed whatever conditioner I could find, and smoothed it onto my hair after I was finished with my pool shenanigans. On my way to tan, I put the back of my hair up into a little high bun and left what would be the bang area out. It shrunk up quite a bit... but if you don't mind the skrunken look and want to pull off a little more than a curly fro or ponytail after the pool or beach, this can be a cute and quick little updo look for you. Adding some conditoner is a great way to keep your hair from totally drying out from pool and/or ocean water and the sun, and get a little deep conditioning time in. You can even try a conditoner with SPF if you know you'll be out in the sun for a while, or adding a little oil to your conditioner if you have really dry hair.

 I hope this saves someone's beach/pool hair!

Research: Swimming With Natural Colored Treated Hair

Ok, so I didn't get a chance to swim in the pool yesterday but I'm glad because I realized I need to do more research. I have curly, highly textured color treated natural hair and and I know chlorine is not the best thing. (FYI: As a kid I didn't really play in pools because I hated the way they smelled so I was more of an ocean/lake person) Anyway here's what I found so far from The Natural Haven, Newly Natural:

1. I have to wear a swim cap and braids/twists are the best ways to fit my hair under it. And that swim caps will not keep all the water out. However, wetting your hair with regular water for 15 minutes prior to jumping into the pool will minimize the amount of chlorine water your hair absorbs.

2. Add Coconut oil before I rinse and/or conditioner after I rinse my hair. I haven't decided which I am going to do yet but I'm leaning towards the using coconut oil because my hair won't absorb much water which equals less shrinkage.

3. Rinse my hair for about 5 minutes before preceding to use a shampoo or some other cleansing method. Now here's my dilemma with color: I don't want to use just any old shampoo because I don't want my hair stripped. I read that tomato juice may be my best bet. If I do this I will follow up with my Jessicurl Cleansing Cream and then use a conditioner.

This seems like a lot of work too. I feel like my hair style choices will be pretty limited because I'll have to twist/braid/bun my hair up to fit under a cab and to withstand washing. I plan to be in the pool one or two days a week. I have an idea on what I'll probably do about that, but I'll reveal when the time comes. For now I'm doing my research!