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Friday, August 28, 2009

Product Review: Frizz-Ease Hair Serum

Name of Product: John Frieda Frizz-Ease Hair Serum Extra Strength Formula

Price: $10

Key Benefits:
*Helps keep hair from getting frizzy.
*Helps hair styles achieved through heat (i.e. flat iron, curling iron) last longer.
*Helps prevent curly wash-and-go styles from turning into huge afros by the end of the day.

Product Disadvantages:
*It's slimy.
*It is most effective if you use it on wet hair. If you forget to put it on while you're hair is wet, then you're screwed.
*It's expensive. You only get 1.69 ounces for $10.00.
*You have to use a lot more than the directions suggest.
*Needs to be used with another product when blow-drying (i.e. oil, hair moisturizer) in order to weigh hair down.

How to Use (John Frieda's directions): Use after shampooing and conditioning on WET or TOWEL-DRIED HAIR. Use sparingly by dispensing a dime-size amount of serum into palms. Rub hands together and distribute evenly throughout the hair. Use more or less depending on hair length and thickness. Do not rinse out.

How to Use (Stacy's directions): Shampoo and condition hair. Towel-dry your hair. Apply a hair moisturizer or oil to your hair. Then pump five squirts (or more) of the hair serum into your hands. Then blow-dry and style as usual. If you are wearing "wash and go hair, then shampoo and condition your hair, don't towel-dry it, use a hair oil, and then add some type of product that will hold your hair in place (i.e. light gel, pomade, mousse).

More questions or product suggestions? Contact me: sgrahamhunt@gmail.com

Credit: Photo taken from Elle Magazine's website

Going Natural: Growing Out Your Relaxer

I’ve been getting a few questions about how to “go natural” or grow out a relaxer. So let’s discuss it.

There is not really a step-by-step process for going natural, but I can tell you how I did it. If you are considering growing out your relaxer, you have two options:

1. Cut off all of your relaxed hair and start from the beginning.
2. Grow out all of your relaxed hair.


I did a combination of the two.

I started growing my hair out in 2002. It took me about a year to get rid of all of the relax parts of my hair, It was probably one of the most difficult things I’ve ever done. However, I stayed down for the cause because I knew my hair would be a lot stronger and healthier once I got rid of the relaxer…and I was not disappointed.

The first inch of new growth was easy to work with, but beyond that point, my hair just seemed so unmanageable sometimes. The top half of my hair was curly; the bottom was straight. The ends of my hair seemed to be getting so weak. I didn’t know how to wear my hair, and to add to that I was living in Florida at the time, probably one of the most humid places in the country. My hair was always swelling up and getting frizzy soon after I left the hairdresser.

Basically what I did to get through the process was get my hair straightened as frequently as I could afford, which at that time was about 1-2 times per month. During the summertime, I got braids. Towards the end of the growing out process, I had this great idea to wear a curly afro, but because the ends of my hair were still relaxed, the hairdo looked stupid. I became so frustrated that I chopped them all off with scissors. And that’s how I grew out my hair.

I didn’t and still don’t have a magical way to make the growing out process any easier. Just remember that growing out your relaxer is huge commitment that won’t happen overnight, so be patient if natural hair is something that you really want.

- Stacy Davis, sgrahamhunt@gmail.com

"Good Hair" Movie with Chris Rock

I just learned about this movie, "Good Hair." With Chris Rock as the narrator, he interviews many black women, from celebrities to Lukreisha on the corner, about their hair practices. It looks like it's going to be funny, yet get the point across about how much black women hate their hair. *sigh* The movie comes out October 9th in select cities and October 23rd to the general public. Enjoy the trailer in the meantime...




For more information about this movie, visit www.goodhairmovie.net.

NY Times Article: Skin Deep


Skin Deep: Black Hair, Still Tangled in Politics

By CATHERINE SAINT LOUIS
Published: August 26, 2009

SILKY straight hair has long been considered by many black women to be their crowning glory. So what if getting that look meant enduring the itchy burning that’s a hallmark of many chemical straighteners. Or a pricey dependence on “creamy crack,” as relaxers are sometimes jokingly called.

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Sometimes I wear my hair in its natural curly/kinky state, and sometimes I flat iron it until its bone straight. I am one of the Black women that struggles with feeling completely comfortable with both styles. I would prefer to just wear my hair curly all of the time, but often I do feel more attractive when my hair is straightened. When my hair is curly, I do worry that others will think that I gave up on grooming myself for that day. On the flip side, I know it's much healthier for my hair when I wear it naturally, because I'm not using all of the heat and/or chemicals in my hair that straight hair requires.

"“Don’t buy into anyone else’s standard, set your own,” Miss American contestant Shanya Y. Rudd said in the article. But sometimes it's hard to do that when you are living in a world where how you present yourself does play a large role in your success.

What do you think?

-Stacy Davis, sgrahamhunt@gmail.com

Note: Special thanks to Chavaughn Raines for sending this article to me!!

"Hair is Just Hair"

“African-American women who are involved with black hair care in various ways adopt the stance, “Hair is (just) hair” to problematize a White cosmetology student’s professed ignorance of Black hair.”

- Lanita Jacobs-Huey, author of “From the Kitchen to the Parlor”


For those of you who have just started following this blog, I have enrolled myself in a cosmetology program at the Aveda Institute of Los Angeles. The school’s student body is primarily made up of white females. (I’m not really big on the formal terms “Caucasian” and “African-American” so don’t be offended.) We have classroom or “theory” days, and we also work in the salon on real clients.


The school occasionally has assemblies for the entire student body to provide students with important updates about the program and industry information. In the last assembly I attended, the retail manager, who is also black, said she was frustrated because she kept having to turn away black clients because the white students were afraid to do black hair. The instructors are now trying to come up with special workshops to help students to learn how to style Black hair.


I guess this is a good thing, but honestly attending Aveda sometimes reminds me of being at my White elementary school in Connecticut, when my classmates would ask me questions like, “Can you wash your hair?” “Why don’t you wash your hair every day?” “What is hair grease?” Huhhh…I’m so over it! I remember telling them “Hair is hair.”


I know that all hair is different. There are so many different hair types: coarse, fine, dry, oily, etc., and they all have different types needs. So 15 years later, I let my Mexican classmate, Mayra, do my hair. *gasp* Yes I know. I was sitting on pins and needles the entire time. She had never styled one Black head before, but I let her shampoo, condition, blow-dry, and flat iron my hair. I had to help her out a bit along the way, but overall she did a great job. Thanks Mayra!


(Above Photo: Mayra. I also washed, blow-dried, and styled her hair for this picture. )


In the end, I’m glad I let Mayra experience my hair to show her and my other classmates, who watched intently, that although my hair is made a little differently from theirs and has different needs, they don’t have to be afraid of it, because in the end, it’s just hair.


- Stacy Davis, sgrahamhunt@gmail.com

Friday, August 14, 2009

My First Haircut


Here are pictures from the first haircut that I performed two weeks ago. It was a basic haircut, and I took one inch off the bottom. I shampooed, conditioned, flat ironed the client's hair. She seemed very pleased. :)

Upcoming Events: Aug. 15 - Aug. 21

Free Basic Men's Haircut, Mini-Facial, and Scalp Massage
August 17, 2009
Aveda Institute of Los Angeles

For more information, e-mail Stacy at sgrahamhunt@gmail.com

5 Signs That Your Stylist is Using Dirty Tools

Many hairstylists are not cleaning their tools properly (if at all) because they feel that it "takes too long." They would rather spend their time getting clients in and out of their chairs and making money, rather than "wasting" time cleaning each and every brush and comb they use after each client, which they are supposed to do.

Hairstylists, who use dirty tools on your hair, put you at risk for getting ring worms, lice, and whatever diseases their other clients may be carrying on their scalps. Your stylist should be cleaning and disinfecting every single brush, comb, and clip before he/she puts it in your hair. The heat from the flat irons and other heated tools kills the germs on them. The scissors don't get put into disinfection solution because it will ruin them, however your hairdresser should only be using them on clean hair anyways.

Here are five signs that your hairstylist is not cleaning and disinfecting tools properly:

1. You see hair and/or product buildup on your stylist's tools. (See the picture of the hairbrush above.)

2. You don't see any blue disinfecting solution anywhere in the salon. Stylists are supposed to soak each tool in this solution after each client for 10 minutes, so if you don't see it anywhere, chances are they are not using it as frequently.

3. You see your stylist drop the comb and brush on the floor, and he/she picks it up and uses it in your hair. There is no "5-second rule" in hair dressing. If your stylist drops a comb or brush on the floor, then he/she should disinfect it before putting it back in your hair. Think of all the hair and dirt that's already on the floor. Do you really want that in your hair?


4. You've never seen your stylist clean any tools before. If you attend a hair salon that has lots of clients coming in and out, at some point you should see your stylist cleaning tools. You should not have to share a comb or brush with any another client in the salon, despite how busy it is.

5. You ask your hair stylist if the tools she is using in your hair have been cleaned and disinfected and she says "no," changes the subject, avoids your question, or gives you an excuse, why they haven't been cleaned. All of those situations are unacceptable!

~Stacy L. Davis, sgrahamhunt@gmail.com

Images taken from Excalibur Sharpening Supply and Limited and FromGrandmasKitchen.com.

Hair Quote of the Week

"Your scalp has no idea what's going on at the ends of your hair."
- Helen, Aveda Institute of Los Angeles Instructor

My classmate recently asked our cosmetology instructor, Helen, if trimming the ends of her hair would make it grow faster.

"No," Helen said. "Let's think about this for a minute."

Helen explained that hair grows at an average length of one half-inch per month. When hair grows from the scalp it is dead. So whatever is going on at the scalp has no effect on what is going on at the ends of the hair. Cutting the hair only makes it shorter.

There is a myth that trimming the hair makes it grow longer, but what trimming actually does is get rid of split ends, makes the length even, and makes hair look healthier and fuller.

I recommend getting your tresses trimmed at least one half-inch every 4-6 weeks if you are trying to maintain your length and every 6-8 weeks if you are trying to grow it out.

...And We're Back!

Dear Reader,

Sorry for the two-week hiatus. :( July 31st was my birthday, and I got caught up in the celebrations. Last week, my husband was in the hospital, but he is much better now. So now I'm back on schedule. I hope you held your hair together while I was gone.

Thank you to everyone who voted for me for the Black Weblog Awards!! Unfortunately I didn't make it to the finals this year, but maybe next year. :) Just keep on reading!

- Stacy