Black / African Hair Tips

[kahlilg]

bump!

 

[cinnamon-toast]

I would wear a weave, if I didnt want to cut off my hair. But as I mentioned before, I want to chop of my hair because I am getting sick of my long hair. If I dont like the result, I can always cut it more shorter like the old Halle Berry hairstyle. So I am not really worried about having my hair short and I like taking risk. I just want to know if it would be possible to achieve Rihanna's hairstyle without having it relaxed and what I need to use.

You don't have to relax. I have short hair (now) and am natural. I don't have to over use heat to maintain either. As for short hair, I've had long and short, straight and curly. I can say that I've gotten just as much male attention with it short. Pic of my just recent cut is here : http://www.thefashionspot.com/forums/showpost.php?p=4542851&postcount=554

 

[Aby]

^I like how you styled your hair!

So basically, it's natural but you use heat to achieve this cute bob. It really suits you!

It's also really inspiring as I'm seriously considering giving up relaxing my hair.

I did it (dropping chemicals) a while ago, when I was 17/18, and chopped all my hair à la Alek Wek but now that my hair has grown so much, I'm a little afraid of the drastic transformation.

 

[Sugarmama]

I stopped using relaxers about four years ago and that was the best thing I did for my hair. I get it straightened every two weeks or so and my hair seems a lot healthier and has grown so much.

 

[Aby]

^Sugarmama, how do you straighten it? with a ceramic flat iron ?

My hair is very kinky at its natural state so I'm not sure if I could be able to get that straight look once in a while.

 

[Sugarmama]

^The woman that does my hair straightens it with a flat iron and a Marcel curling iron, or sometimes just a flat iron. My hair is pretty kinky too.

 

[Aby]

Ok! Thanks for the input! I truly appreciate it.

 

[cinnamon-toast]

I straighten my own hair. I rollerset and then flat iron.

 

[lesypersound]

how do your roots look at the end of it all? lucky you if it comes out perfect. :]
anyone with shaved sides or shaved heads at the moment? i'm curious about yer experiences!

everyday i'm inching towards shaved sides, cropped top/shave sides & back, or a full-blown chelsea. i just cut off four inches today...i wish more of it came off. haha.

 

[Aby]

Nope, I'm not that adventurous with my hair, Lesypersound!

I just plan on chopping the relaxed lenghth of my hair to go natural and even if I already did that move a few years ago, I'm still anxious to do it...

 

[lady B]

I've just lost all of my hair.It's shorter than Rihanna's now,simply because I forgot to brush it before washing.I ended up having some sort of dreadlocks on my head,I spend at least 4 hours trying to do something but in the end I decided to cut it all.So tomorrow I'm getting a weave

It really looks bad at the moment,I hope that the weave will help a little

 

[lesypersound]

Oh no! Sorry to read that, but how were you wearing it for it to lock up like that?

It won't hurt to get a professional consultation w/ a black stylist about yer hair so that doesn't happen again... :/

 

[Sharper2002]

I've just lost all of my hair.It's shorter than Rihanna's now,simply because I forgot to brush it before washing.I ended up having some sort of dreadlocks on my head,I spend at least 4 hours trying to do something but in the end I decided to cut it all.So tomorrow I'm getting a weave

It really looks bad at the moment,I hope that the weave will help a little

I'm really sorry to hear that. I agree with lesypersound as well, that you might want to get a consultation with a black stylist before you get the weave. It's not so much about growing your hair back as it is about getting it back to a healthy state.

 

[gia0202]

my two thoughts would be---are you growing out a relaxer? that causes the hair to lock at hte transition point. the other idea is that your hir is naturally a very tight coil, so it locks really easily if the hair is not maintained properly.

My friend with tightly coiled hair employs a regiment of all natural hair products, gently conditioner cleansers (no-poo) and botanical oils, hydrators to keep her hair soft/manegeable/sexy. so her hair hardly even tangles now.

she avoids heat at all costs. ti makes her hair get matted when it reverts to its natural state.


also extensions can cause that too. that is part of the reason why I would never wear them.

 

[lady B]

the other idea is that your hir is naturally a very tight coil, so it locks really easily if the hair is not maintained properly.

That's definitly my problem !!!

I hadn't use a relaxer for 2 or 3 years and I never had any extensions.I only wear weaves for time to time,that's all.I'm really pissed about my hair because it tooks me years to have hair like I used to have and now I have to star from zero again.It's annoying .... but as my mother said,I'm lucky not to be bald.I was very close to shave it all.

I'm going to see my hair stylist tomorrow and I'm definitly getting a treatment before getting the weave.

Thanks for support and tips guys

 

[Aby]

lady B, do you mind telling me who's your hair stylist in Paris? I usually go to Farida B in Chatelet but I would like a change.

 

[Sharper2002]

Good luck, Lady B!

 

[gia0202]

do the major salons in paris fix afro hair?

 

[Aby]

^Unfortunately, no!

There's this neighborhood in the North of Paris with lots of cheap salons... otherwise there are a few upscale salons specialized in Black haircare.

I tried both sides and left lots of money and time with unprofessional incompetent "hairdressers" until I found this middle range salon that I like most of the time.

 

[BlkLadyLaw]

I was in Paris on vacation in April and my hair was a wreck and long overdue for a relaxer when I left so I decided to get it done while I was there. I set up an appointment with a black-owned shop (former Golden Scissors award winner) on the Champs-Elysses but I cancelled it because I think it was 70 euros for a wash and blowdry aka $120 USD! and I needed a relaxer also. I'm told it is a very nice upscale salon.

I had a Black Paris guidebook that had directed me to a Metro stop where all the black beauty supply shops are and hair salons (can't remember name while I am typing but can look at my travel journal notes). I was immediately bombarded with African men standing in front of the shops yelling something at me in French that I did not understand (being that I only speak English and a teeny bit of Spanish)...all I could make out was 'coiffure' or something like that. It was very intimidating. Then one guy finally figured out I didn't know the language and spoke to me in English and directed me into a shop. It was a beauty supply and a salon....pretty low end looking. The floor was covered in hair. I had to buy the relaxer kit (the same ones we buy at the grocery stores here in the US for about $7) first. I went to the back of the shop to the salon and tried my best with the guys assistance to explain what I wanted done. None of the stylists spoke English. They were all African ladies doing mainly weaves but also relaxers, styling etc. Well I probably should have just gone back to my hotel and dealt with my hair myself but I went ahead with it. I had like 4 different people doing my hair...basically whoever had a spare moment would stop by and pick up where the other person left off. It was a very different experience! And a scary one especially using a relaxer. Well one lady put it in my hair and was asking me to buy another kit. I often do my own relaxer at home and never need more than one kit so I refused. I later noticed that random girls would come in the shop and the stylists would use whatever leftover relaxer that was on the counters in their hair. Once it was in my hair she went to get something to eat and it was in my hair for quite a while longer than I am used to. I had no clue how to communicate so I was doing a lot of pointing (lol) and one finally asked if I wanted it washed out and I was like uh YES...they all kept telling me that I needed to leave it in longer. At this point I am wondering if I should make a beeline to the sink and wash it out myself before my hair falls out! I get excited because another woman comes and takes me to the sink so I am thinking yes finally. But she leaves also. Then random people come and start washing their dishes from lunch in the sink which has my head & hair laying back into it! Finally someone else comes and starts washing the relaxer out of my hair...I have no idea how long it was in now but it was well over 30 minutes. It wasnt really burning though. The someone else comes and blowdries me out...and I have to say she did a hell of a job...I've never had my hair blown out so straight before. Between the lengthy relaxer and the the blow dry technique my hair was the straightest it has ever been in my life. Not that that is what I wanted because I do not like my hair super straight...just relaxed enough to work with easily. I think some of it was that the texture of my hair was not as coarse as the Africans I saw in the shop and maybe the length of time they left it in was what they were used to for their hair texture. I think it was like 40 Euros for the relaxer and blowdry.

Anyhoo that was my experience getting my hair done in Paris. Lets just say next time I go..I will make the time to get my hair done beforehand or try the Champs-Elysses salon which was opened by a black American.