Jo's Hair!

So I recently posted these pictures of my daughter's hair on Facebook. Thanks to all of the lovely responses, I finally decided to come back on here to post information on Jo's hair regimen. I'm so flattered and truly humbled that anyone would ask me questions about hair! Well, one thing is for sure, if I can say anything or do anything to promote positivity and encouragement when it comes to natural hair, THEN I'M YOUR GIRL! 

Okay...so the questions are: What do I use? What do I do? 

Products for Jo's hair:

1. A clarifying shampoo. Any kind will work but I am currently using Suave Daily Clarifying Shampoo.

2. Pantene Anti-breakage Conditioner

3. Giovanni Direct Leave in Conditioner

or 

KINKY, WAVY, NATURAL HAIR

Easy Herbal Comb Out

4. Karen's Body Beautiful Jojoba Hair Oil or Darcy's Botanicals Madagascar Vanilla Styling Cream

Here are the basics: 

1. Use shampoo, focusing on the scalp. The hair strands and ends will be cleansed with the residual suds that run down when you rinse the shampoo out. This helps to prevent drying out the hair which leads to breakage. Most shampoos have sulfates in them, which strip hair of it's natural moisture so try not to shampoo too frequently. I shampoo Jo's hair between 1 and 2 weeks depending on her style.

2. Condition and detangle with the conditioner in it. Rinse hair completely, using cool to cold water for a minute or two. This helps to close the hair cuticles and keep the strands smooth.

3. Style. For hair that will be in ponytails I use a leave-in conditioner (Giovanni Direct-Leave in or the Kinky Wavy product) followed by Darcy's Botanicals Madagascar Vanilla Styling Cream (order online). This is what I use on Jordan's hair 95% of the time and I love it! 

I always seal in the moisture with an oil if not using Darcy's Botanicals: Coconut oil, jojoba oil (my favorite oil is from Karen's Body Beautiful, which you have to order online as well because she is located in NYC. I like the Creamy Coco Mango and Pomegranate scents.)

A concise glimpse of the process:

1. Shampoo
2. Condition and detangle
3. Rinse
4. Add leave-in/hair lotion in 4 sections
5. Add styling cream
6. Add hair oil if necessary (like a pea sized amount per section)
7. Style.

A few more important points:

I flat-iron Jo's hair every now and then (every 3 months or so) but not consistently. Whenever her hair is straightened, I trim the ends. When in it's natural state, I try my best to protect the ends by keeping them moisturized (spraying on water or Johnson and Johnson detangling spray, followed by the hair oil or cream to seal in the moisture), and tucking them away. Protecting and moisturizing the ends is the #1 way to encourage length retention. I stopped using clips at the ends of her hair because they were causing breakage and split-ends, so when I need to keep a braid from unraveling, I use an "Ouchless" hair tie (the thin ones) and I place it about 1 1/2 inch from ends. Ouchless bands are used to hold in ponytails too (or sometimes I just braid each section). The bands should be taken out at night to prevent hair getting tangled and broken in them. Jo's hair is in braids (regular braids/plaits, not French braids or cornrows) 90% of the time. Once in a style, I try to keep from combing or brushing for at least 3 days and just focus on upkeep and having her look presentable. Lastly, NEVER comb or brush your little angel's hair while it is dry! ALWAYS wet hair with water or other water-based spray before manipulating. Adding a leave-in after the water helps to make detangling easier too!

I hope this helps ladies (and gents if you're interested too)!

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Disclaimer: All products used and featured in this post were purchased with my own money. I am not paid as a sponsor or to promote any product or product line. I do not own the rights to any of the product photos. Thank you! :-)