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In this short and sweet comprehensive video, Audrey explains the science behind moisture as well as the difference between sealants and moisturizers.

It’s exciting to have a naturalista with scientific expertise in the area of black hair care join YouTube. In addition to her book, The Science of Black Hair, we now have a visual and interactive resource to discover more information about hair.

The post Just a Quickie: Hair Moisture Basics appeared first on Black Naps.

It’s something that you don’t want to hear, but you are going to hear it anyway truth hurts! Long hair does not happen overnight. There is no magic pill, product, or diet that will give you long hair faster than what your body is capable of.

Longhairdontcare2011 is known for super long beautiful hair, but have you checked out the pictures from the beginning of her journey? To reach her goal of long hair it took 5 years. That is 5 years of good hair care and consistency.

While growing natural hair isn’t necessarily hard when you know how to treat your hair, it is a challenge of consistency. You have to keep giving your hair moisture, deep conditioning, keep heat use to a minimum, and let it thrive in a low manipulation environment. So in this sense, it is a labor of love.

While LongHairDontCare2011 wears her straight, (which has its benefits of avoiding tangles) she also has some of the best protective styles!

Our hair loves long periods of low manipulation and protective styles, which is something that can definitely be taken away from her journey.

Stay consistent with your hair care and you can reach your hair goals, but you must be patient. Typically women who have longer lengths of hair have spent between the 4 to 5 year range to grow what is considered a long length.

In addition to LongHairDontCare2011, Cipriana of UBB’s journey took 4 years, Alicia James took 4 years as well, and Natural Chica is now at year 4 since her transition in 2009, so ladies it definitely takes time.

Keep in mind this is also dependent upon the hair length that you are starting out with. If you already have medium length hair then obviously it wouldn’t take this long, but if your hair is at a shorter length it’s only natural that more time would be required to reach your goal.

The post How Long Does it Take to Grow Natural Hair Long appeared first on Black Naps.

While a good rule of thumb would be once a week in warmer temperatures and bi-weekly in colder temperatures everyone does not follow this standard. Some people wash more frequent than this and some only wash their hair monthly (which is perfectly fine).

Say you lead a very active lifestyle and you have a short natural hairstyle, then it would be okay for you to co-wash every few days. When you are working out and you have sweat covering your scalp you need to get it off.

Also in this case, shorter hair is generally easier to wash because you will find that you will not have to deal with very much tangling. I remember when my hair was shorter I definitely washed more frequently because it was easier to get through.

Now lets use another example. Lets say you have very long, kinky textured hair that is prone to dryness, and easily breaks. Washing less frequently may be in your best interest to maintain length because when it’s time to detangle before your wash you are going to need patience.

Longer hair means more work and if you want to get through your washes without causing damage you will need to take your time.

Could you imagine washing this amount of hair even 1x per week? This is LongHairDontCare2011 ‘s detangling routine

However, there are some people with longer tresses like Dr. Phoenyx Austin who have a long kinky length who do wash 1x per week. She talks about this in her book , If You Love it, It Will Grow.

However there are two factors to consider here, LongHairDontCare prefers to wear her hair straight, while Dr.Phoenyx says that she prefers not to use heat on her hair. So, this is where hairstyle choice comes into play.

Or if you have dreads, washing more frequently definitely doesn’t pose as big of a problem because there are no worries about tangles.

Weekly washes may be really moisturizing for one person and for the next it could lead to a dry matted mess because of differences in porosity.

Start off trying once per week, and if you don’t find this to work out, cleansing more often or less frequently is fine. Just don’t go more than a month without cleansing your hair, this is definitely way too long to go without a wash.

If you choose to wash less frequently avoid using heavy product and too much product on your hair to prevent buildup.

What it all comes down to is making your wash routine unique to you. Those who are just starting out will have to experiment and see what works best.

The post How Often You Should Wash Natural Hair appeared first on Black Naps.