ELEMENTS OF A HIPPIE

So as many of you guys know by now .. I am a proud member of the natural hair community! There’s many ups and downs to having and maintaining natural hair but my hair is something I take great pride in. I use as many natural products as I can and have recently been maintaining a healthy lifestyle as well (now that’s a process lol). As you know what you put into your body is what you get out of it – water has become my best friend (lol -just saying). However, one of the biggest questions I get from natural newbies is how do they recognize if their hair is healthy or not and how do they maintain healthy hair. So with this post I wanted to share 4 major ways (that works for me) on how I am able to tell if natural hair is healthy hair.

The next hair post will be some of my tips on how to maintain that healthy hair.

Elasticity/Strength –
It’s hard to explain, but elasticity is when your hair can be manipulated, styled and/or stretched without breaking. If you can stretch your hair (without it breaking) and it snaps back to take it’s original shape .. then you my friend are in good shape. ❤
With natural hair we are prone to shrinkage. As much as we hate it, shrinkage is actually a good thing lol. Shrinkage doesn’t mean that we don’t have long and/or healthy hair but it means that our hair has the ability to still hold the shape of our natural curls and coils which in turn means that we are doing something right. So, here’s a test for you. When your hair is wet, take a few curls and stretch them out. Now release! If your hair returns to its normal shrunken state after you have released your hair, that is a good sign. However, if your hair doesn’t hold your natural curls/coils and it doesn’t revert back that means that you’ve got some work to do!

Retains/Produces Shine & Moisture –
If your hair is in a good state then it will naturally produce moisture and shine (this doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t still moisturize your hair lol).
Dry and brittle hair means that you could be using the wrong products (containing sulfates, parabens, alcohol etc). Or it means that you are using either too much or not enough products to add shine and moisture.
You have to find a happy median. Using too much products means that you are going to acquire product build up rapidly which results in you having to wash your hair more frequently. And that results in your hair being stripped of its natural oils aka now you have dry hair!
Now if you aren’t using enough products or simply are not taking the time out to massage your scalp every few days then once again you will have dry and brittle hair.

Shedding –
Shedding is just apart of the hair process. However, if you see an increase of breakage/shedding then you know that you have to make changes to your hair care regimen. Too much shedding can easily be detected on hair brushes, combs and even when you are washing your hair.

Softness and little to no detangling –
This is the same as with shine and moisture. If you have healthy hair, it will feel smooth to touch and not dry and brittle. You should be able to easily run your fingers through your hair and detangling shouldn’t be much of an issue.

As I promote in many of my hair care posts, be sure to use natural products on your hair and incorporate protective styling at any chance you get. These are some keys things to make sure that your natural hair is also healthy hair.

xoxo Cielo.