Hiya, 

As most of you know, I have been doing quite a few air trips this month, flew to Houston from Lagos and in a few days had to fly to LA and just came back from LA to Houston today!! Whew!!

With all this air travel I had to come up with a game plan to protect my hair. You all know how DRY being on the plane for long periods of time is. It's so dry that the hostesses recommend drinking water regularly, so you can imagine what that dry air is doing to your hair!

So in this post I share how I combated the dryness.  First thing I did few days before the trip was an overnight deep conditioning hair treatment infusing hair conditioner and essential oils like olive, coconut, sweet almond and tea tree oil.

Make sure you thoroughly detangle your hair and I mean thoroughly when you wash out the treatment the next day because you won't be touching your hair with a comb till you get to your destination especially if you like me are going on a long flight. In my case 6hrs to France and the 9hrs to Houston! 

With styling I wanted to let my hair down and let it blow in the wind! Who was I kidding! By the time my  8month old baby pulled my hair when he was throwing a fit while we went through security nobody told me to find the nearest restroom to put my hair in a bun; which leads to my next advice- make sure your hair is comfortably styled with your ends properly protected(leaving the ends out especially if they are past your neck is not advisable! What was I thinking!!) 

And always have at least 3 bobby pins stuck  in your hair. It was the bobby pins I used to hold the  bun instead of a hair band because it's less stress and tension on the hair.

Then in a travel sized spray bottle, I mixed glycerin and water. Let me tell you if you do not do anything for your hair during air travel AT LEAST try this step out. I sprayed my hair at least every two hoursfrom root to tip focusing especially on the ends.  For a shorter flight like the LA/Houston 3hrs flight, I'd advice spraying your hair at least once. 

I didn't comb or brush my hair though just used my fingers to smooth my hair out. Combing or brushing would have caused undue stress on my hair especially because the moisture from the water/glycerin mix didn't exactly get sealed that's why I sprayed it so often. I thought of adding oils to the mix but changed my mind because I didnt want my hair to become greasy.

When you finally land, please repeat the overnight  deep conditioning treatment. The water/glycerin mix would have served as a preepoo anyway so just slap on your most conditioning moisturizer, in my case its the 2min hair reconstructor by Aphogee, pop on your shower cap,  tie it down with your silk scarf or bonnet and go to zzzzz land!

I did these steps and my hair did not suffer as much as it has suffered in the past when I just traveled without a plan. Try these steps when next you travel especially long distance and let me know how they work for you!! Thanks to all the ladies that have participated in the hair products sales promo or would I say 'your welcome' to them :) because frankly this is an ample chance for hair savvy readers to get all the hair goodies for their hair! Those still interested feel free to send me an email I might be able to squeeze in your orders.

Hope this post is helpful, catch you on the next one!

Xxx

Dabs

Using this relaxer confirmed what I ALWAYS say about relaxers, they are ALL the same!!Only difference is wether they are Lye or No Lye simple!! its funny how one of the first questions I get asked  when people see my hair is, what relaxer do you use? Relaxer no be the answer oh!! In fact my experience with this relaxer was so not worth it!! My hair right now is hard as rock and I can't wait to get on with a deep conditioning treatment tonight! The relaxer did relax my hair though but I think it over processed it because I took 30minutes to apply the relaxer since my hair was so due and tangled. 

Thats why I always recommend a deep conditioning treatment a week to relaxer day which I did but the stress of the trip dried out my hair like nothing else! Needless to say I will be going back to my beloved Silk Elements No-Lye Relaxer just because its cheaper and smells better and comes with more goodies!

Anyways, Mizani was not the only hair product that caught my eye, I have turned into a product junkie just these past few days, Lord help me for weeks to come! You see, there is nothing as annoying as when you find a good product for your hair in Naija and you go back to where you bought it and its nowhere in sight!! Thats what happened to me when I went to Ebeanor shopping plaza just before my trip to stock up on the ORS hair repair I told you guys I found there recently; 

So to avoid that happening again, I am on a mission on this trip to stock up on the best products!! Before I came, I did my research focused mainly on hair moisturizers, leave in conditioners and puddings because I find that with shampoos and conditioners you can afford to use any type because you do not use them as often as hair moisturizers and leave in conditioners which are for everyday use. So let me introduce you to my new best friends;

First on your left we have the ELASTA QP OLIVE OIL and MANGO BUTTER, then we have the MANGO OIL AND CUPUACU BUTTER FEATHER WHIPPED CURL CREAM; I found out about these two from KISS on You tube. 

Then in the middle with the Black cover is LUSTRASILK CURL PUDDING ENRICHED WITH ARGAN OIL; saw this, felt its texture, smooth and whipped and decided to give it a try.

In the very middle is AFRICA PRIDE'S SHEA BUTTER MIRACLE PUDDING-  I bought it because of the quantity, never heard of it before but it smells great!! 

Then we have MIXED SILK by my favs SILK ELEMENTS!!Its a leave in conditioner, loves it!!

Then another leave in conditioner by ELASTA QP

Then finally, the much hyped especially in the natural circles; SHEA MOISTURE COCONUT & HIBISCUS CURL ENHANCING SMOOTHIE!! Yum Yum!!

Now here comes the SALE PROMO!! I am giving you my readers in Naija the chance to get any of these products as well as any others you wish as long as you can place an order this week thats from AUGUST 19TH TO AUGUST 26TH by sending an email to daboju@yahoo.com. I will reply with details on how you can get these and other hair products.

You want to know what's great about this promo? I carefully selected inexpensive products with ingredients that WORK to keep your hair healthy and moisturized. These products are all under $10 thats about N1650!!! Now that's good value for money right there!!

Here are pictures showing my hair after I used these products and before I used them- the difference is 7UP!!

Xxx

Dabs

Hiya,

So it's been a while since I did a 10 things post, so here I am with 10 things you can do for/ to your hair to ensure that you retain length at the ends of your hair because as I always point out, your hair at the scalp keeps growing but if you do not retain the growth at your ends then you will never notice the growth progress. So here goes...

1.  Moisturize your ends and seal them daily; I am sure I sound like a broken record with this point, I cannot emphasize the importance of this point, it's a maker or breaker!

2. Clip off your split ends regularly, I have posts dedicated to this point,very important.

3. Reduce how often you comb your hair from root to tip! The aim of combing is to detangle your hair and smooth it out but you might get tempted to over detangle and over smooth out your hair, causing you to loose hair unnecessarily. My advice is that in a week, you detangle your hair from root to tip only twice, on wash day and mid week, so say wash day is Saturday, you comb that day and say Wednesday from root to tip, the rest of the days, you should just focus on your ends and smooth out your hair at the scalp with a soft bristle brush, trust me, the amount of hair you loose will greatly reduce.

4. Still on the topic of Detangling, Detangle gently and ALWAYS only after you have moisturized and sealed your hair. If you have curls in your hair, finger detangle first before you use a comb.

5. Protect your ends; from rubbing against your clothes or while you sleep and while it's in a ponytail ( use snag free ponytail holders and do not hold the hair too tightly), sleeping with curls in your hair? Try the Pineapple Method##

6. Avoid Product Overload!! Using too many products at once can make your hair limp and brittle and inhibit length retention. To avoid an overload simply stick to using a moisturizer and one oil to seal. The only time I 'll advice the use of more than one oil or hair product at a time is when you are doing a pre poo or a hair treatment which you will wash out eventually, so your hair won't become limp or brittle.

7. Do not shampoo your ends. Especially if your shampoo has sulphates in it, let the shampoo from your scalp run down and clean your ends, even the action of washing your ends with your scalp all tangled together( naija salon girls wash style) is not good and can cause more knots than necessary, leave your ends alone as you wash your scalp.

8. Don't do a Towel Turban! Or use your towel in anyway that can lead to breakage. Simply blot out the water gently round your head, in sections. Som e circles recommend using a T- Shirt because it is lighter than a towel and doesn't have those towel fibers that can tangle hair but I still use a towel, just more gently.

9.  Be careful with  Extensions; most times extensions put stress on your roots but if you braid your hair and the braider trims off the hair sticking out so the hair looks neat, then she might just be trimming off your ends, or if you leave out hair to cover weave tracks and treat the left out hair like it's weave, by neglecting it or using a weave brush to brush it, it can lead to unhealthy scraggly ends in that section.

10. Never use heat on your ends without using a heat protectant!! If you have none, then use oil JUST BEFORE you apply the heat. That method of spritzing the heat protectant or applying oil sparing on your hair to fulfill all righteousness will not protect your ends effectively because by the time the heat is applied the product might have dried up or never even touched those ends, so sectioning your hair then applying the protectant/oil to that section then applying heat is a safer sequence for protective heat use.

I have come to the end of this post, hope it's useful to ladies struggling with length retention, don't fret your NAIJA HAIR CAN RETAIN GROWTH with these 10 steps!

Xxx

Dabs