Tagged: mixed race hair

Will dyeing my hair cause it to break?

Sometimes as a naturalista, you might feel as if your hair could do with a bit of a change. For some people change can come in the form of straightening their hair for a few days, adding clip-ins or wearing a weave. However, if you’ve been thinking about dyeing your hair and you’re unsure whether it will cause your hair to break, consider these things.

dyeing afro hair

Hair dye can cause damage to your hair if your hair is already suffering from some form of damage. That includes breakage, excess shedding or scalp dryness.

To reduce the chances of your hair breaking when it has been dyed, it’s best to only dye your hair if it is in optimal condition prior. If you’ve noticed that your hair shows any signs of damage whatsoever, then don’t dye it. Simply wait until it’s in a better condition before going ahead.

Another thing to bear in mind is that semi-permanent dyes (which last for about 5-7 washes) are a better alternative if you’re simply looking to add colour to your hair or you want a quick change of style or a new look. permanent dyes aren’t necessarily damage-free but they are less strenuous on your hair.

Furthermore, if you want to avoid breakage when dyeing your hair, make sure that you keep your hair very well conditioned and moisturised after colouring it. Hair dyes are notorious for causing dryness which in turn leads to thinning and breakage and it’s for this reason that so many women experience signs of damage after dyeing their hair. To keep your newly coloured hair in great condition, deep condition it at least once a month and co-wash (which means washing your hair with conditioner only) on a weekly basis.

Be sure to trim any damaged ends and moisturise your hair like there’s no tomorrow! Seriously, moisturising can literally make or break your hair’s health. I can’t stress the importance of moisturising it.

If you’re unsure about how to moisturise, do the following:

  1. Co-wash your hair once a week
  2. Apply a silicone-free, moisturising hair lotion to it twice a day
  3. Follow with a good, natural oil like jojoba or olive oil
  4. Repeat steps 2 and 3 twice a day. Try moisturising once in the morning and once at night.

Keeping your hair in good condition after it has been coloured isn’t impossible. You just need to be more mindful of your hair’s health and fragility and moisturise on a regular basis.

How To Look After Kids Mixed Race Hair

If you’ve ever found yourself wondering how to look after your child’s mixed hair, this article was written for you!

mixed race hair

The first thing to note is that mixed race hair is diverse- some mixed people have hair that is bone straight whilst others have hair that is tightly coiled or afro textured (think Lenny Kravitz).

It’s therefore important to know and understand your child’s hair so that you can determine the type of hair care regimen they need. There are lots of things to take into consideration when dealing with mixed race hair and sometimes the information can be a little bit overwhelming. To build the right knowledge and know-how, follow these simple steps.

Step 1.

Familiarise yourself. In other words, take the time to really feel, touch and understand your child’s hair so that you’ll know what it likes and what it doesn’t like. For instance, does it tangle easily? Does it get super knotty when shampooed? Does it shrink after being washed? Does it love being conditioned? The more you know about your child’s hair the better equipped you’ll be to look after it.

Step 2.

Avoid over-shampooing. If you’re a white mum with a mixed race/bi-racial child, you might be used to washing your own hair several times a week. That’s of course very normal because straighter hair textures need to be shampooed more frequently. However, most mixed race hair textures are different and can for the most part take on the characteristics of curly/afro hair. As a rule of thumb, the curlier your child’s hair is, the less often it needs to be shampooed.

The reason being that the body’s natural oils (called sebum) can’t pass down your child’s hair easily because their hair is curly. In comparison, with straight hair, it’s easy for the oils to come down the hair strands because they only have to flow downwards. However, because mixed race hair is often non-straight, the body’s oils can’t travel down. This means that your child’s hair is likely to get dry and can be prone to breakage if not managed properly. If you over shampoo your little one’s hair it will cause it to become incredibly dry which in turn leads to breakage. This leads me to my next point…

Step 3.

Moisturise. Moisturising simply refers to the products and techniques you use to stop your child’s hair from becoming dry. Thing of moisture as being the opposite of dryness. To moisturise mixed race hair it’s important to condition often (ideally one ever 2-3 days or so). Conditioning is vital for strengthening your child’s hair, preventing breakage and replacing moisture loss. If possible, always opt for a silicone free conditioner (most high street conditioners contain silicones that potentially damage the hair so it’s important to read the labels of bottles and know what’s in the products you’re using).

The second step to keeping your child’s hair moisturised is to apply a lotion or cream to their hair on a daily basis. Once again avoid lotions that contain harsh ingredients or damaging chemicals. Because we understand that it’s important to use the best hair products on your child’s hair, we don’t use harsh chemicals or silicones in any of our hair products. Furthermore, all of our products are paraben free!

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