No Longer a Lurker! Newbie Here :)

[Black NaijaAussie Barbie]

Hi everyone

Just want to introduce myself as i just joined about 5 minutes ago! I've been lurking on and off for about a year now after i moved to Australia and realised that i wont be having as much access to good black hair salons as i did when i was in England. I've never really worried much about my hair until i saw photos of Nichi's hair here, MsKibibi's hair on her blog and also Traycee's hair on her KISS blog. I thought i was going to die of shock cause i didn't know black hair could grow that long!

So after watching all of Traycee's hair videos, i decided that i had to join LHCF today so i can start taking good care of my hair . I plan on relaxing my hair on Sunday as i haven't relaxed since October 3 2009.

But i have a few problems and i was hoping some of you ladies here might be able to help me with it. My hair is currently breaking and it has turned me into an instant drama queen and i'm no longer sure of what to do. From some posts here i've read in the past, ApHogee seems to be a good one for damaged hair but then we don't have it here in Australia. What am i doing wrong and what should i be doing? Also any product suggestions would be greatly appreciated

For the past month here's what i've been doing:
Pre-pooing on dry hair with Herbal Essences
Shampoo with TresSemme
Black tea rinse to help with my shedding [i leave it in for 20 minutes]
Then i apply my Redken all soft without rinsing out the tea [for 1 hour]
Rinse, towel dry and add a tiny amount of coconut oil to my hair
Do 5 cornrows and air-dry
I usually wear my hair in one french plait to uni

Here's my current product stash:
DooGro relaxer [i'll be using it for the first time on Sunday]
CHI silk infusion [i'm thinking of adding 2 tablespoons to my relaxer]
TresSemme anti-breakage shampoo
Herbal Essences hello hydration conditioner
Redken All Soft heavy cream [as a deep conditioner]
Redken Extreme CAT treatment [as a reconstructor after rinsing out relaxer]
Paul Mitchell super strong liquid treatment [leave-in]
De Lorenzo instant restructurant leave-in
Coconut oil

Thanks in advance

 

[Ijanei]

First off welcome and yesssss nichi is also one of my hair idols
Im not sure about the who breaking off part but the other ladies will soon chime in and help you out with that. Good luck on growing also you can always order products off of amazon.com
I use that monthly to get mine

 

[Kneechay]

Oh wow! I came in here to welcome another Naija girl to the boards and I was so shocked by your post! Thanks soo much. My hair is hardly 'long', but hopefully, it will get there. How is life as a Nigerian in Australia?

As a natural, I'm going to always urge people to if not quit relaxing, slow down on it. I see you have issues with breakage, and I think with a relaxer, you may do more damage unless you get those issues under control. Try & see if Aphogee ships to Aus. and if not, a member on the board, KCurly has a blog that has a homemade recipe for a protein treatment that you can make on your own and deep condition your hair back to health before you relax.

Watch your heat usage because that's the culprit to a lot of breakage and dryness. Moisturize with shea butter, olive oil coconut oil from scalp to ends. I love Herbal Essences Hello Hydration.

Good luck and welcome on the board, you'll learn so much here.

Also, thanks Ijanei for the kind words too, you guys are so sweet.

 

[Black NaijaAussie Barbie]

Thanks ladies; i was a bit nervous that no one might check in but i guess i shouldn't have worried

I came here from England actually so adjusting to the heat in summer has been a bit difficult because i'm more of a cold-kinda girl and i haven't been back to Naija in 6 years

Actually Nichi after i saw a picture of your hair when you took your weave out, i decided to attempt transitioning because it seems like we might have similar hair textures but i'm not too sure. My hair is on the fine side and its just grazing neck length at the moment. But it is also giving me a lot of headache and since it is sooo difficult to find a good hair stylist where i live in Australia, i'm not too sure what to do. I'm actually considering weaving it up for a couple of months but i have to wait till about the end of July to do it cause i need to travel somewhere else to get it done....yep, that's how depressing it is here. I actually order most of my products from pakcosmetics.com in UK as they ship to Australia and i just checked that they have Aphogee.

I actually tried your shea butter mix last night and it's going good so far. I guess i'll postpone my relaxer for now and see how it goes with my hair; instead of doing it this Sunday. As for heat, i actually haven't used it since December so i could have nice hair for christmas eventhough it was extremely himid at 40 degrees celsius. But it's winter now [June - August] so i'm trying to get a good hair moisturiser as i don't own one.

What do you guys think of the Bee Mine luscious moisturiser? I'm currently between that, the wave nouveau daily humectant moisturising lotion and optimum oil therapy dry hair healer/ 3-in-1 creme oil moisturiser which is in the link below

http://www.pakcosmetics.com/search.aspx?manufacturer=Optimum+Oil+Therapy&style=

With the Aphogee should i get the 2-step treatment or the 2-minute one? I'm a bit confused....

Sorry for all the questions and thanks in advance

 

[Black NaijaAussie Barbie]

Btw...thanks for the link, i'll try it this weekend and see how it goes

 

[4evershika]

IA w/ Nichi, from the looks of it there's no real protein in your reggie... your breakage might be from using too much moisture.

 

[Black NaijaAussie Barbie]

Can anyone who uses Joico, Paul Mitchell or Redken recommend a protein i can use?

 

[ajoke]

Welcome! Redken extreme rescue force is good.

 

[4evershika]

Can anyone who uses Joico, Paul Mitchell or Redken recommend a protein i can use?

I use the GVP version of the Joico Reconstructer and I love it... it's a light-medium protein and I try to use it at least once every 2 weeks... more often if my hair needs it.

 

[Black NaijaAussie Barbie]

When i use the protein conditioner, do i need to use a moisturising conditioner afterwards?

 

[divachyk]

I am relaxed and was having some slight breakage and tried the baggying method. Do a search on baggying to get good details on how it works. Post baggying, I barely have any breakage. At least, not enough to comment on. My hair is super duper soft and nice and moisturized. I will admit, the baggying left my hair a bit oily but I attribute that to being my own fault for applying too much oil as I can be a little heavy handed at times. I'm a newbie as well (just joined earlier this week) and don't have much to comment on other than the baggying method. It rocks!

 

[TLC1020]

to LHCF

 

[Black NaijaAussie Barbie]

Thanks ladies . I'll do a search on 'baggying' and see what comes up

 

[Urban]

Welcome fellow Aussie!! .

I've come across Aphogee products in Melbourne at a store called #1 Us Beauty Supply. The last time I saw it was about a year ago though, not sure if they still stock it. Unfortunately, I'm not relaxed, so I can't be of much help about what protein products you can use. But I do know another Aussie girl who has almost BSL hair and I'm pretty sure she used the De Lorenzo reconstructor. I personally use Organic Root Stimulator Mayo, Organic Root Stimulator Replenishing Conditioner and Chi Keratin Mist. I also do a lot of egg treatments and have just started using Elvive Anti Breakage Conditioner.

We need an Aussie meet up soon! There's quite a few of us on hairboards now, but we're all kinda spread out across Australia. It would be nice though!

 

[LilMissRed]

just stopped in to say

 

[Black NaijaAussie Barbie]

Thanks Urban and LilMissRed

An aussie meet up would be sooo good; my friend and i just got into the whole healthy hair thing recently and we've been dramatising! I've only legged it to Melbourne once but if i go again i'll defo try and look for some products there. The De Lorenzo actually got recommended to me by some asian lady at Price Attack. Where did you get your CHI keratin mist from? Cause StrawberryNet doesn't have it, they only have the silk infusion and that's where i got mine

 

[KinkyGenius]

Wanted to pop in to say WELCOME as well!

I don't know if this is the case with you, but during the 3rd month or so during my relaxer stretches is when shedding (and a bit more breakage) tends to become more of a problem. I generally begin using a harder protein each week when that happens followed with a moisturizing conditioner to try and combat the shedding/breakage. I also hardly manipulate my hair at all during that time too. HTH!

 

[darlingdiva]

Welcome aboard!!!

 

[Black NaijaAussie Barbie]

Wanted to pop in to say WELCOME as well!

I don't know if this is the case with you, but during the 3rd month or so during my relaxer stretches is when shedding (and a bit more breakage) tends to become more of a problem. I generally begin using a harder protein each week when that happens followed with a moisturizing conditioner to try and combat the shedding/breakage. I also hardly manipulate my hair at all during that time too. HTH!

Hi. Funny you say that cause i also had a lot of shedding and breakage in my 3rd month. I assumed the shedding then was much because i only combed my hair once a week. As for the breakage, i used Redken extreme CAT treatment which is a mild protein and it worked then to stop the breakage; but it's not working anymore so i'm going to try a homemade protein treatment this weekend from the recipe in the link Nichi left

 

[Mai Tai]

Welcome sister...Feels good to see more Nigerian women on this board (My father is Nigerian, my mother African-American)

Do you have any pictures of your hair so that we may see what condition it's in?

You say that you have not had a relaxer since October...what have you been doing to protect that line of demarcation since then. Your hair is in a very fragile state right now so one thing I can suggest is incorporating some type of mild protein in your DC regimen.

Personally I like Joico K-Pak, and I mic it with my moisturizing conditioner to keep me from hopping in and out the shower. I also include olive oil, coconut oil, silk amino acids, and food-grade aloe vera gel into my DC and this has substantially reduced the amount of breakage.

 

[preciouslove0x]

Welcome sister...Feels good to see more Nigerian women on this board (My father is Nigerian, my mother African-American)

Do you have any pictures of your hair so that we may see what condition it's in?

You say that you have not had a relaxer since October...what have you been doing to protect that line of demarcation since then. Your hair is in a very fragile state right now so one thing I can suggest is incorporating some type of mild protein in your DC regimen.

Personally I like Joico K-Pak, and I mic it with my moisturizing conditioner to keep me from hopping in and out the shower. I also include olive oil, coconut oil, silk amino acids, and food-grade aloe vera gel into my DC and this has substantially reduced the amount of breakage.

Same here! Mother is from South Carolina, father is from Anambra State, Nigeria

 

[Black NaijaAussie Barbie]

Same here! Mother is from South Carolina, father is from Anambra State, Nigeria

Thanks ladies! Both my parents are from Delta State and they still live there but i've been on my own and travelling for a while thanks to boredom and being a study-head

I've actually been braiding my hair since my last relaxer and having a break in-between for a few weeks but i got tired of braids which is why i took it out and i won't be getting a weave till the 3rd weekend of July cause i just need to not have anything on my head before it drives me crazy! My hair is currently in cornrows so hopefully when i take it down i can take a few pictures and put it up here. But i think my breakage is coming from just one part of my head; the bottom left just close to my nape as its a completely different texture from the rest of my head

 

[WhoIAm]

Welcome sister...Feels good to see more Nigerian women on this board (My father is Nigerian, my mother African-American)

Same here! Mother is from South Carolina, father is from Anambra State, Nigeria

I have to do a ditto. lol. My mom is from Louisiana, Dad's from Ogun state.

Welcome Black NaijaAussie Barbie.

 

[Urban]

Thanks Urban and LilMissRed

An aussie meet up would be sooo good; my friend and i just got into the whole healthy hair thing recently and we've been dramatising! I've only legged it to Melbourne once but if i go again i'll defo try and look for some products there. The De Lorenzo actually got recommended to me by some asian lady at Price Attack. Where did you get your CHI keratin mist from? Cause StrawberryNet doesn't have it, they only have the silk infusion and that's where i got mine

lol @ dramatising. You'll be fine. I was the same when I started doing my own hair. Let me know if you ever come to Melb again though. I can send you a list of places where you can find hair stuff.

The Chi Keratin Mist, I got it from this store http://www.ecohairproducts.com.au/r_chi_styling.asp . But it doesn't look like they sell online. Give them a call and see if they have a branch/retailer in wollongong/sydney or if they're willing to ship to you. If not, let me know and I can try and get it for you and send it over. I might be coming to Sydney in the next couple of weeks too, so I can bring a few things.

Also, did you know you can find the V05 Moisture Milks here in IGA .

 

[Black NaijaAussie Barbie]

Thanks for the link Urban, very much appreciated . I'll give them a call and see if they can send it to Gong. Let me know when you're gonna be in Syd ok? I'm free from the 26th and i'm just 1+hr away; and i might be there sometime in the first week of July with friends

Now i have to go find me IGA cause i haven't seen one in Gong...

 

[taj]

:welcome3:

 

[Urban]

IGA have a store locator on their site. That might help.

No worries, I'll PM you. I'll be there after the 25th most likely :crossfingers:.

 

[SimJam]

WELCOME from another nooobie