Unlock Your Dreads!

Unlocking type 4 hair

In our other posts we have mentioned that dreads are high maintenance. Just like regular hair if you let them go without taking care of them they will become messy and unkempt. After a while it can get a little tiring to keep up and some people say enough is enough!

Over time having to pay for a loctition to re-twist your dreads can be costly, coupled with care products. Not to mention that if twisted to tightly to the ‘root’ a dread can snap clean off the scalp leaving a little fussy tuft where a beautiful dread used to be. It’s during these moments that most people chop off their dreads and start over with fresh hair. What many people don’t know is that dreads don’t always have to be chopped off.

A dread is basically a well managed awesome looking cylindrical tangle and tangles can be brushed out. I'm not going to lie to you, there are hardly and loctitions that will do it and if they do the price is somewhat astronomical. The process takes hours, depending on how long your dreds have been in sometimes days.

If you would like to unlock your dreads, first...

Set aside a few hours- You’re going to be combing out hair that has been shed and matted together over time. Pretty much the mother of all knots times however many dreads you have on your head. Set aside time on your day off or maybe a weekend when you don’t have to do anything all day, to start on your unlocking process.

Get a deep conditioner and a cheap conditioner- While you are combing out your hair you MUST saturate it in a detangling deep conditioner and start at the root. These can be expensive so I say buy a cheaper conditioner as well and use it to carry the detangling conditioner. Remember that you have to comb from the bottom of your dread to the ‘root’

Invest in a few cute scarves- The unlocking process may take a while for some people it may take days if you don’t know of many styles or just don’t have the time, invest in a few cute silk scarves to cover your hair until you are all unlocked.

Got that? So what you want to do is...

-Wash hair in hot water and do not towel dry

-Saturate each dread in conditioner

-Go through your hair (dread by dread) using small amounts of the detangling conditioner –use more if needed- as you go up the dread  

-Remember to go slowly as not to break your hair and start from the bottom of your dread working your way up

Unlocked type 2 hair

A few things that you may want to keep in mind while you are unlocking your hair are shedding, length of your hair and the amount of time you have had your dreads and your hair type. By now we all know that you shed anywhere from 100-150 hairs PER DAY, dreads however rely on these shed hair to gain length and mass. Keep in mind that when you are brushing out your dreads you will see ALOT of shed hair because the process has been stopped for an extended period of time. If you have long dreads expect to have your hands in your hair for a very long time depending on the length of your dreads and the amount of time you have allowed them to loc-up for you may be conditioning and combing for up to 48hrs+. Also keep in mind that if you have dreads on type 4 hair it will take a bit longer than someone with type 2 hair.

If you are going to take out your dreads I suggest asking a friend to help you, it makes the process go a lot faster.

Thinking about unlocking your dreads? Tell us about it n our comments section

Here is a really helpful vid I found on YouTube that may help! Enjoy!

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Dread Washing!

Ever heard this “don’t get dreads, they are dirty!” I can’t tell you how many times I have heard someone say that dreads are “dirty” when in all reality dreads are just like any other hair style- though, will admit they are QIITE high maintenance.

So where does the misconception of dreads being dirty come from? Well if we look back we can see that during the 60’s and 70’s there were a group of people known as hippies. Bare with me. Hippies were not dirty –well maybe by yesterday’s standards they were but I think we’ve all seen Hoarders- in fact they would be considered what many know today as ‘naturalists’. Many people would make their own soaps and conditioners –in fact its pioneers like them who are why I can run a business like this and have people say ‘oooh’ and not ‘....EW’-  they knew that synthetic chemicals didn’t belong on the human body. However In doing this they may have underestimated the amount of cleaning agent to put in their homemade concoctions. 

During this time there was also an influx of Caribbean immigration to the United States. Rasta meets Hippie –oh yes and we can’t forget to give Bob Marley LOTS of credit for this. Hippies adopted the dreadlock style however many people would not maintain their hair and would end up with a “knotty dread” matted look. Because most people in this scene were almost nomadic, they really didn’t have time or places where they could wash their hair, so seeing a hippie who had dreads with pet hair, grass and dirt in them was not uncommon.

Nowadays if you see someone with ‘dirty’ looking dreads I’d say it’s probably safer to assume they don’t know how to care for their dreads –let’s not assume they don’t shower just yet. Dreads can be a very confusing style to maintain because they turn out differently on all hair types. For instance the locking time on someone with type 4 hair is much shorter than someone with type 1 hair. This is why many loctitions discourage washing the hair while you are waiting for it to loc up. Contrary to popular belief however it is possible to wash your hair if you have dreads in the beginning stages-bear in mind if one un-locs you will have to re-twist it up or whatever method you use to maintain the shape of your dreads.

If you are having trouble cleaning your lovely locs, try these tips!

Grab a residue free conditioning spray such as our Aloe based leave in conditioner, doing this will make your dreads feel soft as opposed to “nappy”.

GET BUTTER NOT WAX! Using butter like our Coconoix Butter Cream will add shine and won’t weigh down your dreads, allowing for bounce and life! Read our blog post about wax here, and don’t make the mistake of using it on your amazing baby dreads

Cleanse your hair, do not shampoo it. Let me explain. Castile soap sits just above household ammonia on the ph scale, this is what is used in most shampoo this, this is the cleaning agent. Shampoo basically strips your hair of everything that is helpful to it and all nutrition that your scalp needs. Cleanser works on the natural ability that water has to open the cuticle of the hair. Most cleansers such as our aloe based cleanser contain vitamins and natural oils. Also shampoos can leave icky residue on your dreads that over time can cause mold. The man pictured here to the right has dreads that are the product of wax, shampoo and low maintenance... don't end up like him!

If you are like me and you are a DIY lover, then try this low-cost recipe

   1.       Make the rinse by mixing 1/3 cup of apple cider vinegar with 1 qt. of distilled water. Put the mixture in a plastic bottle and bring it into the shower or bath.

  2.      Apply the apple cider vinegar rinse to your hair. Leave it in for a few seconds. Rinse your hair using cold water to seal the hair shaft and create more shine. Because vinegar is acidic, using the rinse daily is not advised. Try it once a week at most. Pay attention to how your hair responds and adjust use accordingly. You don't need to condition hair after the rinse.

  

  3.      Dry your hair with a towel. If you notice a vinegar scent after you're done rinsing, don't fret. The smell will disappear after your hair dries.

Do you have problems keeping your dreads clean? Have you tried a recipe like ours? Tell us about it in our comments section. 

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Dreads!

Hey everyone! Hope you are all enjoying your summer and remembering to stay moisturised and hydrated ^^. So lately I have been getting a few questions in my inbox on dreads. First off I want to define exactly what a “dread” is.

Haile Selassie and his pet lion

Many people forget that dreads are a type of hair style and not a people. When referring to a group of people with dreads in the religious sense, one would say Rastafarian or Rasta. This too is also incorrect because not all Rasta’s have dreads and not all people with dread loc’s are of the Rastafarian religion. The Rastafari movement, or Rasta, is a spiritual movement. It arose in the 1930s in Jamaica, a country with a predominantly Christian culture where 98% of the people were the black descendants of slaves. Most of its adherents worship Haile Selassie I, Emperor of Ethiopia (ruled 1930–1974), as God incarnate, the Second Advent, or the reincarnation of Jesus. Members of the Rastafari movement are known as Rastas, or Rastafari. The movement is sometimes referred to as "Rastafarianism", but this term is considered derogatory and offensive by some Rastas, who, being highly critical of "isms" (which most view as a taboo part of "Babylon culture"), dislike being labelled as an "ism" themselves. Now a day’s dreads are found all over the world from Russia to Brazil. Though the hair style of dreads has been around for centuries, Rastafarians have only been around for the last little while.

A dread is technically a loc of hair that consists of other shed hairs that have become matted together over time. This matting can happen naturally if you don’t detangle your hair-no matter what hair type you have. However most of the time dreads are done by a loctition – a hairstylist who specialises in dreads much like a dentist specialises in teeth. Dreads are achieved normally through sectioning the hair, backcombing the hair –combing against the natural growth pattern of the hair to achieve a more dry mouldable hemp like texture- then palm-rolling the sectioned and backcombed piece of hair so that the dread end up round and not a flat knot.

Many people make the mistake of using bees wax in their dreads when they first start out and this is an EASY mistake to make. MANY sites out there will tell you that bees wax helps the locing process go faster, and they are pretty good at convincing people of why they should use this product. There are three simple reasons why you should NOT use beeswax that I have decided to list here today...

One-Believe it or not beeswax has no real nutritional value for your hair. Let me explain. Many producers of beeswax add things such as Vitamin E and honey to beeswax because all it essentially does is help hair stick together, because of this it stops your cuticle from opening as much so you can’t get needed nutrients into your hair, this is why vitamins’ and other helpful ingredients are added to the wax. If they were not you would really just have a useless waxy goop in your hair.

Two- wax does not help with locking, its helps with matting. Matting is normally a thick mass covered with a dense growth or a tangled mass of hair and product. Essentially what this does is smother your hair not allowing for water and water vapor to leave the hair, eventually causing dread mold in the centre of your dread after prolonged use. Ever wonder what that cakey white build-up is in the middle of a cut dread? Yes that IS a type of MOLD.

Three- Wax weighs down the hair. Hair needs to move to remain healthy –yes even though it is dead your “roots” need air and your cuticles need to open and close to nourish your cortex. Using wax only adds a layer of what is basically caulking for your hair.

So what should you use in your hair and how should you start your dreads if you have less dense hair?

Well first what you want to do is invest in some good dread conditioner. You may have heard that conditioner will loosen dreads before but this is not at all true, hair MUST be conditioned however not by conventional conditioner. Using an all natural conditioner such as our Crème Vanille conditioner, unlike other conditioners it will not untangle your dreads; instead it will nourish them because it does not contain a synthetic smoother.  

Also try using butter and not a wax such as our Coconoix butter cream. Butter does not sit on the hair but rather melts into it to help maintain softness and shine.  

Use an aloe based dread cleanser (Coming soon from D&A) doing this will help to give your dreads that ‘dry’ feeling so they loc up easier.

DIY TIP! Guar Gum is a type of all natural powder that is tacky when heated and jellies when wet. Use guar in its powdered form to help loc hair much like you would use ‘Locing Powder’ or ‘Dread Peppa

If you have dreads I would love to hear from you! Leave a comment in the comment section below or post on our facebook page you can also tweet your hair questions, pics and comments to us! Hope you enjoyed this post, and don't forget to keep checking back all this week for more dread tips!

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Hair and Pregnancy

Pregnancy is an amazing time in a woman’s life. It’s exciting and new, for both the expecting mother and father even if they already have kids. During pregnancy a woman’s body is a really a natural spring for change. In the first trimester and second she will go through sickness and health for the sake of her child. while pregnant a woman also goes through lots of hormonal changes which will affect her mood and sometimes even appearance, giving her a “pregnant glow”

 We all have male and female hormones balanced out in our bodies depending on our gender. Men have more androgens and testosterone and women have estrogen and progesterone. Believe it or not it is the androgens that are responsible for hair loss in humans –the male hormone- and oestrogen- the female hormone- which protects the follicle, combating alopecia.  

During pregnancy the high oestrogen levels in the woman's body prevent the hair from moving into the telogen phase. For 9 months, they remain locked in the growth phase. This is why many woman say their hair “grew and grew and grew!” during their pregnancy. However During the re-establishment of hormonal balance which occurs after giving birth, all these hairs enter the telogen phase –the phase where hair falls out- which ends 2 or 3 months later by their being shed en masse. This is also why MANY women believe the myth that your hair falls our because of child birth. This is not true, your hair is simply picking up where it left off now that everything is back to “normal”. So, after you give birth the usual cycle then restarts and your head of hair rapidly recovers its ordinary appearance.

To avoid unnecessary worry after you give birth, continue to take pre-natal vitamins. Prenatal vitamins aren't significantly different from regular daily multivitamins. They contain many of the same vitamins and minerals that you'd find in a women's daily supplement pill, though the amounts of nutrients are adjusted to meet the needs of pregnant women. In particular, prenatals contain large quantities of iron and folic acid. Drs. Michael Roizen and Mehmet Oz, in their book "You: Having A Baby," explain that pregnant women need the extra iron and folic acid in prenatal vitamins to provide for specialized pregnancy needs. As opposed to seeing an abundance of shed hair you will see it enters the telogen stag more slowly, allowing you to get used to your hair again.

Remember to condition your hair regularly after giving birth and while you are pregnant as well as trying to stay hydrated. Doing this will ensure healthy looking hair all throughout your pregnancy and afterward.

Remember that after pregnancy your body will take time to go back to normal so try not to stress over things like shedding. Its natural and bound to happen

Our blog post Hair and Food has lots of great tips and tricks on how to eat for healthy hair, check it out here!

I also want to let all you lovely people know that our Free hair and Graduation contest are still going on! All you have to do to enter is send/tweet/tag us in photos of you being free with your hair. This can be anything from you in front of your laptop to bouncing on a trampoline! simply use the contact links in the top right hand corner of the page to easily enter.

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Taboo questions

No matter what ethnicity you are you can probably think of more than one occasion where someone has asked you a question about your hair that has made you a bit uncomfortable. I can’t express how many times I have wanted to just tell someone off because of their ignorance especially in high school.

Some of the most common questions and comments people ask and say are....

“Can I touch your hair?” I have been asked this one almost all of my life. I didn’t really understand it and always took it the wrong way until I seen someone with hair that I wanted to touch. 

Normally when someone asks this question it’s because they have never encountered a specific hair type before and they are genuinely curious. It’s a natural human response to want to experience new things with all senses, so the next time someone wants to take a closer look at your hair don’t take it as them trying to place the spot light on you or make you feel awkward for being different. Take it as an opportunity to educate them on another ethnicity and explain to them the positive differences in your hair versus theirs.

“Are you ‘Mulatto’?” PEOPLE, I cannot stress to you how important it is that you do not use the word ‘Mulatto’. It is a dated word used during the days of slavery to refer to a child who was product of white a master raping a black slave. They were called Mulatto because it was thought that they, like Mules, would be infertile. NEVER REFER TO ANYONE AS MULATTO. There is no excuse. It is a racist term plain and simple. Also to assume that one has a certain texture of hair because they are of a certain background is horribly ignorant. For instance I am of a mixed background –Angolan, Scottish, Mi’Kmaq and Grenadian. The cultures that I am mixed with typically have thick, organic type 3 hair. I however have type 4C so you see to assume that my hair is the way it is because I am mixed is incorrect.

If someone asks you this question take a breath and step away from the situation for a second if you find yourself getting angry. Remember that some people just really don’t know that much about history and its not their fault for using words that they were taught to use. Educate them on why they should not use the word and then If you would like verse them on your background.

A better way to ask someone is to say something like this, “you have an interesting hair type, do you mind if I ask you your background?”

“It’s like a sheep” This phrase was coined on an episode of Family Guy where Stewy (a child) touched Cleveland afro textured hair. It should be obvious that to refer to the hair of an African American as the hair of an animal is rude, uncalled for and not funny. Anyone who has actually touched a sheep knows just how matted and mucky their wool feels before it is treated, not mention the stench of it. 

“Those aren’t curls!” I have had this said to me so many times as a kid and it hurt, because it made me feel like I was not who I thought I was. Please educate yourself on the different hair types before you go around telling people what type of hair they have. Just because someone does not have a visible type three curl pattern does not mean their hair is not ‘curly’ it just means they have more disulfide bonds in their hair then other people do.

“Oh my gosh, is your hair falling out?” often times when a person sees shed hair on their shoulders or back they know that it is more than likely just regular shedding. However for those who have longer hair it can seem to the average person as if someone is losing their hair because it looks like they are losing more. I should not have to tell you how tasteless this question is and that it will only result in worry for the person being asked. 

“You need to wash your hair....” This comment is rude, tactless and malicious. Sebum is oily substance that is excreted from the scalp to protect your hair. it is naturally occurring in all humans and should be viewed as such. It is not an indication of dirty hair, nor is dandruff. If you feel the hygiene of someone else is offending you try to step away from the person or situation. If you feel you must say something do it in private and use tact.

Now I don’t mean to offend anyone who has ever dared to utter these comments however they are ignorant and in some cases racist and politically incorrect. Plain and simple. Please take the feeling of other into consideration before you ask questions or respond to questions in a rude way and remember to do your research before you speak on topics you don't fully grasp. You may save yourself a major headache

Have you ever been asked a taboo question?? Tell us about it in the comments section 

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Why is Hair Curly??

Hair is curly or straight, depending upon the number of disulfide bonds between hair proteins found in the hair shaft.

The greater the number of links, the curlier the hair, and the fewer the number of links, the straighter the hair.

Hair is primarily composed of keratin, a protein, which grows from a sac called the follicle. Cells in the hair follicle generate keratin, and various other proteins, which become a part of the hair shaft.
  
These proteins contain sulfur atoms, and when two of these sulfur atoms pair up and bond, they form a disulfide bond. If the two sulfur atoms in the same protein are at a distance, and join to form the disulfide bond, the protein will bend. 

The amount of humidity in the air not only makes for what some label a "bad hair day," but alters the degree of curliness or of straightness of hair. This occurs when high humidity forces water back into the hair fiber, acts on its protein structure, and forces the hair shaft to return to its original structure.



People can temporarily alter their hair to force it into a straight state, or a curly state, but only on a temporary, not on a permanent, basis. When a straight-haired person gets a "permanent wave," known as a "perm," he or she is chemically forcing the making of strong disulfide bonds. The wave does not stay permanently, because new hair, which is straight, grows in as the "perm" grows out. People with curly hair may chemically alter their hair to give it a straighter appearance, but this, too, is also a temporary solution with the same end result.

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Afro 101

So you want to wear your hair in an afro? Well I can tell you they are not the best style for one to wear on a daily basis. Why? It’s because of the general definition of the term afro. An ‘afro’ when referring to the hair style, is generally thought to be the ‘natural’ state of someone with type 4 hair i.e. tangled and without product. However if someone with this hair type was to leave their hair un touched in its natural state it would loc up and be one unmanageable dread. 

So what then is an afro puff? An afro puff is hair that has been stretched and picked out using a big tooth comb or afro pick and normally a moisturiser such as Dagger & Arrow Coconoix Butter Cream. In doing this one can insure that most of the hairs are detangled and can thus avoid breakage. Keep in mind though that hair WILL become tangled and one must keep picking it out with an afro pick, thus increasing breakage to an unnecessary amount over a long period of time –this is why many of people who adorn an afro complain that they have a sensitive scalp. 

Remember that even though at any given time 90% of your hair is in the growth stage, a single hairs life can last from a few months to years, and endless picking at an afro will cause more breakage and encourage shedding. So you may think that you have lots of hair to spare but really, who are you to know how long a shed hair would have grown in 5years?  

If you would like to wear your hair in an afro try these tips.

Stretch type 4 hair over night and carefully pick out the hair in the morning. If you do this after you shower make sure hair is COMPLETELY DRY

Use Dagger & Arrow Butter Cream and Spritz to moisturise your scalp, help stop breakage and to promote sheen and growth

Try not to wear an afro for more than three days straight. Doing so will reduce damage to your scalp and breakage due to endless picking.

Try sectioning your hair at night and moisturising your scalp directly. Doing this will cause hair to be less tangled and will protect it at night while maintain moisture on the scalp. This will also make it easier to style in the morning  

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Free as Hair Contest!

THE CONTEST IS NOW CLOSED! 

CONGRATULATIONS TO KIRSTEN KISS! She took home the 2 Disc version of lady Gaga's Born This Way

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Hey everyone! I hope you are all enjoying the wonderful weather we are having, I know I am. The Get Wet tour is going awesome and to get everyone a little hyped up we have decided to hold a contest!

Anyone who knows me knows that I am a HUGE Lady Gaga fan. Her liberal views, confident attitude as well as her ability to remain true to her nature, morals and values is what makes her a role model for not just women. When I heard the song ‘Hair’ of her new album ‘Born This Way’ I was so moved. The song is about one who is struggling to find their way in the world and just wants to be accepted by loved ones and those around them, they want to be free-as free as their hair. The song carries a message of unity and loving one another for who we are, loving ourselves for who we are, and letting go of taboo norms. I loved the message so much I thought I just had to find some way of featuring the song on our site. So what better way than an awesome giveaway? 

Here is the run down:

All throughout the month of June we want you to send in -or tag us in- pictures of you being free with your hair!

Get creative if you want, let us know why your hair is important to you.

The winner of the contest will receive a copy of Lady Gaga’s album ‘Born This Way’ and a personalized Dagger & Arrow product of their choosing

The winner will be contacted JUNE 29 and announced JULY1!

Have fun, be free and love your hair! 

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