Pages

Thursday, March 15, 2012

LETS TALK COLOR

O.K. so last week on my radio show  Lets Talk Hair (Click on the link to listen to the show) we discussed the topic of Hair Color.  The question was posted by the co-host: Why is it that as soon as we go natural the majority of us go directly to color?  My point of view is that most of us do the BC and instantly want to


  1. Stand out by adding color
  2. Brighten our complexions by framing our face with color
  3. Experiment at the BC stage which can be viewed as the easiest stage to deal with on our natural journey
  4. Add color to simply not look as boyish or childish as we ma perceive ourselves with such short hair.
Now, I must say that coloring my hair has never been a point of contention for me.  I enjoy the dark color of my hair and when I decided to go natural I never though about coloring my hair once I had gotten rid of the perm.  However, as my hair grew and my grays became more visible I was curious to find a way to cover my grays and maybe create some highlighting effect on my tresses.  Thus, my love with Henna developed.  I have been an avid Henna user for over one year and I love the way it gives my grays a beautiful red-copper tone.  I don't have many grays so in order to see this I have to part or style my hair a certain way.  I also love the conditioning and strengthening properties of my Henna treatments.  I add dry Hibiscus flowers to my Henna to deepen the color and hues of red the Henna naturally provides.  After one year of using Henna my hair when in natural sunlight has this deep burgundy/black color, however, lately I been fighting with the idea that I would like a section of my hair to be died a brighter red than I can achieve with only using Henna.  My fear of the unknown, the side effects of using a chemical color for that one section of my hair has caused me many a worry some trips to the beauty supply shop.  Do I purchase the color or do I just forget about the entire thing?  The color that I am so excited about is the Matrix 7RR and it is a beautiful hue of Red as shown below




I have decided that I don't want to well, at least I am not ready to jump into the chemical color arena just yet.  I am not prepared to risk damaging my hair.  However, through research I have found that they are several things that I should do when and if  I decide to bite this coloring bug:


  1. The process of coloring takes place in the inner part of hour hair strand, better known as the Cortex. This it changes the physical and chemical makeup of our hair.  This could result in a texture change that may be permanent or just last a few weeks or days.  To attempt to correct this problem it is important to make sure and incorporate protein treatments into our regimen. It might also help if the styling products that we use while dealing with color treated hair contain protein
  2. Before diving into any chemical color we should consult a natural hair stylist and if at all possible have the stylist do the coloring process.  
  3. If you don't have "time" to spend with your hair now forge the color.  Because laziness and color treated hair do not go well together.  Once your hair has been color treated it is imperative for its health that you never skip a deep conditioning treatment and that you try to stay away from sulfate shampoos or shampoos all together which can be drying to the hair.  The chemically colored tresses need the tender loving care of moisture, moisture, moisture, thus co-washing will be ideal for this hair.
  4. Make up your mind that in the best case scenario you should only color your hair once a year and just deal with the darker roots.  Over processing the hair with chemical color by doing it every 6 weeks or every 2 months can most certainly affect the health of your hair.
So now do you, see why this is such a big decision for me? While retaining length or attaining a certain length with my hair is not important to me, the health of my hair is by far the most important factor within my hair journey.   So what can I do? I still want the color. I still want to be a little more edgy as my journey continues.. Well recently I have come across a natural way to lighten my tresses, and it is all natural!  Like anything natural it will not be an overnight change but with time and patience I hope to achieve some success.  I will be using honey to lighten my hair.  Yes it seems that when you mix honey with water the honey releases peroxide which when applied to the hair can cause it to be lightened.  To read more on this go to innovative way to lighten our natural hair with honey . Now, I have no clue if this will work but I will begin testing and documenting my progress this weekend.  My plans are to apply the honey/water mixture to my bangs, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday for 6 weeks and see if my hair color changes.  My goal is to once I get my bangs a lighter color to continue with my regular Henna treatments thus creating the contrast that I so desire.




Have any of you tried this process? If so please leave comments on how it worked or not under this entry.  I would also love to hair from you naturals that have always used chemical coloring and what did you do to make sure your hair stayed healthy.  As always I can't wait to hear from you guys on this topic.


Blessings  and thanks for reading :)

1 comment:

  1. Nice one! I like the outfit of the characters. Wish i could do the same thing too but im not that techie.i like the outfit of “from farmer to warden”.. really interesting.

    ReplyDelete