Manageability is one of the key things our clients request. As you might imagine, we get a wide range of clients with many different hair types. But, making the hair easier to style, less frizzy and easier comb are common concerns among our clients.

We’d like to take a moment to review just a few products that could be beneficial in making your hair more manageable. (the model is this photo had her hair lightly blown-dry after applying Treasured Locks Curl Tamer to make it less frizzy, slightly less curly, easier to comb and smoother looking).

Treasured Locks Liquid Silk- Treasured Locks’ Liquid Silk is fantastic for redefining any texture hair. Curly hair becomes smooth and shiny. Straight or relaxed hair takes on a new sheen and smooth texture. Liquid Silk is a combination of the best science has to offer with natural botanical extracts and silk lipids to literally reconstruct hair giving it a smoother, silkier appearance. Temporary, but cumulative effect. Used when styling.

Treasured Locks Curl Tamer-Treasured Locks’ Curl Tamer is a unique styling product. Curl Tamer temporarily loosens the natural curl pattern of your hair allowing you to wear it in straighter styles. For our customers who have asked for products to temporarily tame their curly or frizzy hair, this is a great product to use on those days when you want more control. Perfect for biracial hair when you want to wear it straighter. Temporary effect. Works until hair “reverts” (usually due to humidity or washing).

Treasured Locks Thermo Shield- Treasured Locks’ Thermo Shield is a space-age protectant that prevents heat damage caused by flat irons, curling irons and hot combs. Better than old-fashioned pressing creams, Thermo Shield has silicone polymers which smooth, seal in moisture and add shine by laying the cuticles flat. Temporary effect until hair reverts.

Treasured Locks Conditioning Balm- Maximum manageability and shine with a deep treatment and strengthening finisher. Treasured Locks Conditioning Balm is a botanically rich, leave-in conditioning and styling balm that straightens and controls curly frizzy hair while, giving incredible shine and manageability. Temporary but cumulative effect.

Natural-Laxer MIX- natural herbal system conditioner applied to the hair every 4-8 weeks to make hair smoother and more manageable. Gently loosens curl pattern. Controls frizziness. Great used in conjunction with the above styling products and/or with heat to create temporary styles.

One of the most frequently asked questions we get involves straightening African-American hair. Without getting into all the socio-political and psychological reasons why someone would straighten her hair, let’s explore how this can be done. (more…)

The same basic principles apply for children as for adults. Here are the differences. Find a good children’s shampoo if your child is very young (so that it won’t burn the eyes). Children who don’t understand keeping their eyes closed to keep soap out need a tear free shampoo. However, as soon as you can, move away from these. They tend to be drying for African American hair. I recommend avoiding perms for as long as possible. Children have more sensitive skin than adults. The chemicals in the perms are more likely to damage their skin and hair. Also, children don’t usually have the patience to sit through the process of getting the perm. My stylist told me the story of a three year old girl she was trying to give a perm. Once the solution was in the hair, the child decided she was ready to leave. The stylist had to literally wrestle the child to rinse the perm out of her hair. My older daughter is almost six now and has very thick and coarse hair. Her hair is natural. I did a lot of research on the best way to care for it. I intend to leave her hair natural as long as possible. It’s really not any more difficult to care for than if she had a perm. We use Natural-Laxer MIX on her hair to make it more manageable (not straight). That and just using the basic tips above have made caring for her natural hair much easier, she has less breakage and tangles than she used to and we love the way her hair looks natural.

Q.) What’s the best hair style and/or type for black women who work out everyday? I have relaxed hair and I’m strongly considering going natural.

A.) This is a pretty complicated question. Which style is best for you is going to be dependent on your personal preferences, the texture of your natural hair and the length you have. For example, you’re not going to be able to wear certain styles until your hair reaches a certain length. If your hair has a loose curl pattern, you might be able to wear a fairly maintenance free style with some “flow”. If your hair is in a very tight curl pattern, you might have to wear a ‘fro until you get some length.

If you’re going to natural though, you probably are not going to be able to wear your hair straight (either pressed or flat-ironed). Again, this will be dependent on your hair texture. If you have a tight curl pattern, you’d have to put so much heat on it daily that you’d end up breaking it off. So, you should consider something like a ‘fro or wearing it in braids, locks or some other style that will not require heat to maintain.

We often get these two related questions:

Is there something to make my hair grow really fast?
Is there something to fix my hair loss?

The difference between the two questions is the first group of people have hair growing in a normal pattern but it is not as thick or growing as quickly as they would like. The second group of people actually have areas where hair is growing either extremely slowly or not at all.Hair loss is a fairly complicated subject. We will cover that elsewhere. But, quickly, hair loss can be caused by a variety of reasons some easily treated (such as improper nutrition) and some not so easily treated (like male pattern baldness).

Generally speaking over-the-counter products such as our supplements will help with the easier to treat forms of hair loss. They will also help hair grow faster, longer , stronger and thicker. There are also supplements that can help with hair growth (see our Hair Growth Supplements). If your hair is damaged, your nutrition is not optimal (and whose is?) or you have a scalp condition there are things that can promote normal hair growth that will make it appear your hair is growing faster. Also, if you hair is breaking off, it will appear that it is not growing. By preventing that breakage, your hair will become longer. Before you run out and buy a super pill or an ointment, make sure you’re doing the day-to-day things to give your hair a chance to grow on its own. Our Treasured Locks H2G Hair Growth Serum is a topical (you rub it on your scalp) product that can help with hair growth. Our hair growth serum is a carefully selected blend of Emu Oil, Shea Butter Oil and other plant oils along with some Essential Oils that have been clinically shown to improve circulation, provide moisture, reduce inflammation and help hair grow to its fullest potential.

There are only a couple of over-the-counter medications that will help with serious hair loss. For men, there is Minoxidil (aka Rogaine) and Propecia. For women, there is Rogaine. These have been formulated in different packages and formulas with enabling compounds added.

© 2004-2007 Treasured Locks, LLC All Rights Reserved. Reprint In Its Entirety. With Written Permission Only

Well, people don’t always ask if there is literally a pill. But, we do get a lot of people who want a quick fix. They want to buy a single product that will cure all their ills. The short answer is there isn’t one. To the pill question, proper nutrition is essential for the health of your hair and protein is necessary. We do offer supplements that can help with the health of your hair and skin. However, there is no pill that will overcome the damage you do to you hair by not properly maintaining it. Taking proper care of your hair is the only way to ensure it will remain healthy. There is no single thing you can put in your mouth or put on your hair to make it begin growing like a Chia pet (at least nothing that you’d really want in your body or on your hair). The way to fix your hair problems is the old fashioned way “Earn it”. You’ve got to develop a healthy regimen for your hair and stick to it. We’re here to supply you with the knowledge and the products you need. We want to help you get your hair in the best shape possible. But, we will not promise you a quick fix or sell you snake oil that cures all ills.

Transitioning from permed or relaxed hair to natural hair should be an exciting time for you. It should not be a time of intimidation or of a feeling of loss. Many women face objections from boyfriends, husbands, family and even in the workplace. While we can’t help you with those social and political pressures, we can give you some tips on what to expect and how to make the transition as easy as possible.

What to Expect When Transitioning to Natural Hair
People often ask us how they can make their relaxed hair “revert” back to natural hair. The true answer is you cannot. Nothing will make hair that has been chemically relaxed go back to its natural state. You have two choices, you can live with the permed hair at the end of the natural hair that is coming in or you can cut the permed hair off. Should you decide you just can’t let go of that length, be prepared for some breakage. The place where the natural hair joins the permed hair is a weak point. Many people experience a lot of breakage when growing out a perm. By treating the hair gently and minimizing combing during the transitioning stage, you can minimize the breakage. How much breakage you get is dependent on your hair type and how you treat your hair during the process. Baka Beautiful’s Natural-Laxer MIX is excellent for minimizing breakage during this phase. By gently softening the natural hair and strengthening the entire hair, the Natural-Laxer makes the transition from permed hair to natural hair easier and less traumatic. Natural-Laxer MIX is applied to the entire length of the hair (natural and relaxed).

One thing to keep in mind when you are considering natural hair is this. Some women are attached to the length of their hair and want to keep that length. If your hair is relaxed, it appears much longer than your hair would naturally. Six inches of relaxed hair is going to appear much longer than six inches of natural hair. Whether you decide to do the big chop or transition over time, unless you’re going to wear locks, braids, extensions or some similar style, your natural hair is probably going to appear much shorter than the relaxed hair you are used to.

(more…)

You didn’t really think we were going to answer this one. Did you? This is one of the hottest debates I’ve run across in years. Our job is to inform you and let you make the best decision for yourself. There are pros and cons to each. This is a highly personal decision. Don’t go natural to please those sisters who think all women who wear perms are selling out to the White man and have low self esteem. OTOH, Don’t wear a perm because you feel that going natural is a political statement that you don’t want to make. This really should be a personal decision. Having said that, the reality is that if you go natural, some people will assume certain things about your political and social points of view. If you wear a perm, some people will think you have low self esteem. So, you can’t please everybody.

(more…)

First of all, make sure you have a good stylist. If you do apply your perm at home (which we do not encourage), be sure you follow the directions religiously. Make sure you apply touch ups only to new growth. Do not overlap the perm on to the already permed hair. Follow the general directions hair care outlined elsewhere on this site.Additionally, for permed hair:

• Dry your hair slowly and with as little heat as possible. I try to allow a couple of hours to wash my hair. I wash it and towel blot it. I apply a hair and scalp oil. Then, I walk around the house for a couple of hours and let it air dry as much as possible. Finally, I blow it dry the rest of the way and begin my conditioning and styling routine.
• Wet your hair as much as possible (at least twice a week). Spritz it with water daily or rinse it in the shower every day or two.
• Use a leave-in conditioner and/or moisturizing pomade. Again, this is especially important for relaxed hair as you’ve stripped the hair of some of its ability to oil itself and its protection against moisture loss.
• Have your hair trimmed on a regular basis (whenever you have a perm applied). If your ends split, this split can travel along the hair shaft causing damage to the hair further up. Don’t hang on to damaged hair for the sake of its length. If your hair has been damaged by a bad perm or general abuse, trim it back and let the healthy hair grow out to make up for it. Keeping the damaged hair around can actually begin to damage the healthy hair.
• Touch up frequency will vary depending on your hair type and how fast it grows. I need to go pretty often. Six weeks is what some people need. Up to two to three months is fairly normal.

This is a question we get quite often. First, we need to set some expectations. With the obvious caveats about how we all have different hair types due to our diverse ancestries, natural African hair is going to appear more dull than Caucasian hair or even Black permed hair. Let me repeat that. Natural hair is going to appear more dull than permed hair. It’s just the structure of our hair. The cuticles on our hair, because of the curvature, do not lay flat. Flat cuticles reflect light better making that hair appear shinier. If you try to make your hair shine like someone with permed hair or a White person, you’re going to end up making a mess of your hair. If your hairdresser tells you you need to put more oil on your hair because it looks more dull than the permed hair she’s used to working with, now you know better.Having said that, we can make our natural Black hair look very healthy. There are two things that many of don’t get enough of on our hair- Water and Oil. Make sure you are drinking plenty of fluids and wash your hair often enough (as described elsewhere in this paper). Make sure you are oiling your hair with good, natural oils that the hair can absorb. Too much of the wrong kind of oils, can actually damage the ability of the hair to absorb moisture and make the hair appear even more dull. As discussed elsewhere on this site, conditioning after each washing is especially important for Black hair care. Natural African hair is beautiful. But, it must be maintained properly to be and appear healthy.