Thanks to the Wayback Machine (archive.org), here it is, but it still has other links in it:
https://web.archive.org/web/20050125130013/http://journals.fotki.com/dontspeakdefeat/newcomer/
A NEWCOMER'S GUIDE TO STARTING OUT
Wednesday, September 08, 2004
10:00 PM A NEWCOMER'S GUIDE TO STARTING OUT
I just feel like I need to do this for some of the ladies who are starting with short and long hair and don't know where to begin or what to do.
You just want to begin to take care of your hair and get it as strong and healthy as possible.
I listed loads of information below that I think may be of help to you.
Table of Contents
1.Finding a regimen
2.Clarifying Shampoos
3.Deep conditioning
4.Protein treatments
5.Relaxers
6. Reconstructors
7.For the ladies that color
8.Protective styles
9.Straight styles and rollersetting
10.Moisturizing
11.The baggie technique
12.Average hair growth
13.Classifying hair length
14.How long will it take to reach your goals
15.Vitamins
16.Trimming
17.Hair measuring
18.Inspiration
19.Progress Pictures
20.Patience
1.Finding a regimen:
I think one of the most important things about finding a regimen is to keep it as simple as possible. Remember less is more. Find your staple products. When you first start out find a good moisturizing shampoo and conditioner. Also find a good leave in and deep conditioner. Your washing frequency is up to you. Some people wash once or twice a week and others wash bi-weekly. It depends on you. You don’t have to do what everyone else is doing. Remember also that just because a product is raved about on the board doesn’t mean you have to run out and buy it. It is nothing wrong with sticking to the products you already have. (Unless you just really want to!)
Moisturizing shampoos
Moisturizing conditioners
Leave In conditioners
I think one of the most important things about finding a regimen is to keep it as simple as possible. Remember less is more. Find your staple products. When you first start out find a good moisturizing shampoo and conditioner. Also find a good leave in and deep conditioner. Your washing frequency is up to you. Some people wash once or twice a week and others wash bi-weekly. It depends on you. You don’t have to do what everyone else is doing. Remember also that just because a product is raved about on the board doesn’t mean you have to run out and buy it. It is nothing wrong with sticking to the products you already have. (Unless you just really want to!)
You also need to decide if you will be using a heat regimen or no heat. I know a lot of ladies think that their hair will not survive without heat. But you can create some beautiful air dried hairstyles. If you do decide on a heat regimen it needs to be used in moderation. I would say no more than once a week. I always lean towards no heat because doing it that way allows me to go longer between trims therefore allowing me to retain more length.
2.Clarifying Shampoos
These are important to help remove buildup from products that have deposited on your hair and scalp over time. If you have ever noticed that a product just doesn’t work as well as it used to, it may be time to use a clarifying shampoo.
Clarifying shampoos
3.Deep Conditioning
This is vital to keeping the hair strong, break free and to help improve the hair's elasticity. You can either do it with or without heat. Some people do it with heat because it intensify the effect of the conditioning producing soft moisturized hair. The no heat method is very effect and is perfect if you are on a no heat regimen. I would suggest that you deep condition no less than two times per month as this helps keep the hair in optimal shape.
Deep conditioners
4.Protein Treatments
I believe this is vital to keeping hair strong and healthy. Some can be done weekly others only need to be done when the hair is damaged. Some conditioners that contain protein can be used daily such as my favorite leave-ins Salerm 21 and NTM silk touch leave-in.
Here’s a thread that may shed some light:
To clear the air about protein
5.Relaxers:(if you choose to do so)
When I used to get my relaxer done at the hair dresser I would have it done once a month. That was a bit excessive!
I believe that everyone s
should try at least once in their life to try to stretch their relaxer to eight weeks or beyond. The reason being is we are trying to prevent breakage from overlapping and if we are going to get our relaxers too often the stylist my not be able to tell the newgrowth from the already relaxed hair. Therefore overlapping and possible breakage will occur.
Find the relaxer that is right for your hair whether it be lye or no lye. Some people can use mild strength other can use regular and super strength. It just depends on your hair’s needs. Also you can break free from getting relaxers done at the hair dresser. This gives you that extra control over what happens to your hair. This is not necessary but a lot of ladies including myself don’t like other people handling their hair so to stay on the safe side home relaxing is the way of choice. It is very simple to do.
For some tips on self relaxing you can look here:
Southern Girl's self relaxing tips
6.Reconstuctors:
This is the type of conditioner that is used after chemical services and when hair is in a badly damaged state. They help repair and restore the hair.
Reconstructors
7.For the ladies that color their hair:
Hair that is color needs extra special care especially if it is relaxed. This is for you:
Bootcamp 2004- for color girls who consider...
8.Protective Styling:
I believe this is another keeper to help retain length. When you are first trying to grow out your hair it seems like you cannot figure out any way to wear your hair in protective styles. I know this can be tough especially if you are starting with just a few inches of hair. In the beginning you may have to wear your hair in low manipulation styles.
A few no heat styles that I love are the Bantu knot set, pincurl set and the braid out and twist out. These are what I call no manipulation styles. They are not necessarily protective but if you don’t have enough hair to put up these work great. They allow you to manipulate your hair less therefore you won’t be pulling and tugging at your hair daily causing some possible breakage and shedding. Mango butter is a great moisturizer to use to achieve any of these styles
Instructions and or illustrations below
Pincurl set: coming soon
Twistout: coming soon
Braidout: Braidout instructions ,
More braidout instructions
Bantu knot set: Bantu knot set pictures,
More bantu knot set pictures
Also here is a great thread dedicated to protective styles:
Protective styles
For ladies with hair that is long enough to put into a ponytail you can put your hair in a bun using this method:
How to make a bun for shorter hair
This method is great for ladies with hair that in in between but not long enough to put in a bun without aid.
You may choose to wear braids during some of the growing out phase. This is a wonderful way to grow your hair out if it is not long enough to be put in protective styles. You can get some excellent braid advice from
Grow Afro Hair Long
Braids are a wonderful way to give your hair a break from protective styling and if you think that you are not making any progress braids will keep you from watching your hair grow. Here is a great thread that gives wonderful advice about taking care of braids:
Diva's personal tips for braid success
Some of my favorite protective styles to wear are phony ponytails and phony buns. These are an excellent way to wear protective styles for those in between stages. I have pics of my phonies in my album here:
Protective Style pics While wearing the phonies I like to use the Baggie technique. I will put more information about that below.
9.Straight Styles and Rollersetting:
If you just absolutely must have straight hair you can use the ponytail air drying method. This is a great way to get your hair pretty straight without the use of heat.
Ponytail Airdrying Method
Here instructions on how to use a flatiron to achieve different curls
How to use a flat iron
Some people don't like the way their hair comes out airdried so they prefer to use heat. You can flat iron your hair or do a rollerset. I know that rollersetting can prove to be complicated but with practice it gets a little better. Here is a tutorial:
Rollersetting 101
If you simply can't do a rollerset but like the look of the rollerset, this one is for you:
Rollerset alternative
10.Moisturizing:
It is important to keep your hair moisturized in some way to keep it from breaking. Some of my favorites are
Carol's Daughter Healthy Hair Butter and Elasta QP mango butter. You can choose which ones you like for your own hair.
Another way I like to keep my hair moisturized is by doing conditioning washes. A conditioner wash is when you use conditioner instead of shampoo to cleanse your hair and scalp. Conditioner washes keep your hair soft and supple and moisturized from root to tip. You can choose the requency of doing these but most people benefit from doing one, two or more a week. Some people do them daily.
Condtioner washes
11.The Baggie Technique:
This techniquie is a wonderful way to keep you ends constanly moisturized and breakage free. I use this when I am wearing my phony ponytails and bun as added protection for those fragile ends. This methods works wonders for maintaining moisture and length.
The baggie technique
12.Average hair growth:
The average human head can grow about 6 inches of hair a year. That's 1/2 inch per month. Hair growth is usually determined by genetics with some people having a little more and some people having a little less. I believe that with the intake of vitamins and supplements this can be helped along. Some people report getting an inch or more per month with the use of supplements.
13.Classifying the different hair lengths:
There are many different hair lengths.
Shoulder length, brastrap length, midback length, waist length, tailbone length, classic length and everything in between.
It’s nice to have something to reference when deciding what your goal length will be.
Here a website with some good examples of different hair lengths:
Hair length
14.How long will it take you to reach your goals?
Here is a chart illustrating how long it will take a person with average growing hair to reach from the crown to waist length:
How long will it take...?
15.Vitamins:
Vitamins are important in keeping the hair and body in optimal health. Vitamins give you that added extra that you may not get from your daily diet. There are several vitamins that can be taken to help get hair into great shape and help stimulate the hair's growth rate. If you decide to take vitamins it is important to increase your water intake so that the vitamins may work properly.
The best vitamins for hair growth are...?
What vitamins do for the hair
16.Trimming:
The necessity of trimming depends on what you are trying to do with your hair. Some people say that hair must be trimmed on a regular basis in order for hair to grow. This is not true. Hair grows from the scalp and will continue to grow from the scalp regardless. Trims are necessary if you want to maintain an even look. I would only recommend trims on an as needed basis if you are trying to grow your hair to longer lengths otherwise it will take you way longer to get there. A lot of the ladies that have grown there hair long only get trims whenever they deem it is necessary. That may be anywhere between never to 1-3 times a year. You don't have to cut a lot also. A trim could mean just cutting off a quarter of an inch. How many times have we gone to the hair dresser to get a trim and wind up with a hair cut? If you are growing your hair long you will be more than likely wearing it in protective styles anyway so the clean cut look it not necessary unless you just have to have it that way. Ends can be preserved through various different methods to cut down on the need to trim requently.
How do you trim your own hair?
Here's a website that shows you how to self trim(pics included):
Self trimming methods
17.Hair Measuring:
Measuring is a great way to keep up with the progress of your hair growth. Different people measure their hair in different ways. The most popular way is measuring from hairline to ends. Since the hairline doesn't move you don't have to worry about guessing a starting point.
Here is a wesite that shows you how to do so:
How to measure your hair
Of course if you don't feel comfortable doing it this way you can always measure from root to tip or from crown to ends.
18.Inspiration:
All of us need to draw on the inspiration of others from time to time. Here is a thread containing albums of beautiful ladies with gorgeous heads of hair:
LHCF albums
19.Progress pictures-Having your own album
Taking pictures is a wonderful way to be able to see your progress and share it with everyone else. There are many places on the internet that allow you to store pictures. A lot of them are free.
Fotki
Yahoo Photos
Photobucket
Picture Trail
Snapfish
Free Picture Hosting
20.Patience
Learn to be patient with your hair. Don't try to compare your hair to others. Your hair is just as unique as the fingerprints on your fingers. No two heads of hair are just alike. No matter what type of hair you have it can be healthy and vibrant and grow to long lengths. If you take care of it.
Hair doesn't regain health overnight and it doesn't grow that fast either. There is no miracle for hair just good ole patience and tender loving care. Be gentle to your hair and it will respond by flourishing.
I wish you all happy hair growing and may you reach your goals!!
