How did you learn about haircare?

[MaintaintheSexy]

I learned about haircare through hairboards, in particular LHCF. Prior to that, everyone I knew had hair problems so for me to take any advice from them was useless. I noticed that advice was never shared among women that I knew. It was a lot of talk about this product and that product, but they still had hair issues. No one spoke of a regimen, a tried and true regimen. Even hairdressers that I've come across were and still are ignorant to hair care, but they can sew in a mean weave. I've realized that haircare is something that I have to teach to myself. I've learned a lot through LHCF and I am already applying what I've learned. Its too soon for me to say what works from what doesn't work but I will keep you posted and let you know.

 

[**SaSSy**]

I was originally a cathy howse stan back in '07, then did a google search for additional information in early 2008 which leaded me here and the rest is history.

 

[sharifeh]

I learned from this book I ordered, I forgot her name it's a book about black hair, (the author had thyroid issues and she really pushes protective styling...what's her name??), then hair boards, I knew some stuff before hair boards but the internet and hair boards have really augmented my knowledge significantly, Like the majority of my knowledge, I attribute to the internet.

 

[wheezy807]

I learned through the hairboards.

 

[kami02]

I always knew the very basics of hair care like deep condition your hair when you wash, don't perm your hair less than 8 weeks apart, trim when you do and hot oil treatments are good for dry scalp. For the most part I followed those principles and my hair grew to about APL off and on most of my life. But then I went to grad school, so I was poor and I strapped for time, and I stopped paying the extra $5 for the deep conditioner at the Dominicans and started going to the real cheap doubie spots. Plus, I stopped trimming because I wanted to have long hair. I also heard "grease was bad for your hair" so I took that to mean moisture was bad? I don't know, I was tripping, lol. My broken hairs were in the sink every night. So I googled black hair care, because I remember stumbling on a blog before, and I found Relaxed Hair Health and Hairlista. I had no plans to start doing my hair myself but then I saw so many women doing their own hair and I decided I could do the same.

 

[Vashti]

I've been lurking here for a while (newbie here) but I have to say that I learned originally from my mom but had to re-learn from these boards. When I was a little girl my mom cared for my hair and it was thick and long, way down my back. When I got older I wanted to look hip (when I was a kid I didn't appreciate my natural hair) so I started perming it, doing relaxers, braids, this and that and it started falling out, thinning out all of the time. As I got grown the stresses of life sidelined any efforts I would take to care for my hair and later my health went downhill and hair was never on my mind at that point. I stopped caring about my hair completely. Last year I finally regained my health and then I decided to get my hair back in check!

I googled "moisterizers black hair" and stumbled on to LHCF and I've been lurking and reading threads here all week. I was so happy because all that stuff about DC and other things you ladies talk about my mom taught me many years ago that I forgot started to come back!

I didn't know about co-washing so that is the newest thing I've learned here. I started a regimen this past Sunday and I already notice a difference in my very short fro! Still experimenting with products and techniques, still learning! Anyway I love LHCF! Glad I found it!

 

[SouthernBeauty]

I didnt know jack boo boo before I joined the hair boards!!

 

[winnettag]

I learned the basics from my mom. I learned that hair needed to be moisturized (Lusters Pink Oil) and she greased my scalp with Sulfur8.
But when I got old enough to do my own hair I didn't do as good a job. Then when I wanted to have long hair I just typed in long black hair and found LHCF.... and better products. The rest is history!

 

[longhairlover]

wow from seeing the poll and how hairboards have really helped women with their hair is shocking.

at least for the next generation of females we'll be able to make sure they know what to do.

I wonder why the AA community is missing this important information about haircare?

I guess it can be part the stylists faults too, because normally they are supposed to educate their clients, instead of just stealing our money.

I think I ended up here because I love hair, and I was searching for black hair and this site came up, and there were (are) alot of healthy heads of hair on here, so I became hooked

 

[longhairlover]

welcome!

glad to hear your health is better.

health is another thing that can destroy the hair, I never realized that til being diagnosed with thyroid disease, I had to use almost every reconstructor on the market to combat what the meds can do to the hair and disease itself

my mom had the same issue as a kid her sister got a perm and she wanted one because of that and that saga continues. perms aren't the enemy but they have destroyed many.

I've been lurking here for a while (newbie here) but I have to say that I learned originally from my mom but had to re-learn from these boards. When I was a little girl my mom cared for my hair and it was thick and long, way down my back. When I got older I wanted to look hip (when I was a kid I didn't appreciate my natural hair) so I started perming it, doing relaxers, braids, this and that and it started falling out, thinning out all of the time. As I got grown the stresses of life sidelined any efforts I would take to care for my hair and later my health went downhill and hair was never on my mind at that point. I stopped caring about my hair completely. Last year I finally regained my health and then I decided to get my hair back in check!

I googled "moisterizers black hair" and stumbled on to LHCF and I've been lurking and reading threads here all week. I was so happy because all that stuff about DC and other things you ladies talk about my mom taught me many years ago that I forgot started to come back!

I didn't know about co-washing so that is the newest thing I've learned here. I started a regimen this past Sunday and I already notice a difference in my very short fro! Still experimenting with products and techniques, still learning! Anyway I love LHCF! Glad I found it!

 

[longhairlover]

aww do you still have the book? i'd like to buy it if you can find the author.

I learned from this book I ordered, I forgot her name it's a book about black hair, (the author had thyroid issues and she really pushes protective styling...what's her name??), then hair boards, I knew some stuff before hair boards but the internet and hair boards have really augmented my knowledge significantly, Like the majority of my knowledge, I attribute to the internet.

 

[longhairlover]

we have the same story, my mom went to cosmetology school after having 3rd degree burns on her scalp from a relaxer at a dominican salon, she always had a knack for doing hair anyways but that situation pushed her to do it for real after sitting in the er for hours to get burn cream

My mom went to school back in the 70's to become a licensed stylist. She worked from home (customers were all her friends) and I would help her pick up the rollers, pass her the bobby pins as she rollerset hair, I'd sweep the floor. Mind you I was like 7 or 8 years old at the time. I was fascinated and would just sit there for hours as she would do hair and everybody would gossip LOL

By the time I was 14 I learned how to rollerset my hair. By 18 yrs old I would self-relax my hair. I've always been a DIY'er, but got lazy in the 90's. I've learned more on LHCF, Youtube and NaturallyCurly than anything else.

 

[Bene]

I actually had to think about this one.

In part, I've got the attitude about hair care from my mom. Her thing was "If you're spending too much time on it, you're doing something wrong. If you're fighting your hair, rather than working with it, or if you just can't deal with it then you have bad hair. You have good hair when you stop seeing it as the enemy." That's something that has stuck with me. I REFUSE to fight with my hair.

I've been damp bunning since I was about 10, when my hair was fully my responsibility. My hair had been changing texture, and the only thing I could think of to deal with the frizz was to put it up.

There was a stage when I'd blow dry and flat iron every time I washed and I'd started meeting people who would tell me that it would mold or fall out, so using heat seemed like the right thing to do, but I'd still bun every so often. And life happens and sometimes I didn't have the money to buy expensive products, so bunning was my best option. But abusing my hair when I could afford the serums and creams and salons. I never made the connection that my hair thrived when I was broke

When I decided to grow my hair for real, and started doing research, I found that my earlier way of doing things was actually alright. It was just a matter of getting back to my initial hair care.




Long story short (sorry for the essay!): I simply needed to see and hear other peoples experiences in order to validate what had worked for me in the past. So I re-learned my old hair care habits.

 

[BlkOnyx488]

I got my cosmetology license while in highschool a hundred years ago, I was taught how to "do hair" technically
but I didn't learn about "hair care" until LHCF.

Fortunately I learned how to cut my own hair and other things because I was my first customer.
I never pursued being a hairstylist because I went to college and decided to go in a different direction career wise.

 

[beans4reezy]

Cathy Howses book laid down the frame work. LHCF filled everything else in.

 

[CoilyFields]

I knew some things growing up, like I always air-dried and only put heat on my hair once every two weeks, also tied my hair up at night. This kept me at APL off and on.

Then when I went natural (cuz the relaxers started kickin my butt) I had to research styles (I was postpartum and constantly sweated out my presses) this lead me to various sites and eventually LHCF.

I value this site because it pulls all of the info together in one spot and it is updated CONSTANTLY.

(Thinking back I remember being young and my crazy ghetto aunt told me that hair is like a plant...you have to water it. She always sprayed her girls hair with water and sealed it with grease...their hair was waist length).

It also seems to be a pattern that our mothers knew at least a couple of good hair practices (that they used on us but not always on themselves lol) but when we hit adolescence we took over our hair care and it went down-hill from there. Or at least thats how it was for me...

 

[CoilyFields]

double post...

 

[Miss AJ]

I wasn't even looking for hair care advice when i found it. I was playing around one day when i was 14 and typed in nappyhair.com lol. The site is long defunct but it had valuable information on natural hair care. From there i googled natural black hair care and found nappturality. When i became interested in growing my hair long i found longhairlovers and LHCF.

 

[I Am So Blessed]

mmmm i think i stumble across blackwomenrejoice.com first, and then ultrablackhair.com..... and then on and on and on. started journy officially 2.5years ago

 

[jada1111]

I've seen many comments where people seemed to have learned about haircare mainly from hairboards. I do know that there are many women on here and other sites and the internet in general that knew about haircare long before hairboards existed.

So i'm curious to know how did you learn about haircare?

I learned from my mom, she's a hairstylist and did hair in nyc's most popular black hair salons back in the days (but she stopped doing hair in salons because she refuses to do weaves for some reason lol!). She also worked at top caucasian salons as well. I use to spend all of my time after school at the salons with her and would watch a learn how to do hair properly etc. She also spent alot of time educating me and my friends as well. She got all of their hair to grow healthy and long.

So I didn't learn from a hairboard and i'm sure alot of you didn't either. It's great that hairboards exist for those who were unaware of how to care for AA hair and it's a great network for us veterans and newbies to work together for the greater cause of healthy hair practices.

Everything I learned about being natural I learned from the hairboards. I had no one to talk to about it, because at the time naturals were far and few between.

When I was relaxed, I learned how to take care of my hair properly from reading the original LHCF board, along with longhairlovers at the time. I also read Andre's book (Oprah's hairstylist) and the biggest thing I learned from his book was that no lye relaxers made the hair look dry and dull. Lye based relaxers were better, because they flattened the cuticle thereby being able to reflect shine. It finally dawned on me why my hair always looked dry and brittle.

It didn't matter, because a year later I made the plunge to natural and never looked back.

I wish more hairstylists visited the hairboards or at least OTHER hairstylist forums to see what their peers are doing.

 

[I AM...]

I must say my Mom was not an influence. All my sisters had beautiful hair and thye did not do anyhting to it. While I chose to spend money on my hair and it suffered. I stopped permaing my hair and rock the natural HEAVY!! It thrived. I started LHCF in March 09 and Big Cut in June 09. MY hair is thriving it is all natural and I LOVE IT!! My knowledge has been self-attained via the boards and research.

 

[sharifeh]

aww do you still have the book? i'd like to buy it if you can find the author.

nicole elizabeth smith
here is the amazon link

 

[SerenityBreeze]

I am happy to give credit where credit is due. I ran across Cahty Howse's website and ordered her book. It was very simple and straight to the point. I ordered her products that worked great and then began doing additional research and stubmled on the wonderful board in 2004. Eversince, I have been loving caring for my hair.

 

[WyrdWay]

first youtube and that let me here

 

[longhairlover]

yeah they just teach you to pass the state exam. I wanted to go to a hair program for h.s. my mom was like don't do it lol!!!!

have you ever considered doing hair on the side? one of my old schoolmates does hair on the side she freelances with an agency that deals with brides for their wedding day, just an idea.

I got my cosmetology license while in highschool a hundred years ago, I was taught how to "do hair" technically
but I didn't learn about "hair care" until LHCF.

Fortunately I learned how to cut my own hair and other things because I was my first customer.
I never pursued being a hairstylist because I went to college and decided to go in a different direction career wise.

 

[longhairlover]

it's a shame but stylists do not care, you run into a good one every once in a ?????????????????? but overall they want your money.

I was reading killer strands blog last night and she even stated it's ridiculous to trim hair every 4 - 6 weeks especially when the hair only grows 1/4 - 1/2 an inch per month so it's like what are you trimming in that little bit of time?

Killer strands mentioned maybe every 8 weeks something like that is a decent schedule but again depending on how your hair is growing, splits etc. She also confirmed what I was thinking that stylists want you to come to them every 4-6 weeks only for profit, haircuts are normally one of the expensive services at certain salons and in her blog she stated it's all for the profit of the salon.

thing is stylists know proper haircare but they take shortcuts and why would they inform us and give us information? they don't want a client to challenge them, and possibly start maintaining their hair at home.

my friend has never done her own hair at home she claims "I can't do it i'd mess it up" when it's really simple, some stylists get into your head and tell you you could never do this yourself...................

Everything I learned about being natural I learned from the hairboards. I had no one to talk to about it, because at the time naturals were far and few between.

When I was relaxed, I learned how to take care of my hair properly from reading the original LHCF board, along with longhairlovers at the time. I also read Andre's book (Oprah's hairstylist) and the biggest thing I learned from his book was that no lye relaxers made the hair look dry and dull. Lye based relaxers were better, because they flattened the cuticle thereby being able to reflect shine. It finally dawned on me why my hair always looked dry and brittle.

It didn't matter, because a year later I made the plunge to natural and never looked back.

I wish more hairstylists visited the hairboards or at least OTHER hairstylist forums to see what their peers are doing.

 

[longhairlover]

I do have to admit with natural haircare it's hard to find info, it seems since the creation of hairboards there is alot more information out there before folks were left in the dark on natural haircare for women of color.

And then the natural salons charge you so much to do twists and freaking wash and conditioning it's ridiculous. When you can learn that stuff here or on the boards.

I remember I didn't want to go to 125th st to the africans' (I had one lady that was really good with cornrows but I swear a bug flew out from under her dress no joke) and I wanted to try khamit kinks their prices are crazy. They do good hair too but i'm cheap lol!

http://www.khamitkinks.com/gallery.html I like that billie holiday hairdo.

let me know if I can't post the link if so i'll delete it.

wait I just read the description for the billie holiday style at khamits and it's a weave, is a weave natural haircare?????