Do This & Your Hair Will Stop "Growing" ...

If your hair has been dry, I got the remedy on how to fix that turns out. Most of us are not properly moisturizing our hair at all. Your hair likely is growing, but if you're not properly moisturizing, it dries up and breaks off and you're not retaining length. Trust me, I know joining us once again is board. Certified dermatologist nih-s-o-c-s-df supported alopecia researcher now excuse my list because you know I got Invisalign and author of the book 90 days to beautiful curly hair. Dr Crystal ago, she's been on the channel before dropping some gems when it comes to Hair Care time. Stamps are listed in the description to make this video easier to navigate, and if you need to re-watch something again, you can you know it's in the description. How often should we be moisturizing our hair? I generally recommend different moisturizing frequencies based on your curl pattern. So, for example, generically if you are type 3 curl, you might only have to moisturize your hair in between washes two to three times right. So that's. If you're doing a once a week frequency, if you're washing your hair twice a week, then you may be able to just get away with one leave-in conditioner treatment between washes. If you are a type 4, moisturizing is really really important a lot of times I'll tell my patients moisturize five to seven times a week, just because I know if you're thinking seven times a week you'll do it four times a week right, but you, but you Really want to aim for as frequently as possible because, as you probably know, when you're a Type 4 curl you don't really, your hair doesn't really stay moisturized from wash to wash. You have to do things in the middle of the week to make sure that that you get that moisture retention now to keep it a book. This five to seven times a week. Moisturizing thing got me shook before entering Dr agu. For this interview I had actually read her book. You know 90 days to beautiful, curly hair. It'S going to be linked in the description box and I have already started on my new moisturizing regimen. Now I ain't never been good at styling hair. You know I leave that to the pros the hair is feeling luxurious. It'S not feeling as dry. Even my hair stylist was like girl what you've been putting in your head so good, but that mess ain't happening overnight. Sometimes I'll have patience and I'll say. Tell me what your conditioning regimen is like they're like well when I'm not in braids. I deep condition every week for the two weeks before I'm back in braids and and I'm like well, it's gon na be hard for you to see that Improvement, because you really need to see the benefit over time. It'S kind of like embarking on a healthy eating Journey right and, if you're like well, I ate a salad every day for a week. I don't know why. I'M not seeing results. It'S because you kind of need time for things to really kick in and to see that progress. But if you start moisturizing your hair consistently three five seven times a week, especially seven times for the four C girls, then you are really over time going to see that one you're going to cut down on your detangling time right. So maybe, instead of an hour detangling session, maybe 30 or 15 minutes, because your hair is just always moisturized and you're, going to see less breakage over time, so really important not only to to moisturize frequently but then to really make that consistent. So just like just like push-ups for a week and expect have Angela Bass, isturizer, so you're sold, you need to moisturize your hair more, but what do you use and hint some of them oils might not be doing what you think they'd be doing. One of the most common things that people will do incorrectly when it comes to moisturizing their hair is applying oil to dry hair. So I like to give people that image of applying baby oil to dry skin, and it kind of just makes your skin more dry and it just the oil just sits on top of your skin and you're like like everything. I touch it just it's everywhere, right oil really is doing a great job at holding. Moisture in and moisture is really come in the form of water right, and so we have. We talk about that loc or lco approach, where the first thing you want to put on your hair is some form of liquid, so something that has water. This can actually be water in a spray bottle right. It can actually be like water in a light like lotion, leave-in, conditioner lotion or cream or a leave-in conditioner spray. So you always want to wet the hair first before you put in oil, and this is really important to to think about, because I feel like at Baseline, a lot of women with curly hair, whether it's naturally curly or relaxed, are taught to be afraid of water. But no water is our friend we're just going to repurpose it to make sure that it works in our favor, so some water containing product first then an oil. And then you can follow that with the cream or alternatively, water first and then a cream. And then in oil, if you notice in my book I don't talk a lot about essential oils. Essential oils are things like rosemary oil, tea tree oil lavender. Those are oils that people will read about and they'll say. Oh I heard this helps with hair growth. So I'm just going to slather it all over. My hair think about essential oils are they're medicinal and medicinal oils do not do a good job of holding in moisture and actually can make the hair drier. So when I talk about oils in my loc or lco routine, I'm really talking about things like Argan Oil, which is phenomenal for type 3 hair and type 4 hair. It'S really like the all-purpose go-to oil, like you, could type one hair type two here you could tell all your friends about Argan Oil, um jojoba oil is great. Grapeseed oil, olive oil is phenomenal, but I would really limit that to women with Type 4 hair. I would not put type - I would not put olive oil in type 3 here, because I think it's a little bit heavy um amla oil is a is a nice oil as well that people can use, but these are oils that you're going to apply to hair. That'S already slightly damp by either your leave-in conditioner spray or your leaving conditioner cream. Now, let's get into some product recommendations, let's start with the babies, the babies and the kids, because I have a baby now I like Cantu, Cantu, kids and honestly. Sometimes I use my daughter's Cantu kids leave-in conditioner spray, and so that's a good line. I think if you're type three right, fine hair loose curl, I would stick with a spray right. I wouldn't for type 3 here I would not recommend using any Butters, but for your L I would stick with the spray of some sort, if you're Type 4, then, if your type 4, normal or high density, you can use like a thick like conditioning cream that Still has water as its first ingredient, if you're a Type 4 low density, very fine hair, so you can tell if you have finer coarse hair, if, if you have fine hair, especially if it's type four people are going to tell you, it feels like cotton. It doesn't really hold Styles all that well and it feels super soft, so you don't want to use anything heavy. I would use a light lotion. Um Miel Organics has a great leave-in conditioner lotion. Throwback African pride has a great uh, leave-in, conditioner lotion and then again, if you're Type 4 high density, you can use a cream. I should not neglect to mention one of my go-to leave-in conditioner sprays, which is the Luster's s, curl no drip activator. So I talk a lot in my book about Jerry, curl juice and Jerry curl juice is, is really just a leave-in conditioner spray. That'S Heavy on glycerin and glycerin is pulling in moisture from the environment. To give you even more moisture in your hair strands. They used to call them activators, because when people texturize their hair or got a Jerry curl, they were told if you infuse your hair with a lot of moisturizer, your curl will pop. So that's why it's activated right. So things that say you know, activator are really really good at moisturizing our curly strands. Now, I'm 4C high density and child. She wasn't joking about this s. Curl moisturizer activator! This mess is well. I can't even call it a Mist. This is a dream and it's very inexpensive. I use this on my hair when I wear it curly or if it's in you know, braided down for a wig hairstyle or something I'll, tell you exactly how I use it later on in the video. So we got a lco or Loc. Sometimes you can skip a letter remember because the L is just a water containing product right. So technically your L can be your c as well right, so you're kind of doubling up. So, in that case you can do a leave-in conditioner lotion and follow with an oil when you use a leave-in conditioner lotion, you're, basically combining your lnc into one product. I know I mentioned a couple of different ways, but there's so many variations, because you could also have an lob with the B being butter right. Butters are things like shea butter um. There are other types of Butters, but I think shea butter and Shea Butter derivatives where they mix a ton of Butters, are really the most popular brothers and those are fantastic for Type 4, hair and so really there's this whole Continuum of hair density and hair dryness Right and the more dense your hair is so the the thicker. It is, the coarser it is, and the tighter the curl, the thicker you're, going to want your cream and or your butter to be. If we start at the other end of the spectrum - and we look at type 3 - three fine hair, what would my Approach be for for people with that hair type, I would say you're doing a whole loc is variable. You may decide to combine if you do use a cream, make your cream, your L as well so you're going to do a light, lotion and oil. That'S it right. You might even do a thicker spray with glycerin and an oil right so that you're really just doing two products, and I do also like this for kids, who tend to have finer hair. That'S a little bit less curly, because kids kind of grow into their curl pattern. As we move down the Continuum, let's say we're like in 3C, 4A land or maybe you're a 4C. But you have very fine hair. That'S when you are going to really probably consistently stick with the three letters but you're not gon na, do a butter right. Your cream is going to be a light lotion or if you want to do an l and a c separately, you're going to do a spray in oil and then a light lotion cream. And then, as you move further down again high density, coarser, hair 4C, then you're really being intentional about using probably three different products and doing that five times a week where you're doing your L. But your else also might be a lotion and then an oil. And then a butter as we get further down again, the ability for hair to really hold in moisture just becomes more difficult and so you're just really applying a lot of that conditioner manually throughout the week. Okay, y'all, how you doing? Did you get that ain't? No! Shame in re-watching that part over again so that you get it so I have a 4C high density hair and I typically do the lco. Sometimes I may just do the L and the O, and sometimes I may just do the C in the O. But the main point of what Dr ago just said was the thicker, your hair, the tighter your curl, the thicker, your cream and or butter needs to be. So basically, if you have fine hair, you don't want to go weighing it down with products and if you have very thick hair them loose little Waters, they ain't doing. A damn thing, for example. Here is what I use after reading Dr agu's book I'll shampoo. With this, or this, a neat condition with this or this I'll do a protein treatment with either this or this have to do a protein treatment or deep condition I'll rinse out with this, while my hair is wet, I will do a leave-in conditioner either this this Or this, and while we're here can y'all tell me what the internet natural hair community got against Cantu because you know my own personal, like knowledge, comes from skin care and a lot of the misinformation that can come out about certain skin care products and ingredients. I'M not that well versed on the hair stuff, but I do know that people try to down the can too, and I just want to know why I assume there's a lot of misinformation about ingredients, but y'all tell me, after I've, moisturized I'll, typically seal with this Oil I'll use this on wash day and throughout the week when my scalp as needed during the week I'll re-moisturize with one of the leave-in conditioners and seal it with the oil. But I also sometimes do something that Dr agu calls the greenhouse in her book and basically, what I do is I'll dampen my hair, I'll spray on my Jerry, curl juice and then I'll put a plastic cap on my hair overnight. And when I tell you the infusion of the hydration in my hair, but as you can imagine, I would only do that when I'm wearing my hair curly or if it's in braids, like you know for Wig. I highly recommend getting Dr agu's book because it has a lot of information that you can easily refer back to now. Speaking for me myself. Personally, all this moisturizing is cool and all when my hair is Curly or I got it braided down, but what about when? I want to heat style, my hair want to press it. What do I do, then? I think many of us have had blowouts or straightening, even if it's just for like a wedding and we're just like all right. Let me just maintain it because I spent a lot of money on it and what I would recommend is I would skip like a water like spray right, because I because what you're looking for, is you don't want your hair to be like drenched? But you want, you still have to get a little bit of moisture. I would recommend a very light lotion, followed by a butter. The downside is - and you you maybe do that just once or twice in a week, because you don't want your hair to get so weighed down by products that it starts to look stringy. But one alternative is actually just for that week. Just to not do like a leave-in conditioner spray, like I totally get it right, I think it's very important to make a healthy hair routine, fit in with your life, everything in moderation, with an emphasis on healthy hair practices. I think that if you're gon na get your hair straight for a week, I think it's fine to take a break on that all won't take care advice unless the person giving it has long thick, hair long all the way down to their toenail there's something about The reality of hair that you, you really need to to understand, and it's such a important phenomenon, because you also see it in um people who start their own hair care brands. They are often people who have always had long thick hair, no matter what they use right and I definitely fell victim to this. As a kid I'm a person too, I saw the just for me box and I was like man: okay, like I'm, not happy with my hair, but maybe if I use a flash, it's gon na look like the girl on The Box. Gon na look like Rudy from the huxtables right, so some people - just they just have it right, but you have to think about getting. You know success advice from someone who was born into a family of billionaires, right, they're, gon na say: look all you have to do is invest in the right companies and you're like well. I can't even you know, pay my rent. So where am I going to get the money to invest right, I think, as humans we have this natural tendency to want to look to people that have what we want and hope that if we just do what they do, we can get there. But I will tell you from a personal perspective, I'm in this space, because I again it wasn't until I was probably 28 or 29 that the world even saw my hair right, because I definitely have the hair. That was not viewed as beautiful and people would tell me like. Oh just cover that up. Don'T do that right, and so I did the research as a dermatologist, because I was trying to learn for myself, and so I do think that, as someone enters a healthy hair journey, I think that you have to first start out by identifying like what your goals Are right so if you've had a difficult time your entire life remember, our hair is most resilient When We're Young. So if you think back to your pre-teen years and if your hair was short and breaking, then it's it's unlikely that as a 35 or 40 year old, even with doing all the right things that your hair will grow past your hips right. I think the important thing is, how can I get my hair to its its fullest potential right and it's a journey right, but incorporating the healthiest hair practices is really important, and I think that if you know that you've struggled with hair growth for a long time, You also know that you can't half step it that you're not going to be able to get away with like doing some of the things that maybe the bloggers who, like honestly, they have 20 product deals, because their hair looks great, no matter what they do right. You'Re not going to be able to necessarily follow that you might have to do more or something different, and it is tough because even within the natural hair community 4C hair is not really embraced. Um there are bloggers with really long 4C hair and I think they still don't even really get their due when they're standing next to someone with really healthy 3C hair. You know so it's really important. I think that we all find ourselves doing that, but it is important to recognize um who we are lifting up as our Beauty ideals and, if they're truly representative of where we are able to to get to and to go and in a similar. In a similar vein, you know don't take diet advice from someone who's. Just like I eat a large pizza by myself every day, and I just I weigh 125.. You could do it too. It'S like all right. Well, you know: that's not the person that I'm gon na go to for advice. I really have to go with someone who has a very similar Journey. Some of us just need to be hit with the fact science perspective, what's already predetermined, so there are certain parts, certain hair characteristics that are already predetermined. So the number of follicles that you have that's, never going to change you're only going to have a certain number of follicular openings on your scalp, the density of a hair strand, the thickness um. We might have discussed this in the last video, but a hair strand can have either two or three layers. Some people only have two layers: the cortex, which is the inner layer and the cuticle, which is the outer layer. Some people have three layers: they have a cortex, the inner layer, they have a cuticle, the outer labor. Then they actually have a third layer layer called the medulla so like either you have a medulla or you don't right, and so people with coarser hair are more likely to have a medulla, a third layer to their hair shaft than people with fine hair. So those are already are predeterminants right. Those are things that cannot change. Another characteristic, that is predetermined, is your growth rate, and we do know that there's varying growth rates between different ethnic groups, as you guys know, race from a science perspective, is real wishy-washy right. But if we tried to split them into three general characteristics, African hair grows more slowly on average than Caucasian, and Asian hair, which grows the fastest, particularly South Asian hair, grows the fastest. But that does it. But it's not that big of a difference. Everyone on average grows about half an inch a month with curly hair. As you know, as we've discussed before, our issue is more length. Retention than growth rate growth rate is not really holding us back and then the fourth characteristics that is predetermined is how long your hair stays in a growing phase. That'S called an antigen phase on the short end, an antigen phase can last about six years, but as we get older, it shortens. This is regardless of what your ethnic background is on the long end, it lasts 12 years. So if your hair grows half an inch a month which is six inches a year on the short end, if you have a six year growing phase, that's that's 36! Inches of hair, there's still three feet of hair right so that that's not really setting us back. But that is predetermined. Those are things that you know. Medicines are not going to change and oils are not going to change um, but they are going to set up a difference from person to person and, if you're, having an issue with your hair, it doesn't need to be the end of it all for you. I get a lot of patience who come to me and they're. Like look I've seen three dermatologists, they told me there's nothing. I can do for my hair and I'm like that's not true. Right, like there wouldn't be a point of me being a hair loss doctor. If every patient I just was just like there's not much to do, I would just stop doing it right. I am motivated and I keep doing it because I love the success stories. I love doing these videos too, because there is the other side of this, where, when people have been doing the wrong thing for too long, we do get to a point of no return. Dr agle is based in Maryland. I'Ll leave her information below now. You know how to moisturize your hair and how to be realistic about your hair goals, but before you put that protective style in your hair, you need to watch this next video to make sure that your protective style doesn't get an F. Because some of these protective styles ain't protecting a damn thing and I'll see you there