Ghanaian Emprezz

--> I was reading on Pre-Poos by    Temitayo Giwa  on letsgrownaijahair . com  (See post here )  and something caught my attention.  It's the word DRENCH which the Merriam Webster online dictionary defines as to wet thoroughly (as by immersing or   soaking in a liquid). When I saw that word, I pondered over my Pre-poos and whether I've been drenching my hair properly with the oils. So, during  one of my co-washing, I saturated my hair with sheabutter and went under the dryer.  Just then, another idea crossed my mind. Why not check to see if the oil has sunk deep into the strands or just sitting on the hair. Well, some of the oil was still on the surface after 10 minutes! I recalled how you have to stir your sugar into your beverage to ensure that the sugar dissolved well; I ran my hands through the hair, massaging the oil into it again.  The end results were awesome!!  I decided to share this with you so you get full benefits of Pre-Poos. What do you think?

--> I’ve had a post (see   here  and here ) on this topic but I decided to do one related to the context of Africa/West Africa/Ghana where a majority of my readers are in tertiary institutions. I started my hair journey whilst I was in school (University of Cape Coast) so I can relate to challenges that come up. How do you combine hair care with studies?   First of all, create a budget- see my post on how Imanage my products . Having a budget is crucial in preventing and avoiding frustrations with handling your hair whether on a daily, weekly or monthly basis. How much do you have to spend on hair? What are your wants and needs? How long will you be in school and will the budget be a one time or monthly thing?   Are those products easily available on campus, if not, get alternatives! Have protective styles you want to wear? For weaves and braids, you may choose to wash monthly. If wigs, you can get corn rows for as long as you intend to wear them. If you want to wear out 50% of

I was thinking of the stares I get from some people each time they see my hair daily whilst they are in braids and weaves because of the harmattan. It occurred to me that it's possible my empresses may also be wondering how I'm dealling with my own hair in this dreaded season. I learnt not to fear this season because there are ladies abroad who wear their own hair during the winter, which is far worse than our harmattan yet don't suffer any setbacks. Regardless of any protective style, if certain things are not done to the hair, you'll still experience major breakage. What I  picked from my blogger friends is their winter hair routine, which basically focuses on moisture and protecting the ends. Applying these things, I haven't had any major shedding nor breakage that usually comes with the harmattan and I don't foresee that problem. What I have been doing is:

--> The saran wrap is used to achieve a straighter, smoother hair . The lovely  prettywitty77 ,  jenichris23  and  kinksNcurlsLc1  show us how to do it. This is something I'll be venturing into when I can get my hair into a wrap. kinksNcurlsLc1

When it comes to natural hair,  it's not everyone who wishes to be a loose natural. However, often times, you don't know where to start and how to start the loc journey. You have to know the type of locs you want, how it is installed, how to care for it as well as maintaining it. These tips should guide you: pecadora99 BronzeGoddess01

I can't wait to have enough length to try this style by Dessy Gt

There's been a debate over whether it's advisable to dc before or after shampoo. Well, JC of  www.thenaturalhavenbloom.com  has written a beautiful piece about this. If am not mistaken, she wrote a similar article years ago and it sparked the debate. Well, the lastest post discusses what to do if you want to shampoo before deep conditioning and if you want to shampoo after deep conditioning. Read Deep conditioning: Dry hair, Wet hair or Shampoo hair? Check out my post on "Do you pre-poo?"

So, this is what I've learnt from JC of TheNaturalHavenBloom -that you can heat your conditioner ie deep conditioner.  She recommends the water bath method. To do this, take a glass container or a heat resistant plastic container. Put the conditioner you are going to use into it. Never heat up the whole conditioner bottle since you will affect the preservatives.

--> Image source: cbtamale.blogspot.com Now, it is this time that you find the rush for braids and weaves hoping to avoid breakage. The Harmattan is a dry and dusty West African trade wind. It blows south from the Sahara into the Gulf of Guinea between the end of November and the middle of March (winter). The temperatures can be as low as 3 degrees Celsius.( wikipedia.org ). I lived in the Northern Region for a long period and I can boldy say that this season can bring out the worst in you; cracked lips, feet, bleeding nose, etc. The season also comes with dusty weather. Looking at the duration, it's safer to plan ahead of time. Here are few guidelines for the season:

-->  What is the difference between the baggy method and the Green House Effect? Baggying involves using a moisturizer (which contains chemicals) and a plastic cap to help retain moisture and hydrate your hair. The green house effect is mainly to help promote hair growth in a natural way as well as restore moisture.The greenhouse effect encourages your body heat and natural oils to moisturize your hair. These two methods can aid in hair growth and retention. Some women that do this regularly (3-5 times a week) have shown that they get 1 inch of hair growth a month. This method is great for anyone with dry, brittle ends.

I become envious whenever I get to read on products available for ladies in,especially, the US. Apart from the fact that there seems to be an abundance of hair care products, they tend to be very affordable. Ordering for products into this country can cost three times the product price. The cost of shipping is enough to buy ten products for someone living overseas. Coupled with this problem is the issue of the unavailability of paypal services in Ghana which makes it difficult to make purchases. Visa cards and debit cards have charges that are, sometimes, twice the price of the product you are purchasing. With all these challenges, it is important to have a level of financial literacy when caring for hair in this country. What will cost 1$, is about 10Gh which is quite on the high side. This means you have to take advantage of sales promos such as the one I posted on  Gossip Train:#2 . If you take advantage of this promo, you'll have enough cheap conditioner to tweak up for d

My hair journey is a personal journey. Every journey has a beginning and an end Where I live determines what I use.  My finances determine what products I can afford.  My diet is key in maintaining healthy hair. Keeping the eye on the goal  helps in overcoming setbacks.  Take some time to ponder over these questions because they will guide you in all the decisions you make in starting your own hair care. In the next post., I will expound on each point... Stay Tuned! Emprezz

--> "Stretch" is such a complex word both within the natural and relaxed hair worlds. Why? Well, let's examine  the connotative meaning then we'll look at the denotative meaning. Connotatively, in the Merriam-Webster dictionary, there are more than eight meanings which include the following: to amplify or enlarge beyond natural or proper limits to pull taut to expand (as by improvisation) to fulfill a larger function Now, with the denotative meaning, let's take a look at what it means with respect to natural hair.

One method for stimulating hair growth is scalp massages. How do you massage the scalp to maximize your hair growth? Shlinda1 demonstrates this.

 For this weekend, I share my wash day routine and hope it helps you. Products for Washing  Here are the products I use on a wash day (not co-wash day): * Deep Conditioner (DC) *Shampoo *Conditioner *Plastic/poly Bag *Headbands *Shower Cap *Wide Tooth comb/medium tooth comb Steps In Washing I deep condition at the end of every month usually on early Friday mornings (for now). I part the hair into small sections using my fingers. For each section, I apply DC and secure the section with a head band. If I have to detangle, I use the DC as my detangler because it has some good slip. I detangle with my fingers first which helps to feel and get rid of knots easily. Then a wide tooth comb followed by a medium tooth comb. I then put on the poly/plastic bag and finally a shower cap.  After an hour, I wash out the DC, clarify with a shampoo, apply a conditioner and take my shower. When I am through, I rinse out the conditioner, scrunch (not rub) the hair with a t-shirt to re

After writing about honouring our hair texture, I asked myself,"how do I honour it? I thought of giving my hair a reward for all that it has done for my beauty! Learning to reward yourself for achieving milestones can propel you to greater heights. It give you a sense of fulfillment. Do you recall the moments you school when you did well in a test in one of the difficult course? I bet you told yourself," As for this one, I will buy a bottle of champagne! In the 7th month of the hair journey, I bought  two new conditioners as a reward for my hair; one of which has received a lot of positive reviews. On my next wash, I quickly went in for a conditioner. I immediately noticed it had a sweet smell and a nice slip  for detangling. That meant there was not the need to buy any detangling product! I had killed two birds with one stone. I plan to give my hair another reward on my 12 months mark. OK, how about rewarding your hair with a variety of styles! sdecordovaxxx shows

Do you think a tree just turns up as a firewood? There's the  saying that "body no be firewood". Well, i agree! You have to cut down the tree, allow it to dry up, take it home, chop it into pieces and then you have your end product - firewood. By the way, not every wood  can become firewood. How's firewood related to hair? With our hair, we have fantasies that one day, we'll wake up and all that we have to do is brush our long "mane". We, however, forget  that the European ladies we strive to imitate have their own hair care system. They spend time on forums reading about what to do to their hair. What do we do? Wake up, *comb the hair, put it in a ponytail and off we go until the next wash day or touch up.

We can get stuck up in old habits that seem proper. We still sleep on cotton pillow cases, don't tie our heads in satin scarfs or use cheap conditioners that end up aggravating our hair problems. I'ts true that the economy is "hard" but can we at least save some of the money we spend on scratch cards? By the end of the month, with as little as 5 Gh, we can afford products like: 1. a good conditioner (with 5 Gh, you can get an Optimum or ReFlexion conditioner) 2. leave-in ( 6 Gh for a bottle of One Step leave- in) 3. oils eg coconut oil or sheabutter from Accra central or Madina market (1.50 Ghp for any oil) 4. Rollers (2 Gh for a set regardless of the size)  So for the rest of the year, let's put in more effort to have some stable products for the salon visit.  Your hairdresser can also help you find what works for you so talk to him or her! Let's see the change! Emprezz