Posted by Dalilah,

The short answer to this is no. Trimming our hair does not in itself cause or trigger breakage. The long answer to this is that hair tends to taper at the ends as at grows longer. This is because the ends of your hair are the oldest parts of your hair, they have therefore been through the most and are naturally the weakest.

Imagine your hair in braids, I know that personally, when im getting to the end of a braid the width of my hair decreases into a cone shape. This triangular end is the tapered section of your hair and the ideal section for trimming away. Assuming you trim all of this tapered section off, hair breakage should not directly occur as a result of this. If you notice you have split ends after a trim, it is likely that you were overly conservative in the amount of hair you chose to cut off. This doesn't necessarily mean that you should go and cut more off, if your priority is to grow your hair longer, then it makes sense to cutt of less than the amount your hair has grown in a month. But if your priority is to retain only the strongest parts of your hair, then it would make sense to cut off all of the damaged hair. It can also be a very emotional process, cutting off hair that you spent so long trying to grow, but when the ends of our hair are tapered, the shaft of the hair is literally wearing away, and it is the shaft of the hair that protects the internal cortex of the hair. Once this part of the hair starts to become exposed, then the risk for split ends and increased breakage increases. What you can do to achieve minimal breakage is to practice regular moistirising, sealing and protective styling whilst you aim to retain lenth. Have you experienced breakage after trimming? How did you take control of the situation? Please share your experiences with us in our comments section below.

Happy Hair Hugging! x

Posted by Dalilah,

 I know, I know…you’re trying to figure out if my hair was damaged enough to cut it off and the answer is yes! I’ve been really bad to my hair and it was starting to show. After bleaching it, cutting it, coloring it a million times, bleaching it again and neglecting my weekly and nightly routines, my hair looked worse on my four year natural hair anniversary than it did before I did the big chop. In the beginning of my natural hair journey my main focus was having long, curly hair like my favorite natural hair icons. I didn’t care much about the healthiness of my hair because in my mind, length was more important. Being a new natural was exciting too because there was so much to learn and experiment with so it was easy to stay on top of my hair care routine. By year one, I was over it. My hair had pretty much grown back to its original length (yes, it grew back in a year!) and I was happy with it, so I slowly got away from my healthy hair practices. At some point or another I realized that my hair was in fact growing, but it was breaking off at the same rate. I wasn’t retaining length. Finally, after watching my twist out look more and more pitiful each time I tried it, I made a decision to cut it all off into a tapered style. Watch the video below for more details and commentary.

 When I was gathering research for my DIY hair products one lady who was testing one of my butters asked me if it was any good for 2nd day hair. I remember thinking, WHAT in life is second day hair!? So this article is for those of you out there who are just as confused as I was. Second day hair is your hair the second day after having washed it or styled it. For example, if you wash your hair on Friday and have it curly, then on Saturday you’ll have 2nd day hair.

After learning the definition I remember wondering why I didn’t guess it, it was very straight forward, I also remember realising that perhaps a part of me already knew what it was but simply wasn’t sure, which is OK. When it comes to our hair we need to be sure what we are talking about. Why is it important? It’s important because if you’d like to maintain your curls for the following day, and even on 3rd and 4th day hair, there is some specific advice that you can follow to see which method works well for you. I have 4c hair, so this method would work well for most people with my hair type. If I’ve worn my hair in a wash and go style and I don’t want it to be a hot matted mess the day after, then before going to sleep I section my hair into 8 – 12 parts and twist them whilst sealing with water and oil where my hair feels particularly dry. Use anything that is softening like Jojoba or Broccoli seed, these will also add a nice healthy shine. If you use coconut oil you may find that you don't need to use water as coconut oil is quite moisturising. Now that my hair has grown quite a bit keep all my twists laying in the same direction – downwards. Then I put on my silk scarf in a way that doesn’t allow for indentations (tie the bow on your forehead not past your hairline). If you don’t have a scarf use a silk pillow case. Simply undo in the morning with oily hands and a little bit of water, this re-activates any product that you used the day before and tadaa, you have 2nd day twist out hair that looks just as luscious as day 1. Use a pick to fluff it out and add volume, you do this by raking the roots and lifting, don’t comb out the ends as this will make your curls lose definition, and 4c hair by definition has no definition, we have to make it, so be sure to protect those ends to avoid fuzz. One of the most important tips for 2nd day + hair is what to do if your plan fails. Do not despair! 2nd day hair fails are a great excuse for wearing your hair in a cute and messy up-do. Try a bun with smoothed edges or flat-twisting the front and wearing a cute hat/scarf over the rest. 

Do you have good tips for 2nd day+ hair? Please comment below Happy Hair Hugging!

Braiding or twisting your hair with extensions, can give you a whole lot of rocking looks. These styles protect your hair in addition to keeping you away from boredom. They give you the chance to keep exploring and this works out pretty well especially if you are a curious person.

You may wonder how but cutting off your hair could build up self-esteem and hence self-confidence. Most of us think that long hair is our source of confidence because of the value long hair has been given in our society. After chopping off their hair, women tend to realize how daring and decisive they are and as a result self-confidence ends up coming from deep within them.