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My journey to the promised land of natural hair has been a path paved with many trials and errors, shampoos, conditioners, creams and oils. As I am learning to embrace and celebrate my natural hair in all its coil-y glory, I still like to wear my hair in a sleek, straight bob every now and then.

Enter my two BFFs: Hot Comb and Flat Iron.

I wasn’t always on good terms with the hot comb, having suffered scalp burns and trauma caused by many a styling ordeal during my childhood. Over the years, as hair styling techniques advanced and electric hot combs with heat settings became available, I let the hot comb back into my life, albeit slowly. Not knowing the tricks of the trade, I’ve singed myself and my hair more times than I care to remember.

Since I began my hair transition three years ago, I found myself relying more and more on my flat iron. Not knowing what to look for or the best way to use it to get my roots super-straight made styling my hair difficult. Still, I gave it a good ol’ college try and ended up watching my hair break, strand by strand. I assumed the breakage was caused by the heat on my hair.

What I didn’t know was that the kind of flat iron I was using was making matters worse. Over the years, I’ve amassed quite the collection of ceramic, “high-low” two-setting flat irons. I have black ones, blue ones, broken ones…you name it, I probably have it. According to Johnny Wright, SoftSheen-Carson artistic style director and celebrity stylist, the best flat irons are titanium-plated with variable heat settings. Wright recommends the Corioliss Baby SXE. It’s a smaller flat iron, because “it’s small enough to allow you to get as close to the hairline as possible without burning the scalp.”

Ceramic irons were once thought to be good. But if you look at the surface of a ceramic iron under a microscope, the surface was ridged like an orange peel. And that surface would cause friction on the air. The titanium-plated flat irons have a much smoother surface, and can straighten the hair in one pass, rather than the two or three passes it would take with a ceramic flat iron.

Don’t throw away that hot comb just yet. It still has its purpose. The hot comb is good for straightening hair around the perimeter of the head “to give the hair a straighter finish,” says Wright.

All this time I had it wrong. I would use the hot comb to straighten my roots, and then comb it through the hair for good measure (and torture). Then I would go over my hair with the flat iron over and over again until my hair was relatively straightened, or I got tired, whichever came first.

Wright recommends when you wash and blow-dry your hair, go ahead and set the iron on the highest setting your hair can handle. For those, like me, who flat iron their hair every day, turn down that flat iron!

Follow Kimberly Shorter on Twitter at @KimberlyWriter.

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Stronger, Longer Hair Challenge

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My hair needed moisture when I was relaxed, now that I am natural, and even now while I have extensions in. I have to protect my hair at all times and you should too.  All hair needs moisture! When your hair has moisture, breakage is prevented.

When I was relaxed I used to LOVE greasing my scalp! That was the thing to do.  Slathering grease on our scalp was what many Black women did just because. We didn’t really know if it was good for us or not, it was just a habit. That’s when products were much heavier and weighed down your hair. When I used to add these moisturizers every single day, it created an icky product build up. I remember the girls having heavily oiled and stringy hair from extremely thick products.

It’s so funny how we are realizing that the practices we used for decades are totally not good for our hair like all of the heavy products and the heavy greasing of our scalp. Nowadays products are much more lightweight so you can have moisturized, bouncy, shiny hair without the weighed down look.

With my natural hair, I like to mix my products with oil for added moisture. I will take a product I love, put it in a bottle with a nozzle attachment and start adding oils in. I have a whole store of essential and carrier oils in my house: from extra virgin olive oil, to peppermint oil, to jojoba oil, to coconut oil. All of the different oils do something different for the hair. I put a couple drops of my different oils into my favorite moisturizer and shake it up really well so it has a nice consistency. This creates a nice sheen and is great for preparing my hair for a twist out or wash-n-go.

With my extensions, I have been using Optimum Care Salon Collection’s Whipped Oil Moisturizer at night to twist my hair before I go to bed. The product is very light-weight which I like. I hate heavy products that weigh down my hair so this is a great formula. It is VERY important for me to moisturize my weave AND my hair that is left out and braided underneath. Have you ever seen ladies with natural hair and then the front little section is dried out and burned up? Well, that’s probably because they didn’t take care of their “leave-out” while they had a weave in. They didn’t moisturize or protect their hair from heat damage.

You know, a lot of women feel like they have to go to a salon and spend hundreds of dollars to achieve healthy hair but that’s not true! You can do it at home especially if you have salon quality products. I’m not trying to take money out of stylists’ hands, BUT, you really can do your hair at home.

Check out my video straightening my hair at home:

What do you do to add moisture to your hair and prevent breakage?

Join the Optimum Stronger, Longer Hair Challenge! Complete the Hair Survey and share your experience in the challenge by commenting below or tweeting us @MadameNoire with the hashtag #StrongerLonger for your chance to be our weekly winner and score amazing Optimum Care products!.

We are looking for the most engaged users. Participate in the challenge, send us your questions… and we could feature YOU on Madame Noire! At the end of the challenge, three Grand Prize winners will receive a salon experience, tons of Optimum Care product, and the opportunity to serve as an Optimum Care blogger. Join us!

Feel free to e-mail us at HealthyHair@madamenoire.com

Stronger, Longer Hair Challenge

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Ladies, I don’t have the luxury of going to bed without wrapping up my hair, hence parody videos like “Rag City” where men make fun of women who go to bed with “rags” on their head. I go to sleep with a “rag” on my head for a reason: to protect my hair! I’ve found that sleeping on a cotton pillowcase can dry out and break off hair from the friction of hair on cotton, which won’t help me towards my goal of healthy hair.

All my ladies, lets challenge ourselves to get our hair ready for bed too. I try to spend at least 5-10 minutes every night on my hair so it won’t be a hot mess in the morning. Does your nighttime regimen include taking care of your hair too? Please share! Here are a few tips based on what I’ve tried and what my friends have shared:
• Straight hair/Relaxed – Consider wrapping your hair at night in a circular pattern and put a silk/satin scarf around your head securing all hair. If you want it to be even more secure, you can put a bonnet on top of that. (Avoid cotton bandanas a la Tupac! They are no bueno for your hair) Another way to keep your style and keep your hair from breaking is to pin curl your hair. Once you secure all of the curls with pins, put on a satin bonnet. Voila!

• Weave- First of all, make sure you don’t go to sleep with your hair wet. It will get matted and tangled and it will be a hot mess! Trust me ☺. If you are not putting rollers in or wrapping, you can make a loose bun and then put on your satin bonnet. Make sure you are protecting YOUR hair too and not just the extensions. I try to oil my scalp and edges to take care of my hair.

• Wavy hair- For my wavy haired ladies, you can put your hair in a loose braid and put a satin bonnet on.

See the trend yet? Satin or silk helps protect your hair.

• Kinky or Curly- I have curly natural hair. My regimen includes putting my hair in a high loose bun to avoid disrupting my curl pattern. Sometimes I take large sections and loosely twist my hair before putting my bonnet on. Whatever you do, don’t comb through your hair! It’s a sure way to disrupt your natural curl pattern.

If you are not into bonnets or scarves, or your man doesn’t like them, try a satin pillowcase. A satin pillowcase is much better than your standard cotton case, which can dry out your hair. You can literally sleep on it with your hair out and it won’t get damaged. Satin pillowcases aren’t just great for your hair, they are great for your skin too!

Let’s protect our hair from damage at night too!! What is your night time regimen? What have you found that works for your hair type? 

Join the Optimum Stronger, Longer Hair Challenge! Complete the Hair Survey and share your experience in the challenge by commenting below or tweeting us @MadameNoire with the hashtag #StrongerLonger for your chance to be our weekly winner and score amazing Optimum Care products!.

We are looking for the most engaged users. Participate in the challenge, send us your questions… and we could feature YOU on Madame Noire! At the end of the challenge, three Grand Prize winners will receive a salon experience, tons of Optimum Care product, and the opportunity to serve as an Optimum Care blogger. Join us!

Feel free to e-mail us at HealthyHair@madamenoire.com

Stronger, Longer Hair Challenge

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Over the past years with the huge influx of new hair terms and products for African-American women, it can kinda get overwhelming. What does this mean, what does that mean? Let’s get down to the basics of a couple of newbie items to help you maneuver the beauty aisle!

Shampoo:

Sulfate Free Shampoo- Sulfate free shampoo is really big right now, ladies with natural and color-treated hair. This type of shampoo typically doesn’t have any suds so it’s not your typical shampoo you grew up on. It has been said that sulfates are very drying to our curls and using a sulfate-free shampoo will put life back in lifeless curls.

Dry Shampoo- This is something a little new. Dry shampoos are basically just that- it doesn’t involve wetting your hair. This typically comes in a spray format and is deposited on your scalp and it cleanses your scalp in between washes. At first it sounds pretty untraditional, but it works wonders if you have a weave, braids, locs, twists, etc.

Shampoo/Conditioner Mix- This is great that they came up with this mix. It cleanses and moisturizes in one bottle! This is a great collaboration.

Conditioner:

Leave In Conditioner: Typically leave in’s come in sprays or in a cream/lotion form. Instead of rinsing this out, it stays on your hair and prepares your hair for styling leaving your hair moisturized.

Co-Washes- Conditioner as a Shampoo- Conditioning washes, AKA co-wash, has become quite popular.  It’s basically washing your hair with just conditioner. It get’s straight to moisturizing and doesn’t strip your hair.

Oil Rinse- An oil rinse is using different oils and massaging it on your scalp and throughout your hair. You wash it out and your hair will be very soft. This could include many types of oils like EVOO (extra virgin olive oil), jojoba oil, lavender oil, etc…

Stylers:

Heat Protector- Everyone that straightens their hair, relaxed or natural needs to protect their hair from heat.  Heat protectors weren’t always around. Remember the old press n’curl wax? Well, heat protectants these days leave your hair bouncy and not heavy or oily. Heat damage ain’t no joke so protect your strands.

Curl Creams-Just 10 years ago, curly stylers weren’t really around unless it dealt with a jherri curl. Over the years, the curly hair aisle has evolved into literally like a whole row for women with natural hair! Their goal is to keep the frizz down and keep the curls defined!

What are some newer terms that you now use for your hair or products? Please share them in the comments or e-mail me so we can talk about them in the next couple of weeks. 

Join the Optimum Stronger, Longer Hair Challenge! Complete the Hair Survey and share your experience in the challenge by commenting below or tweeting us @MadameNoire with the hashtag #StrongerLonger for your chance to be our weekly winner and score amazing Optimum Care products!.

We are looking for the most engaged users. Participate in the challenge, send us your questions… and we could feature YOU on Madame Noire! At the end of the challenge, three Grand Prize winners will receive a salon experience, tons of Optimum Care product, and the opportunity to serve as an Optimum Care blogger. Join us!

Feel free to e-mail us at HealthyHair@madamenoire.com

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What are your hair goals for this Spring? Are you trying to go natural, trying to stretch out your relaxer, or trying out a new style? When spring is in the air, you start getting excited. The sun is out and shining, you start buying new clothes, and often you search for your new look! Let’s check out three goals you can achieve in the Spring.

Going Natural

A lot of ladies are going natural these days, and if you choose to do so this Spring, make sure you look at your options. You can do a Big Chop and cut off all of the relaxer at once (the easy route) or you can be a long-term transitioner and trim off little by little. If you decide to transition this spring, you can try out some great styles that help assist with the process. Try out braids, two strand twists, flat twists, cornrows etc… This helps conceal the two different textures and will make your transition so easy!

Stretching Out Your Relaxer

A misconception is that you should relax hair every 4-6 weeks, but most stylist recommend relaxing every 6-8 weeks. Typically hair grows about a half an inch a month. With so little new growth, it is hard to not overlap on your already relaxed hair, which could cause damage and breakage. To ensure less damage to your hair, it might be good to hold out a couple more weeks ladies!

Something New

Try something new. Step outside of your box. Try a new trend or try an old trend, start your own trend in fact!! If you need some inspiration, you can look at some of the hottest celebrities like Rihanna or Thandie Newton! You can rock a short crop like Halle Berry, a short natural colored fro like Viola, or long straight extensions like Beyonce. Most of all, have fun with it!
With all of your hair goals- Set them and stick to it. Find someone who has the same hair goals as you and you can work together!

What are some of your Spring hair goals?

Join the Optimum Stronger, Longer Hair Challenge! Complete the Hair Survey and share your experience in the challenge by commenting below or tweeting us @MadameNoire with the hashtag #StrongerLonger for your chance to be our weekly winner and score amazing Optimum Care products!.

We are looking for the most engaged users. Participate in the challenge, send us your questions… and we could feature YOU on Madame Noire! At the end of the challenge, three Grand Prize winners will receive a salon experience, tons of Optimum Care product, and the opportunity to serve as an Optimum Care blogger. Join us!

Feel free to e-mail us at HealthyHair@madamenoire.com

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Stronger, Longer Hair Challenge

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Hi Everyone! I am Lexi, better known as LexiWithTheCurls if you have seen my videos on Youtube. I will be hosting the 16-week Optimum Stronger, Longer Hair Challenge to a better, healthier me and a healthier head of hair! I have done it all and seen it all with hair! I will be writing regularly about my successes and struggles and I ask that you join me. As an added bonus, there will be 16 weekly prizes and 3 grand prize winners!

To give you a little of my back-story, I was relaxed at an early age because my mom was tired of dealing with my natural hair. I grew up with healthy relaxed hair and ran to the salon with my mom as soon as you could see a hint of new growth lol.

I always dreamed of wearing my hair natural so while I was in middle school, I got the courage to stand up to my mom and say I wasn’t getting a relaxer. So I went months and months and after teasing by my peers and the pressure of my mother, I caved in.

It wasn’t until 2002 and I was in college in Atlanta and my mom wasn’t in my ear saying, “Get a perm! Get a perm!”, that I decided to transition…AGAIN. At that time, I don’t even remember the term “transition” being popular. I seemed to be the only one on my HBCU campus making this move. I ended up doing the big chop. That wasn’t my intention. My intention was to grow it out and trim little by little.

Throughout my time being natural, I scoured the internet looking for tips and hairstyles. I had been relaxed for the majority of my life so I wasn’t sure what to do. I was a product junkie. I tried everything out there. I just wanted to make sure my hair looked good. I colored my hair, I straightened, I wore weaves, I did it all. I somehow during the process neglected to make sure my hair was healthy. I’ve been through bad dye jobs that have broken off my hair, stylists burning my hair OFF in certain places, and damaging my curls. I had to get it together!! I decided I need to worry about the health of my hair more so than length or the look.

The internet and the hair community online really helped me out. While going through this process though—I saw so much hatred from Black women dealing with hair online and in person.

I have seen the “Team Relaxed”, “Team Natural” and “Team Extensions” movement. I have seen the “You aren’t natural because you press or color your hair”. I have seen the “You are relaxed so you don’t love yourself”. I have seen the division and the hatred and it’s not cool. The assumptions and all! Why wasn’t the topic of conversation how we can all make our hair healthier?? I was even on a panel at Spelman College last year having a hair debate with about 200 ladies and everything seemed so divided. It’s not that deep! It’s hair ladies!!!

We should be focused on HEALTHY hair versus whether someone is relaxed, natural, or wearing extensions. You can have damaged natural hair just as much as you can have damaged relaxed hair. And you can have healthy relaxed hair just like you can have healthy natural hair. Let’s stop all the bickering and join together!

What are my goals?

1. Make sure I am taking the proper steps to maintain healthy hair.
2. I have color in my hair so I need to protect my color, while making sure the color doesn’t effect my hair’s health.
3. Use products that put moisture in my hair
4. Trim my hair every 8 weeks. (OMG I have gone almost a year one time and let me tell you, that was detrimental to my hair!!)
5. To not manipulate my hair so much. Just to let it go free. Sometimes messing with your hair too much can cause damage.

What are your hair goals?

Let’s support each other on this Healthy Hair Challenge as Black and Multi-Racial women- relaxed, natural, extensions, or whatever else you have going on! We can do it together!
Join the Optimum Stronger, Longer Hair Challenge! Complete the Hair Survey and share your experience in the challenge by commenting below or tweeting us @MadameNoire with the hashtag #StrongerLonger for your chance to be our weekly winner and score amazing Optimum Care products!.

We are looking for the most engaged users. Participate in the challenge, send us your questions… and we could feature YOU on Madame Noire! At the end of the challenge, three Grand Prize winners will receive a salon experience, tons of Optimum Care product, and the opportunity to serve as an Optimum Care blogger. Join us!

Feel free to e-mail us at HealthyHair@madamenoire.com

Steve Harvey welcomes the crowd at the 9th Annual Hoodie Awards in Las Vegas. (Photo Credit: Ethan Miller/Getty Images for Hoodie Awards)

Steve Harvey’s 9th Annual Hoodie Awards took place in Las Vegas earlier this month and I had the honor of attending the weekend long event and hang out with the good folks over at SoftSheen-Carson. The Hoodie Awards celebrate the accomplishments of everyday folks with categories like Best Fried Chicken, Best Nail Salon, Best High School Teacher, etc. The nominees are all non-celebs who are entrepreneurs, community activists or just people who have found a way to make a positive impact where they live. Steve Harvey’s comedian friends and other celebs from the worlds of acting and music all come together too to hand out awards and perform.

I’d certainly heard of the Hoodie Awards before and I’d seen pictures and blog posts from previous years, but I wasn’t exactly sure what to expect from the backstage perspective, so I went with an open mind, an armload of maxi dresses and $20 to put into a slot machine.

The verdict? Tons of pleasant surprises! I got to meet the lovely Angela Guy, get awesome hair advice for Madame Noire readers  from Michelle Obama’s stylist and Tisha Campbell-Martin let loose some real jewels about how to keep a marriage strong. She should know. She’s been with Duane for 21 years.

Check out the pics and deets!

Ever wonder who’s the creative genius behind Michelle’s perfectly coifed mane? It’s SoftSheen Carson’s Artistic Director and Celebrity Stylist Johnny Wright. You’re in for a particular treat today as Johnny will share his secrets on keeping your hair looking sleek and smooth and how to prevent your hair from looking a hot mess by the time you leave the gym. Check out the videos below.

Here we go again! We had so much fun giving away goodies over the weekend, we decided to do it one mo’ gin!  We’re gifting three  more lucky Madame Noire readers with products from Soft-Sheen Carson’s Optimum Care Salon Collection. We hung out with SoftSheen at this year’s Hoodie Awards in Vegas, so you know we put in the good word for you. We MUST hook up our fans!

Log on to our Facebook page today August 17, 2011 at 4:00 pm EST to find out how to win!

Winners will receive the following products:

-Relaxer (Regular)

-Replenishing Shampoo

-Fortifying Conditioner

-Whipped Oil Moisturizer

-Heat Protection Polisher

-Mineral Oil-Free Sheen Spray

Good luck!!

As individuals that are seen on the covers of magazines, in movies, in music videos and more, a celebrity’s hair has ALWAYS got to be on point. Hence the stylists you see that pop up at every drop of a camera and at award shows to primp their strands between breaks. So with that knowledge in mind, it only makes sense that black figures in entertainment would extend their influence into the hair care industry, a definite moneymaker. So we’re highlighting “Dark & Lovely” ladies who have used their influence and tresses to make their mark in the haircare industry as a side hustle. We’re just waiting for Wendy Williams, aka the “the wigged one,” to go ahead and step on in…

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