Black Hair OMG!

Ohhh, the dreaded product buildup, you can see it and even smell it at times. It's not just harmless gunk, what it does to your hair follicles and scalp can be a hair killer.

Now look, nobody is gonna stop using product, we aint crazy. Let keep it real, without the assistance of good hair products, straight, curly, and kinky hair would ALL look a hot mess. Lol...

The Growth-Slowing Hair-Harming Dangers of Product Build-Up

Out of fear developing product build up a lot of people in the
natural hair community have cut back on using a ton of products.

When we say "product build-up", we're talking about the gradual accumulation of products on your scalp and/or your hair strands. THE GUNK!

The build-up we end up with is actually a combination of a few things...

1. Products you manually put in your hair.
2. Your scalps natural oil called 'sebum'.
3. Thousands of tiny dust particles from the air.

All of that creates build up...

As this combination of substances accumulate, they mix together to create a thick gooey substance filled with potentially harmful bacteria.

You Need Washing Practices To Prevent NOT Remove Build-Up

This is major, if you're noticing thick gunk under your fingernails your follicles are already compromised and your scalp is already starting to get inflamed and irritated depending on many factors like your hair regimen, whether you live an active or non-active lifestyle and your environment.

Everyone gets to this point of product build-up different rates.

So when deciding on a wash day routine your goal should be to avoid this buildup from accumulating altogether rather than waiting for it to happen
before washing your hair.

Nobody is perfect, and most of us are guilty, at one time or another, of waiting for the gunky build-up to accumulate before deciding to wash our lusciousness and get the gunk up outta here!

How Gunk Affects Your HAIR STRANDS Specifically

Ok so, both of these situations STINK! But they are unique situations, with different types of harm caused.

Build- up on your scalp effects and behaves differently than build up on your hair strands.

See, your hair strands that are healthy and free of buildup behave and reacts to moisture when water is introduced depending on your hairs porosity level, it soaks up what it can, your hair strands swell up, getting FULL, and then they quickly lets go of excess water.

That makes your hair strands more pliable and flexible, more resistant to breakage and well moisturized until it eventually releases the remaining water into the atmosphere.

But hooooney....

When your hair strands are experiencing build-up, this gunky mess creates a barrier between the water and your hair making it difficult for your hair to soak up the moisture.

Without access to moisture, your gunked up hair strands are more prone to breakage.

On top of that, light can no longer reflect on your cuticles due to
the uneven surface the buildup creates on your hair strands, causing your hair to lose a sheen and appear dull build.

How Gunk Affects Your SCALP Specifically

Product Build-up on your scalp is a lot different and can lead to more serious issues, especially for highly-textured hair.

Your scalp is part of your skin, in fact, it's the thickest area of skin on your whole body.

But it STILL can also be just as sensitive as a skin on your face.

Making things worse, this dark moist environment of your scalp is a perfect place for harmful bacteria to multiply, so it's important to give this area extra attention.

Your EVER-IMPORTANT sebum is a thin acidic oil created underneath your scalp that secretes out of the scalp.

The purpose of this oil is to slide down, coat and protect your hair strands but with highly textured hair the loops and bends make it difficult for the sebum to slide down, causing a lot of this oil to back up and accumulate on your scalp.

On top of that, very tiny dust particles from the air easily sticks to the sebum ,after a while this built up mixture accumulates so much that it becomes visible.

It's easy to see how adding products to your scalp will increase the accumulation of buildup.

What makes build up on your scalp so difficult is due to its dark warm and moist environment bacteria has a perfect opportunity to grow and multiply.

Some of this bacterium filled gunk will eventually penetrate into your follicles interrupting the activity going on in your hair bulb which can dramatically change the quality of your hair that goes out the follicle prolonged build-up can also cause infections. Don't worry though, I'm working on a new article that will teach you how to properly remove buildup and identify which products are causing it.

Later Lovelies!

The minute I saw that some of The Lovelies on this BlackHairOMG Instagram post started going crazy saying "I NEED THIS COMB!", I knew I had to show you this video from "AsToldByBrittanyD" and show you this unique Afro & Twist Comb thingy that I am just now seeing for the first time ever too!

Brittany pulls off a gorgeous Deep Side Part on her TWA (teeny weeny Afro) and finishes the look with some super-cute makeup to match her pink hair look.

"I Like Your Hair, I LOVE That Comb Thingy Though..."

The Lovelies in the comment section liked the look without a doubt, but they were more concerned about this funky looking comb thingy that Brittany used to get her hair ALL-THE-WAY-TOGETHA...

It looks like a hair pick/fly swatter girl, lol....

I'll show you her vid below, and as always....

Let's support each other and build each other up, go follow her and tell her BlackHairOMG sent you!

FABULOUS Fake Perm Rod Set w/ Deep Side Part on TWA VIDEO

Girrrl!?!?! I love the look. Do you? Drop some comments on her video or on our BlackHairOMG IG account (and Follow Us if you aren't already)...

Brittany also lists the products that she used to get this look. I'll list them below.

PRODUCTS USED:

• Jane Carter Solution Wrap and Roll Mousse
• Afro & Twist Comb!
• Hair Clips For Short Hair

Hey, if you've seen or used the same Afro & Twist pick that this sista used, you got a ONE UP on me. I learned something new and thought I'd share it with you.

Hey, check out this article on styling this HOT Twistout with TGIN Hair Products on TWA Natural Hair.

If there's ONE THING in common with sistas who have loooooong type 4 hair, it's that they wear their hair in stretch styles. You betta believe it....

Apart from other critical regimen techniques like constantly moisturizing their hair, using the right products, keeping protein balance, and avoiding damaging chemicals, most women with long kinky hair that OWNS every room they walk into, wear their hair in stretched styles... Often.

It's so important.... Why?

Knots Are The Enemy Of Long Kinky Hair

If you've just done TBC (the big chop) or you have short hair, there's FAR less chance for your lusciousness to form tangles and knots.

See, for short hair it's difficult for your strands to completely loop around themselves.

It's like someone with super short legs and small feet, they don't to worry as much about tripping over their own feet like the tall, long-legged geek with big feet. (raising my hand, I'm that tall geek, lol)

OK, regardless of that possibly failed analogy... Look...

Fact is, as your hair grows, the ends become more susceptible to tangles because that's the nature of kinky hair. The tight coils, curls and kinks like to curl back into themselves, that's the cause of our oh-so-famous "shrinkage".

[See this post with 21 photos showing HOW REAL THE SHRINKAGE IS.]

Don't trip though, shrinkage is a great or bad as you decide to view it. I personally think the shrinkage is MAGICAL. But that's me...

And hey, shrinkage is a great way to observe if your hair strands are healthy or not, but can pose a big problem when your goal is to grow your kinky hair really long.

As your kinky hair strands start  "gettin' into the mix" and curling back into the others, they can easily form the dreaded (no pun intended) single strand knots or multi-strand knots and set your length retention way back.

Apart from the severe cuticle damage they cause, they can either break off at the knot or tangle up with other strands and form giant knots. Girrrrrrrl...

This can quickly lead to a lot of breakage (a lot of crying) and make it seem like your hair is not growing when it really is.

Never Comb or Brush Unstretched Hair!

Let's be real.... There are many ways to form tangles with long kinky hair, but for the most part, they're almost guaranteed to happen every time you try to comb or brush unstretched hair, especially when it's not wet or drenched in highly-moisturizing products, it's obvious that trying to comb through full kinky hair is going to cause some problems.

Simple Solution To Knots & Tangles

A very effective way to avoid all of this is to wear your hair in stretched styles. See, kinky hair loses moisture quickly and has stronger carotene bonds than straight hair.

So when it dries it tends to shrink up and become really stiff. Stretching your hair is a safe and easy way to avoid tangles and knots so you can retain length.

With stretched hair your strands won't loop back into itself and form knots, also it's a lot easier to comb and detangle without causing more tangles.

5 Ways to strech type 4 natural hair (video)

Stretched Natural Hairstyle Ideas

There are a lot of stretching techniques and styles available, believe it or not most of them are not anything new and have been used all over the world for centuries.

Bantu knots are really popular in the fashion, movie and the music industry because they are SLAAAAAYAGE personified honey!

They're a great way to differentiate yourself and add an edge to your style. A bantu knot out creates a more curly wavy pattern that's fun and springy.

Even still, there are many other stretching techniques like threading buns and wraps, they each have unique benefits and limitations so it's best to try them to see which one works best for you.

Trouble Stretching Very Dense Hair?

For Lovelies with highly dense hair, you probably have noticed that none of these methods are as effective at stretching your hair. Well...

The proper use of heat can help greatly in safely stretching your hair, but everyone is different and unique. The way someone with straight hair uses heat is completely different from how someone with kinky hair would use it.

For kinky type 4 hair the heat should be kept to a minimum and should be used less frequently, for example, no more than once a month. I hope this article was able to help you understand why stretching her hair is so important for length retention LOVES!