1. Make sure your hair is moisturized.
2. Make sure your hair is detangled. If you have a Denman brush or Tangle Teezer, now is the time to use it.
3. Make sure your hair is smooth. Think of your fingers as a flat iron and smooth your fingers down your hair strands. If you feel any rough patches, apply more conditioner to that section and keep smoothing until it feels soft and smooth to the touch.
4. Set the braids or twists the same way you will wear your hair. If you wear a center part, set the braids or twists that way with the front two sections framing the face and braiding or twisting the middle section straight back. If you wear an off center part to the left or right, braid the hair that way. If you prefer to wear your hair straight back, you might try cornrows, flat twists or just setting the braids or twists so that they are all going towards the back. You don’t want to manipulate your hair too much. Make sure the way you’re braiding is as close to the finished style as possible. Frizz happens when we try to move the part or do something different than the way we set the hair.
5. Don’t use a comb to part the hair where you don’t want a part because the part will show and you will have to manipulate the hair to hide the parts. This is where the set has the potential to be ruined. Instead just gather sections with your fingers and try to use the same amount of hair for each braid for a more uniform set.
6. While braiding, be sure to keep the 3 sections of the braid separate. Do not mix hair from one section of the braid with the other. Keep the 3 sections of the braid separate from root to ends. If you braid to the ends, this will be an issue. You might consider braiding as far down as you can without mixing sections and then add a roller  or start a finger coil to ensure that all 3 sections of the braid stay separate. Use this same method for twisting with 2 sections of hair.
7. If your hair is prone to puff or frizz, use smaller braids or twists to prevent frizz.
8. Use oil or butter after applying conditioner, but before starting the braid or twist to prevent frizz and to seal your hair. Just lightly dip your fingers in an oil or butter and smooth over strands before starting each braid or twist.
9. Make sure hair is completely dry before unraveling the braids to prevent frizz.
10. Use a seamless end of a rattail comb or very carefully with your fingers to unravel the braids and start from the ends up. If you want more volume, you can separate the unraveled braids from the root to ends using the rattail end of a comb.
11. If your hair is prone to frizz and you don’t want frizz, do not finger comb. It will make your braid out or twist out frizzy and ruin the set.

See more at Nasty Gal.

Tiffanie recently sent an e-mail requesting recommendations for coloring her hair that has never been chemically processed.

My personal experience with hair color is that it always slows my length retention progress. Most of the time we get stuck in a rut and want to switch up our hair and color is one of the ways we do it. It requires quite a bit of maintenance, you have to keep coloring it, grow it out or color over it if you get bored with it. You can do a google search and see all the complaints about dyes and even henna changing curl patterns/hair textures. You have to decide for yourself if its worth all that.

Safely coloring hair is such a complex topic. There could be whole blogs dedicated just to coloring hair. There are whole books on the topic, whole classes in cosmetology schools. If you are interested in coloring your hair, I strongly suggest you read two of my favorite books: The Science of Black Hair and Naturally Healthy Hair: Herbal Treatments And Daily Care for Fabulous Hair. Both of these books have extensive information on coloring hair without chemicals among other amazing info.

So before you do anything to your hair, I implore you to read at least one of those books. They are both in my personal hair reference library and I reference them frequently. Don’t rush into, make an informed decision so that you don’t have any regrets. You might also consider some sort of temporary hair additions to achieve a certain look without permanently putting your hair at risk.

Just visited one of my favorite e-shops Nasty Gal and stumbled upon their newest lookbook featuring a high texture hair model. I was just thinking about this the other day and asked a friend ‘Does it make you more likely to buy a product if the company is using a model with a smilar hair type to yours?’

What! Another straight hair post? Yes! I’m sorry, but I wouldn’t post it if I didn’t think it was valuable. After 4 years of running Mane and Chic, the one major pain/problem that I see is problems with hairstyling. I agree. I have the same issue. I want to be creative with my hair styling, but I don’t want it to look forced or done up. I’m not really into harsh/hard styles, I prefer natural, loose, easy (and perhaps a bit messy/undone) styles that don’t pull my hair, don’t cause headaches and are easy for me to do. You remember I did the “Worked” feature a year or so ago where I showed you 30 different outfits in 30 days. Around the same time, I got the idea to do the same thing with hair and many of you were also craving the same thing and had the same idea. Well, this is what happens when you sit on your hands… someone beats you to the punch and I’m so happy the doll behind Hair Romance had the same idea that my readers and I had and was able to feed our hair craving. The only caveat, her hair is straight (duh… you can see that from the pic above), but I don’t think that will stop you from attempting most of these styles. Well, maybe… it depends on your hair type and you can always stretch your hair to get less shrinkage which might help you achieve some of these looks.

You can see all 30+ styles on the Hair Romance blog that will show you the style, but if you want to learn how to do each style, you’re going to have to shell out $9.99 for the e-book. I have not read the book, so I can’t say if it’s a good investment to get the step by step tutorials, but imagine how much time and money you’d spend trying to get a hair stylist to give you 30 different looks. Yeah… $9.99 is looking like a pretty good investment, right? Books are always a smart choice… most of the time.

On Twitter, I challenged some other bloggers, but no one wants in… I might attempt something like this in the near future, but don’t hold your breath… I’m hoping someone else with my hair type does it. If you find that anywhere, shoot me a link!

So, before you tar and feather me for posting videos of straight-haired girls, I thought these videos would be really helpful for our hair types. In all the polls that I’ve done, the number one problem that all of you seem to have is being stuck in a hairstyle rut. A few months ago, I stumbled upon The Beauty Department, which is basically Lauren Conrad’s beauty blog along with her hair stylist and makeup artist. I love it. Love everything about it and I thought you should know about it. I love the hairstyles featured, the videos on YouTube. Everything is just so fresh, clean and it was my inspiration when I was renovating Mane and Chic.

Here are are few of my favorite features from The Beauty Department that I think you should try on your curly/high textured hair ASAP:

I asked you to submit questions about transitioning and here are some that were posted in the comments along with my answers.

Q: I haven’t pressed my hair in 3 weeks and I have washed it 3 times but I am having problems with my ends. I have never had a relaxer but I have been having my hair pressed/flat ironed all my life so my ends are very tamed and straight. I have no idea what to do with them! I am doing twist out but they aren’t lasting very long and unravel at the ends. What products do you think I should use? Do you think my ends will curl up again?

A: If you want to see your natural texture in all of it’s curly coily glory, you’re going to have to stay away from heat. Some people are lucky in that their hair reverts to a curly/coily state after a couple of super moisturizing deep treatments, but sometimes the heat damage is so bad that the curls/coils never come back. You can decide to cut them off or gradually grow them out. In the meantime, try to blend the ends with your natural texture by doing twist/braid outs and rolling the ends on perm rods or flexi rods to get a tight natural-looking curl/coil. As for products, you can read 101 Best Products for Curly Hair or visit product review sites like Makeup Alley or Naturally Curly’s Curlmart. My personal favorites are any Aubrey Organics or Giovanni conditioners for deep conditioning and Kinky Curly’s Knot Today and Carol’s Daughter Hair Milk Lite for leave-ins/setting agents.


Q: I read and hear a lot about naturals having to moisturize daily (usually with shea butter) and seal with one or more natural oils. I’m wondering if this is necessary for those in transition? I still have 8-9 inches of relaxed hair and oiling it that often will weigh my hair down heavily and turn it into a greasy mess. Does the shea butter and oil regimen benefit only full naturals? Or should transitioners be doing so as well?

A: You have to do what works for you. You definitely want to keep your hair moisturized and be proactive about it (transitioning or not), but you may not need to do it everyday. My hair is easily weighed down and can feel greasy too if I have a heavy hand, but some people need to do that to keep their hair from drying out. Heavy butters and oils can be too much on certain hair types. You might try lighter oils and leave ins.  Moisturize whenever you feel like you need it.


Q: Next month (July), will mark my 3 year break-up with perms. I’ve told everyone I know. No one really cares b/c I change my hair styles every other month. But it’s exciting. I have yet to wear out my natural hair. I’m not yet comfortable with the look. For the past 3 years I’ve had braids and weaves to help my hair grow. I use oils and greases but of course my front edges are a mess. What do you recommend to help my edges grow and what steps can I take to getting my natural hair soft? A few friends recommended that I find a good dominican salon and have them train my curls. I’m at a lost.

A: Congrats, that is exciting! First, why aren’t you comfortable? Explore that. List all the negative thoughts you have surrounding your new look. Really go deep and figure it out. Try to flip all the negatives to positives. Surround yourself with inspiring images of women that have a similar hair type as you. Step up your game in other areas of your life that you do feel comfortable and confident in. Look at yourself in the mirror and say all the things you love about your hair. Wear your best outfits and give yourself a fashion show. Do it everyday before you sleep and when you wake up. Eventually, if you’re diligent, you will grow to love it and be more comfortable and confident rocking it. If you’re trying to repair your edges, you want to stay away from high tension hair styles: too tight braids, ponytails and weaves. You might also consider getting rid of brushes and fine tooth combs. You might even see a dermatologist to check for traction alopecia which is kind of common in women that wear weaves and braids often. I don’t think going to a Dominican Salon is the answer if you’re trying to repair your edges, they use round brushes and a lot of heat. If you’re serious about repairing that damage, stick to no-tension, low-manipulation natural hair styles. You can smooth your edges without a brush by wetting and moisturizing your edges and then tying it down with a scarf for about 15 minutes for smoother edges without using brushes or gels.

Can I be frank with you? I don’t take hair advice from very many people. I really have to trust the person I’m taking advice from and the person really has to know what they are talking about. One of the people that I trust implicitly when it comes to high texture hair know-how is Audrey Davis-Sivasothy. I have learned so much from her articles, so I was so excited to get her new book entitled The Science of Black Hair: A Comprehensive Guide to Textured Hair Care.

Just browsing through and reading some of the chapters, I can already tell you that this is a must have reference book for women with high texture hair. In the book, Audrey actually lists recommended products based on what they can do for your hair’s protein/moisture balance. The book is very technical, but also insanely practical and straight-forward. If you want to know the science of how our hair thrives and flourishes, get this book. It literally is a text book for managing high texture hair. You’ll read about the hair structure, scalp structure, porosity, building healthy hair regimens, product selection, coloring, transitioning, hair care for children and so much more.

I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again, good hair books are an investment and well worth every penny you spend on them. When you splurge on a $25 hair product, you and I both know that sometimes it’s a hit, but a lot of times… it’s a miss. With books like this, you actually get the knowledge you need to make more informed decisions as a consumer and save yourself time and money on your hair. So, before you take another trip to Ricky’s, Whole Foods, Sephora or Target to hoard hair products that may or may not work, I highly recommend that you invest in this book. I certainly will be keeping my copy of the book bedside while on my journey to waist length.

We hardly ever see Joan Smalls rocking anything but bone straight locks so we’re always pleasantly surprised to see her rocking some texture. Check out her spread entitled “Foxy Lady” in V Magazine’s Issue 70.

source: V Magzine

source: V Magzine

source: V Magzine

source: V Magzine