Real Hair Answers - Hair Answers

Reviews On Most Popular Flat Irons
Why Is Heat Important?
Why Does My Hair Break Off?
What Type of Shampoo To Use
How Do I Know The Age Of My Hair?
Why Do I Have Scalp Problems?

Reviews On Most Popular Flat Irons

T3 1” —Great iron, with the best warranty on the market. But the spring is too tight, which will cause your hand to tire if you need to use it for any length of time. Even though the plate size is 1”, the casing that surrounds the plates is a bit too large and cumbersome. If you're not planning on curling your hair with the T3, and if you don’t have curly or extremely curly hair, this iron will work for you.
CHI —Gets hot enough, but doesn’t have a temp gage. Most people put their iron on the highest setting, but there will be some who don’t need the heat, and the CHI does not give you an option. The CHI, of all the irons, breaks the most.
Infrashine —Closest to the FHI, the casing is not well-insulated and can get too hot to touch on the outside above the plates.
Any Iron Flat Iron Less Than $100 —Just like in any craft, the tools are extremely important. If you don’t have the right tool, or if it is not top-quality, you will either not be able to complete the task or the end result will not be the same. The biggest difference between a quality iron and an inexpensive iron is the heat. The “wannabe” irons will not get hot enough—you won't have the real answer:heat. All of the above irons will run you from $120–$170. If you find one of these irons on sale and get if for less—good for you. However, the irons have been around for the past 8 years with very little decrease in cost. All of the wannabe irons are going to be less expensive, but they don't work! There are many irons on the market, but only a few truly work. The others look the same, but they do not work
Any Curling Iron Less Than $40 —Just like in any craft, the tools are extremely important. If you don’t have the right tool, or if it is not top quality, you will either not be able to complete the task or the end result will not be the same. The biggest difference between a quality iron and an inexpensive iron is the heat. The “wannabe” irons will not get hot enough—you won't have the real answer:heat.

Why Is Heat Important?

Heat is the most underused tool for most people. Heat has been given a bad name, but heat is how we make changes in our hair. If I am a white woman who has baby-fine straight hair, I won't get my hair to curl, flip, or wave without Heat Spray and a hot iron. In contrast, if I am a black woman who has extremely curly, medium-textured hair, I won't be able to make my hair straight and smooth without a hot iron.

Why Does My Hair Break Off?

The first thing to recognize is the difference between the ends of the hair broken (split ends) and chunks or many strands in same area broken at an unnatural length (breakage). True breakage comes from TOO MANY CHEMICALS (color, relaxer, highlights), TOO MUCH OF ONE CHEMICAL, OR AN OVERLAP OF A CHEMICAL.

Results from overlapping a relaxer

Breakage at the point of over lap, possibly the entire head or patches. Once a relaxer (one of the strongest of hair chemicals) has been applied to your hair.
Re-applying relaxer will remove all of the natural proteins (protein is what gives our hair strand strength) from the hair and causes the strand to break at the point of overlap.
Some strands will manage to hang on, which results in the breakage being more patchy.

Results from overlapping color

Light colors will have dull/no shine, bands of too much pigment, areas with too much lightness from yellow to white to pale ash.
Dark colors and Red Heads will have dull no shine, bands of 2-3 levels darker than the rest of the hair, all of the ends darker than the scalp, weighted down/heavy hair and dry over-processed ends.

Results from overlapping High Lights

Checker Board effect, on one strand there may be 2 to three colors
Some strands are bleached almost to yellow/white at the scalp but still brown at the ends
Patchy looking
Uneven
Dull/no shine and over-processed hair.

What Type of Shampoo To Use

It DOES matter what you shampoo your hair with. Many companies, people, etc. will tell you how great Pantene or Finesse are, that they leave the hair feeling so soft. The Real Hair Answer is that those products are made with a lot of wax and silicone. The wax and silicone will allow you to easily comb out your hair but will also result in dull/no shine, weighed down hair. Continuous use of this type of product will leave a film on the hair that will hinder color and perms. In addition when you want to style your hair with an iron, as soon as the heat is placed on the hair, the wax melts from the heat and the hair looks clumpy and almost wet looking.

All professional lines make a shampoo for all hair types. There is no such thing as black hair products or white hair products. Many companies market there products that way, but the Real Hair Answer is; If your hair needs to be cleansed, you need a deep cleansing shampoo and if it is breaking off you need a reconstructor.

Professional products are somewhat like shopping for clothes. You you're your "Mervyns" quality products and then you have your "Nordstroms" of products. If you use a lot of chemicals you need to use the "Nordstrom" products. The "Nordstroms" lines are just that, they will have very refined ingredients that will either protect your hair from future damage or bring back hair that has been damaged. You can mix and match lines, your hair loves change. What matters is that the product is quality and the right type of shampoo for your hair type and situation.

Volumizing - adds body to fine, limp, straight hair and for the last shampoo for the 2-3 Day/Weekly shampoo routine
Moisturizing - great for coarse, unruly hair that is washed daily. Can also be the last shampoo for the 2-3 Day/Weekly shampoo routine that needs softness added to the hair.
Nourishing/Chemically Treated/Color - Any shampoo that is labeled this way is for hair that needs softening either from relaxer, color, highlight etc. If have hair type 1-4 and it is over-processed, use this type of shampoo to nourish your hair but alternate with a volumizing every other shampoo to keep your hair from being weighed down.
Scalp Problem/Hair Loss - Reduce dry, redness and itchy scalps. They usually have eucalyptus which is great at calming scalp problems. Can also be a great shampoo for oily scalps and as a deep cleansing shampoo for the 2-3 day washers and weekly washers.

How Do I Know The Age Of My Hair?

The average head of hair grows a ¼" per month. So if your hair is 12" long the ends of the hair are anywhere from 4-5 years old. In contrast a man with short hair (less than 2" long) the age of his hair is merely 3-4 months old.

The age of hair will determine how many chemicals a client can take. If your cutting off all of the hair every 3-4 months holding onto the hair not important.
On the other hand, when your are trying to get your hair to be really long, putting really light highlights or taking the hair bone straight will make it IMPOSSILBLE for your ends to hang on.

Why Do I have Scalp Problems?

Always check with a physician to make sure that your problem is not a symptom to a different problem (psoriasis or eczema).

Bacteria on the scalp causes most scalp problems. Our scalp is just like the rest of our body, there are pores all throughout our scalp and they release the toxins in our body. Many women with extremely curly hair have been taught not to wash their hair more than once a week and many have been taught not to wash for 2 weeks. While the hair doesn't look much different from day to day, the scalp does. The scalp needs to be cleansed a minimum of once a week and cleansed correctly (See How to Shampoo). Your scalp is producing new skin daily that is not being sloughed off and even worse the debris from our scalp is not being removed which creates a perfect breading ground for bacteria that leads to scalp problems - redness, itching and a slow down of hair growth.

Grease on The Scalp - Many women with overly curly hair have been taught to grease their scalp to keep the scalp moisturized. Grease does NOT moisturize the scalp. Grease traps bacteria and debris, dulls the hair and causes the hair to be dirty faster.