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Celebrating Black History Month with Cruelty-Free & Black Owned Business Self-Care Products
Category Archives: Hair Care
Recent Reports about Hair Straighteners & Uterine Cancer
Disconcerting information about uterine cancer – a rare type of cancer, has resurfaced in the news recently. A study from the National Institutes of Health revealed that women who use hair straightening products at least 4 times a year are twice as likely to develop uterine cancer.
And, Black Women are at a higher risk. Below are some key points listed in the article. Use the source links in this post to get a detailed description of the study.
Key Points
- Uterine cancer is the sixth most commonly diagnosed cancer in women around the world.
- A new study from the National Institutes of Health has found that women who use hair straightening products are twice as likely to develop uterine cancer than those who do not.
- Researchers believe Black women may be at increased risk due to a higher usage rate of hair straightening products.
Source: Uterine cancer: Chemical hair straighteners double risk (medicalnewstoday.com)
The information is both important and disturbing. After reading the articles, you may want to consult your care providers for more information and recommendations specific to your personal circumstances. One question, which comes to mind is does the study indicate that other types of cancer may also be attributed to hair straighteners?
Additional Source:
WEBMD HEALTH NEWS,  Article written by Lisa O’Mary
https://www.webmd.com/beauty/news/20221018/hair-straightening-products-linked-uterine-cancer-risk-study
The harmful ingredients in hair straightening products are:
- Ammonium thioglycolate (found in relaxer/straightener products that do not use lye)
- Guanidine hydroxide (found in relaxer/straightener products that do not use lye)
- Mineral oil
- Polyethylene glycol
- Sodium hydroxide (found in relaxer/straightener products that use lye)
Source: medlineplus.gov/ency/article/002706.htm
All the best in Wellness!
Winter Haircare
Managing Winter haircare static electricity and frizz both caused by the dryness heat exposure can be challenging. Below are some tips I hope will help you.
https://www.stylecraze.com/articles/6-winter-hair-care-tips-you-should-definitely-follow/
https://www.stylecraze.com/articles/hair/basic-hair-care/
If you want to find static sheets, which help minimize static electricity, are also cruelty-free and support our intention to do what we can to participate in the climate change conversation by purchasing climate friendly products, visit the websites below.
Anti Frizz Hair Sheets: The Celeb-Approved Genius Way to …
The Nunzio Saviano anti frizz sheet can tame flyaways, split ends, and humidity-induced frizz instantly without making your hair feel sticky. … Besides smelling deliciously good, the IGK no-frizz smoothing hair wipes are vegan-friendly, cruelty–free, and have zero traces of mineral oils, sulfates, and parabens.
Read the blog of Nunzio Saviano at the link below.
https://nunziosaviano.com/category/blog/
If you would like to check cruelty-free brands use the link below to view the updated 2022 Ethical Elephant List for Cruelty-Free Brands
https://ethicalelephant.com/cruelty-free-brand-list/
SPF HAIR, Beauty & Wellness
Have you ever thought about using SPF on your hair during the months when you may be spending a lot of time on the beach, playing tennis, or just being outdoors during sunny days? Probably not.
It turns out that SPF for haircare is something we should pay attention to. Not only should we protect our bodies, we should also spray sunscreen on our scalps.
Hairblues has discussed this topic before, but I can not say it often enough. People of color NEED to use SUNSCREEN. See the excerpt below for details.
Health experts advise everyone, regardless of skin color, to use sunscreen with an SPF of at least 30. Although dark-skinned people won’t get sunburned as quickly, they will still burn and are still susceptible to sun-induced damage—such as sun spots and wrinkles—and cancer .
True or False: Dark-skinned People Don’t Need Sunscreen … True or False: Dark-skinned People Don’t Need Sunscreen | Winchester Hospital
As the Cancer Foundation states:
“Everyone under the sun needs to use sunscreen“.
“If you use an SPF 30 product properly, it would take you 30 times longer to burn than if you used no sunscreen“.
This includes children and babies.
Reminder you want to purchase products that do not have Oxybenzone and Octinoxate
Cruelty-Free Shampoo
Summertime is probably the season when we wash our hair most frequently. ♥ In keeping with our search for cruelty-free beauty products, I found some appealing hair care suggestions from Cruelty Free Kitty and Clean Green Simple, which I am sure will satisfy your personal requirements for using cruelty-free products. Click on the links below for more information .
Happy Summer!
♣ Cruelty Free Kitty.com
♣ https://cleangreensimple.com/products/
¿ Not sure what to do about your shampoo? Check out the My Beauty Bunny website at this link :
♣ https://mybeautybunny.com/how-do-i-find-out-if-a-brand-is-cruelty-free/
Tips for Chemically Relaxed Hair Beauty
Many women prefer the convenience of chemically relaxed hair.  What can we do when those chemicals cause other types of scalp problems? How do we avoid suffering from hair loss caused by chemicals in the future?  Here’s good piece of advice that I found searching the Internet.
It’s best to consult with a professional to determine what your particular needs are when it comes to relaxers. And no, you cannot apply a lye relaxer over hair that’s been processed with a no-lye relaxer (and vice versa)! However, you can apply a different relaxer to new growth if your current straightener isn’t giving you the results you want. It’s not recommended to constantly switch relaxer types or brands. Once you find the relaxer that works for you, it’s best to stick with it until or unless it stops. via Lye and No-Lye Hair Relaxers.
It turns out that many hair care blogs have articles commenting on just this topic. I searched for some of the key points  highlighted, which may help to reduce any problems that you are  having due to chemically induced dry scalp with your relaxed hair. Read on and don’t forget to click the link at the end for a more detailed discussion about these topics.
♦ After your hair has been chemically straightened, wait 48 hours before you wash your hair. The chemicals need time to set.
♦ Once a week for the first month, apply a deep conditioning mask and cover your head with a shower cap to lock in heat.
♦ When you sleep, use a satin pillow case, this will help protect your hair by preventing it from tangling.
♦ When it comes to styling your hair, avoid using high heat blow dryers or curling irons. If you must use them then reduce the heat.
♦ Try to avoid using hair spray or gel as they can dry out your hair.
♦ If you want to colour chemically straightened hair, then wait 14 days before you do. via How to Take Care of Chemically Straightened Hair.
♣ Daily application of a moisturizing cream also helps. Avoid products that contain petroleum and silicones as these are often too heavy for relaxed hair. Instead, look for products that use oils like aloe vera, jojoba, olive oil and other natural oils. These are much lighter than the petroleums and silicones, and they moisturize your hair without weighing it down. via How to Take Care of Relaxed Hair | eHow.com.
HairBlues Recommendation: Check out the Just Natural website to find products for relaxed hair that will help you to moisturize your hair and scalp with organic natural products. Click the link below.
I hope this is helpful 🙂
What’s wrong with tight braids?
For generations African-American girls have had their hair braided because it is a traditional belief that it would help their hair to grow.
Nowadays, there is talk about braids “causing” hair loss. At HairBlues we think it is important enough to investigate what some of the causes of hair loss and braids may be. Below are tips we found online that may help to ease this problem, which appears to happen more often these days. Don’t forget to click on the link provided at the end of the highlighted tips to get detailed information.
♦ Beauty should not hurt! If your head hurts, it’s because your hair is braided too tightly, or you have too much extension hair added. In either situation, this doesn’t bode well for the future of your hairline. Some braiders may tell you to take an aspirin and the pain should be gone by morning, but any pain is an indicator that something is wrong.
♦ Use warm water to loosen them: Take a shower and let the water cascade over your hair. You may need to gently rub your scalp to loosen the braids a little. This is not the time to worry about how much money you just spent and how much time it took to style these braids, so don’t think about that! Concern yourself with loosening up this tight style and saving your hairline.
♦ Remove them: Yes, remove any braids that are causing little bumps to pop up on your scalp. This is not normal and can lead to hair loss down the road, especially if you make a habit of wearing tight braid styles.
♦ Do yourself a favor and see how your head feels when you’re still in the stylist’s chair. Does it hurt while she’s braiding? That’s the time to ask her to ease up on your hair.
♦ Do not return to tight braiders: Some braiders are notoriously hard on hair. Once should be enough to tell you that this is someone who doesn’t care about the health of your scalp. via What Can I Do about Tight Braids.
FYI –Traction Alopecia:By Del Sandeen
Definition: A condition where constant pulling and tension on an area of the hair results in thinning, breakage and/or hair loss. This is commonly seen in women and children who braid the hair too tightly particularly at the hairline or wear the same style over extended periods of time, not allowing the scalp and hair follicles to “rest.”via Traction Alopecia.
 I hope this is helpful !
Tips for blow drying your hair
Ladies – are you blow drying your hair too much? Do you know how much is “too much”? Well neither do we. However, have you thought about air drying your hair occasionally, or not washing your hair so often? Below are some tips and great suggestions we found online about what you can do to avoid hair loss by damaging your hair when using a blow dryer. Don’t forget to click on the links provided to get further details.
♦ As far as blow dryer heat goes don’t use the high heat setting except in the beginning when hair is still very wet, once hair starts to feel mostly dry it’s time to turn down the heat.
♦ If you start to smell hairs burning it’s time to use the cold shot if you have one to cool it. Once hair is damaged from burning or any other way it is permanent.
♦ The only way to really get rid of damaged hair is to cut it off, which you will in time.
♦ If you curl your hair with hot rollers or curling irons you can go old school every now and then and use regular rollers and rags like they used to before all of these hairstyling tools were invented.
♦ One last way to help prevent blow dryer damage is to use hair protectants. There are many on the market these days designed specifically to apply to hair before blow drying for this purpose.
via http://www.infobarrel.com/Does_a_Blow_Dryer_Damage_Hair#ixzz1rEEMzJ00
IÂ hope this is helpful
ReCreating Your Look . . .
Occasionally you may want to ‘recreate‘ your look. Weaves give you a way to change your ‘outward personality‘, and maybe, the attitude that goes with it! 🙂 In addition, weaves give you an opportunity to take care of your ‘natural hair’ when it needs some time to repair or refresh from the experiments you put it through. 🙂
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 HairBlues tries to find the best solutions and suggestions at the various websites, which cover the topics featured on this page.  Check out the tips found for protecting your hair underneath your weave. There were any number of sites that provided many and fascinating suggestions on what to do during this beauty transition period. Some of the suggestions I liked are listed below. As always, for the detailed information provided by each site, click on the link at the end of each topic.
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Del Sandeen  Black Hair Guide had four (4) main suggestions:
(1) Shampoo and Condition, (2) Apply Oils to Your Scalp, (3) Don’t Neglect the Weave (4) Remove it After Six to Eight Weeks.
Read the details why at this link – Take Care of Your Hair Under the Weave.
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Taking Care of Your Hair: Weave Edition
Ladies, we all view our hair as precious. But if you’ve noticed that your hair is damaged, you have two options. 1. To cut it or 2. To save it. A lot of ladies are able to save the damaged hair through weaves or wigs, but remember if you choose this option you MUST take care of your hair underneath it all. via Hair De La Crème: Taking Care of Your Hair: Weave Edition.
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I hope this is helpful 🙂
HairBlues 