Snatched Edges Podcast - Episode 14 - Curl Talk with Lumo Naturals
This week's episode is a replay of a recent Instagram Live session I held with Lumo Naturals as Part of their Curl Talk Series. we discusses some common causes of hair loss then had a q&a session. You can find Lumo Naturals on Instagram and tune in to Curl talk every Wednesday evening at 8pm WAT https://www.instagram.com/lumonaturals https://www.lumonaturals.com
Episode Overview
Full Transcript
LN
Hello ladies, Good evening. I'm so sorry, we had to move to Ebuni’s page. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to add her on our page. If this is your first time joining us, this is the ‘’Lumo curl talk series’’.
We come on every Wednesday at 8pm West African time, and we take your questions. And we also try to share the bit that we know, you know, working with natural hair, and you know, the healthy hair journey. So today, our topic is causes of hair loss and our special guest is Ebuni. One of the newest batches of trichologists right? We are claiming her in Nigeria, even though she’s in the UK. She's going to share with us what it's like from a science point of view, not just hearsay, what are the causes of hair loss? Things you can look out for when it comes to hair loss. So I think we have about five people online now. So we can probably start, Yeah, we can do a recap much later, but I know more people will keep coming up. So, Ebuni, over to you. Take us along.
00.01.23
EA
So my name is Ebuni, a recently qualified trichologist. Trichology is the study of the hair and scalp. So if you're experiencing issues with hair loss, scalp conditions, and anything like that, related to that, those kind of problems, I will be the first to see. So this evening, I just wanted to talk to you guys briefly about some different types of hair loss because most people in their life would experience you know, some kind of excess shedding and breakage, but not many not understand the reasons why. So I wanted to give you guys a bit more of an understanding to what could be causing it. Okay. To get started, we want to talk about the hair cycle of how does the hair grow and it goes through three distinct phases called anagen, catagen and telogen. So anagen is about the growing phase of their hair. Now on average is last about, on average four years. So most people's hair will go for about four years before it goes into the resting phase, which is catagen and that lasts about one week, and telogen where it starts to fall out, which is the hairs that you lose on a daily basis. You know, when you're brushing, you're combing those kinds of things. Sometimes, the internal your internal environment can cause more of the hair to go into a telogen stage prematurely, which means that you're seeing excess hair loss. Yeah, everyone follow me so far. Sometimes things like sickness, taking medication, postpartum for having a baby can change up the balances of your hormones, which will make more hair fall out. Now hair loss is usually one of the first symptom of something else going wrong. So if you start to see hair loss, you know that okay, you know, I need to check what's going on in my body like everything okay, what do I need to kind of rectify, okay? Now telogen effluvium which is when you have excess shedding you know more in your brush more when you're washing your hair. That kind of hair loss will never make you go bald. Now don't feel like ‘oh my day’, you know,’ my hair is falling out’,’ I'm going to be bald’. Just make your hair and there's things that you can do to rectify it. So Don't start screaming or buy a potion from people that are not really magic. You have to just take it easy. Okay? There's two types of diffuse hair loss.
There's ones that are temporary and self corrected and ones that are permanent until you have an intervention. So the temporary ones are like I said, Pregnancy, stress can be one, change In a medication and even anxiety. If you decide, okay, we’re doing fit fam over the summer, being a vegetarian, drinking smoothies, that kind of change can cause an internal imbalance that can result in hair loss. But usually after about three months, it will go back to normal so there's nothing you need to do. However, if you see it, for longer than three months, you know that I need to go to maybe my doctor maybe my trichologist, and find out what has happened. I need to do something to make it go away. Yeah. So the types that need intervention are usually kind of , hormone imbalances, medications that you take for a long time. If you have like a chronic illness, were you’re taking maybe steroids, antidepressants, those kind of things if you have an iron deficiency or a nutrition imbalance, those kind of things needs you to do something before your hair loss will stop. So you might have to see your doctor and say oh maybe Can I change this medication to something else you know to kind of improve the condition if it’s worried you a lot .So that yeah If, and on average, most people will lose about 80 to 100 hairs a day. Now, for like Africans we do braid styles, We don't brush your hair every day. You won't see that hair loss you know, just as you go around, but you might see when you take down you style so after you’ve had your hair in for about three to six weeks, when you take it out, you’ll see there's a lot of hair here. Don't be worried it's more than normal. It's all that shed hair from every day. That's kind of actually built up, and that's what you're experiencing. It is only when you lose about 50% of your volume, that's when most people start to notice that, oh, you know, I can't get in a hair band anymore, or I'm starting to see my scalp a bit more. And that's when we go and see somebody to get some help. Now, the normal ranges are between 15 and I think 300 milligrammes. If you go to the doctor and have a blood test, they'll say that that's the normal range. But to have good hair growth, you need to have it at 70. So sometimes when you have a blood test, references that you see, will say that they're all normal, but actually get the values in check. Because sometimes they're not high enough to have good hair growth. So maybe that oh, you know, everything's fine, but there could be a little bit more that we need to do.
00.05.49
EA
Another type of hair loss is alopecia. That is when you see circular patches and actually see your scalp. Usually, you can see your scalp so usually quite small, especially on that the crown of their head. Now, the reason you'll know that different from diffused hair loss or shedding is because you will actually see the scalp as I said, with shedding you won’t go bald. but with alopecia, it’s an instant trigger as well as if something happens to you, usually it's like a result of like a traumatic experience. So a lot of people will have like an accident or something and then a few days later they'll notice that patches of hair have fallen out completely and there's a smooth path of the scalp. Alopecia Areata it’s tricky because there’s no known cure for it. So sometimes the hair will grow back like spontaneously, and it'll come out white first , then it will grow back normally. But sometimes people have it and it's permanent. We just never know, we try and treat it, but you never know if it's the medications that work they'll the treatments or if it's just naturally your body was like I'm ready to go grow hair again. And ‘’Alopecia Areata ‘’is caused by your immune system attacking the white hair bulb. It can be genetic as well, but it's different from diffuse hair loss where that's just like a general your body's reacting and letting go of the hair. It is actually white blood cells in the scalp attacking the hair follicle saying you know, we don't want you to be here, there’s a lot of inflammation you can see it quite differently.
00.7.10
EA
The third type I wanted to talk about is female pattern hair loss. Now this usually occurs with older ladies who are going through the menopause. Now, when you go through the menopause, your hormones your sex hormones change, and most people have an increased sensitivity to testosterone, which is, you know, the male sex hormone and it causes thinning through the front of the hair and through their parts and so if they have like a middle part to say like here, they will start to see like, so it's getting wider, their parting will actually become actually become wider, and they’ll start to see more scalp and that kind of hair loss, it can't be stopped but it can be slowed down.
So if you do notice that there's things that you can do to kind of like maintain the hair loss so that it doesn’t promote too quickly. So that on the living scale, so it goes from one to three one is like normal, there's no extra hair loss and three is like the part is, you know separate sides of their head. You can see all the way through a lot of hair has been lost through the top part.
There, those are the three I wanted to go through because they're the main ones. They're the ones that are the most treatable. The other types of hair loss can be like scarring where the hair follicles are destroyed, and those need to be diagnosed and seen by a person but these ones, there's like tips and tricks to kind of, you know, overcome them and battle them easier.
00.08.20
LN
Okay so, before the questions come in, you know, having to see a lot of clients, I've noticed that most of them actually do like, get most of this, like ‘’miracle workers’’, or make certain things that expecting would just change. And for me, you know, one thing I know that a lot of trichologists talk about is the fact that you have to look at the scalp itself. If there’s any sign regrowth you'd actually be able to see with a microscope.
If not, then you probably need to send them to a trichologist. So apart from the scalp, is there any other thing that you think someone needs to look out for? When it comes to like, just generally have questions? I just have like two follow up questions. These are things I experience almost everyday talking to clients, so I just wanted to clear it.
EA
yeah, that’s fine
00.09.22
LN
Another thing I experience a lot is people saying, ‘’oh it’s in my family’’, you know, ‘’I'm never going to grow hair there’’. So I keep telling them that there are some things that fine, nature has a hand in when it comes to your hair, but I don’t think hair loss actually is, so I want you to clarify if hairloss falls under things that genetics actually affects. And then my second question would be about blood circulation. People always say, like, when you see some oils, or some essential oil, they say,
’’ oh, it enhances blood circulation. And there's going to be that actually, you know, helps with hair growth’’. And I think I read somewhere about a research study in Harvard or something that actually tries to say that that is actually true. But then I’ve seen a lot of trichologist come out to say No, that is not true, blood circulation has nothing to do with hair growth. So if you can just clarify on those two.
00.10.08
EA
Okay, so the first one, African hair growth, all hair grows at a rate of about half an inch a month. Whether you are white, black, Asian, your hair will grow, if you shaved your head today, by this in January, by December, you should have about six inches of hair. It varies slightly from person to person, but you're not going to get much racial difference. What it is with black people is that we have bad hair practices. So we've been relaxing for too long, we've been braiding between tight style, we don't wash as often should. We use horrible products, a lot of products on the market are not good for our health they contain mineral oil, petroleum, all these kind of things that block the follicles and cause extra breakage. If you went on a good detox diet, you know, use healthy natural products will see your hair start to flourish. So this, you know, hair loss is all my hair can’t grow is nonsense.
Now, there are two types of hair loss that are genetic, and have genetic triggers. So Alopecia Areata has a genetic predisposition. So if someone in your family and there's a chance that you might get it. With male pattern baldness, if a family member has, you know, male pattern baldness it’s likely that the son will have it. For those thongs, it’s trigger is not necessarily like your mom bald so you’ll also be bald. It’s not set like that. Its environment as well. So anybody can grow long hair, anybody. And then the second thing you said about circulation, so I think the way people put it is confusing. Now, think about where your scalp is, it’s on top of your brain, right? If there was no circulation, my skin would die. So you get cold, or you started to have those kind of frostbite, within a few hours, your fingers drop off, your nose drops off. If there was poor circulation into your scalp, you wouldn't be alive to me telling me that you could learn to improve the circulation. The fact that you’ve got hair growing, and the skin isn’t dead, that means the circulation enough. The hair follicles there, there is such a rich blood supply for your scalp, you don't need some massaging to get circulation, that's what we're trying to do. Now we've got oils, what you can massage to do, is the penetration and absorption or to penetrate the hair shaft. But even then I'm very wary of telling people to massage their hair because the methods that they use are very vigorous. So they'll end up getting friction damaged. They end up breaking their hair because of you know massage, you know, it's not that deep. We don't need to do that. The same way if you put on your skin, you don’t need to massage your skin that much penetrate and it's the thing. I think we're laughing because it seems like simple logic, but people make these mistakes all the time. If you want to massage your head fine, it's good for relaxation. But if you have bald patch, massaging your hair 10 minutes a day is not going to make it grow.
LN
Another argument is that it helps with enriching the sebum and you know, probably helps with hair growth. So what is the connection? Is there any connection at all? Can you enrich the sebum topically?
EA
Yes. So, each hair follicle has like a sebaceous gland with it that will secrete sebum, but with Afro hair, because our hair is curly, it's hard for the sebum to get down the whole hair shaft. Yeah, that's always something that with oils, we use creams on our hair, that kind of thing. In terms of hair growth, it's not as easy as that one linked to two. There's so many factors involved. It's very, you know, there's so many other strings attached. So I would err on the side of caution of promoting head massages, because in my experience, people do more damage than good. Because they would hear ‘’oh head massage is good’’ and start going in and true. I’ll rather tell them not to. If I'm doing a treatment, I might do a head massage when I'm washing your hair. But most of the time that's not necessary. It's good for relaxation. But in terms of hair growth no, you don't need to do that.
00.14.08
LN
Okay, all right. Sounds good. Okay, so I will leave the floor open now for people that have questions. If you have any questions. I saw someone saying she's been learning a lot .We're so happy to hear.
So please share or if you have a particular situation that you'd want Ebuni to answer or give advice on, please feel free.
EA
; In terms of things you do for your hair. So using good products, making sure it's moisturised. If you have any split ends cut them out, or like knots or anything cut them out, really is all about that moisture. Taking care of your hair, having a good regime. So washing your face often, especially if you sweat a lot that can block the follicles and cause build up.
00.15.18
LN
There’s a question about losing hair when she braids a lot. So what does she do to reduce it every time she wears her braids, that’s the time It's less clear, right? Yeah.
EA
Question; Okay, so I suffer with hair loss from too much braids when I was younger, what can I do to improve it?
EA
So that sounds like traction alopecia and it really depends on if your follicles have been damaged or not. You're born with all the follicles that you have, you can regenerate it. But if the follicle is dead, so maybe say like, it's been a year and you haven't seen any hair there, I would err on the side that You know, maybe the hair wouldn’t grow back, which is a sad case, it happens to a lot of us. But if you are seeing new growth, short hair, just give it time, I would say don't do braids as much. Try to avoid that area to make sure that you know you're not paying too much tension.
00.16.03
LN
Question; The best way to deal with traction alopecia apart from hairstyles,
EA
yeah, you just have to leave your hair alone for a little while. Sometimes it can take a while. And I know this is the worst thing. So when I see people suffering with hair loss, their main thing is to cover it so that people don't notice, they end up doing more styles that cause damage. This is so annoying, because the braids make you go bald, and now you're putting more braids on top of it. And it's like a vicious cycle, you have to just trim your hair for a bit. So if it means, you know, doing different partings is a good way, crochet braids is a really good way to still have a braided style, but it's so much less tension. It's so much less weight on your hair. So I really advise crochet as an alternative for braids. Wigs are a way of you having a break to get to know your hair, find out what it likes, think about the bad practices that you were doing and seeing that, okay, maybe it might not be the exact style that I want for now. But, you know, I'm actually investing in my hair, it's going to grow much longer in the long run. I hope that answered your question. Achimogu Glory. I'm sorry if I said your name wrong.
LN
Question ; homemade ingredients for hair growth when you run out of cash.
EA
How much cash do you have? It doesn’t have to be that expensive and I said, there's no, there's no magic pill, there’s no magic potion for hair growth. It's really good shampoo, a good conditioner. A really good moisturiser having a simple healthy regime. Protective styling protect your ends, season like the oldest part of your hair. In fact, the oldest parts of your hair, you have to look after them, they are so delicate. We treat it like it’s steel, you know, but if we need to look after it.
00.17.45
LN
That's another that's another like, General misconception. Like when I started to research and I found that black hair is actually more fragile.
I was genuinely shocked, because, you know, we call our hair stubborn we say our hair is too hard. You know, I think we actually think that it's actually not as fragile as it actually is. When you read most of these things, and science tells you that actually black is very, very fragile. You're like oh, wow, really.
00.18.12
EA
Next time you see a kink in your hair, that’s a weak point. So every time there's a curl, you know that’s a weak point. Those areas are prone to damage more so you have to be really really careful with it. I just saw a quick Okay, so sorry. Yeah, with ingredients shea butter is really good coconut oil. Cleansing I like using clays so Rhoussal clay, bentonite clay are really good . Don't be fooled into thinking because it's expensive that it's there for you. You can buy cheap good product. I’m sure Farida is going to sell her market now. She sells natural hair products. Do you ship to all of Nigeria?
LN
Yeah all over Nigeria and looking at worldwide shipping soon.
EA
so when it comes to products, Farida is your lady there.
00.19.00
LN
And you know the thing with clays is because I haven't I haven't actually used the shampoo in years. I actually use clays. So I actually had to formulate like a clay mask that you can just get off the shelf and just put it on your hair directly but it was quite difficult to get the formula down but you know, finally were able to do that. So that is the one product that I am so proud of and I feel like a lot of people don't even know about. Seeing the salon you know with our products they only think that it’s the leave-in and this and that. But the clay mask is like my biggest product. It’s deeply moisturizing, it’s deeply cleansing like it has goat's milk and all these things in it. And I keep telling people just get this one product and you will not need anything because you know the way clays work. They have deep moisturizing oils and waters in them, they actually feel like a deep cleanser like a deep conditioning treatment. Yeah. So literally what I do is I just put the clay and that's it. Most of the times when I'm too lazy to do the condition treatment, I just use just that one product. Yeah this is me selling my market.
00.20.09
EA
They are really good for curl definition as well, I love when I use a clay, because my hair will be really curly afterwards. It’s like a cheap way and a really good way to define your curls.
LN
Question; I’ve got really thick 4C hair, it constantly creates knots on itself any ideas what to do?
00.20.28
EA
That is my struggle. I have the most single strand knot you’ll ever see. And I recently just had to cut off maybe like four, five inches of my hair because I just let it get off. But that is it with single strand knots, if you see one, get your scissors and cut it out.
00.20.46
LN
Question; What is the correlation between single stranded knots and hair growth?
EA
It's just, you know because our hair is curly. It just the way the texture on it just causes like you know when it comes up. If you're not detangling, or Your hair is dry, it lacks the mesh together. So if you don't keep the hair moisturised, when it's dryer, it will shrink off. And then yeah so , detangling and keeping it moisturised, those are the two ways you can avoid single stranded knots.
00.21.14
EA
Question; Okay, Roman life, what's the best way to deal with your hair when at the gym. I was told that it's bad to have a scarf or banned crystal edges to collect sweat, or just cover your hair is this true.
EA
Now, I think it's a good way to have a band or cover it just depends on the materials .if you're using like those basketball sweatbands where they are like towel material, that can cause a lot of friction on your hairline. So what I would suggest is if you can get one that's lined with satin . That way, when you're moving, and I think having your hair up is a good way. It’s not in your face, it’s not going to annoy you. The most important thing is if you have an active lifestyle is to wash your hair often. This sweat will build up a lot and that can cause a whole host of problems. So make sure if you go to the gym keep your scalp clean. You can use apple cider vinegar sprays or disaccharides. Definitely want to make sure that you're cleansing your hair more than you usually do.
00.22.06
LN
Question; Okay, she says her hair at the middle is always weak, in addition to all areas she's tried sleeping with silk scarves, but it doesn't really get better. What can she do to prevent it?
0.22.18
EA
Okay, so I wonder what in your routine is causing your hair to break in the middle? Because that's not usually is it like the left is it like it's just breaking from the ends? Or is like really, really short. So could you clarify for me, I would say maybe don't tie your hair there. Or if you do keep it covered. So maybe like doing like, see my hair like a twist in the middle and tuck it in and have the rest of your hair around it so it’s protected. Keep it moisturised, so try and figure out what in your routine. Maybe it's the way you sleep, I'm not too sure, you said you tried sleeping with silk scarves but, it doesn't get better. Maybe tie your hair up at night time. So if you leave it out like this, and just put a silk scarf over it. I know in the morning my hair will be a mess. So I'm going to flat twist my hair now before I go to bed, make sure that my ends are protected. So maybe that's something you could try. Okay, not completely. So just allowing your edges to rest on other things that can help and some people use black castor oil . This is for Achimodu Glory, I think you're going to use a pre one something on your edges. You have to just be careful about not being too much because the transition to your normal hair is like most of your hair around your edges are very fine. They're not the same terminal kind of hair . So they have a shorter anagen phase, so they won't grow as long as the rest of your hair, you have to be careful about putting too much tension on it. But this whole idea of like, you know, having like good edges and jelled down, just leave it alone, it's not it's not practical, it's not good for you in the long run, because the more breakage you get at the temple kind of areas, it slows down and it cuts down the hair cycle of future hairs. So where it could have been four years at the beginning, the next time, it might be three and a half, then three years and it goes on until you won't have any hair anymore. You have to decide how important you know having edges and making them look a certain way is up to you.
00.24.10
EA
Question; would you recommend Black soap as a natural shampoo for hair
EA
Be careful what you get from not all black soaps are created equally. Some are very drying. Now if you find you have oily hair or you get a lot of buildup or you have a very active lifestyle, that’s fine, then make sure you are teaming up with a very rich conditioner otherwise your hair will be completely stripped of all its natural oils.
00.24.34
LN
Question ; Can you recommend a product that is good for she said disrespectfully, dry hair, I can moisturise everyday and it won't penetrate.
EA
okay, so I always start with water. That's the best way to start you need to dampen your hair first. And then you put like a buffer or something like a cream is called an LOC method, liquid oil cream stuff or the other way around. So water starting off with first, then you can put like an oil , like coconut oil. What else, almond oil is really really good or jojoba oil .Then you seal in with something l like shea butter, that way the moisture is trapped in. And if you find your head still really, really dry after that, you can use a humectant called glycerine and that will coat strands, it literally draws in water from the atmosphere. And that will help .
LN
I think to add to what you said I think the problem usually is I find that people don't actually take the time to actually like pull it into the hair, different methods. You can do the Firestarter method you can you know pull the hair until you’re sure it's actually well absorbed before you put your sealant. I find that people just they put the water and then they heat the oil and then the heat the butter. Deterring space for the moisture to actually be absorbed. So I think it's very important that we actually look out for absorbing make sure it's fully absorbed first before you put a sealant because if not then you just sealing something they still dry.
EA
Exactly. So yeah, I definitely think that's a good way to go as well.
00.26.05
LN
Question ;I don’t use heat often but sometimes she likes her hair straight and whenever she straightens it, it gets so damaged that she needs a trim to prevent breakage.
EA
Okay, so you have to use the heat protectant, you like heat will damage your hair from the inside out. Now it's not bad to use heat if you're going to use it, use it carefully. Make sure that when you're blow drying your hair like get your hair as straight as possible before you straighten it. And the final product that's meant for heat that will protect you is, don't use oil because the oil is just going to fry your hair.
Also if you're going to straighten it don't go over 250 degrees and do one part. If you blow dry well your hair will be fine we'll be straight It last long but if you're going up to like 450, 500 using like a tong will let you know that I can’t remember the name (the hot comb) that you're going to fry your hair. Just be very very careful. You know take your time, don't be like in a rush and you're going through, blow dry it very well. Then straighten it, one part is all you need and that should be enough.
LN
I feel like heat training also helps, because I know a lot of people actually train I don't use heat a lot most of the time, I only blow dry. And before doing the emission My hair is like completely clean and well moisturised, and deep conditioned. I find that blow drying can be stripping and people just say I just want to wash and blow dry. You can’t really get it like that when it comes to curly hair, I'm sorry if your hair was relaxed maybe which I don't even think you can, but maybe but if you have curly hair don't just wash and blow dry or you know wash and straighten. Do a process make sure you heat train your hair so that it has layers and layers coating your hair away from the heat as much as possible.
00.28.00
EA
So maybe it was that your hair is a little bit damaged before you straightened it. And now the more the damage and it's like you know the heat made it a bit worse.
00.28.10
EA
What's the best way to manage your hair regularly using a swim cap but have water slipping sometimes.
EA
Now the swim cap is not going to be a barrier. It's not completely waterproof. So whilst you're covering your hair, apply conditioner first so that we increase a little bit of a barrier. So if you know that in the swimming water is going to be like chlorine and other chemicals to protect us they won't be so damaging your hair and they may be wearing two as well. I know there's some swim caps made for like for dreadlocks or for people who have braids that a little bit bigger. Wear, a regular one underneath and then the bigger one but conditioners are must before you go into the water.
00.28.48
LN
Question; so her hair is constantly dry she's tried deep conditioning moisturising, any suggestions
EA
Do you have any breakage, what condition is your hair in is it like split ends, what kind of thing and when people say that their hair is dry I always find it funny because when I touch their hair that you'll have so much moisture. I think our perception of dry hair is completely different. People used to go into the hairdresser's and they smuggle cream all over it until our hair is greasy. We think that’s the norm, your hair doesn't need to be, you shouldn't have to pull your hair and have products left on your hands. The same way you wouldn't want excess product when you've moisturised your skin. Our hair lacks lustre, It doesn't look shiny compared to like maybe Asian hair or Caucasian hair. It doesn't have the same reflective kind of property. So you have to understand if your hair isn't breaking, or snapping, it’s probably moisturised. You just really want to go the extra mile. So I would say, you know, get some other people to feel it as well, does it feel dry compared to their hair, and then kind of use that as a gauge.
00.29.49
LN
Question; So she wants to know if wigs affect your edges in any way
EA
they can do, it just depends on the method you're using to wear it. So if you're wearing full head wig, if you have like full hair, It can do .it can pull back, but why is it just as that were in a little bit behind your hairline. So if you've got a wig on maybe leaving out like an inch of your perimeter and that way you won't get as much tension on your hair line. Or just don't wear them all the time. So even if you wear everyday for work all the time when you go home, take off, relax, you know, let some air get to your scalp.
00.30.21
LN
All right, thank you so much Ebuni .
