TREND TALK : THE BIG CHOP REVOLUTION

The natural hair care trend has exploded into a market of its own in recent years. Women with naturally course, kinky, thick, and curly hair have said BYE-BYE to relaxers and are doing “the big chop” to return to their natural hair textures. Dark & Lovely recently launched their natural hair product line as one of the first brands to buy major media spots with high quality ads specifically for natural hair products. As more and more women with naturally kinky hair embark on the natural hair journey it is a great time for these types of products to thrive in the hair care market.

There is an overwhelming number of natural hair blogs, vlogs and instagram has really become a central hub for the natural hair movement with hashtags like: #teamnatural,#naturalhairwecare, #curlies, #bighairdontcare, #naturalhairdaily. 

Curly Nikki has become like the Oprah of natural hair care. The stay-at-home-mom turned author is an expert on how to take control of your luxurious locks and even released a book called Better Than Good Hair: The Curly Girl Guide To Healthy, Gorgeous, Natural Hair. On her website www.curlynikki.com, she provides excellent advice on getting started and maintaining natural curls. She has her favorite products listed with insightful reviews on the site as well as recipes to try from home. CurlyNikki has really been a leader in the natural hair movement and has inspired women including our very own, Johanne Wilson, to be proud of their natural hair. 

When it comes to natural hair video tutorials, Kim Love is the one to watch. 
She is known for her amazing video tutorials on getting that natural, cute, and sassy hairstyles that women often struggle with. She has even turned her passion for natural hair into a lucrative business, LUV Naturals.

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Johanne, (Cool Creative Inc Director & Editor of this blog) has been vetting natural hair care products for years and some of her new favorites are The Doux, Kreyol Essence, and Simplicity Hair Oil. She has been focusing on only using products with real ingredients. No filters, no alcohol, sulfates, parabens, or anything that will dry her hair out. She says you really have to become a label freak when trying to find the best product for your specific grade of natural hair. 

The Doux: For Smart Chicks with Real Hair

The Doux (pronounced “doo”) is a modern hair care system that offers non-toxic solutions for smoothing curly, kinky, and wavy hair into both curly and straight styles, regardless of your curl pattern or style preference. From the Ladies First Purifying shampoo, to the C.R.E.A.M repair mask, there is something within their product line that can help you during that natural transition. The Doux introduces 5 stages that helps maintain the look you want and continue healthy hair growth: 1. Cleanse 2. Condition 3. Style 4. Finish 5. Lenghthen. Do The Doux products contain alcohol? Yes. Cetyl Alcohol is the "good witch"of the alcohol family. Its purpose is actually the opposite of what it maysound like: it's an emollient used to help the hair and skin absorb moisture.The Doux has great info on their website to help naturalists maintain their curls.

I always wondered why so many Haitian girls had long healthy hair. Well I just found out that one of their age-old secrets is Palma Christi: Haitian Black Castor Oil. Kreyol Essence has recently launched a line of highly potent, organic, and authentic products from Haiti. The goal at Kreyol Essence is to "liberate the community from costly and unsafe products that have given us false promises and broken dreams of beauty and health." Johanne has been using this particular product for about 2 months and says it leaves her hair moist and she's already noticed some new growth. 

REVIEW UPDATE 4/13/13 (by Johanne): I just tried the Palma Shea Goat & Coconut Krem ak Lait (cream & milk) and it is AMAZING! It smells so delicious and my hair is unbelievably soft and detangled. I sealed it with the Palma Shea Original Hair & Body Butter. My hair is so happy right now.

Simplicity Hair Oil Blend is a hair care company that produces all-natural products for women, men and children of all ethnicities. Their transforming products helps slow-growing, lifeless, dry and hard-to-manage hair by making it thicker, shinier and balanced. The all-natural formula is lightweight and chemical free with no preservatives, chemicals, artificial colors or fragrances. This is hands-down one of our favorite products because of the amazing smell, the potent ingredients, and immediate results.

Johanne's happy hair
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We recently reached out to one of our friends, Kristina Bingham-Jones,
who recently did the BIG CHOP. She answered some questions to give us some insight about beginning her natural hair journey.

What motivated you to decide to go natural?

Johanne's cute hair styles! In my mind I thought if I were to ever wear my natural texture I would only be able to rock a fro! Boy was I wrong and ignorant to the power of our natural hair! Johanne would rock it up, down, curly, even in a high bun! One of the biggest fears is how I would be perceived by people who don't understand our hair. The acceptance of our co-workers really made me comfortable to think about possibly trying it. 

A new hairstylist who deals with natural hair, who Johanne actually recommended, grabbed my new growth and looked at me and said "why not grow it out. This is the healthiest hair you will ever have". I think the term "healthy" in reference to my hair was a shocker. I loved to hear that! I'm so used to the terms "dry","brittle", and “broken,”“ split-ends “so to hear healthy was like a new experience for me!

My last relaxer left me shedding way more than normal so I was nervous when it came time to relax my new growth so I went past the normal 3 month schedule I was used to and was okay with it which normally would never happen! Two of my best friends are also growing their hair out and challenged me to do it with them! We are calling it our road to 30. At 30 we all want healthy beautiful hair! What's been the biggest shocker to us is we can easily achieve the same straight hair look even with natural hair! 

What product line do you use in order to maintain your curls?

The first twist out I tried was with my girlfriends products! She used a macadamia nut leave in on my hair and then mixed Eco Gel with Carols daughter soufflé. Iwas so nervous to use the Eco gel, I guess the word gel just made me nervous, but I went with it not knowing enough about it to not try it. Well the results were not good. My braids weren't completely dry, but when it did dry and my hair was soooo crunchy and dry!!!! When it was time for me to use my own products at home I went to Sally's and bought Shea moisture's coconut and hibiscus moisture mist and their milk and it worked so well! My hair was so soft and smelled amazing!!!!

Where do you go for your natural hair care advice? 

Blogs,YouTube videos (most of my info), friends, and stylist.

YouTubeis amazing! I can spend a full weekend looking at nothing but videos!

It is so exciting to see so much information out there for girls who want to see and wear their natural full hair for the first time in their life! The videos, blogs, and all of the products that are now available make the natural thing do-able. Another thought I had was we can easily achieve the straight hair European look, but not everyone can achieve thick, tightly coiled, full natural hair look. 

The Big Chop Revolution has really grown so fast, no signs of slowing down. 
Let us know if you've done the big chop. How's it going? Send us pics, questions, and comments! We'd love to hear from you.
Until next time... Stay COOL my friends.

xoxo Meco

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