SHEAR DIVAZ II HAIR DESIGNS, CORP

Meet Mista..... I met him in Kenya, Nairobi near the Safari 💕❤️💕

2019, I want to chat with you before we meet in person tomorrow. I think it’s fair that you understand that I’m not the woman I once was. I carry the beautiful scars of a black woman who has been tested and proven. I won’t accept less than all that I deserve and I refuse to dim my light to please those who have found comfort in darkness. If I don’t introduce you to them, then they are not with or for me. I expect you to embrace my vision and to accept my values that are uncompromising. If we work in harmony, history will look back and remember us both significantly for what I have planned for us. No need to discuss my past relationships with 2018,17,16,etc.... you have nothing to be insecure about. I’m going to give all of this New Me to you! I’m excited and truly can’t wait to meet you! Photo by

5 Sweat Proof Tips to Protect Your Hair While Working Out!

Cleanse
•Extensive sweat and exercise causes salt deposits that dry out the scalp. Cleanse hair regularly (recommend once a week) with Design Essentials Gentle Balance Nourishing Sulfate Free Shampoo and condition with Design Essentials Express Instant Moisturizing Conditioner. For added moisture, follow with a Design Essentials Leave In Conditioner as needed.

Protect
•Always wear a silk or satin head wrap and a protective style when working out. (ex. braids, ponytail, wrap.)Cotton scarves dry the hair and cause friction and breakage against wet hair.

Control
•After a workout allow hair to air dry under a silk scarf or use cool option on blow dryer;this helps control and eliminate frizz, keep hair wrapped until completely dry.

Replenish
•Use Hydrience Argan Moisturizing Crème or Hydrience Argan Moisture Replenishing Mist daily to replenish moisture after workouts as needed. (Can use prior to workout as well.)

Nourish
•For dry , breaking or damaged hair use Hydrience Argan Hair Repair Oil Treatment use a hot oil or deep conditioning treatment weekly to renew hair strength porosity and overall condition

5 Ways to Take Care of Your Edges in the Winter.
Winter is here and so is the cold weather. Making it the perfect time to protect your hair and focus on its overall health. During this time our edges are usually more fragile and much shorter than the rest of our hair.
1. Avoid manipulating your edges
2. Keep edges moisturized
3. Night protection while you sleep
4. Examine your hair accessories
5. Avoid extremely tight hair styles

How to Ignore the pressure of being natural:

For years, relaxed hair was the predominant style of choice among Black women. At one point, unless you were a child, it was very unusual not to have relaxed hair. Times have changed and over the past several years, women have become informed, inspired and motivated to grow their hair long, whether they were relaxed or natural. Many started their hair journeys aiming to achieve the hair they've always desired, and for some, that meant transitioning back to their natural hair.

Throughout my hair journey many of my hair idols, sisters and friends, made the decision to big chop or transition to natural. One by one, relaxed ladies were becoming natural and before I knew it, natural hair was becoming the majority and relaxed hair was the minority. While this movement is truly incredible, where does this leave relaxed haired women? The drumbeat to go natural is louder than ever before.

But, through my process I’ve learned to drown out the noise, and do what works for me. Relaxed hair is STILL the best decision for me and my current lifestyle. Choosing to relax your hair doesn't mean that you have self-hate or that you don't value how God made you. No matter what you decide, people are going to say something about you, your hair and your hair journey. But at the end of the day, you must be happy with yourself. It’s okay to stand firm in your decision, even if you are in the minority. I love natural hair and I love relaxed hair. I know that my Black is beautiful regardless of the way I choose to wear my hair!

4 Techniques on how to stretch transitioning hair without heat

For many, using heat is a quick and simple of way for a long lasting stretch, but on the other hand this choice can also be the most detrimental for our strands, especially those transitioning! Let me show you how to produce similar results, as I reveal 4 techniques on how to stretch transitioning hair without heat.

1. Protective Styling: Protective styling is known to do just that... protect, is actually a pretty quick and fail proof way of stretching hair. Certain styles of course get the job done more efficiently such as braids, cornrolls and bantu knots, which offer more tautness; a key component in a lasting and effective stretch. Remember to wet or dampen hair before you place the protective style of your choice. The water enables a more effective stretch.

Tip: For those who are transitioning and decide to use protective styles to stretch your hair, try to create a bit less tautness around the transitioning area of your strands. Chemically treated hair is weaker since the hair bonds have been permanently altered, especially with wet hair which increases a further temporary altercation. Placing too much strain can cause breakage.

2. Banding: What you will need is a pack of ouchless elastic bands or kiddie size ponytail holders (elastic bands equal quicker dry time than the thicker material of ponytail holders). After washing or co-washing hair, divide damp hair into however many sections you desire (more sections create a more successful elongation). Place bands around the sectioned hair from root to tip in the similar fashion of placing your hair in a firm ponytail. Also additional bands per section create a lengthier stretch.

Tip: Though wet hair is preferred there is no unfathomable way that any of these style can't be done on dry hair without producing a stretch that is up to par, it is just the combination of clean strands free of products and wet hair, ensures you will get the most from each technique.

3. African Threading: Similar to banding, threading is a more effective way aesthetically, of creating a blowout without the use of heat. Like banding, you will need to section the hair on previously washed hair. Divide hair into sections and loosely twist (loosely twisting is optional, but I find twists contain the hair making it more manageable for threading). Then take weaving thread and knot one end. Place the knot at the base of the sectioned hair, tie off or double over the knot while holding firmly and begin to wrap the thread along the section of the hair. The less spaces you create between the hair and the band as you work your way down to the end of the section results in more length. Ribbons or yarn can be used for a less time consuming method. Tip: You want to make sure hair is very damp, not wet (should feel very moist almost like hot humid day). Wet hair is not ideal for African Threading due to drying time unless you have time to air dry for hours. You could also use a hairdryer but then that would negate the solution of stretching without heat.

4. Curlformers: Though this technique will give your strands a more spiral effective and is more costly than the previously mentioned options, curlformers produce excellent results in stretching natural hair. Using a simple hook method to pull wet to damp sections of hair through a long wearing PTE material (the curlformer), entrapping the hair into a spiral formation, which you then let dry.

Tip: If this is your preferred choice of stretching, make sure to visit curlformer's site to get an idea of the size, quantity and proper usage of this item. Also for all methods mentioned, make sure to keep a water bottle handy to dampen drying sections of hair and that the hair is completely dry during the removal process of all these techniques.

Mental Challenges of Going Natural

These days, many African-American women are choosing natural hairstyles and setting aside the “creamy crack” addiction to chemical relaxers, which is a good thing, especially at the start of the new year.

At the beginning of a new year, women often seek a new look and I’m not so sure many even know why they chose relaxers in the first place. Or even understand their hair at all.

Almost daily, I hear questions from clients who tell me they are clueless about their hair, how it reacts to treatments and products, or the best way to take care of it.

The concern is how to move from relaxed hair to natural. And the problem is that many women do not realize that it is a process that requires patience and determination, because it is not easy.

So many clients are gung ho about making the transition, but give up on it after a few months. Why? Because there is an extended stage in the process when the hair is difficult to manage and style, and that period can be so frustrating that women just give in to what they see in the mirror at that moment.

The truth is that most of us do not realize what texture our hair is or even know how to begin embracing change. And that’s a problem.

Historically, our parents put relaxers in our hair when we were as young as 5. They did not want to or even know how to deal with it as it grew to be more and more coarse. So, getting a relaxer smoothed it out, made it slick and wavy and easier to manage, and people identified that as “beautiful.” That was the so-called easy way to deal with it.

Another truth is that some of us already have beautiful, manageable, soft hair texture that we were born with, but end up ruining it with chemicals. Being able to embrace our natural-born texture is hard to do, and that stems from how we were raised.

So much of it is psychological. Our parents didn’t want to hear us hollering, crying, kicking and screaming when it was time to comb our hair, leading us to not embrace our natural tresses when we became adults.

Now, many women claim they do not work out at the gym because the sweating would “mess up” their hair. That’s really an indictment on how they prioritize. To put the potential for “messing up my hair” over not managing our health is just not the best approach. Seems to me that our health should supersede having to work through hair issues. But that’s a side issue.

Thankfully, there are many other women who have given up the superficial position or fear of unmanageable hair and are making the transition from chemically altered hair to natural. Society has seemingly come around on women being natural in the workplace, so that is no longer an excuse.

But there two key questions to ask about going natural:

- Am I patient enough to go through the trials of growing out my relaxer? Depending on the length of your hair, it could take six months to a year to be totally free of chemicals.

- Am I self-assured enough to endure the long, in-between stretch where I will not be overly happy with my hair – its length, how it looks, how it feels?

HOW TO PROTECT RELAXED HAIR IN THE SHOWER

If I want to preserve a style, right after I flat iron, I protect my hair by wrapping it, starting from the crown gradually gathering all of my hair into the wrap in a clock-wise motion. I smooth it over with a 100% Boar bristle brush to ensure it stays tight and secure. I grab my satin scarf to tie my wrap down. Lastly, I cover my head with a plastic shower cap to prevent water from penetrating.

Wrapping your hair under the satin scarf before applying a shower cap provides double protection against frizz and your hairstyle becoming a complete fail! Wrapping my hair firmly ensures the hairstyle will remain straight with body. However, this alone is not enough! The shower cap provides another layer of protection, without it, water or the steam from the water could hit my hair causing reversion and frizz. If I’m trying to preserve a twist-out, curls, or a braid-out, while taking a shower, I like to use a claw hair clip to grab all my hair on top of my head. I then cover the majority of my head with a satin scarf to prevent water from splashing on my hair. With volumous styles, shower caps are usually not big enough to secure all of my hair.

Out with the PERMS and in with the NATURAL

African-American women across the country are forgoing the relaxer creams that straightened their hair for decades and embracing their natural curl pattern.

And the trend, commonly referred to as the “natural hair movement,” is gaining local momentum.

“We are kind of just catching the wave,” said Quiche Jones, a Neptune resident who has worn her hair natural for two and a half years. “When we embrace that natural side of our hair, we are embracing the whole thought of healthiness.”

Natural hair is often stronger, thicker, has less breakage and grows faster than relaxed hair, experts say.

However, the transition and maintenance can be a challenge if you don’t have help, said Jones, 40.

That’s why she is hosting a health and beauty expo in Red Bank this weekend for Shore area women that will provide guidance, consultations and product demonstrations for natural hair.

Events and meetups of this sort are essential as an ever-growing number of African-American women ditch the perms, or chemical relaxer creams, every year, Jones said.

The consumer research group Mintel reported a 26 percent drop in relaxer sales since 2008 ($206 million). There has been a 15 percent drop since 2011, when sales totaled $179 million, according to Mintel.

Many African-American women opting for natural hair are like Jones — they’ve spent years going to beauty shops getting relaxers every six to eight weeks.

“They always have questions like ‘What do I do with it? What products do I use?’ ” Jones said. “I want (the event) to answer those questions.”

Healthy hair

One Freehold hair therapist has dedicated her career to studying the natural hair movement.

Tiffany Posh of Posh International Salon created her own product line, Posh Hair Therapy, to assist natural hair women. She sells shampoos, conditioners, a honey hydration mask and scalp exfoliator — all made with natural ingredients such as aloe.

Posh will be at the expo offering hair analyses and discussing how and why women should transition from relaxed to natural hair.

“We have five to seven layers of hair, and the relaxer reduces two to three layers when done properly,” Posh said. “That’s why the hair is thinner, course and prone to breakage.”

It takes an average of one year for an African-American woman to grow a relaxer out, Posh said.

Some women revert to the “bip chop” — cutting all of their relaxed hair off for a short, natural afro.

Posh said the process requires “time, patience and consistency.”

As a stylist, Posh is working to help natural women achieve the option of wearing a healthy curly or straight look. Her products coupled with a flat iron job give clients the silky, straight look that a relaxer creates. Posh said 99 percent of her clients are natural.

“Just because people are going natural doesn’t necessarily mean that their hair is healthy,” Posh said. “What’s lacking in the ethnic community is the lack of education about hair itself.”

She went natural herself in 2013 after dealing with hair breakage from wearing relaxers since the age of 10. Posh said relaxers contain harmful chemicals like sodium hydroxide, which is used in cleaning detergents and strong enough to dissolve through plastic and fabric.

Today, Posh said her hair is longer and thicker than it’s ever been in the 22 years she permed it.