07 Sep Salon Brazyl: Detangling the Hair Myths
*This post has been written from the perspective of Tish Hankerson, owner of Salon Brazyl, based off her experience as a hair stylist and student.
There are few things I remember so clearly from my childhood as sitting on the salon floor watching my mother do hair. Since then hair has been my passion, and providing healthy hair to all women has been my Everest. Ever since beginning my training at the Jefferson High School cosmetology program, I have been on a hair journey, furthering my knowledge at the Vidal Sassoon Academy, discussing and debunking hair myths with professionals, and teaching my clients how to grow and maintain healthy hair. But it’s not enough to just reach my clients, everyone deserves healthy hair regardless of whether they can afford to go to a stylist every week – though you should definitely look into it.
So, how do you maintain a healthy mane, especially with contradicting “hair advice” coming from every crevice of the internet, from those who garnered their knowledge from even deeper and darker corners of the internet? Simple, you start by breaking down those myths that are perpetuated by a number of natural hair influencers.
On Cutting Your Hair
I have never understood why women, especially ethnic women, hold on to their split ends and dead hair. This stops it from growing; essentially, your split ends are tangling around themselves and when you try to comb through it you are snatching out your hair. It is time for a wake up call ladies – it is HEALTHY to cut your ends. Once you buy into this, you will start to see your real inches and that’s worth more than a few split ends.
On Shampooing Your Hair
Increasingly so, there has become an idea that shampooing your hair is unhealthy. I am not sure when we began perpetuating this idea that washing our hair is the problem rather than the products we are using on our hair. Washing your hair once a month is not healthy. I sat down with an African-American dermatologist who agreed that only washing your hair once a month is poor hygiene. Bacteria begins to accumulate on your scalp. Would you brush your teeth once a month, or only shower every other week? I wouldn’t and I don’t think you would, so why treat your hair and scalp the same way? If the shampoo you are using on your scalp is actually replenishing your hair with moisture, then there is no issue with shampooing it as necessary as needed. My years of experience lend to the idea of washing your hair at least twice a week and maybe even more depending on how active your lifestyle is.
These are just a few tips to get you started on your healthy hair journey because there is so much more to tell when it comes to growing healthy, happy hair. We all know that it’s easy to get sucked into the “he said,” “she said,” when it comes to hair care, but trust me, as a professional, I have studied hair as a science and I want to share my knowledge with you but I can’t give away all my secrets. Come see me sometime and I’ll let you in on a few more.