August 2023

Depending on your hair goals, growing vs. maintaining, I will make some suggestions for you. Products mentioned will be linked on my sites’ product page. I have created some affiliate links, this way you can conveniently order recommendations, just like that!

So please enjoy a few summer suggestions…

For the long hair journey-

Getting the scalp some air feels great. A topical scalp treatment like Vegamour or rosemary oil adds extra growth juju to the ritual. Part your hair while using the dropper to distribute product. I like to use a head ‘whisk,’ or gua sha tool after (Just imagine the sensual coolness of a stone comb) for follicular stimulation and to further apply the serum. If you opt for the invigorating sensation of rosemary oil, then do this before you shower, if Vegamour, then after washing.

For more relaxed medium styles add my current favorite, the Nuxe dry oil spray. Applied on damp hair, it will help the breeze reach your scalp by softening the hair.

For those of you with cropped cuts-

Keep it cool and simple, treat your wash and go cuts with a reliable styling mousse and gel for clumping hold that can stand up to the atmospheric moisture. I love the Oribe Curl Mousse and the Quidad Heat and Humidty Gel. You can use one or the other or layer both. If using both on extra dense hair, apply the mousse before the gel. These work great on both fine and thick textures, apply to very wet hair and rake through with the Denman brush for extra structure.

Links can be found here….

https://www.sabinayannone.com/amazon-affiliate-links

July 2023

Some hot hair summer tips:

-Use a silk scrunchie or claw clips to hold off your neck.

-Never jump in the water with an elastic in your hair.

-Mist hair with leave-in or sunscreen (Sun Bum makes a nice 3 in 1) before a pool.

-Always rinse pool or ocean water out of the hair (especially if you color it!).

-Only use natural body products (or none) if swimming in natural habitat.

-Keep the nape of your hair in order! No neglect dreads, that’s the length!

Hope these tips help you enjoy your summer fun without compromising your hair :)

March 2023 - Spring Rituals

So let us reframe what growing our hair means. It’s retaining the length that matters, and maintaining hairs’ integrity and strength with attentive care. Until we support our ends, it doesn’t matter how much hair grows from your scalp. If strands are breaking off at the end, you will merely break even with your grow out. SO without anymore introduction here is….

~ LENGTH RETENTION~

These are general rules I follow in my own seeking of healthy long hair:

*handle with care & detangle regularly

* trim split ends religiously

*feed.

Handle with care & detangling:

Always touch your hair gently with love. If you come upon a snare trap in there, the first urge is to use force to remove it but please don’t. Hair has natural elasticity, and like elastic on your favorite clothes you wouldn’t stretch it out to the max with all your force because that would ruin it. So instead, start at the bottom of the tangle and carefully separate the tangle by hand by loosening it sideways, like how you would loosen a braid. Finger comb downward removing each loop. Once the largest sections have been separated, use a natural bristle brush, (like the Bass wave brush previously mentioned or similar) to gently stroke the rest of the hair into alignment. If you are doing this as part of an hours long personal care ceremony then I would say move on to the next step once hair is a brushed out fire hazard. If you’re just doing this as part of regular maintenance then mist the brushed section with water (rice water optional) and pull some cream or (flax is best) gel over it to reform the section. The hair will air dry and recover a curl in no time.

Trim split ends:

With some sharp scissors, (no paper cutting scissors!! dull shears fray the ends as soon as they cut them) Get some little hair cutting shears at a reputable drug or craft store. Combing gently or just going by hand sit outside in indirect light and hunt down those split ends. Cut just above it, not even by a half milimeter. Continue until you get bored or are called for by another task. Depending on your hair coarseness this could become your new unending hobby.

Feed:

So let’s say you’ve done the two previous steps. Lately I have been using my flax seed gel as a leave in treatment. People do this with aloe too. Since the majority of you are in California, you could probably step outside with a large blade and ethically source a nice big hunk of aloe. I have also purchased big gorgeous leaves/ Stalks (?) of it at grocery stores such as Super A Foods in Glassell Park. As a base I spray my hair all over with rice water, this helps me distribute the gel more evenly. Since my hair is quite a bit longer now, I will use my Sheila Stotts detangle brush (see previous newsletter with all the brush info) to continue the process of detangling and coating the hair with rich gelatinous nutrition. After all hair is damp and sorted I will braid or bun it and carry on.

Washing the hair afterwards can happen as soon as 20 minutes later or the next day. All of these steps are meant as an ongoing cycle of care, not necessarily as a giant marathon where the rest of the world falls away.

Before washing if you really want to go there, you can rewash if you need and apply No. 3 of Olaplex. Follow the directions on the bottle and let that sit an additional 20 mins. When you shampoo and condition you can additionally do an in-shower conditioning treatment.

Once you leave the shower treated, wet, and detangled, it’s time for aftercare/ samsara. Apply a good amount (… maybe even more than you think is good) of oil to the ends. Because I like the smell and blend I have been going nuts with the Warm Feelings scent of Everyday Oil. I put this mostly in the bottom few inches of my wet hair. I find once it is dry it really helps the ends keep integrity and definition as the curls come unclumped. Many people have been commenting on the length of my hair since using oil wet on the ends. After oil, apply a leave-in conditioner to hair starting a few inches from the scalp and all the way over the oiled ends. I will follow this with a light gel and then use my Denman to form nice big clumps. A thorough yet gentle, upside down t-shirt or microfiber scrunch, partial air drying, and then diffuse will help solidify your curl sculpture. Once its 90 % dry you can begin to separate the curl clumps by hand gently and finish drying. You should get some compliments after this. If you don’t then lets’ definitely set up an appointment. Hope to see you all soon.

Best Washes,

Sabina

December 2022

A note on diffusing curls. Walking around with drippy wet curls is uncomfortable and makes me feel naked. Therefore, especially in winter (though wet curls can be so hot in summer!) its important to have options. If you have dense chunky curls and like a looser look/ NEED to get A LOT of wet hair dry FAST… Then I would say the Dyson may be worth it for you.

For finer curls the Dyson can sometimes be a bit too powerful and can create unwanted loose and fuzzy pieces. In the case of you having this issue I would recommend finding something boasting “negative ion,” “tourmaline,” “ceramic,” type qualities. Also be on the look out for the power of the engine, a cold button, and multiple heat a speed settings. 

I suppose a good way to see if your a Dyson candidate is this, how do you feel after drying your hair with the car windows down? Are the curls good still? Then you can probably handle the Dyson. 

Importantly! Make sure the dryer comes with a hard bodied diffuser, or at least one is available for it. They make some that are spring adjustable. The fabric diffusers, while good for travel are less ideal.

I hope these dryer notes can help guide you into better curls in 2023

August 2022

For seasonal late summer hair health I think it is wise to attend to issues regarding heat and dryness. My ends have been feeling as crisp as the beige grass outside. I am continuing to gently detangle the nape and underside with my Bass brush (previously recommended in former newsletter) and I snip my dead ends one at a time off with tiny sharp scissors as I see them. In addition to this gentle maintenance I will recommend a home made natural treatment, recipe below. Thank you all again for your continued support and I hope to see you soon! Best ~ Sabina

1 Egg

1 Tbsp honey

1 Tbsp olive or coconut oil

1 Tbsp plain yogurt

Combine All ingredients by gently whisking, allow mixture to come to room temperature. Apply all over dry hair focusing on middle shaft and ends. Cover with a shower cap or dampened tea towel to hold moisture. Gently warm the covered hair with a diffuser then allow to cool. Leave applied for 15-20 mins. Take care to not use too hot of water to rinse out the treatment as it can solidify the egg whites. Shampoo and conditioner as usual. Let me know if you try it and how your hair feels after

July 2022

Some Notes on Brushes

The forbidden tool of curly hair

Curly or wavy, in some cases of course you don’t want to use a brush. But zero brushing is not a hard rule. No one should be afraid to handle their own hair, with some guidance we can all be the ruler of our own texture. I have a few brushes I like to recommend for my clients and below I will include them as well as my reasons why.

Sheila Stotts Removal Brush: This brush is the best for wet brushing and detangling. The metallic bristles may look a bit harsh but the rubber padding prevents them from digging in too far. Always* start detangling at the ends of the hair. This brush can be used to detangle in or out of the shower on wet or towel dried hair. It’s great for brushing a treatment through and the handle keeps it in your hand instead of ricocheting around the shower. Here it is in all of its glory: https://sheilastotts.com/products/sheila-stotts-untangle-brush

Bass Wave Brush: I love this brush for gentle dry detangling. focusing mostly on the nape of the hair and underside has some advantages. Firstly if health and growing longer hair are your main concerns this will help. The nape is the area most keen to tangle, keeping it brushed morning and night can help manage the breakage threatening snarls that form from, bag straps, seatbelts, shirt collars, necklaces, and tossing and turning at night. The nape is the lowest part of the hairline, growth of the length is always first noticed here, keep it healthy and you can keep it long. Another situation where keeping the nape and underside brushed is beneficial would be if you’re hair is fine or see-through, brushing can create more of a solid and thickened appearance, once brushed run a bit of leave- in conditioner through to restructure it a little. The exact one is here (for visual reference) but is out of stock: bass wave brush - Google Shopping I see these at Sprouts regularly though so check their beauty section if you can. If not a similar one is for sale here: https://baysidebrushco.com/products/bass-brushes-bs04

Another strength of the bass brush is it can be used to shape, stretch, or smooth individual curls once they are dry, run the brush through and isolated curl and follow up with a leave in conditioner or gel to soften or tidy the curls appearance. Brush two curls together for more of a barrel curl. Curls and waves can also be smoothed by this brush. If necessary, follow with a spritz of water or leave in conditioner to redefine some of the wave.

Denman 7 Row: Ok this is the brush that was in my moms bathroom my entire childhood. She has straight hair so I never associated it with curls. Until recently, social media started showing different versions of Denman Curl ribboning technique, one where you simply rake the curls and the other where you twist the brush out of a curl. Both methods are very quick compared to hand forming curls, and the air dry lasts. Perform this on wet, nearly dripping hair with ample amounts of your favorite product distributed through out. Been going for it with a combo of leave in conditioner and gel. The large clumps of curls have really been doing it for me lately and standing up to the apocalypse weather.

June 2022

Here are some notes on washing hair. This may not apply to everyone but if it sounds like it could be you, please give this a try.

It recently came to my attention that some of my longer term clients may be washing based on past information that I confirmed as good many many years ago. I constantly experiment with products, technique, and washing orders and styles. I used to tell people with extra thick curly hair it was alright to leave a little conditioner in the hair after the final rinse. I wouldn’t necessarily agree with this a decade later.

On occasion hair that’s acting extremely dry, frizzy, and shapeless, could actually be plateauing on the deep conditioning routine you’ve been repeating too many times in a row. Textured hair especially gets bored fast, curls like to be thrown curve balls. You know when you’re staying in a hotel and forget your shampoo so you cross your fingers and use whatever? And then it ends up being the best hair day ever? This isn’t necessarily because it’s the best shampoo ever, it’s just because it’s new to your hair. It could be stripping or clarifying all of the overly hydrating products.

Hotel shampoos are rarely sans sulfates. Curlies have been throughly scolded away from the harsh detergent sodium laurel sulphate. But sometime, you just need to really really clean that hair and scalp, so I say, grab that drugstore suave (or better yet Christophe Robin Cleansing volumizing paste with pure rassoul clay and rose extracts, my favorite sulfate-y clarifier) and do a double wash. Follow up with plenty of conditioner, applied only from the mid shaft down, about ear level, and rinse entirely. I repeat this process about once a month on my 3B curls.

Happy Humecting