oh where? oh where?

I know I haven't blogged in a while and it's been on my mind. I've been really busy this past week and will be till the weekend. I'm looking forward to getting some down time this weekend and updating you's on what's been going on; Needless to say I don't think my twists will be making week 3 but we'll see. By the way if anyone's in London this Friday you HAVE to come to Pentecost. I am super excited about attending and I can assure you it's going to be AMAZING!!!!!!!!!!

Btw Can I just say that I think K'naan is pretty cool. (just said it....lol)

Nwys Take Care,
xoxo
Miss Jay

Style Series 5 - the 'mini' twist

5th of May, 2012

So I don't know what possessed me to do this at 11:30pm last night, but I had just washed my hair and there and then decided that I was going to put in some mini-twists.

I started twisting the 1st of 4 'big' sections at like 11:30ish and didn't go to bed till like 2am.
I then woke up at 9am or so and continued the rest. It took me watching (and crying to) the second half of 'Precious' and 'The Sisterhood of the traveling pants 1&2' to finish my whole head.... sigh, now I really wanna go to Greece.

Anywayz, I plan on keeping them in for 3-4 weeks and boy am I looking forward to taking a break from styling my hair.

Below are the Steps, tools/ingredients I used as well as some pics. Enjoy!!!

PRODUCTS (L to R): T44Z(scalp & hairline), shea butter, jojoba oil, water, detangling comb

Step 1: As my hair was already in 4 sections from the wash, I decided to take down one section and  make about 6  vertical parts from my midline to my ear.

Step 2: I twisted each mini section loosely and then started mini-twisting section by section. 

the mini sections from the vertical parts

Step 3: I did about 4 sets of twist for each mini section. (As my hair density is quite low, you may need more mini-sections or twists per section). For each mini twist, I'd first of all spritz my hair with water then apply some shea butter to that section before sealing with jojoba oil.

Step 4: I'd then detangle the section starting from root to tip using a medium sized comb, before twisting. (I find it's easier to detangle if you got a good amount of oil on each section). 

Step 5: After completing one of the 4 big sections, I'd move to the next and the next, until I was done twisting my whole head of hair.

the 2 front sections

section 3 complete, about to start section 4

A close up view of the roots (which ideally should be a bit tighter)

another view

the back view

side view

I tried twisting and pinning the front section.

The remaining pics are of the finished style...they look more like midi twists to me now that I look at them...ah wells, enjoy!!!

getting my 'bob marley' on ;)

ok, so I noticed my mirror was a bit TOO 'cloudy'

And that's all for now folks.

xoxo
Miss Jay

Derm corner- How hair gets its color

So the last time we stopped at how the actual hair strand is produced from the  matrix and travels up the hair follicle until it reaches the scalp where it becomes visible to the naked eye.

Today we are gonna talk about how and why we get different hair colors.

I'm sure you all have heard of the word melanin. It is the pigment that gives skin and hair its natural color. Those with darker skin have higher amounts of melanin than those with fairer skin. This pigmentary substance, melanin, is produced by cells called melanocytes which are located in the cells lining the hair matrix.

[These melanocytes are also found in the border between the epidermis and dermis (the basement membrane) where they produce melanin that gives skin its color.]

Ok, so back to hair- The melanocytes in the hair matrix  are responsible for laying down pigment onto the newly formed hairs. So if you can imagine, as the matrix is producing a colorless hair strand, the melanocytes there quickly slash some melanin onto the hair strand to give it some color.

Now there are 2 types of melanin, and this is what makes ALL the difference:
1. EUmelanin- which is responsible for brown and black hair, and
2. PHAEOmelanin- for red, auburn and blond hair.

Grey and white hair is caused by low melanin production which is mostly due to aging.



GEEK ALERT!!!!

Interestingly, africans, indians and caucasians actually have the same number of melanocytes on their basement membranes. The difference lies in how the melanin is produced. 

Now in actual fact these melanocytes don't just spit out the pigment like a blob of paint. We are human beings and so things are a bit more complex and organized. The melanin is usually contained in little packets called melanosomes and its these melanosomes that are 'secreted' from the melanocytes into neighboring 'normal' cells (keratinocytes) which travel up the epidermis and are eventually shed after we've caused them too much wear and tear with our designer clothes and body creams .

In caucasians, the melanosomes are lumped together forming this big blob and as they are transferred to these keratinocytes which travel upwards, the melanosomes break down hence containing less color by the time they reach the surface.

In darker skinned individuals, the melanosomes are not lumped into one big blob but are individual and larger, and so they travel up the epidermis without being broken down. Pretty cool, huh?

Now this is even cooler; melanosomes within keratinocytes of Asian skin are distributed as a combination of individual and clustered melanosomes with a proportion of 62.6% vs. 37.4%, respectively. This contrasts with dark and light skin keratinocytes where melanosomes are predominantly individual (88.9%) and clustered (84.5%), respectively [Br J Dermatol. 2003 Sep;149(3):498-505]

I'm so tempted to carry on with this topic, as I came across some pretty cool research whilst writing this post. To find out why albinos look the way they do and their melanosome distribution click here

I also found an article that discussed briefly why some australian aborigines, like this kid have blond hair.

That's all for now folks. Hope y'all learnt something new; I definitely did :)

xoxo
Miss Jay

Food for thought

22nd of April, 2012.

I've had a bit of a lazy morning browsing and watching YT videos. When you've been natural for a while you sometimes feel like you've seen it all as you've probably watched or read several versions of the same story.

This was one video I clearly hadn't watched. It really made me think long and hard about the value we place on hair.

I often say it's just hair but when I look at the effect it has on young girls and the teasing they go through in school and how it affects their self esteem; I sometimes beg to differ.

When I read about slavery and how the slaves were dehumanized and had all sorts of nasty things said to them about their appearance so much so that the first black millionaire was the lady who invented the relaxer to help straighten the kinks that made us, a color in God's artistic palate, unique, all I see is the  uncovering of the shame and low self esteem of the black women.

When I look at our society and notice how we copy anything western from our music, to the way we dress, speak and style our hair and how this reforms the standard of how we look at ourselves, so much so that we judge one another and give credit on how westernized one is, it really makes me think.

We see women bleaching their skin because they believe white is right;  we see our hair as something that needs to be fixed and so we relax it so much that its fried, dyed and laid to the side. When I see our parents, friends, co-workers and onlookers in the salon spew out very derogatory remarks about natural hair or its preconceived stereotypes as to how it will affect our professional and personal lives it makes me wonder.

And so we natural sisters go around preaching this gospel of self acceptance and trying to open peoples eyes to the lies they have been told about their kind; to reclaim our beauty that has been washed with the 'eurocentric' standard. We sometimes feel we are swimming against the tide, and in an effort to stay afloat we become defensive about our cause. 

But do we take it too far? Does it ever get to a point where we unintentionally start to look down at people who are relaxed; seeing ourselves as a wiser chosen few?

If one of ours relaxes their natural hair, do we attack them or feel sorry for them? Does it make us treat or think about them differently despite the fact that if doesn't change them from being the amazing artist, singer, writer, lawyer that they are? Isn't it just hair??

We need to find a balance; where we can be a source of encouragement and help those who are struggling with self acceptance as well as show love and acceptance to our brothers and sisters, whatever their preferences. Let me know what you think.

Peace and Love,

Miss Jay

Derm corner- How it all began

I don't know about you but I love knowing the genesis of every story. It makes life so much easier knowing how things started because it helps to understand why things work the way they do. In high school I loved biology of all the sciences simply because it made sense. You could often see the cells your teacher spoke about using a microscope in sharp contrast to physics where you could only imagine these electrons, positrons and what not (and that's even if they really existed).

Today we are going to discuss how the hair we see on our skin came about. So sit back and tantalize your brain cells :)

I think it's fair to state before I start that our skin is made up of two layers, the epidermis and the dermis.

*   *   *

As a fetus in your mother's womb you were hairless...like completely bald all over. Your skin was plain and smooth with no tiny black dots on it. Weird huh? Well I have good news. All that changed when you hit 9 weeks of age....9 weeks??....Yes, 9 weeks. I'm gonna get a lil detailed here so hang on.

A cylinder of cells from the surface of your skin grows obliquely downwards from the epidermis into the dermis...kind of like a badger burrowing into the soil. This hollow path created through the thickness of your skin is the famed hair follicle.

                                     

Upon getting to the dermis, the follicle is met by another cluster of cells, the placode,  which bulge into the lower part of the hair follicle forming the papilla (the pink stuff). The roof of the papilla and the adjacent concave part of the hair follicle is called the hair matrix.

This papilla would eventually contain blood vessels which bring nutrients to the hair matrix. Since the matrix receives all the goodies that is where mitosis (the rapid division of cells) takes place to form the hair shaft/strand/fibre....whatever you want to call it.

the 'real' deal :)

So basically, the hair you see on your head is as a result of hair fibres, formed by the matrix, being pushed up through the pathway called the follicle.

MYTH BUSTER: So if there is any myth we can debunk with knowing this fact, it is that shaving does NOT make your hair grow faster because all you're doing is just cutting the ends of the hair shaft. It does not affect the matrix in any way and as we have seen, hair growth starts from the matrix in the dermis and not just merely the scalp.

I hope y'all enjoyed the 'pilot'.

Take care and keep watching this space.

Xoxo
Miss Jay