Answering Your Hair Care Questions

Since my very first video on historical hair care, I have been inundated with questions through email, DM, or YouTube comments, and believe it or not, many of these questions are the same questions. Here’s an example: I would love to try natural hair care, but my hair is straight and fine. Will this work for me? Or, I have tried washing my hair with rhassoul clay and using oils, and I am experiencing some problems. What do I do? Or, is henna safe to use in my hair - will it change my hair colour? These are just a couple of frequently asked questions I have been receiving since my very first video on historical hair care. I thought it would be fun to just chat and answer some of these top questions so these answers can go out publicly and hopefully benefit a lot of people. This will cover just a few top questions that I have selected, and I will probably make more of these FAQ videos in future if you guys like it. So let's jump into it!

What About Hair That Is Straight and Fine?

You can use the same routine, just adapt the way that you use oils. Only use oil once a week as a pre-wash treatment, possibly just on your scalp and ends. Use lighter oil like jojoba, or if you are using my herbal hair growth oil, use only a small amount. It’s potent, so a little goes a long way!

You may need to adapt the way you wash your hair. I have recently heard from someone who used clay in addition to a raw egg to wash her hair and this worked wonders to get all of the oil out of her fine hair. Just make sure you rinse it out with cool or lukewarm water! I’m not sure if she mixed the egg with the clay or did it separately, but I’m sure either would work. You could also use ACV as a rinse. Finally, you could use a very natural soap to cleanse your hair, or something like DIY African Black Soap shampoo, which I used for a time when my hair was very short, and loved it. But I would still recommend using the rhassoul clay as a rinse for it’s nourishing and strengthening benefits for the hair.

You could also up the concentration of the apple cider vinegar rinse.

Recipes for Clay Wash and Acv Rinse?

1/4 cup rhassoul clay to 2 cups liquid

2 cups water to 2-4 tbs raw ACV

Does Henna in the Oil Colour My Hair?

No, but always do a strand test. Cassia is a viable substitute.

Benefits of henna:

• Strengthens the hair and fills in gaps in the hair cuticle

• Is cooling on scalp, astringent, anti bacterial and contains vitamin E

For the herbal hair oil recipe I have been using for years that contains some henna or optionally cassia, watch that here.

What About Dealing With Sweat From Workouts?

Try to protect your hair from sweat by wearing a headband over your hairline. Water only rinse, use a boar bristle brush, and dry shampoo with corn starch, cocoa powder, and essential oils. Either use ACV hair spray or herbal hair spray which cleanse your hair and contain essential oils.

I have tried the rhassoul clay and ACV rinse and my hair feels (fill in the blank) - some way you don’t want it to feel. It could be a simple adjustment period. If your hair feels oily, maybe you used too much oil as a pre wash treatment. Less is more with oil, especially for fine hair. Your scalp could also be adjusting and still producing oil at a rate to keep up with whatever shampoo you were previously using.

If your hair feels like it has clay residue - maybe you used too much clay, maybe you have hard water, or maybe you didn’t rinse the clay out enough. Or maybe you need to use an ACV rinse, or if you did, up the concentration of the ACV rinse a little. The acidity will counteract the mineral content of the clay that may be remaining on your hair, as well as helping with hard water issues.

Finally, clay is a strengthener and so when you first use it sometimes your hair feels almost overly strengthened, which can mean it is a little more stiff and less malleable. This is temporary. For more information on rhassoul clay hair washes and how and why to use them, watch my first two hair care videos.

ACV Problems

If you use too much ACV in your rinse, your hair will feel dry and overly clarified. You don’t want that! A little goes a long way with ACV. The only time you may want to use more is if your hair feels oily even after a wash, or you are having trouble rinsing all of the clay out. For more info on ACV rinses, watch my first two hair care videos, here and here.

Boar Bristle Brushes and Curly or Thick Hair

Yes, you can use a BBB with curly and thick hair - you just need to adjust your expectations. A 100% BBB is not designed to reach all the way through the hair and detangle it - it is a styling, condiitoning, and dry cleansing tool that works best when used on small sections of hair and scalp at a time, and on hair that is already pre-detangled either with your fingers, or a wide tooth wooden comb.

For curly hair: yes, you can use a BBB, but it will brush out your curls to some degree. If done very minimally, this can give a nice vintage curl look to your hair. But if over-done, yes it will brush out your curls. If you enjoy wearing your curly hair loose most of the time, then you will want to restrict your use of the BBB to the end of your wash cycle ie. only use the brush the day before you are planning to wash. If like me you wear your curls loose on the first couple days after a wash and then wear it in protective styles the rest of the time, a BBB is a great tool. Of course, only use it once your curls have relaxed and stretched out somewhat, and you have all or almost all of the tangles out. For more information on BBB’s, watch my BBB video here: point.

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