Innovative Beauty: HairMax LaserComb

For the first time in over twenty years, a new home-use treatment for female hair loss is available. Lexington Intl, LLC, is excited to announce they have received historic and groundbreaking FDA Clearance for marketing for the HairMax LaserComb® Lux 9 to treat female hair loss and promote hair growth. Included as a key part of the submission was a multi-center clinical study proving the efficacy and safety of the HairMax.

“Hair loss amongst women is a growing concern”, says Dr. Matt Leavitt, Medical Advisor to Lexington. “In the past, women had only one FDA Approved drug ingredient to treat their hair loss. Now they have a clinically proven viable alternative. Upon review of Lexington’s extensive clinical studies on female hair loss, the FDA has granted Clearance to this exciting new treatment option. I believe the HairMax will be able to offer help to the millions of women suffering from hair loss.”

The last hair loss treatment for women to be approved by the FDA was minoxidil, which came to market for females in 1988. The HairMax is now the first non-drug, home-use OTC medical device cleared to treat the estimated 80 million men and women suffering from hereditary hair loss.

Hair Care Regimen for Swimmers

Since the summer is here and I've been getting tons of emails asking me about swimming and hair care I figured I should give you guys a sample hair care regimen for swimmers. Here is something you might not know about me, I was a swimmer as a child for my town, in high school and I did a short stint as a diver in college. The one thing that always boggled my mind about swimming was not my hair, instead it was why the swim season is in the winter! I digress, anyway, back to hair care and swimming.

Whether your hair is relaxed or natural the most important thing about swimming and taking care of your hair is you must get the chlorine or salt water out of your hair. All this jazz about pre-rinsing or putting conditioner on your hair before you swim is fine if that's what you want to do, but the bottom line is that your hair will get wet and chlorine will get in there so make sure you get it out! With that being said, you do not need to shampoo it out. A nice co-wash or plain old water rinse will get it out, I just prefer (by 100x) to co-wash.

What I use to co-wash: VO5 Moisture Milk Conditioner

During the summer when I'm swimming a lot, I do not change up the number of times I wash my hair with shampoo. I stick to washing my hair once a week with shampoo. Usually, I try to use a shampoo without SLS or I just use my Shikakai Shampoo Bar. My rule is that I do not shampoo my hair more than once a week, even if I'm not swimming and it's just hot and I feel like my scalp needs refreshing before the 1 week mark, I just co-wash.

Since I tend to live in the pool when it's hot, I like to step up my conditioning regimen. Instead of deep conditioning just once a week, I try my hardest to deep condition twice a week. Plus, whenever I swim if I co-wash I treat that as my shampoo, meaning I use a separate conditioner after I co-wash. My choice is almost always an "instant" conditioner, instead of a deep treatment type of conditioner. I only use a deep treatment conditioner twice a week.

Styling is the biggest issue I face. For the most part I just put a little extra conditioner on my ends and then put my hair into a low bun, especially if I know I'll be swimming the very next day. If not, I might do something relatively easy that requires no heat like two strand twists. I stay away from heat styling because there really is no point for me, why bother with that when we all know too much heat causes damage? The easiest thing to do is air dry, if you have issues with air drying click that link and read my tips for air drying.

Do you have more tips? Leave them in the comments section.

Tips for Air Drying

Now that the weather is finally nice, I can start air drying my hair more often. I personally, love to air dry during the summer months because it's easy and gives my hair a break from heat. I've been getting a lot of emails requesting tips on how to air dry their hair so here we go.

Air Drying Dilemma: Do I have to use a product? If so, which one?

The biggest mistake when trying to wash, condition, and then just try to air dry. You need to apply some type of leave-in conditioner whether it's a spray or a cream or an oil, do not try to air dry your hair 'naked'. In fact, sometimes I use all three first a spray to help detangle if any tangles are left after rinsing out the conditioner. Then I use a little bit of a cream moisturizer mainly to the ends and finally I seal that with the oil and proceed to air dry.

Air Drying Dilemma: Air dry up or out and loose?

This is really up to you and how you want your hair to look and what you are going to be doing while you air dry. You can do some two strand twists, bantu knots, one big bun, or just leave it alone. This is really based on preference, but one thing I always do is apply some type of gel to my edges (all the way around my head, not just the front) and then tie a scarf on like a headband to hold it down. Unfortunately, I don't have those edges that just lay like fine little baby hairs so I have to control that.

Air Drying Dilemma: I air dried, now what?

After air drying my hair is so big and full that I love creating cool looking low buns or down 'dos. I twist it, make little braids, and just try different things when creating a unique looking 'do. Please note, if your hair feels dry moisturize it! Don't worry that you've already used products, dry hair is never a good look.

AHS TV: The Science of Black Hair

New video alert! I've uploaded a brand new video to youtube talking about about Sister Slick aka Mizz Slick bka Audrey Davis-Sivasothy's brand new book, The Science of Black Hair: A Comprehensive Guide to Textured Hair Care. Watch the video review, then get your copy!

Shiny Soft Hair thanks to Serums

If your current hair care regimen does not include a serum of some sorts, I suggest you find one you love ASAP! Why? Because serums can do so many things to help our your 'do, from adding shine, moisture, providing heat protection, UV protection, help strength, and much more. Here are some new serums that have caught my eye and are worth checking out.

Sedu has a brand new product out featuring the ever so popular ingredient, Argan Oil. If you haven't heard about the amazing benefits of Argan oil you must be living under a beauty rock. Anyway, Sedu's new product is a serum, the Anti-Frizz Polishing Treatment that helps get your hair smoother and shinier, while protecting it from heat damage. Sedu is one of the leading heat tool brands, so that part only makes sense, why create a product that doesn't protect from heat? Anyway, I received a sample and I must say I really like it. It's lightweight, a little goes a long way, and it's alcohol free so it won't dry out your hair. Get it at Folica.com

Cantu Shea Butter Super Shine Hair Silk is another great option because it not only provides tons of shine, it is also rich in proteins that help strengthen and prevent breakage. Like most great serums, this one is lightweight and won't weigh down your blow out. Plus, it can be used as treatment just like you would do a hot oil treatment. Not to mention this one smells amazing!

Can Ceramides Help You?

The online hair care realm has been buzzing about Ceramides and how they are transforming damaged broken hair into healthy hair. I've been MIA a little bit, especially on the forums so I really didn't get sucked into all the hype, but the more I read about new products coming out the more I see Ceramides on the labels. It seems like the mainstream hair care industry is just now catching up with the Dominican products, since just about all the Dominican hair care products I own contain Ceramides.

Dominican Products with Ceramides:

Miss KEY 10 En 1 Super Conditioner (my favorite)

Silicon MIX Intensive Hair Deep Treatment

Salerm Wheat Germ Conditioning Treatment

Silicon Mix Proteina de Perla Leave-In

Silicon Mix Leave-in

Boe Crece Pelo Leave-In

Halka Baba de Caracol Hair Loss Treatment

Halka La Plancha Conditioner

Halka La Plancha Deep Heat Protector Leave-In
Nacidit Leave-In Conditioner

Salerm Energy Hair Regenerator Ampules

Alright, so what exactly are Ceramides? To be scientific, a ceramide is a group of lipid molecules. Hair needs this group of lipids (ceramides) to help hold together the cuticle of the hair. In healthy hair, ceramides hold together the cuticle of each individual strand of hair, to take that a step further, researchers at L'Oreal Hair-Science found that damaged hair lacks the ceramides. So without ceramides each individual strand of hair has gaps in the cuticle, rough (lifted up) cuticles and holes that make the hair vulnerable to damage and breakage.

On a Beauty Note:

Ceramides are not just beneficial for hair care, they also play a key role in keeping your skin healthy and moisturized. If you are suffering from eczema it's because your skin is lacking the ceramides you need, supplement with a ceramide containing lotion.

How to Treat a Relaxer Burn

I feel like since I posted on how to prevent relaxer burns, I should also post on how to treat a relaxer burn just in case some of my readers are still suffering from chemical burns caused by a relaxer. First of all, let me say your scalp can be burned by a lye or a no-lye relaxer, neither relaxer is exempt.

The first things first, I want to clear up a misconception. The tingly or burning feeling some people feel when they relax their hair is NOT a warning that it's time to get the relaxer out. At that point your scalp is probably already burned, your scalp should not burn or tingle when you relax your hair. If you are waiting to feel a little something, you are doing it all wrong! If your stylist waits until you report that you feel it tingling, get a new stylist!

Now let's get started on how to treat a mild* chemical burn caused by a relaxer. By mild I mean you find a scab on your scalp the next day or a few days after the relaxer process. If you know you have an open wound when you rinse the relaxer out, that's really bad and you should seek medical help. Get all the relaxer out of your head, cover the area with a sterile gauze and get to the hospital for further assessment. I mean that's all common sense and that's not the type of burn I'm talking about. MILD is when you didn't even know the burn occurred until you felt the scab.

1. Keep your hands off! Do not pick, scratch, or in any way try to remove the scab. Allow the scab to naturally heal and fall away.

2. Avoid combing, brushing, or massaging that area of your scalp until the scab has healed and fallen off on it's own. If you have to remove the hair that might be stuck to it, do it gently and honestly I wouldn't even do that.

3. Treat the scab. Treat your scab like you would any other scab, by applying antibacterial cream to the area. I would use Neosporin because it's clear and less detectable. Or you can use something more natural like a piece of Aloe Vera.

4. Prevent it from happening again. Use the tips and tricks I provided in this post to prevent relaxer burns in the first place and if you've tried it all and you still end up with burns maybe you body is trying to warn you. Some scalps just cannot tolerate relaxers and maybe you should just leave them alone and go natural!

*Please note this post is to provide general information, not medical advice. If you are in need of medical advice ask your doctor, do not turn to blogs for the information.