College and Natural Hair

Hopefully, I'll be going off to college soon *fingers crossed* and I plan to cut off all the relaxed ends by then and so far I've proven to be absolutely inept when it comes to doing my own hair. So I was wondering are there are any easy/relatively easy styles that can be done in a short time, with a low budget and almost no skill level?

Also, totally random question, but I heard that people with relaxed hair can't get lice because of all the chemicals. Do any of you know if there's any truth in that?

i have seen relaxed heads get lice. maybe the initial relaxer application will kill the lice (because a relaxer has a caustic base that is sooo strong that can melt an aluminium can). natural and relaxed heads can get lice as long as the lice can have access to the scalp where it can feed on the blood: http://www.cdc.gov/lice/

Well I am a junior in college, however this is my second semester away from home. I know how you feel I did my BC over Christmas break.

The best CHEAP products for me have been
Herbal Essences Hello Hydration (HE-HH),
& Herbal Essences Totally Twisted (HE-TT)
a lot of people talk about VO5 condish are good but I havent tried it. I know the shampoo was horrible when I had relaxed hair.
I love Extra Virgin Olive Oil (EVOO) and you can buy that a big bottle at Walmart for cheap.
I really think Aubrey Honeysuckle Rose [AOHSR] is a must have -ava. @ Vitamin Shopee, Drugstore.com, & whole foods market.
The Cantu Shea Butter Leave-in is awesome styler and leave-in for me. This stuff is fairly inexpensive and you can pick and choose. My hair is toooo short do much styling so I just use gel to define curls.

FOR AWESOME PRODUCT REVIEWS: http://www.naturallycurly.com/brands/index

Hi and thanks for your responses. I've been meaning to buy some Herbal Essences but I'm currently using other shampoos for my extremely itchy scalp.
Thanks again for the list!

By the way, I was wondering if you know of anything to soften dangerously thick hair because I was putting in chiney bumps/bantu knots last night and my hair sounded like velcro. Would the previously mentioned conditioners work just as well for softening my hair?

her.naturalallure wrote:Well I am a junior in college, however this is my second semester away from home. I know how you feel I did my BC over Christmas break.

The best CHEAP products for me have been
Herbal Essences Hello Hydration (HE-HH),
& Herbal Essences Totally Twisted (HE-TT)
a lot of people talk about VO5 condish are good but I havent tried it. I know the shampoo was horrible when I had relaxed hair.
I love Extra Virgin Olive Oil (EVOO) and you can buy that a big bottle at Walmart for cheap.
I really think Aubrey Honeysuckle Rose [AOHSR] is a must have -ava. @ Vitamin Shopee, Drugstore.com, & whole foods market.
The Cantu Shea Butter Leave-in is awesome styler and leave-in for me. This stuff is fairly inexpensive and you can pick and choose. My hair is toooo short do much styling so I just use gel to define curls.

FOR AWESOME PRODUCT REVIEWS: http://www.naturallycurly.com/brands/index

Hello :O )

I'm a 4th year in college, &&& i agree with all of the above conditioners. I would also add Suave Naturals and Aussie Moist as other affordable (cheap, lol) conditioners. By the way, I LOVE the V05 Conditioners !!! What has really helped me with softening my hair is not using (or at least limiting) the use of shampoos and finding other ways to cleanse my hair, instead (shampoos can strip the hair, and I found this to be too drying). I only use conditioners to co-wash and also use regular conditioners as my "leave-ins." I learned the most about this from watching MahoganyCurls' videos on youtube:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EgNDXVy_P7w

hope this helps~

Hey AdriEm!!!!!

I'm in college too (last year), and since I've been in school, I've taken advantage of the south's warm weather (I'm in NC) and made use of the WnG tremendously. All it takes is a good cowash and a styler to get your curls to pop! It's truly been my lifesaver in the spring/summer....

We don't have much of a winter, but when it does get cold I make use of twists. I would make small, individual twists on, say, sunday and wear them in one big french braid during the week. Then about Thursday, I'd take down the twists and wear a twist out until Sunday, when I'd start the process over...

I received lots of length this way, but more importantly, my hair was strong and healthy!

Hi again everybody and thanks for all the ideas. One thing though, is that I have this annoyingly itchy scalp; I mean at any one time I'll end up tearing off some of my hair because I jsut can't stop scratching it and the shampoo and hair oil aren't really helping.
Someone at school suggested I do a hot-oil treatment. Do any of oyu know if this will work for it or at least lessen the scratching?

When I have an itchy scalp, I add a little tea tree oil to my oil mixture and apply it to my scalp. Usually works really well for me.

Do you know if castor oil could work just as well instead of tea tree oil?

Tia posted that castor oil had antifungal properties so I think you could give it a try.

I first want to commend all of you for furthering your education. I wish you much success and stay focused on your goals.

@AdriEm: you can add tea tree oil to your castor oil. Do not apply it directly because you're scalp will feel like it's burning. My sister learned the hard way. Whenever you use EOs mix them with a carrier oils like castor, EVOO, EVCO, almond, or jojoba oils. I suffer from an itchy scalp so when I shampoo, I dilute my shampoo with water and use a spray bottle to concentrate on my scalp. These type of shampoos contain drying ingredients such as SLS or ALS and should be followed with a moisturizing conditioner.

BTW VO5 conditioners are the cheapest conditioners I've seen in both RITE AID and CVS. ($.99)

@HAMPTONSFNST: I think i recall that burning you're talking about, except mine was on a mosquito bite so that's something to take into consideration. I have some VO 5 shampoo but it looks a bit....'milky' so I'm not too sure I trust it.

Also I'm a little iffy about beginning to use castor oil because it also thickens hair immensely and I'm just barely getting by with the shrub i have now, but thanks everyone for your advice!

yeah college is the perfect time to go natural so many new experiences and it is definitely easier if you go to college in a small town. You can use all the above mentioned conditioners. and also if you are going to use pure tea tree oil because some say it may cause irritation the same goes for castor oil. But shampoos and condish with tea tree oil should be very helpful. It also helps to use a sulfate free shampoo. I think whatever was in that is what irritated my scalp.

Aw, thanks again for the response. I plan/hope to go to school in Pennsylvania. The only thing I'm really worried about is the weather because over, it's hot but there'll still be some moisture in the air. I'm just wondering if my hair will just snap off in the dry, cold weather around the later months. I'm also having some problems retaining moisture, Should I drink more water, more oil because I feel like I might be using too much....

definitely eat healthier and drink lots of water all year round really because your hair and body will benefit. and going to college it is hard to live a healthy lifestyle when you have to stay up late and naturally you would be hungry and the vending machine snicker's will be calling your name.
But hot oil treatments and deep conditioning at least once a week will be helpful in the winter cold. Also buy a large bottle of olive oil. It is a medium oil in terms of thickness to seal the moisture into your hair.

Lol Snicker's bar calling my name.
But I am happy to report that my hair has stopped making velcro noises or not as much as it used to anyways so i'ts definitely gotten softer.

Apple Cider Vinegar for the itchy scalp. This works wonders for me, and it add shine and gets rid of build-up. I put ACV and watch in a spray bottle and just spray my scalp after I shampoo and then rinse. I've found that with a itchy scalp you have to keep your scalp clean, and co-washing just doesn't do that for me. It's also cheap, since you are mixing it with water. I'm a college student too, so I've been saving every penny I can. I would recommend Dr. Bronner's Peppermint soap, it's cheap for the size of the bottle and it last a long time. The tingling also soothes my scalp.

Ah, I should probably invest in a spray bottle before going off. I'm going to try adding some peppermint to my hair oil and see how that works out.

Thanks for you response. I'd heard about the hustle before, when I was still relaxing my hair, wondering how I'd keep it up in college. I'll probably just check in with the International Student group for some skilled Caribbean braiders.

Another thing, not entirely hair-related: How do I get past this 'nobody but me likes my hair or the idea of me cutting it' funk? Because I think about it sometimes when I'm getting odd looks from a knot-out or when I say how badly i want to cut my hair and just feel a bit.....down. So how can I get past that? I'm trying but, I can only handle so much.

hi everyone! I'm a second semester freshman up in Buffalo (ugh i'm SICK of snow!!!) and I was wondering if anyone had any tips on how to maintain kinky twists, mainly how to prevent the "sandy, unkempt" look near the scalp...I can't wash them with water, so I've been using a "dry"-poo, called Herbal Cleanse from Organic Root Stimulator. But that doesn't seem to stop the annoying but mild itching....any advice is GREATLY appreciated! [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]
also@AdriEm: that "nobody but me likes my hair" thing is all too familiar to me too...I had a recent conversation with my aunt about this (my biggest cheerleader! 20 yrs w.out relaxing!!!), and she told me that you wear your hair the way you do because YOU like it...at the end of the day, YOU'RE the one who can either look in the mirror and say "I love what God gave me" or else you can avoid the mirror altogether, and be blind to your beauty. and I bet you the ones giving you odd looks are the Caucasians who haven't seen anything like natural hair, or black women who really want to do the BC, but are afraid of the transitioning stage. if you're confident in yourself and your hair, maybe they will be encouraged and take that first step towards healthy hair!