Hair, The Struggle is Real. Part One. The Basics.

March 21, 2016March 21, 2016 ~ Gogogolosh ~ Leave a comment

“I am my hair.” I couldn’t agree more with this Lady Gaga lyric. Personally, my hair is my number one priority. The problem is that my hair has a personality of its own. No matter what I want it to do, it doesn’t do I want it to. If I want to curl my hair, it curls too much. If I want to wear it flat, it decides to be puff up. I’ve been at war with my hair for as long as I can remember.

This post has been in the works for a long time; there is just too much information to share, so we will have a Hair “series.” How much information could there possibly be on hair care you may ask? Surprisingly, a lot. In this series, I will be focusing on natural care vs commercial care. When I say natural care, I mean that I will share wonderful ways to keep your hair healthy with things you can find in your kitchen, garden or any grocery store. Commercial care refers to branded products, like Pantene, Serum, etc. This series of posts will cover the basics and first steps to obtaining healthier hair, naturally.

THE BASICS

There are several things we need to know about dealing with our hair to proceed. Porosity, type, dryness, water hardness, and what type of weather will be affecting it.

Porosity. Knowing your hair porosity is key to determining what ingredients work best for your mane. Lack of moisture causes frizz, dry and dull hair. It’s the outer layer of your hair, the hair cuticle that determines its ability to absorb and hold moisture. Not your hair texture. There are two ways of knowing your hair porosity.

One way is to get a clear glass of water and drop a strand of hair in the cup. You don’t have to pull a hair out of your head. A strand from one of your brushes will work. If the hair sinks right away you have high (raised) porosity, if it takes a long time its low (compact) porosity. Normal porosity is somewhere in the middle.

Carefully section off a very small group of strands of your hair. Next, take the group of strands between two fingers and begin to slide your fingers up toward the roots.The more ruffles your hair makes, the more porous your hair is. Low porosity hair will allow your fingers to slide up easily without out ruffling. High porosity hair will feel rough and ruffle all the way up.

Water hardness The simple definition of water hardness is the amount of dissolved calcium and magnesium in the water.

Hard water is high in dissolved minerals, both calcium and magnesium.

Soft water has fewer minerals. The mineral content comes from the type of rocks the water has been filtered through underground. It has nothing to do with water quality.

To find out what type of water you have, you can ask your water company, many have it on their websites. A different way is to take a jar or glass and half fill it with water and leave it for a few days. If there’s a white ring on the glass then the water is hard.

Once you have all the questions answered you can start understanding what your hair needs and how to care for it properly.

Simple things to change from your routine that can and will improve your hair healths:

*Switch your pillowcase to a Satin/Silk pillowcase. Why? This will control the frizz caused by moving around, rubbing your head on the pillowcase while you sleep. I took it a step further and bought some silk and made a head wrap that I wear every night, and every morning I wake up with really shiny hair.

*Protect your hair from sun, wind and humidity. If the sun is shining bright like a diamond or if it’s windy outside wear a hat or scarf. Make sure to cover your hair. Too much flowing around in the wind can tangle your hair and the excess sun is as damaging for your hair as it is on your skin.

*Avoid heat. Your hair can withstand a temperature of 450F before burning or becoming damaged. Simply using heat does not automatically mean that your hair is or will become damaged. In most cases, healthy hair will only experience heat damage with excessive use of heat or using heat appliances at temperatures of 450F or more. When your hair is damaged by heat, it’s permanently damaged.

*Avoid hot water. Warm water is ok. Test the water on the back of your hand, if it burns then it’s too hot for your hair. Really hot water strips your hair from it’s natural sebum, resulting in dry hair.

*Rinse with cold water. When you are done “washing” your hair, make sure the last rinse is with cold water, this will seal the pores on your hair, making your hair less prone to frizz and getting tangled.

*Avoid hair ties. Hair ties, depending on the material can cause more damage than you are aware off, from split ends to mayor breakage.

*Switch up your hair part. When first learned this I was shocked and at the same time it made sense. I had never changed my hair part. Once I did, I noticed the difference. One, by changing your hair part you will add more volume to your hair. It’s all right, go to the mirror and check. I’ll wait.

See, amazing! Another reason is that by changing your hair part you are giving your hair follicles a break. The more you wet your hair on the same part, the more the hair wears down in that area causing breakage. This can help of those suffering from alopecia. Alopecia is spotty baldness, sometimes associated with autoimmune diseases.

*Brush with fingers or switch to a boar bristle brush. Sebum is the oil that is produced by our skin in order to protect and moisturize our skin and hair. We want to let our natural sebum condition our hair as much as possible. Brushing with a boar bristle brush (bbb) moves the sebum down the hair shaft so that it can condition from root to tip. The best bbbs have a mixture of boar and nylon bristles. For thick hair mixed bristles are probably essential. Brushing your hair with your finger does the same effect as the boar bristle brush. Just make sure you are gentle and that you de-tangle starting at the ends and working your way up.

*Massage scalp. By massaging your scalp you are promoting circulation,therefore promoting sebum production and hair growth.

*Use coconut oil or olive oil instead of commercial sebum (anti-frizz drops). Do not use oil before heat styling your hair. Oil plus heat will burn your hair, cook it actually. Also, just a drop, depending on the length of your hair. Too much oil will give you the wet hair look. Oil is also hard to remove from hair.

*Avoid washing hair on rainy/humid days. Your hair porosity affects this, if you have high porosity I highly recommend you cover your hair completely when going outside, if it’s a humid day or a rainy day, any moisture in the humid air will cause it to slowly revert to its natural curly or wavy state and most likely frizz up. When the air is humid,high levels of hydrogen are present. When hydrogen bonds form between the proteins and water molecules in your hair, it will become curly and, potentially, frizzy.

*Avoid combing your hair when it’s wet. Your hair is at it’s most delicate state when it’s wet. Therefore, it is more prone to breakage.

Now here is where things start to take a dramatic change. The next step I took for wonderful hair was to quit chemicals. As in I don’t use commercial products on my hair. You have probably heard of it, they call it No poo. Some people say they quit shampoo and everyone judges and think that the person is either cray cray or nasty. But, it goes further than quitting shampoo, we didn’t quit shampoo, we quit commercial products drowning in chemicals. But, we are not getting into that in this post. That’s for another time. If you are impatient and want to learn more on NO poo, just ask your good ol’ friend Google. In the meantime you can shampoo (commercial) less, or co wash. Co-washing is when you “wash” your hair with conditioner only. Some people alternate between Commercial Shampoo and commercial conditioner. You can also go Low-poo, which is when you buy commercial products that are organic and that don’t contain any of the following ingredients:

No sulfates – Sulfates strip the hair, often resulting in damage. Avoid any ingredient that includes the word “Sulfate.” Methosulfates and other ingredients that start with “sulf” like sulfonates, and sulfosuccinates are ok.

No silicones – Silicones do nothing except conceal damage, they coat the hair making it shiny and smooth, but they do not provide any benefit beyond appearance. Avoid ingredients ending in -cone, -xane, -zane or –conol.

No parabens – Parabens are known endocrine disruptors and are possibly linked to an increased cancer risk. Avoid any ingredients ending in paraben, such as Methylparaben and other combination words.

There is a lot of information in this post. Please take your time to re-read and research what you might be confused about to ensure you do the right thing by your hair. I am not promising the end of bad hair days. But I assure you you will notice the difference and who knows maybe it will be the end of bad hair days for you. I warn you, it’s not easy and it takes time. It all depends on the amount of damage you have unintentionally done to your hair. I had to cut around 10 inches of mine to get rid of most of the permanent damage. I am still testing new things on my hair, I have not reached hair nirvana, but i feel like i’m getting pretty close to it. During winter you will be happier with your hair, this applies to everyone that lives in humid places. During the summer, at least in NYC it’s a bit of a bigger struggle because we have extremely humid summers. I traveled to Oregon at the end of summer last year, that’s the high desert, there i experienced hair nirvana, hahaha. Any who, going back to basics is not always a drag, in this case you won’t regret it. Just think of what beautiful hair indigenous people had/have and they didn’t have access to all the beauty products we have now. We have come far with technology and modern medicine, but we got there by studying the basics, by extracting nutrients from the basics. All i am suggesting is to go to the source of the nutrients, chances are you will have better results.

Here are my results so far, i’m still experimenting, and i couldn’t be happier. First picture is from Nov 2015 and the last two pictures are from two weeks ago. I started more than a year ago. This were the most appropriate pictures.

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Please visit our Pinterest “Hairy” board for list of oils, DIY hair masks and more. Don’t forget to come back and check for our next posts. You can also search for #getthegogos on social media for more information.

Research Links

hellogiggles.com/need-switching-hair-part-heres/http://www.letmeletyouknow.com/hair/hair-porosity/https://www.facebook.com/notes/no-poo-no-shampoo-low-poo-hair-care-group-forum/hair-porosity-high-low-and-everything-in-between/512239932275850https://www.facebook.com/notes/no-poo-no-shampoo-low-poo-hair-care-group-forum/hair-porosity-high-low-and-everything-in-between/512239932275850

I <3 Valentine's Day

February 11, 2016 ~ Gogogolosh ~ 1 Comment

Vanessa Diffenbaugh wrote The Language of Flowers. According to goodreads, it’s “A mesmerizing, moving, and elegantly written debut novel. The Language of Flowers beautifully weaves past and present, creating a vivid portrait of an unforgettable woman whose gift for flowers helps her change the lives of others even as she struggles to overcome her own troubled past.”

What’s even more interesting about the book is how the characters use flowers to express themselves. There is a whole world of communication out there that is wrapped in beautiful, colored petals. Here are some examples of the colors and flowers you may want to consider for a Valentine bouquet before you hit send.

Blue flowers, like iris, hydrangeas and hyacinths, calm your worries. They represent openness and serenity. They provide a cooling antidote to anxiety.

Pink flowers, for example, tulips, azaleas, begonias suggest gentility, happiness, youth, innocence and joy.

Purple petals suggest dignity, pride, success, accomplishment and admiration. Purple flowers include verbena, lavender, clematis and bellflower.

Red flowers, so often sent for Valentine’s Day, are of course roses, carnations, red anemone, gladiolus, and orchids. Red flowers signify desire, strength, passionate love, beauty, courage and heat.

White flowers connote innocence, humility, reverence, modesty and elegance. Examples include orchids, carnations, lilies, sedum, Sea Holly, and white bleeding hearts.

Yellow flowers say joy, light heartedness, friendship, new beginnings and happiness. Yellow flowers are daisies, dahlias, tulips, Lady Slipper orchids, roses, snapdragons and daffodils.

If you want to send flowers to someone who is grieving or to whom you are grateful and experience heartfelt sincerity, you might consider poppies, orange sparaxis, orange ranunculus, and Zinnias.

Green flowers like Bells of Ireland, seeded eucalyptus, dragon orchids, ornamental kale and sage will send a message of nature, health, resilience and good fortune. They also suggest optimism and renewal.

So this Valentine’s Day, when you send flowers to someone, you can send the message in the vase. No note needed. You may want to attach a copy of The Language of Flowers, or a meaning of flowers dictionary. That way, the lucky recipient can read the inscription and say, “I knew it was from you.”

Flowers are a wonderful way to communicate how you feel. And you can have a great time figuring out which ones to send to that special person in your life. There are beautiful and rich sites online to peruse to help you decide. The language of flowers site is useful to help you pick colors and meaning and also to see what Princess Kate Middleton chose for her wedding.

Foodie Up!

January 21, 2016January 21, 2016 ~ Gogogolosh ~ Leave a comment

Remember the time where you assumed everything “organic” was safe to eat? Yes, believe it or not, there was a time when you didn’t have to ask how the chickens were raised or what the cows were fed or which brand of pesticide was used on the crops. Everything was safe to eat. Organic didn’t mean it cost five extra dollars.

Remember too, when people raised their own livestock and grew their own food? Of course you don’t. But, after people stopped being self sufficient, they bought their food at a succession of stores. There were corner butchers and greengrocers where you told the clerk behind the counter what you needed and he would get it for you, wrap it up, and ask how your family is doing. In hard times, he would run a tab for your family in hopes of getting paid later. People loved their grocers and had personal relationships with the man behind the counter. Today, we seldom carry cash and pay for everything with credit cards in order to get points or miles.

Groceterias, like cafeterias, popped up in the early 1900’s. Piggly Wiggly in Memphis, TN, and Alpha Beta in Southern California were the first self-service food stores in America. In the 1920’s, Kroger and the like started offering home delivery and charge accounts. In 1926, Charles Merrill of Merrill Lynch, brokered deals that resulted in the Safeway stores. The 1950’s and 60’s became the golden age of supermarkets only to be chipped away by big discounters. After that, in the 80’s, market segmentation opened up new upscale venues for companies like Whole Foods in Austin, Texas, while discounters served the general public. Know anybody from Rochester, NY? Even when they move away, they keep their Wegman’s loyalty cards on their keychains

In fact, some people like to grocery shop as much or more than shop for clothes, shoes, makeup and accessories. Food shopping and cooking have become sports, you can watch cooking shows, competitive cooking shows, travel cooking shows 24/7 on TV, like Anthony Bourdain, Cupcake Wars, Doughnut Showdown, or Kids Cook-off. You can also read about cooking in newspapers, magazines and online. The New York Times Cooking website is fabulous. The updated Timpano recipe (Big Night) looks like delicious fun. Some people have files, notebooks and saved recipe files on their computers, not to mention cooking blogs. Some enthusiasts, and restaurateurs, read cookbooks when they’re not even cooking.

Specialty stores like Zabar’s, Dean and DeLuca, Fig and Olive, and Li-Lac helped make shopping less of a hunt. The best of the best, no – even better because you found it, makes the pursuit worthwhile.

You couldn’t find what you were looking at the specialty store? Do not fret. Just go to websites like Fresh Direct or Pea Pod, select what you want, have the clerk pick it out, (new?) and delivered to your door. In some apartment buildings these days, the delivery truck can probably take the elevator right to your floor. Better yet, in some minds, if you don’t feel like planning a meal, there are companies that will do that for you. Hello Fresh and Blue Apron will deliver a box of your choice to your door that includes recipe and ingredients. You just wash, chop and cook. Can’t argue that this isn’t home cooking.

Still too much work for a Thursday night? A friend’s motto is “if it takes longer to cook than to eat, I’m not making it.” If that describes your MO, innovative upstarts have just the ticket. Many New Yorkers love this choice the most. Grubhub. Seamless. With one click on your phone, you can order out from your favorite restaurants, and if you are starting to feel cabin fever, you can click on “pick up,” put your Gogo’s on, and walk to the restaurant to pick up your dinner.

Remember the days when you had to make a reservation at an expensive restaurant to impress your date? As if choosing the right restaurant wasn’t hard enough, then you had to plan an activity to keep your date entertained. These days, reservations are hard to get and.or unaffordable. Are you a big romantic with a small budget? Order dinner from Blue Apron, cook a delicious meal, dim the lights and turn on Netflix. You did your work. Time to chill.

But like fashion, some things come back. Currently people are returning to farmers markets or Community Supported Agriculture (CSA’s). Why? They offer fresh organic veggies from local farmers at normal affordable prices. You can help your community vs. major corporations and you are getting delicious fresh veggies handled with love by an honest farmer. Or at least that what they tell us.. Usually, both farmer’s markets and CSA’s are right in your neighborhood. If you are not aware of them, try a quick google search and find the one nearest you.