Welcome to ALL THINGS ABOUT HEALTHY, BEAUTIFUL, BLACK HAIR powered by EMBRACE!
Let's set the scene. Picture this;
It’s Saturday afternoon and you are in your bathroom getting ready for a night out with the girls. You hop in the shower and wash your hair and as your shampoo rinses out you see more hair than usual swirling around the drain. You then head to the sink for a quick dry and style session (time is always of the essence when doing our hair). With every pass of the blow dryer, more and more of your hair falls to the bathroom floor like leaves from a tree at the end of autumn. Finally, it’s time to lay your edges. You grab your comb to section them out and realize you’re pulling more hair from your temple than you are your baby hairs. Finally, YOU’RE DONE. You clean up a bit before walking out the door and see just how much of your hair you've collected from your drain, sink and floor. You stare at this wad in your hand and ask yourself ”Why is my hair falling out????”
There could be many reasons for hair degradation, ranging from lack of nutrition to exposure to hazardous materials. The wide range of possibilities make it very difficult to determine why your hair is falling out. You might find yourself constantly asking “Why is my hair shedding?” “Why can’t I retain any length?” “Why am I suffering from so much breakage?” Don't worry, a lot of women ask these same questions almost every time they do their hair. The level of frustration that comes with not having the answers to these questions can sometimes be overwhelming. All of that changes today because here at EMBRACE, we made it our business to find out the answers! We have spent years with scientists that look like you researching combinations of natural ingredients, testing and trialing formulas on hair that look and feel like yours so the end result is healthy, quality products meant for women just like you!
Close your eyes for a second and let's take a trip to the Land of Forever Happy. In this land your hair is growing, long, beautiful and healthy. The struggles of hair loss, shedding and balding aren’t issues you deal with. In this Land your liver functions are perfectly, your thyroid functions are normal and your nutrition is average so you don’t suffer from Alopecia Areata. You don’t have Female Pattern Baldness because your mother, sisters, aunts, cousins and grandmother all have a head full of hair. So what's your disconnect from this world and the Land of Forever Happy? Why can’t you live in this world with the hair you picture in Land of Forever Happy? It seems that here, your hair would rather divorce you for your favorite brush or comb. Here is a statistic that is shocking, 82% of us should live in the Land of Forever Happy. That’s right, most of us have no underlying health issues that would cause your hair to fall out so 82% of us should have a full healthy head of hair, but we don't.
The truth is all of us experience chronic hair loss. A study done by the Mayo Clinic states that humans lose on average 50-100 hair fibers a day. This usually isn't noticeable because they are immediately replaced with newer, younger, more vibrant hair fibers. Chronic Hair Disease is only present when NO new fibers are present. Chronic hair loss affects over 80 million Americans and 40% of those Americans are women.
Let's dive a little deeper and talk about what keeps your roots from producing new, healthy hair fibers. Aside from the reasons listed above there are four main reasons.
- Mechanical Breakage
- Over Exposure to Heat
- Chemical Exposure (Perms, Dyes and Color Treatments)
- Over Exposure to Drying Agents (Lack of Nutrients)
Let's talk about them in detail and find a remedy to each, so you can get back that beautiful hair you had when you were 6 years old.
- Mechanical Breakage
Most of us experience our first episode of Mechanical Breakage as an infant. We are typically born with a full head of beautiful hair. Around 3-4 months of age; our hair starts to fall out near the back of our heads. As we begin to gain control of our heads we start to move them around from left to right. As we lay in our bassinets shifting about, our hair follicles strike in the exact same fashion over and over and over again against our sheets. We develop a pattern bald spot in that area.
As adults those sheets turn into a comb and a brush. These styling objects strike the hair follicle in the exact same place with the exact same stroke daily, over and over and over, and it creates the same pattern baldness found in infants.
The other form of Mechanical Breakage is called Traction Alopecia. This is the excessive pulling and over-styling of the hair follicle damaging the hair and the root. This is typically found with braids, cornrows, flat twist, dreadlocks and other protective hairstyles.
How do we protect our hair from Mechanical Breakage? We have to comb and brush our hair, right? We have developed a product to do just that, Treasure Superior Hair Loss Prevention is designed to bond with the hair and protect it from impact. Treasure creates a bond with the hair molecule and allows a comb or brush to glide past the hair follicle without making direct impact. It's like having shatter proof glass for your hair.
To deal with Traction Alopecia we must first understand why a stylist would want to over-style your hair. It’s all done in the name of beauty. Stylists want to give you the freshest, cleanest, longest lasting look possible and that usually comes at the expense of your roots. Ladies, you must put your foot down on this one. If you feel discomfort your roots are being abused and will be inflamed for days following this new hair do. Hours after a new protective hairstyle, treat your hair and scalp with Adore Refreshing Moisturizing Spay and continue daily until your next hair appointment. And yes, you can use it on weaves, wigs, braids and more!
For itching and burning due to over-styling, inflammation, and bacteria build up, apply Harmony Relieving Scalp Antiseptic Spray as needed to alleviate side effects. We’re sure you know all too well the infamous head pat for when you have that itch on your scalp that you just can't reach or don't want to aggravate. We guarantee relief of itching and burning with Harmony Relieving Scalp Antiseptic Spray, but remember the best protection is to simply ask your stylist to be gentle. A well maintained, well trained head of hair looks much better than one that is being scratched constantly in search of relief.
- Over Exposure to Heat
I’m told by many clients and stylists that applying heat to the hair is a necessary evil. It’s done in the pursuit of happiness for most women of color. The pursuit to look like an elusive, straight haired, Nubian Goddess. I’m going to state a few facts on applying heat to our hair, ladies. Today, a standard iron is capable of destroying just about any piece of clothing. An iron on high heat will reach temperatures between 350-428 degrees. Once you burn a hole in your favorite blouse can it be repaired? Of course not, the same goes for your hair. A cotton twill shirt is much stronger than single hair strands. If a shirt can't handle that type of heat what makes us think our hair could. Once your hair is damaged, it's damaged forever. It will never heal. A flat iron reaches temperatures in the neighborhood of 380-430 degrees. That is much too high to expose our hair to and most blow dryers are capable of damaging hair strands if not done properly. You should never put anything over 180 degrees on your hair for any length of time.
So how do we get that long flowing straight manageable hair ladies; we buy it! Sew-ins are the best method for protecting our natural healthy hair. We don’t endorse applying glue or any other harsh chemicals to your hair. Before having your weave installed always wash, condition, and moisturize your hair before braiding it down into cornrows. We also recommend greasing your scalp with our Cherish Nourishing Edge and Hair Revitalizer Maximum Strength to feed your scalp with all the nutrients it needs to thrive and grow during your protective style. We understand the desire for variety, simply do it in a way that preserves your natural beauty. Harmony Relieving Scalp Antiseptic Spray also kills bacteria and germs that build up in weaves over time.
- Chemical Exposure
Perms have been riding our beautiful women of their hair since it was produced. The active ingredient in a perm is Ammonium Thioglycolate. Ammonium Thioglycolate modifies hair fibers to facilitate changes to the structure of the fibers, such as with permanent waves or with hair straightening. It was initially produced to chemically break down hair fibers so that unwanted hair could be removed by simply wiping it from the skin. Sound familiar? (Nair and Veet)
The Health Hazards associated with the use of Ammonium Thioglycolate are listed below.
SYMPTOMS: Exposure to this compound may cause sensitivity dermatitis of scalp or hands, with edema, erythema, subcutaneous lesions, burning of skin, papular rash and itching. It may also cause hypoglycemia. Other symptoms include central nervous system depression, convulsions and dyspnea.
Clearly this is a No Go for us…. Isn’t it? We must not allow harmful chemicals into our hair or our bodies. Products like Perms and Permanent Dyes destroy our hair at the molecular level.
How do we achieve the look we are going for? What if we want the Blond or Red or European or Exotic look? LADIES, SAY IT WITH ME - WE BUY IT! We dye and Perm our Weaves or Wigs. We protect our Natural beauty.
- Over Exposure to Drying Agents (lack of nutrients)
Ladies, this one is something we manage on a daily basis. What agents are we talking about? Shampoo, Soap and even most Moisturizers.
How can this be you ask? Being an African descendant we have very unique body dispositions. Have you ever wondered why we don’t get lice and why people of European descent do? There was a study done in 1986 and 1987 in a school in Hillsborough, Florida. The study showed that 97, approximately 6.4%, of the 1,515 white and Latino students got lice and 0 of the 436 African American students contracted the little creatures.
The truth is that we simply have a different biological make up. We are born with oily skin and dry scalps, People of European descent have the exact opposite. They are born with oily scalps and dry skin. It’s how evolution taught us both to tolerate our environments.
The million dollar question is, drum roll please…. When shampoo and hair care products are designed, WHO do you think they are designed for? Have you ever wondered why washing your hair more than once a week would result in your head itching, your scalp breaking out or flaking up, and your hair falling out? Even the products that are sold to us as “black biased”, are nothing more than European based products with a reduction in stripping agent. It is too expensive for these companies to research and develop products for us, the minority, even though we spend over 2.5 billion a year on hair care! Where can you find products that are designed specifically for your hair's biological complexities that differ from your European counterparts? Well look no further. EMBRACE has filled the gap. All of our products are developed by someone that looks like you, packed by someone that looks like you, sold and marketed by someone that looks like you and made specifically for you!!! Take Divine Rejuvenating Shampoo for instance. This shampoo was formulated to only strip your hair of dead skin, sebum, dirt, bacteria and products all while leaving and adding all the natural oils your hair needs to stay strong and healthy.
Ladies, we are not trying to change the world, just the perception of what Beauty is. I watch my beautiful daughters fight to fit in, fight to be accepted, they are willing to sacrifice their health and their Real Beauty for a moment in the sun. Sitting by while companies prey on our woman, stealing our beauty and selling it back to us with a promise backed by wet toilet paper. Selling us harmful products designed to rid us of our Natural Beauty, simply to keep us coming back for more. If you are happy with your hair and pleased with the products you use, by all means continue to use them, share them so others know they exist. If you are not happy with your damaged and broken hair, if you are tired of the let it grow then cut it all off again cycle, make a change. We would love to be a part of your journey. Thank you and remember IT'S YOUR BEAUTY EMBRACE IT.
Lucan Breedlove
Co-Founder
Embrace Hair and Skin Care LLC