naturallycurly - CurlyNikki

Sep 21

Protect Your Cuticle: The First Line of Defense for Natural Hair

By CURLYNIKKI Curly Nikki One Comment

Fig. 1: Undamaged hair Tonya McKay writes: As a polymer scientist with a love for biological structures, I find hair and skin to be extremely fascinating systems. Human hair is an intricate composite structure comprised of keratin proteins, lipids, polysaccharides, water and pigment particles. All of the individual components are complex and perform very specific functions. Those of us with curly…

Jan 27

Understanding Hair Butters and Oils- Natural Hair

By CURLYNIKKI Curly Nikki One Comment

Tonya McKay writes; Butters, oils, and waxes all come from fats that are derived from plants or animals, and have two basic components; fatty acids and alcohols. The difference between butters and oils is primarily whether or not they are solid at room and/or body temperature. Although they are both composed of groups of fatty acids, there are differences in…

Sep 12

Don’t Let That Water Weight Fool You!

By CURLYNIKKI Curly Nikki One Comment

Charnika Jett of NaturallyCurly writes; After the first week of reducing your calories, working out at the gym and consuming different varieties of fruit and vegetable medleys, you step on the scale to see your fate. If your weight loss is so remarkable that you can’t believe it, chances are you shouldn’t because you’ve probably only lost water weight. According…

Sep 12

The Buzz About Honey

By CURLYNIKKI Curly Nikki No Comments

CurlChemist Tonya McKay writes;If you peruse the CurlTalk discussions, you’ll see honey mentioned on numerous threads. This should come as no surprise, given honey’s long history as a health and beauty ingredient. The use of honey has been documented throughout human history, with mention found as far back as in various Sumerian tablets. The practice of cultivating bees for the…

Jan 27

What’s the Scoop on Silicones?

By CURLYNIKKI Curly Nikki One Comment

CurlChemist Tonya McKay of NaturallyCurly writes; We always get lots of questions about silicones, as they are in so many products and are of ongoing concern to many curly-haired consumers. I thought this month we could tackle a couple of those questions in a quick, practical manner (hopefully) to aid in the seemingly never-ending process of ingredient scrutiny and product…