Short Natural Hairstyles for Black women

Short natural hairstyles for black women are primarily based on those styling techniques that make use of your natural hair texture. You do not have to bother about getting your hair permanently ironed or getting weaved in your hair to wear hairdos that fall in the category of short natural hairstyles for women.

short hairstyles for women include bob, u shape haircuts, layered haircuts and straight hair haircuts. In short, they include all those hairdos that fall just below your hair so that you do not have to go through the hassle of combing your hair for hours on and spend hundreds of dollars on good quality shampoo and conditioner.

Favorite Ingredients for Natural Hair

Naturalistas recently told Design Essentials Salon System that ingredients are the key to natural hair care. The results are part of an online survey in which 200 African American and Hispanic women, ages 18-64, responded to questions designed to assess their attitudes and behaviors toward wearing natural hair.

Overall, the top ingredients most desired in hair products were:

• Olive oil
• Vitamins
• Coconut oil
• Jojoba oil
• Moisturizers
• Natural oils
• Shea butter

What do you think?  Is your favorite listed?

Davines + The Fruit Tree Planting Foundation - Sustainable Beauty Day

Luxury hair care brand, Davines, and The Fruit Tree Planting Foundation have joined forces to create the first ever Sustainable Beauty Day. Built upon a perfect balance of beauty and sustainability, Davines’ commitment to minimizing their environmental impact spans from the ethically sourced natural ingredients they choose to their eco-friendly headquarters in Parma, Italy. In keeping with their dedication to environmental responsibility, Davines has joined forces with The Fruit Tree Planting Foundation, a unique charity that benefits impoverished communities through the planting of fruit trees. By planting fruit trees in communities worldwide, The Fruit Tree Planting Foundation elevates an environmental project to the level of social sustainability—a beautiful fit for Davines.

Sustainable Beauty Day calls for salons that are closed on Mondays to open their doors on June 20, 2011 and offer their clients cut and styling services free of charge. Each client will be encouraged to make a $15 minimum donation for the service and 100% of the proceeds will benefit The Fruit Tree Planting Foundation. Davines and The Fruit Tree Planting Foundation strive to raise $20,000 to fund a new fruit tree planting initiative called Sustainabilitree in the Sofala Province of Mozambique, Africa. Sustainabilitree stands to alleviate world hunger, combat global warming, strengthen communities, and improve the surrounding air, soil, and water quality.

So on Monday, June 20th, consumers will be able to go into select salons and receive cut and styling services for a minimum donation of at least $15.  100% of the donations will benefit impoverished communities in Africa through the planting of fruit trees.

To view the list of participating salons in NY, NJ, Pennsylvania, and Connecticut keep reading! For all other areas please visit the Davines website:



Raymond John 150 Main Street, Metuchen, NJ 08840
Bangz Salon & Wellness Spa 23 South Fullerton Ave, Montclair, NJ 07042 - We recommend Bangz!
Salon Soha 1001 White Horse Pike, Hadden Township, NJ 08107
Cavale Tonusi 8211 3rd Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11209
Mademoiselle Salon & Spa 510 Lancaster Ave, Haverford, PA 19041
Salon Concrete 15 Broad St, Red Bank, NJ 07701
BC Salon 42 South Street, Morristown, NJ 07960
Blowout Express 10 Catano Ave, Morristown, NJ 07960
Revolve Hair 34 Hill Street, Southampton, NY 11968
Eden the Salon 6 East Main Street, Bayshore, NY 11706
The Parlour Brooklyn 72 Greenpoint Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11222
Now Salon 132 Adams Ave, Scranton, PA 18503
Hi Fi Hair Studio 213 Pierce St, Kingston, PA 18704
Lis-A-Lis 116 North Main St, Branford, CT 06405
Chez Shay 63 Unquowa Rd, Fairfield, CT 06864
Synergy Salon 53 East Ave, New Canaan, CT 06840
Slope Suds 462 7th Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11215

Most Popular Natural Hair Styles

(Photo Credit: Your Hair is Simply Lovely)

Design Essentials Salon System recently released the results of its online Natural Hair Survey and the latest announcement revealed the top hair styles fueling this explosively popular trend. Two hundred African American and Hispanic women, ages 18-64, participated in the survey to assess their attitudes and behaviors toward wearing natural hair.

Women showcase a wide range of styles based on their texture, lifestyle, maintenance routine and styling preferences. Design Essentials found that the top styles are wash and go, thermally straightened or extensions/wigs/weaves. Braided styles were found to be slightly less prevalent.

Results from the survey are as follows:
6% - Twists
6% - Straightened
9% - Afro
10% - Dreads/Locks
11% - Braids
19% - Thermally Straightened
14% - Extenstions/Wigs/Weaves
28% - Wash and Go

"The natural hair trend has emerged as more than a passing fad, and professional styling experts, classes, products, blogs, magazines and industry conferences have created a new a niche in the industry," Tracey Gibson, Director of Marketing for McBride Research Laboratory, creator of Design Essentials®, added. "All of this activity focuses on coming together to understand the needs of women who are wearing natural styles or transitioning, distributing the best information and offering the right products and services. The results of our survey are a key part of these efforts and we continue to conduct this vital research."

AHS Asks: Naturals... how do you wear your hair!?!?

Design Essentials @ World of Natural Hair Show

One of these days, I'm going to have to get down to Atlanta for one of the hair care conventions. Since, I'm NJ based I'm always missing events that aren't in NJ or NYC, like Design Essentials Salon System's (DE) "Design Essentials Presents DE Natural" and "Natural Versatility by Design Essentials" classes during the World of Natural Hair Show Atlanta, April 30 - May 1.

DE Natural Educator Deshonica Green lead three live demonstrations to teach class attendees the proper use of DE Natural and various ways to achieve twist, loc or curl styles using the products in the salon and for home maintenance.

DE Top Educator Natalie Hayes guided her classes through maintenance, styling, and finishing hair into a straight and silked style, using the Ceramic pHusion technique, without the use of chemicals.

Photo Credits: Shawn Dowdell Photography.

Save Your Hair Color this Summer

Color Me Beautiful is an at home recipe to help rejuvenate hair color from the Sam Brocato salon.


· STEP 1: Shampoo with Vibracolor Fade Prevention Shampoo. Leave on hair while mixing ingredients for Step 2.
· STEP 2: Using a blender mix the following until smooth:
* ¼ cup blackberries
* 3 drops buriti fruit oil
* 3 pumps Constructor Deep Repair Treatment
* 2 pumps Vibracolor Fade Prevention Treatment
· STEP 3: Rinse hair and carefully pour mixture onto head, massaging from scalp to end. (Additional elements included in salon-treatment.)
· STEP 4: Rinse and towel dry. Proceed to Style.

The science behind the fresh ingredients: Buriti fruit restores colored and damaged hair. Blackberries contain bioflavinoids which are powerful antioxidants.

Beat Chlorine the Natural Way

The Lifeguard - de-stresses chlorine-damage

· STEP 1: Shampoo with Brocato Sport Blend Shampoo (1 part Splassh Daily Shampoo and 1 part Peppermint Scrub Hair & Scalp Leave-in Tonic). Leave on hair while mixing ingredients for Step 2.
· STEP 2: Using a blender mix the following until smooth:
* 3 tbs Peppermint Scrub Hair & Scalp Masque
* ½ banana
* ½ cup papaya
* ½ cup pineapple
· STEP 3: Rinse hair and carefully pour onto head. Massage into hair from scalp to end.
· STEP 4: Cover with plastic cap and wrap hot towel around cap. Let sit for 10 minutes.
· STEP 5: Thoroughly rinse and apply Cloud 9 Treatment.
· STEP 6: Rinse and towel dry. Proceed to Style.

The science behind the fresh ingredients: Pineapple and papaya contain enzymes that exfoliate and remove build up. Papaya is also hydrating. Banana’s natural oils soften hair and improve elasticity.

Humidity Buster Hair Recipe

Here is the first of the At Home Natural Hair Fix Recipes from Sam Brocato, The Humidity Buster – calms and soothes the frizzy and unruly hair.

Humidity Buster

· STEP 1: Shampoo with Curlinterrupted Smoothing & Hydrating Shampoo. Leave on hair while mixing ingredients for Step 2.
· STEP 2: Using a mortar and pestle, blend together the following until smooth:
* ½ ripe Avocado
* 1 tbs Curlinterrupted Smoothing & Hydrating Treatment
* 3 pumps Curlinterrupted Actives Restorative Hair Infusion
· STEP 3: Rinse hair and apply formula by hand. Massage into hair from scalp to end, concentrating on the ends.
· STEP 4: Cover with plastic cap and wrap hot towel around cap. Let sit for 10 minutes.
· STEP 5: Rinse and shampoo once with Curlinterrupted Shampoo.
· STEP 6: Rinse and towel dry. Proceed to Style.

The science behind the fresh ingredients: Avocado is a natural moisturizer, makes hair more elastic and less prone to breakage.

At Home Recipes for Hair Fixes

Sam Brocato Salon in Soho has a new Made Fresh Daily Bar. Now, salon clients can sample a small selection of seasonal concoctions, based on tried and true natural remedies. These recipes start with a foundation of Brocato Beauty haircare products married with fresh, whole ingredients. Blended on the spot, these formulas address specific hair care concerns relative to the season. For Summer 2011, the following five remedies will be available:

1. Humidity Buster – calms and soothes the frizzy and unruly
2. The Lifeguard – de-stresses chlorine-damage
3. Instant Oomph! – restores life from the dead and droopy
4. Color Me Beautiful – color rejuvenator
5. Scalp-idophilus - probiotics for a healthy foundation

Later I'll be sharing each of the recipes so stay tuned!

Why Everyone is Going Natural

In June 2010, Design Essentials Salon System conducted a natural hair survey in conjunction with iModerate that assessed 200 African American and Hispanic women, ages 18-64, to further understand the interest and passion that is fueling the growth in natural hair. As a leader in multicultural hair care, Design Essentials' commitment to research and to their customers was the catalyst for the survey. The results revealed a number of reasons why the attitudes and behaviors of women have shifted from chemical treatments to styles that embrace natural hair texture.

According to the survey, the #1 reason why women are overwhelmingly choosing to wear their natural hair is to improve its health. Also, ease of care and eliminating chemical treatments were among the key reasons, as well. Overall, the top five reasons why women are transitioning from relaxed to natural hair are:

Healthy Hair-- 54%
Ease of care-- 36%
Eliminating chemicals-- 33%
Ethnic pride-- 17%
Cost of alternatives-- 13%

The survey also revealed that some unlikely factors causing women to transition to natural hair are health reasons, environmental concerns, general trends and the influence of others.

So Ladies, what's your reason for going natural?

Natural Hair: Celebs gone Natural

First the spotlight was on Solange when she was spotted out and about with her teeny weeny afro (TWA). Over the months, it started growing larger and larger and more celebs are stepping into the spotlight with their natural hair. Whether they have just gone natural or just decided to ditch their usual weaves, I think it's awesome. Go TeamNatural!

Make no mistake, I'm on TeamRelaxed, but I love my TeamNatural girls! Healthy Hair is my favorite hair, whether it's relaxed or natural!

What do you think? I think Kim Coles, Raven Symone, and Tiffany Pollard (New York) look great natural.

TWA Accessories: Fancy Earrings

With so many people going natural these days, I had to do a piece on my favorite TWA accessory. If you aren't hip to the natural hair lingo, a TWA is a Teeny Weeny Afro. When you wear a TWA your face is front and center, there's no hair to hide behind and sometimes some women report feeling like they look masculine. The easiest way to stop that feeling is a little makeup and some beautiful earrings. The best way to get something that's just as unique as you is to shop outside of the box, and Etsy helps you do that.

Etsy shop Autumn Springs by Lidah Johnson provides unique and eclectic pieces. Johnson says, "I love to design for the fabulous woman who want accessories that reflect her individuality and enchances her personal style. Small quantites are carried, so your purchases are truly one of a kind!"

You can enter coupon code "thankyou" at checkout and you will receive a 10% discount.

Hair Care for Sensitive Skin

Finesse has just launched Clean + Simple, the first hypoallergenic hair care line available at mass-market retailers, including Wal-Mart and drugstores. The Clean + Simple line contains no sulfates, parabens, dyes or allergens and is 100% gluten-free. No longer do people with sensitive skin need to order expensive products online, just to wash their hair! Finesse Clean + Simple retails for $3.99 and is a hypoallergenic hair care line, dermatologist tested to be non-irritating and free of allergens.

“Until now,” said Randy Sloan, President, Lornamead Inc., “People with sensitive skin or allergies had to settle for expensive specialty or salon products to meet their needs. Now, they have a good, affordable option for the whole family available where they usually shop for shampoo.”

Sounds like a win win! Will you be trying out Finesse Clean + Simple?

Solange Rocks her Natural TWA

I Love Solange! She's funky and her style is unique. I love seeing her rock natural hair whether it's a wig or her own natural TWA, like here at the Range Rover Evoque Launch.

What do you think? Will matching your lipstick to your shoes be the next big trend?

Shea Butter for Hair

Shea butter:Africa as Argan Oil: Morocco

My skin loves products with shea butter, they moisturize my skin leaving it feeling soft and moisturized all day long. My hair is a completely different story. Originally, I attempted to use pure shea butter for sealing in moisture when I would moisturize my hair, but it left my fine hair really weighed down and greasy feeling. Not quite sure what shea butter is? Not to worry, basically Shea Butter is a made from a nut and used for cooking, skin care, and hair care.

On my straightened hair, I applied a very small amount of shea butter after I applied a water based moisturizer and it left my hair feeling very piece-y, weighed down and greasy. When I airdry my hair a little bit of shea butter helps add shine and controls flyaways, but overall I'm not a fan. I tend to avoid products made with Shea Butter high up on the ingredient list because it's just too heavy for my hair. If you have thick, natural hair you may find that shea butter works wonders for you as a moisturizer, scalp treatment, sealer, and shine enhancer.

What to know more about Shea Butter? Check out this great collection of information over at Treasured Locks.com

New for Naturals: Essentious

I’d like to introduce you to Essentious, the all natural hair care system by Tymeka Lawrence. The line was originally created by Tymeka for African American hair featuring products that are free of sulfates, silicones, mineral oil, petroleum and parabens. I had the opportunity of trying the shampoo and conditioner, so I'll share my thoughts.

Essentious Exonerate Sulfate Free Shampoo

Product Description: Moisturizing shampoo made from organically-based emulsifiers with a base of Aloe Vera gel for healing and moisturizing. It has a rich lather and a light, refreshing scent. Sulfate Free.

Thoughts: All sulfate shampoos are not made equal and this shampoo proves the point. Usually when I use a sulfate free shampoo, my hair and scalp feel clean but not stripped and it's more like co-washing than actually shampooing and I LOVE that. Instead of that super awesome feeling, I had a feeling of impending doom when I used this shampoo. My hair felt hard, dry, and I was scared to actually get in there and lather it up really well because my hair felt so vulernable and fragile. Needless to say, I immediately reached for the conditioner to rectify the situation.

Essentious Hydrate Conditioning Moisture Treatment

The Deets: Moisture treatment restores moisture lost during chemical treatments and heat styling. Penetrates the hair to provide moisture within the hair shaft.

Thoughts: Thank goodness for this conditioner because without it we would have had an emergency on our hands. This conditioner with it's fruity yet vanilla cake batter scent softened up my hair and smooth out all the tangles the shampoo had caused. My hair no longer felt rough, dry, and hard. Instead, it was soft and sweet smelling.

Overall, I'd skip the shampoo but the conditioner has been spared, I'd use that again in a heartbeat mostly because of the fabulous scent.

Visit Essentious.com for more deets!

New for Naturals: Entwine Naturalle

Entwine™ Naturalle Coiffure Collezioni was created by Adrienne Carthon, ‘The Naturalle Hair Professor’. As a seasoned natural hair stylist, professor of African-American Literature & Women Studies, Adrienne created Entwine™ is the premiere line of salon-inspired, ultra-quality hair care and styling alternatives that brings a haute-couture approach to natural and transitioning hair care & styling.

The Collection of products feature custom-made and artfully crafted formulas blended with riche exotic butters, pristine natural oils and luxurious conditioners that are finessed with ‘real-world’ holistic technology to enhance the health and beauty of natural and transitioning hair, while providing maximum styling versatility.

The Naturalle Coiffure Collezioni features four exquisitely innovative products:

• “The Manipulator” Crème Jellé Styler- The Ultimate Natural Hair Styler

• “Indulgently Luxe” Exotique Butter Crème Hydrator- A riche moisturising and shine crème

• “On the Edge” Crème De La Mold- A powerful holding, molding and smoothing mud

• “Total Perfection” Moroccan Argan Oil- A 100% Raw and Vegan oil for total glamorized beauty from head to toe.

To purchase visit their site.

Curlie Alert: Design Essentials Natural

The new Design Essentials Natural product line is designed to manage and style highly textured hair with the finest ingredients. The line includes the Natural Curl Cleanser, Moisturizing Conditioner, Curl Stretching Cream, Defining Cream Gel and Daily Moisturizing Lotion.

Design Essentials Natural Hair Models show off natural hair styles featuring the launch of the new Design Essentials "Natural" product line during the Design Essentials 20th Anniversary Party in Atlanta, Ga. on August 8th. Photo Credit: Shawn Dowdell Photography.

Design Essentials Natural Hair Models pose with Cornell McBride, Sr., founder and CEO of McBride Research Laboratory after the launch of the new Design Essentials "Natural" product line. The product launch was featured at the Design Essentials 20th Anniversary Party in Atlanta, Ga. on August 8th. Photo Credit: Shawn Dowdell Photography.

So Natural Ladies, are you looking forward to trying these products?