Ends Care Dominican Hair Alliance

Battle of the Satins: Synthetic vs Natural

by DHA's DIY | Aug 30, 2022 | Ends Care, Doobie/Wrap

Does it really matter?

By now, DHA’s DIY readers will know that it’s really not a question of silk or satin.

In all things hair, satin reigns supreme.

But can the differences between the fibres in silk satin and those of synthetic satin make a difference to you?

Weave over fibre. . .

As far as your hair is concerned, getting the weave of the fabric right – satin all the way – is much more important than the components of that fabric. Quick recap: silk is a type of thread (a bunch of fibres rolled together), and satin is the way that thread is woven. For a material to be labelled as satin, it has to be composed of long filament fibres – natural silk, polyester, nylon or rayon – woven together with a minimum number of interlacings.

When it comes to picking a fabric, what hair requires most of all is a material with a slick surface that spares the strands from damaging friction, and with low absorbency fibres that don’t wick away valuable moisture and oils. All types of satin can accomplish this. That said, there are some small but significant differences between satins made from silk and satins made from synthetic material.

Telling the difference between satins

If we’re going to point out the differences between satins, it’s worth establishing how to tell the difference between the two in the first place. Thanks to technological innovation, it can be hard to tell silk satins and synthetic satins apart, so we are left to rely on simple shopper’s savvy.

Synthetic satin is the type of satin which will emphasise its satin-ness on its packaging, rather than its component material (man-made fibres like rayon or nylon). It also tends to be the shinier of the two, though not by much. Silk satin, the type that’s made from natural silk threads, courtesy of the mulberry silkworm, is also the type which boasts of its component material – 100% silk – all the way from the package to the tiny cloth label sewn into the fabric itself.

Other than that, it can be hard for a non-expert to pick out the difference between well-made synthetic satin and its silken counterpart. To complicate matters, manufacturers frequently blend the two types of fibre into the same fabric. If you really want to be sure what you’re getting either way, always read the label!

Satin is the weave, silk is the fibre

Clearly, comparing the fibre vs. the weave that fibre is woven into is not a valid comparison. After all, while we’re used to thinking of silk as a smooth, glossy fabric, remember that it only looks like that when it’s woven into a satin weave. The rest of the time, silk can look like almost anything. In fact, not unlike wool or cotton, it is a favourite component of thermal underwear.

Imagine wearing one of those on your head; aside from looking ridiculous, it’s not likely to have the same smoothing effect as silk satin – or any other satin for that matter. This is because it is woven with many more interlacings, points where the threads cross over each other, which make it less smooth.

To unravel more of the confusion between silk and satin, look here. What’s for certain, is that satin is what is essential for protecting your hair. Depending on your unique needs and preferences, however, one satin might just be a better fit for you than the other.

Selecting the right satin. . .

Your need: Maximum slip
Best satin: Synthetic

Perhaps surprisingly, satin made of synthetic fibres are actually the glossiest and slipperiest, so if you want to guarantee your hair minimum friction, and maximise shine, synthetic satin, woven from polyester, rayon or nylon will be that little bit more effective than a satin made of real silk.

Your need: Help with an oil overload
Best satin: Silk

Tend to go overboard with the oils at bedtime? In that case, you might need a headscarf material that takes some of the run-off. While not as absorbent as cotton, which’ll gladly drink the last drop of oil or moisture from your strands, silk satin is slightly more absorbent than rayon or nylon. If, on the other hand, you want to keep every last drop of oil or moisture in, on and around your hair, go with the synthetics.

Your need: A headscarf that won’t irritate skin
Best satin: Synthetic or sericin-free silk

If you have sensitive skin, then satins woven from polyester, nylon or rayon are probably best. This is because silk can actually be an irritant. When the silk fibre is excreted by the mulberry silkworm, it is covered in a natural residue known as sericin. While much of this is removed during processing, there is still some of it on most silks. Sericin is water-insoluble so it cannot be washed off from fabric – meaning it will continue to irritate sensitised skin even after numberless washes.

The good news for silk lovers, however, is that sericin-free silks have arrived onto the market. With the sericin removed, silk can actually have a therapeutic effect on skin. For example, it is used in special undergarments to provide relief from eczema. However, given that most silk is not produced in this way, if your skin is prone to reactions, then always ascertain that it is sericin-free before purchasing.

Your need: Cruelty-free garments
Best satin: Synthetic

Let’s face it: the mulberry silkworm pays a grim price for us to be able to adorn our hair, bodies and homes with silk. If you want no part in its cruel fate, then you’ll be pleased to hear that there is actually an alternative. Silks produced in the wild, rather than in factories, can be gathered without the demise of their natural manufacturers. Gandhi was actually an advocate of such silk, known as Ahimsa, or peace silk. The quality of these silks is more variable, however, as the silkmoth can damage the filaments as it emerges from the cocoon. Recently, wild silks have increased in popularity, due to the rise in demand for cruelty-free and eco-friendly fashion, with recent innovations leading to increased consistency in quality.

Your need: Luxury
Best satin: Silk

Of course, silk alone will cut it for those of us who want only the finest things in life – or at least, in our headscarf. The uniquely labour and resource intensive process by which silk is produced was the biggest part in making it such an exclusive material for the past millennia of its manufacture.

Though technological advances have made the process more efficient, it is still a difficult and relatively costly one. That of course gets built into the price, which is why it retains some that cache today.

So there you have it: all the info you could possibly need to select the kind of satin that’s the best for you. Once you decide, be sure to protect your hair with it every night, and use it to line hats or other scarves made from material that could harm your hair.

Image credits:

Kelly McCarthy
Broken Window
Alfred Barlow
Kjoon Lee and J. Wrusa

Perfect Ends Care: The Key to Long Hair

by DHA's DIY | May 2, 2022 | Ends Care, Hair Growth

What’s the biggest difference between lusciously long hair and hair that’s persistently short? The ends.

The secret to long hair is making sure the ends don’t meet their end before their time, whether via scissors or breakage.

This is how we do it. . .

Ends Care: Long hair begins at the ends. . .

With the exception of those people with superfast growth – which most people with long hair do not have – long hair is simply old hair. The hair at the ends of your hair is the hair that’s been around the longest. And the longer hair has been around, the longer it has been exposed to damaging forces.

ends care boiled damage

Everything from water, to heat, to cold, to pollution, to harsh products, your coat collar, to poor handling, and plenty more besides, can damage your hair.

Every exposure to damage weakens your hair so that it eventually breaks off, with the fragile ends that have taken the most abuse over time being the first to go.

And if the ends go, the length goes. So protecting it from these sources of damage is the key to getting – and keeping – it long.

General protective measures, like minimising the use of heat and chemicals, shielding hair from pollution and reducing friction from harsh fabrics, also benefit your ends. But they do also need a little bit of extra love to get them to hang around longer.

Ends Care: Watch out for those combs

end care tool

The biggest source of damage to hair is manipulation, particularly in the form of combing or brushing.

While damage from chemicals and heat is often immediately obvious, as combing damage comes a little at a time, it is more insidious and often passes unnoticed.

However, since the hair is so frequently exposed to this source of damage, with most people combing or brushing their hair multiple times a day, the amount of damage it inflicts can be immense. To minimise it, first be sure that the comb is not cutting your hair by checking your tools.

Even with a good tool, however, combing and brushing create friction and tension, too much of which places too much strain on your hair shaft, particularly its fragile ends. So the main ends care you can do to protect your ends is combine these two best practices: keep brushing and combing to a minimum, and use only the best brushes and combs.

To help stretch the periods between handling, sleep with your hair tied in a silk scarf to maintain styles and try to pick styles that do not need to be touched up in between washes. And on the times when you do comb or brush, make sure your hair from root to tip – especially the tips – are fully protected by a generous helping of slippery product each and every time.

Ends Care: Don’t let that dryness happen

Often, the ends of your hair are the first to lose moisture. On top of that, they also have a hard time holding onto the emollients that protect the hair from friction and other damaging factors in the environment.

end care damaged hair

Hair derives much of its strength from its water content, so when strands get dehydrated it doesn’t take much for the ends to start to disintegrate.

When you layer on your leave in, make sure you apply extra moisturiser and sealant at the tips. An effective ends care trick is to insulate your hair even further, is to repeat the last two steps of the layering process: apply moisturizer, then sealant, then a smaller amount of moisturizer, topped up by a small amount of sealant.

The added layers will trap the moisture and the emollients for longer.

Ends Care: Keep those ends up

The other main enemy of your ends: drag. Just as the friction from combing can be like cutting your hair, so too can the friction from leaving it dangling all the time. Hair left loose scrapes against your clothes, gets scratched by your collar and snatched out of the way all day long, as you constantly push it back into place.

end care wear up

All of this grinds your ends into powder, crumbling away microscopic pieces of cuticle and even taking inches of the whole strand at once. And all of this is easily avoided with simple ends care: put it up, if your hair is any longer than right under your nape, it’s long enough to drag.

Use clips (ones that are kind to your strands of course), ponytail holders, or creative styling using the hair itself to keep your ends out of harm’s way.

Leave your flowing styles for an occasional, or scheduled, infrequent period, like a monthly blowout or a day when you want to wear your ‘fro out and BIG.

With this type of ends care, not only is your hair less exposed to the air, which can be drying, but it’s less vulnerable to the drag that is one of the biggest reasons for end damage. Plus it encourages you to mix it up, with down styles some days in the month, and a whole range of innovative updos the rest, not to mention cute accessorising with scarves and satin-lined hats!

Ends Care: The long and the short of it. . .

So ends care simple: stay on top of dryness, keep combing stress to a minimum, and put your hair up. Then sit back and watch those inches increase!

Image credits:

Pulpolux
Sean McMenemy
Sally Crossthwaite
Kristen Currier

A Bad Wrap: Is The Doobie Damaging To Your Hair?

by DHA's DIY | Apr 17, 2022 | Dominican Blowout, Ends Care, Doobie/Wrap, Hair Straightening

Doobie doing you wrong?

The Doobie, also known as the Wrap, is one of the main elements of the Dominican Blowout.

By stretching and holding your hair, it keeps your straight look intact for the week.

But when you wrap your hair could you be doing your hair harm?

The Final Wrap…

After your hair is washed, deep conditioned, roller set and blown out, the Doobie is the final element which needs to be in place to ensure the signature silky swoosh of your Dominican Blowout. The Wrap helps your hair to fall correctly, hang and move more like naturally straight hair. Its stretching action also works as a straightener, particularly if you leave your hair in a wrap overnight after leaving the salon; the effect is more potent while the heat is still in your hair, setting it in place while your strands are still flexible from the heat.

Making sure to mold your hair into a Doobie at night before bed also works to extend the life of a Blowout or press. Keeping the hair stretched, wrapped and held in place counters the effects of shrinkage which happen over time as your hair slowly absorbs moisture from the air, products and handling.

A Doobie means you don’t have to overexpose your hair to the pressures of heat by getting touchups in the week to lengthen how long your straight look sticks around.

It also means your straightened hair is instantly styled every morning when you wake up; the rolling action created by the Wrap adds shape and form to straight hair and your parting was set in place the night before when you wrapped your hair. You’re free to just let down the Doobie and go!

Downsides to the Doobie. . .

Wrapping can have its difficulties, just like any other method. Here are the usual pitfalls and how to avoid them:

Overbrushing: Sometimes, people can get a little carried away when they are brushing their hair. It’s easy to forget that brushing is a styling method which, over time, inevitably puts pressure on the hair.

If you don’t brush too much, the damage will be minimal and and your hair will not look or act damaged. Overbrushed hair, on the other hand, gets weak, sparse and unruly due to all of the friction.

So brush your hair efficiently and be sure to use gentle bristles like boar and flexible plastic, rubber or silicone (these last three textures are for the separated style of bristles as seen in the picture on the right) and avoid nylon bristles.

Overuse: Beware the phenomenon known as styling fatigue: repetitively relying on the same style will put some strain on your hair. While wrapping is a styling method, a means to an end, remember that it is a style in and of itself – reminiscent of the 1960s Beehive. Thus, just as continually pulling your hair back into a ponytail will cause wear from the friction and tension it takes to create the style, so can overly-used Doobies, as a styling method which also requires continued tension to stay in place.

So mix it up while you are wearing your hair straight; for example on some nights, opt for bunning, particularly if you are not wearing your hair down.

Wrapping it too tight: This is the biggest reason for damage from Doobies. People wrap their hair too tightly and it strains the edges, overstretches the strands and, overtime, causes thinning and weakness. So don’t pull your hair too taut in a bid to get it extra sleek. Instead, make sure you brush your hair as smooth as possible first, before wrapping it. If your hair comes loose easily, then opt for more bobby pins rather than more tension to keep it in place.

Staying aloof of these all-too-common errors means you can be secure in the knowledge that you are causing no Doobie-related damage to your hair.

Instead, you can have hair that balances being straight when you want it to be, with the ability to swing back to full-blown, bouncy curls in the next!

To steer clear of heat damage when you straighten your hair, always check your Heat Damage Thermometer Printable first, to know the correct, safe heat levels for your hair type or straightening method.

Image credits:
Brent Borreson
Daniel Kulinski
Gabriel C
Lyre Lark