Jun 03 2009
Extended Trips: packing the right hair products and tools
As my 3-week trip to Cairo, Egypt approaches I’ve been mentally going over which hair products and tools I should pack. While most women in my scenario would be concerned about having the right pair of shoes and enough outfits - I can’t sleep at night wondering if it makes sense to pack my soft bonnet dryer, rollers and blow-dryer! Do I take more than one conditioner…and how about the matching shampoo and rinse????
I’m literally wrecking my brain trying to figure this out. 3 weeks is a long time in the hair world - especially during the summer. For me, we’re talking:
3 shampoos (shampooing once a week)
6 condition washes (condition washing twice a week)
21 doobies (wrapping my hair every night)
and 84 pin curl rolls (I put two big pin curls in my hair twice during the day to keep body)
I can’t imagine going on this trip and completely neglecting my hair regimen. So I think answering these set of questions will help me (and you…if you plan on going on extended trips) to pack the right hair products and tools.
Question #1: What is the weather like where you’re going?
Answer #1: Egypt is going to be HOT…I’m talking 95 degrees Fahrenheit! This means I should focus on products that will help with dryness. Here are my top picks for dryness: Silicon Mix, 12 en 1, Leche de Cabra and of course a good pre-shampoo oil for the scalp like the Aceite Bomba. I think I’ll take one for dryness and a one for emergency situations like: emergencia or baba de caracol hair mask.
Question #2: Do you plan on swimming in chlorine water?
Answer #2: ABSOLUTELY. If your trip includes swimming you definitely will want to keep a good leave-in, rinse conditioner and clarifying shampoo with you. Wetting your hair with clean water and a little bit of leave-in or rinse conditioner before swimming will help to minimize the drying effect the chlorine will have on your hair. Your hair is like a sponge, it soaks up what it can hold until it can absorb no more (so you want your hair to absorb clean water and conditioner before entering chlorine water). You also want to make sure you’re clarifying at least once a week if you plan to swim daily. Make sure not to clarify more than once a week because clarifying shampoos are drying as well. My recommendation for clarifying shampoo is the Apretol Cinnamon and Rosemary.
Rinse conditioners are great for using before you swim! You really can’t go wrong with choosing a rinse, so I won’t recommend one over the other. As far as leave-ins, for swimming purposes I recommend using creamier leave-ins like the nacidit, lady fior olive oil and the emergencia cream leave-ins.
Question #3 (which honestly should be my question #1): Will I have access to a Dominican salon? lol
Answer #3: Ummm, I’m guessing Egypt will NOT have Dominican hair salons. lol But if you’re traveling and need to know if a Dominican salon is in the area, try our Dominican Salon Locator.
Question #4: Will I have room to store these items without them being stolen (don’t mess with my Dominican hair products)?
Answer #4: I’m staying with friends and while I’m sure I’ll have no problem with 5-finger discounts, I might not have room for my bonnet dryer. Will it be ghetto to bring my rollers and dry my hair out in the sun? I mean, it IS going to be HOTT!
Question #5: Will I need special AC adapter/converters?
Answer #5: Yes, I definitely need to pack my AC converter BUT I’m not sure if I want to bring my Dominican-powered 3200 watt blow dryer with me! lol I don’t want to be the cause of a power outage while I’m there!
I think you also have to consider what kind of water they have there, just in general if it’s possible (like hard water, soft water etc.). I live in NYC and moved to Pennsylvania for 6 months and they have harder water there…the way my hair reacted to certain conditioners that work great for me here in NYC was completely different over there…I have always used silicon mix because it gives me great results, but when I was in PA it wasn’t working for me at all…
not sure if that’s only my experience though, but now it’s something I consider…
Soooo true L. I’m glad you pointed that out! I know a lot of people who moved to areas where the water was hard and they ended up buying a water filter or using distilled water to wash their hair.
Dont’ drink the water!!!!!!period…..
Having visited Cairo for a few weeks, remember that it is hot and sandy. Most women wear their hair covered, and you may choose to do this to protect it from the sun and sand. If you want to wear your hair out, bring only neccesities…as you will want to use luggage space to bring things back. Also, you will still be able to find hair products there..especially close to the University. I suggest limiting the heat and air dry your hair. Its pretty dry and a lot of flies, so I would take shampoo, conditioner, and leave-in. I suggest you (depending on your hair length) condtion wash, put a leave-in in and do a braid or twist out. I wouldnt even bother with blow-dryers, etc. Rock some cool head wraps and scarfs….Have fun and good luck!
You read my mind!
I am leaving for a 3-week trip to Africa (via the Middle East).
I don’t know what to do about my natural hair - or what appliances, products and hair accessories to bring.
I’m totally overwhelmed about what I should do about my hair - should I get braids or cornrows before I go? I am SO afraiid I won’t be able to manage my natural hair by myself while I’m there!
HELP!
Oh my hair my hair. I recently in April 2009 permed my natural hair. It took me three and a half months to get my natural hair the way i wanted it. i was influenced by a certain friend of mine who actually was jelouse of my hair to perm it now that i think about it. so in return i relaxed and all its components that i purchased from CVS to relax my thick soft natural curly hair :-(. So far I have had three perms since march 2009. I have come to realize that my hair is not as healthy as it is anymore and this makes me really sad. Iused the olive oil line but my hair has given up on me becuase it stopped growing from my perspective. I recently found a domincan hair salon in philly and I was so happy to try it because i just moved here from the bronx for school and have been stressing out about my hair. My hair is very short and i do not want to put relaxers in it anymore. i am going to start my transitioning journey once again this time it might take me a year but im willing to do so… I love the way my hair turned out when i left the beauty salon. but my question is should i keep going and spending 25dollars a week to get my hair done or should i purchase some of the dominican products that ive spent two weeks researching about? Right now the economy is not friendly towards me as well as the majority of the country but im stuck and dont know what to do. I figured if i purchase my own products, buy a dome hair dryer and rollers and do my hair i can save money. what products should i use that will help stimulate fast hairgowth and aide in my transtitioning process? please help…:-(
I live in the DR now after years of living in the states. I can tell you that many Dominicanas hair pretty much resign to leaving their hair curly when they are out of town (and without access to a good salon).
Most women here do not do their own hair. We either have a salon nearby or a lady who comes to the house. I personally have a lady who comes over every Thursday to do my hair. I LOVE IT!! Honestly, i cant even imagine having to do my own hair anymore. I know it probably sounds ridiculous, but i guess you do get used to the small pleasures in life. =)
Hi. I’ve been going to a Dominian Hair Salon in Hampton Roads, VA every 2 weeks for about a year now. I have relaxed hair and I always wondered if all of that heat (hair & blow dryers and sometimes a flat iron) was actually damaging my hair. After leaving the salon, my hair is so full of life. I think I’m addicted (LOL). But my question is, is my actually being damaged?
Saundra, as long as you’re getting deep conditioner treatments with every visit to the Dominican salon, you should be fine.
I am going to Egypt in March of 2010. I love to wear wigs but I have cut my hair and Iam now going natural. I have dyed my hair with a permanent color product, but the color is fading each week. Does any one use a product that will hide the gray and keep the color? My color is a sandy red. I was told by the beauty supply color specislist that red hair color always fades quickly.
Esther,
I am just finding this site, but spoke with the propritor a few years ago when she was first starting the site. In answer to your dilemina regarding your hair. Since you’ve gone through trauma where your hair is concerned, if you can afford it, I would continue to go to the salon for at least 6 months. You owe it to your hair to get it at least in a healhier state. Once you see the regrowth and it is to a length you are comfortable with, I would then start the transition of doing your hair yourself and then going to the salon every two weeks. No exceptions. If you want your hair to return to its former glory then this is what you are going to have to do. You are very correct, the economy is no one’s friend right now, but I have to tell you, I go the salon EVERY week and have been doing so for over 15 years now since I was turned on to my Dominican stylist. I’d damaged my hair by putting in one of those awful curl jobs from back in the day and it was very damaged. I then turned to my Dominican stylist who’d been referred to me long before, I just didn’t know and never went. When I went to my usual stylist to have her correct my hair problems she didn’t (understandably) want to touch it as I’d gone to a total stranger in the first place to have that diastrous curl put in. I was a little put off by her decision as I was a long term client of hers. At any rate I decided this was as good as any time to try the “Dominican” and that was 15 years ago. I never looked back. I’ve been a devoted client since I walked in the door. I never sacrifice when it comes to my hair and I’ve been jobless, more times than I can count through the years, but I faithfully go to my Dominican salon EVERY week. And my hair couldn’t be more gorgeous. I’d never colored my hair before going to the Dominican sylist, but after seeing what she did with my hair and how healthy it became, I decided to try color. The color I had in mind at that time, no-one was wearing it at all. I wanted blonde, with highlights. I know see my color on every body, even the celebrities. I think Queen Nertifier, has the color that I used to wear, she comes really close. However, the point i am trying to convey to you, is make the sacrifice and you will not regret it. Now if you are a married woman with children, in this economy it may be a little difficult to go every week, but some times you have to make that sacrifice. I do not have children, but have two nephews I am helping raise, one of which is in college and you can best believe, I do not allow that to deter me from my weekly regime. However, like I said. To start off, sacrifice and go at least six months, every week, if you can’t extend it to a year (I would do the year but if you really can’t afford that then do the six months) then transition to every other week and on the off week, do it yourself, after that you can make the decision once your hair is back to being the way you want it to be. And as for that girlfriend who initially advised you, is she still your friend LOL! As pay back, don’t share your Domnican secret with her LOL!
Oh Esther in my first sentence, I said six months and every “two” weeks, I meant every other week, go to the sytlist. Sorry. I did reference it further down in my post. Good luck
Saundra,
I know what you mean aboutthe flat irons. Two ways to look at it. As for me, I feel and this is what I do with my hair, I opt out of the flat ironing. You should use as little heat as possible on relaxed hair. I just use the hair dryer at the salon and have my stylist finger curl me out. I like to let the curls drop during the week so that I have plenty of body, bounce and curl and it works great. I know a lot of stylist will put you under the dryer, then blow dry, then flat iron you out, that’s a lot, lotta, lotta heat girl!, But hey, the up side is you are at a Dominican hair salon and the health of your hair is being taken care of so you know it’s a flip of the coin if you will. I will say this. I do not know how old you are, but I am 54 years old and my hair is mid way down my back, AND, I relax, color and highlight it. So think about it. A lotta, lotta heat, or as little as is managably possible. You decide. I think the hair responds better with as less heat as possible and it is always so shiny and full of body when I come out of the dryer anyway.