Exclusive Interview with author & business owner Melva Williams-

We sat down with Salon owner and author Melva Williams to discuss “An Educational Guide to Healthy Hair. With 25 years of experience as a hair care expert, she has given women of all backgrounds the answers to healthy hair.

Tell us about An Educational Guide to Healthy Hair

I am really, really excited about it. It’s a step by step guide basically for any woman and men can definitely learn from it as well. It’s for any woman that is having medical issues with medication, hormones, testosterone, over-exercising, or not enough exercise in their diet, a woman who may have permed her daughter’s hair too soon, how much water you need to drink, from the general public, to the student before she touches her first set of hair.  Anyone can learn from the guide. It really talks about from the inside out.

It’s not your everyday hair care book, it’s for internal issues. What’s going on with our hair and how our medical issues and our hair issues relates? A lot of times we think we are losing our hair to the outside issues due to the weave, the braids, and the color, and things of that nature.  But a lot of times it’s what’s going on inside our bodies. I help women connect the dots of what’s going on the inside and how those issues relate to our hair loss.

What inspired you to write a guide to healthy hair?

Well, really what inspired me was watching my mom lose her hair while I was a kid.  She would go to the doctor and there was no help for her.  Then she would go to the salon and there was still no help for her because the stylist didn’t have answers for her. Then when I became a stylist, I had to watch it all over again. There are so many classes for us with color and weave, but not a lot of classes to educate us on the effects of the inside. I am really trying to see a change for that.  I am trying to get my class board certified. That is what really inspired me was watching my mom loose her hair and then seeing it all over again in the salon. I self-educated for 13 years and then I wrote this guide.

What are some tips you can give women who are going natural from a relaxer?

One of the main things I would say is to make sure you are drinking your water. I am a stickler about water. Everything is going to start from the inside out. We are plants of the earth. We must hydrate ourselves because we must remember natural hair is already going to be naturally dry.  We are plants and you don’t water your plants, what’s going to happen? The leaves are going to turn yellow and brown and then fall off.  So, if you’re not drinking your water like you are supposed to, then you’re not flushing your vital organs like your kidneys and liver. It’s not going to be enough water to make it to your hair.  Hydrating yourself is going to be #1 and it’s very important that natural hair stays moisturize inside out. Drinking your daily amount of water is going to be #1.

#2, what was the other thing that was most important about plants? Is having to trim back those leaves.  Make sure you get your trim every two months like clockwork.  It’s not that Caucasians hair grow faster than ours, it’s that they get their trims like clockwork. But a lot of African-American Stylist, they don’t know what trims are and cut too much hair.  People become scared in this area. Find yourself a stylist that knows what a trim is and stay consistent with your trims because if not, that hair is like a T-shirt.  If you ripped it and you don’t sew it, what’s going to happen?  It’s going to keep tearing into your healthy hair.  It will keep splitting and splitting. You have to get those trims like clockwork so that you can see your growth. Trimming your hair is a part of your healthy growth process. You don’t have to do the big chop, unless you want to, but trimming is very necessary.

Another thing, if you are going natural you will have to switch to a non-sulfate shampoo and conditioner. The non-sulfate is very different than from the shampoos that have the sulfate in them because you are going to notice the difference in it that will make your hair really hard and dry because of the difference in chemical.  You are going to need to make a switch in your products. Then making sure you get your treatments versus just doing a regular conditioner.  Protein builds your hair up in strength. Those are some tips that are a good starting place.

It seems that 2015, is a year of promoting natural hair over relaxed hair, would you say that is true?

I think it is a trend, but that’s kind of a two part question. I have my thoughts as being a hair stylist. The reason why, is part of it is a trend because it gets people back to their roots and makes them feel a certain way. But a lot of it, is not part of a trend because it’s health wise.   A lot of people had a really bad experience with the chemicals. It’s not the chemical that gave them the bad experience, it was the way the chemical was applied. The chemical may have been too strong, maybe it was not the correct chemical for them, or not being properly experienced.

There are a lot of reasons why people are going natural. I don’t feel it’s all just a trend. I feel stylist have to educate themselves. We get caught up in the style of things, the look, the color, the cutting, and the weave. We don’t’ continue to educate ourselves to make sure we are applying things properly and educating ourselves to make sure we are doing the chemical processing and the basics that we were taught in school. We get away from those things and we need to go back to those things, the basics.

What is the message that you would like for your readers to take away?

The overall message that I want people to take away is that anything that affects your bloodstream, is going to affect your hair. If our hair is our glory, our glory shines from the inside out. That is where you must start. You must start from the inside because our bodies are our temple. We cannot just put anything in it to expect to have a healthy head of hair.  There are so many things that affect our hair. How much water we drink, what we eat, the medication we take, how much we stress, our metabolism, testosterone levels, birth control, steroids, and high blood pressure. There are a lot of things that upset our hair. Stress takes a toll on the body. If you’re sick, your hair will be sick. I want people to take away that everything has an effect on your hair.

What ahead for you for the rest of 2015?

The sky is the limit for me. I have a few offers on the table, but nothing is set in stone at this time. I have been offered my own radio show and I have not decided whether I am going to take it yet. I am praying on it. It’s on hair health that will enable me to be able to talk about other health issues.  My salon actually made it as finalist for reality show. That’s still in the making and being talked about at this time. Nothing has been set in stone for that at this time. I am definitely growing out of the place that I am now. I am looking to stay in the area but looking to grow into a larger space and grow my business. Just to continue to grow and get into the fashion side.

You can find more about Ms. Melva Williams on social media and you can ask her questions about your hair. She gives out tips on her Instagram. Her guide is truly educational with insightful and helpful information to get you to healthy hair inside out.  We are plants of the earth and must nurture and care for ourselves.  “Our hair is our glory and it shines from inside out.” 

www.Facebook.com/Silky Soft Hair (Product Page)

www.Facebook.com/Mending Tresses (Healthy Hair Specialist Page)

IG- Healthy Hair Specialist (give out tips on hair care)

Twitter: MelvatheStylist

Photo credits:  Silver Rush Photography