Natural Hair Lingo

Picture taken by a friend

When you visit websites, blogs, or forums dedicated to natural hair, you will come across different terminology.  I was quite puzzled when I first started my transition journey.  I didn't know what a CBL or a TWA was... but as I got more involved in the community, I was able to find the definitions for all the terminology.  Here are some that I know so far.

A
ACV- Apple Cider Vinegar

ALS- Ammonium Laureth Sulfate, Ammonium Lauryl Sulfates

AO - Aubrey Organics

APL- Arm Pit Length

AVJ- Aloe Vera Juice

B

BAA- Big a** afro

Baggy - After you moisturize your hair at night, you put a plastic cap on overnight.

BBA - Big Beautiful Afro

BC - Big Chop - cutting off all your chemically treated hair

BNC- Braid-n-Curl, simply plait or braid the hair and roll the ends on rods or flexis. You can also pin curl it with a bobby pin.

BSB - Below Shoulder Blade

BSL- Bra Strap Length

BSS- Beauty Supply Store

C

CBL- Collar Bone Length

CC - Creamy Crack - Relaxer

Clarifying - When you wash your hair to remove product build up.

CL - Chin Length

CN- Curly Nikki

Co-Wash- Using conditioner to wash your hair in place of shampoo

CON - Creme of Nature

Cones- Refers to Silicones. In the ingredients of any hair products, these are ingredients ending in "cones".
CG- "Curly Girl" method.

D

Dry Combing - Combing your hair while it is dry

DT or DC- Is a deep treatment or conditioner.
Dusting- Dusting your hair is a trim of 1/4 and inch or less.
E

EO- Essential Oil

EVCO- Extra Virgin Coconut Oil

EVOO- Extra Virgin Olive Oil

F

Flexi-set - Using Flexi-rods to style your hair

H
HG- Holy Grail (Products that are tried and true)

HHG- Healthy Hair Growth. Growing hair that is not only long but healthy

HIH- Hand in Hair. Its a disease that causes you to always be manipulating your tresses.

HL- Hip Length

J

JBCO- Jamaican Black Castor Oil

K

KCKT - Kinky Curly Knot Today

KCCC- Kinky Curly Curling Custard

L

LHCF- Long Hair Care Forum

M
MBL- Mid Back Length

N
Nappyversary/Nattyversary - The anniversary of the day you became a natural

NG- New Growth

NL- Neck Length

No-poo- No shampooing
P

Pineappling- Night routine for protecting and preserving curls

PJ- Product Junky or someone that buys a lot of hair products

Plopping- A quick dry method where you use a t-shirt or a terry cloth towel or a paper towel to dry your hair instead of rubbing a towel on your hair to dry it.

Pre-pooing- A treatment applied prior to shampooing.

PSing- Protective Styling - Styling your hair where the ends are not exposed, therefore helping in retaining length.

S
SAA- Silk Amino Acids - Protein found in some hair products

Sealing- Is essentially sealing moisture in the hair, specifically the ends.

Search and Destroy (S&Ds)- Process of looking for split ends, single strand knots or crooked ends and cutting them off.

SL- Shoulder Length

Slip- Used to describe how slippery a product is (usually a conditioner or detangler)... the more slip it has, the more effectively it will coat the hair to aid in detangling.

SLS- Sodium Laureth Sulfate - an ingredient found in hair products that can cause dryness of the hair.

T
TnC- Twist-n-Curl. This is my signature style. I twist the hair and roll the ends.

Transitioning - The process of growing out your natural hair while still retaining your relaxed ends
TWA- Teeny Weeny Afro

Twist Out - Two strand twist the hair, allow to dry either by air drying or sitting under a dryer, take the twists apart, and style.

Tx- Treatment

W


WL- Waist Length

Wash and Go (WnG)- Washing your hair, add a styler (gel, cream) and leaving the hair to air dry or dry with a diffuser.