We see the beauty bloggers via Facebook, Instagram, YouTube etc. and they make the natural hair journey seem like it can be a breeze. Well news flash the journey for me has not been easy. It has been rewarding and fulfilling, but I had to learn a lot for myself along the way.
I wish I had the knowledge and some experience on how to deal with natural hair. Through many trials and error, I learned things that worked and things that did not work me. All in all prior knowledge on how to deal with natural hair would have made the journey so much easier.
- No one told me that being natural was going to require more work. I mean between detangling and making sure the hair is prepped at night for the next day can be time consuming. Unlike relaxed hair, if you don’t deal with it properly, you will cause more problems in the long run.
- You will become a product junkie. I think we all have done this one. Product accumulation due to being herded by the natural hair movement. I had so many products that it was hard for me to decipher which one was working. I felt as if companies began to make money of the movement versus addressing the problem at hand. I found that most of those curly products were over priced and my local drug store products delivered same results.
- I did know that washing the hair will be a longer process. I have watched You-Tubers and other bloggers wash their hair a certain way and when I tried it, my hair was a tangle mess. Not saying the process, did not work, it just did not work for me. I shampoo my hair in sections, which requires more time, but my hair loves it.
- I didn’t know that more time will be spent on caring for my hair. Natural hair is a lot of work. Being that it is dryer it requires patience when washing, deep conditioning and detangling. Not to mention styling. It an arm exercise due to you can spend countless hours trying to properly care for it. Detangling the hair is a beast, and a must for natural hair. With my babygirl’s, we can spend two hours or more detangling.
- Wash “n” Go’s are much easier said than done. You do not just wash the hair and go. The terminology ‘wash ‘n’ go” is deceptive. You have to section the hair, moisturize it and allow for drying time. Depending on the density of the hair, it can take hours for it to completely dry without using heat in the process. Twists outs are the same as well.
- I did not know that you can use non-curl friendly products on the hair. I was deceived in thinking that only so called “curl friendly” products work. I decided to do a different route and I would say since I’ve been using the non-curl friendly products my hair has thrived. I also use hair greases, sulfates and silicones which are all the natural hair no no’s.
- Fairy knots. I wish I knew that dealing with fairy knots would be an issue. Being that natural hair is already tangled, in most cases a single strand know can pull in more pieces of hair causing a bigger knot.
- I did not know that you can didn’t have to big chop when going natural. When I decided to go natural I did the big chop. It was what everyone was doing, and I followed suit just to find out that you can transition while the hair was relaxed.
- I did not know that you can create your own rules. There is no one size fits all formula when it comes to being a natural. It’s okay to glean from others’ methods and tips but create your own if all else fails. Mistakes are going to be made and its okay. Learn from it and move forward. Everything will eventually fall into place. What may work for some, may not work for you and vice versa.
- I did not know that you may receive backlash for natural. Saying that society has put a stigma on women especially black women that your hair is not nice unless it is straight. And it’s me just me saying black men has this false fantasy that they will be able to run their finger thru bone straight hair. Now you have races stating that being natural is not beautiful or professional.
- Length is not everything. Face it most people went natural for the healthier options not length. The health hair is happy hair. We have gotten so caught up in length, that it has seemed to diminish the importance of over all health. If the hair is healthy, it will grow.
