Being Natural = Simpler Times… Hmmmm
Written on June 13th, 2011. Fully natural for less than a month.
It
seems like everywhere I go online, I come across different treatments
and more and more facts on hair etc. To be honest, it’s all getting a
bit overwhelming. I’m all for taking care of my hair and finally
learning the best way to do that but surely there should be a more
straight forward and simpler way of doing it? I think I’ve got the
shampooing, co-washing, deep conditioning, leave-in conditioning, hot
oiling, sealing down…phew but then there’s protein treatments, apple
cider vinegar rinses, using glycerin in the summer but not winter, henna
treatments once a month…the list goes on. With all of these regimen
staples flying about, how will I ever know what my hair “likes”? And
surely I should try something more than once to determine if my hair
likes it or not?
My
hair is new to me. I haven’t seen my hair in its completely natural
state since I was about 7. And even then, I had a completely different
perspective of it and of course, didn’t pay attention to its health. So
when people say…listen to your hair…I don’t know my hair! I know relaxed
hair. I know when relaxed hair is dry, if it’s breaking, if it’s
damaged, if it’s dead, if it’s moisturized, if it’s too oily. I don’t
know my hair. My natural hair. I don’t know how it’s supposed to feel
like to be healthy, how it should feel or look if it’s moisturized, dry,
too oily, strong, weak, dead.
So
now when I read on blogs saying stuff like only do a protein treatment
if your hair needs it. How do I know if my hair needs one? How do I know
if my hair really is moisturized and not just “shiny” or “slightly
oily”? From what I’ve learned so far, relaxed hair and natural hair are
polar opposites. Relaxed hair hates water, natural hair loves it. A fine
tooth comb can glide easily through relaxed hair. Do that to natural
hair and that comb’ll never come out.
I
had the same idea that people who have since seen me with my BC have
said “it must be such low maintenance”…ummm no not really. I’m feeling
like I’m doing more to my hair on a regular basis than my relaxed days.
Yes when I was relaxed I had to also DC etc plus blow dry my hair, spend
about 20 mins flat ironing it but then for the rest of the week, all
I’d do is wrap it every night til wash day came round again and I’d
spend another 2 hours doing it. But that was it, 2 hours a week that I
had to worry about my hair. Am I only finding this whole natural thing
consuming cos it’s new to me? I’m loving my hair but I’m worried about
the time I’m spending on it, the number of things I have to do to get it
looking the way I’d like. And what will happen when I start working?
And when my hair grows out to a length that takes longer than 20 mins to
air dry? Will I be used to it by then? I hope so.
I’m
all for having healthy, bouncy happy hair. I was and still am willing
to do whatever it takes to get there. It would just be nice to see a
more simple regimen so that I don’t become a slave to a new hair master.
