So what had happen was, I just took my hair down from wearing a weave for that last two months. The hair let out what not a pretty thing and I was surprised at the condition of my hair. I had a protective weave to give my hair a break and it still looked like crap! After further examining my hair, I knew at that moment there has to be something better than this. I knew I had to do something different in order to get different results.
I’ve always toyed with the idea of going natural but never took the official plunge to do it. I thought I was doing a good thing by spreading out my perm applications by 10 weeks instead of 8 and wearing weaves to protect my hair…Boy was I wrong!! It was at the point of my hair let out that I made the decision to give up the creamy crack that had been a part of my life since the tender age of 13. This was not an easy decision as I was departing from something that had been a part of my life part of my life for so long. All that I learned about my hair over the years regarding hair care and maintenance was soon to be shifted.
Although I jumped into my natural hair journey with both feet, there were so many missed opportunities, misconceptions and mistakes that I can’t count. These are a somethings I wished I had known before embarking on my natural hair journey.
Be okay with what your hair does – I had the misconception that my hair was going to do everything I saw all the natural girls doing on YouTube. NOT!!! I was clearly mistaken that my hair had the same magic powers I had been binge watching.
I soon had to learn to accept what my hair was doing and to be okay with it. That my hair fails were not failures but the opportunity to learn more about my hair. To learn that my hair is uniquely my own and that I have to do what works for me. Once I reprogrammed my thinking and found my natural hair rhythm, it was smooth sailing at that point.
Shrinkage is Real – As your hair starts to flourish and grow, you won’t be able to see it right away!!! AND…sorry sis, you won’t be able to show them inches right away. Shrinkage is a real thing and it’s natural and normal thing for tighter texture hair. While I knew my hair was long in real life…it was not reflecting that. Because I knew shrinkage wasn’t going anywhere, I had to adapt and start to love it. Not only was it not going anyway, but it was a part of my journey. Shrinkage is not all bad. It’s clear indication that my hair was healthy. Shrinkage is your friend and you don’t have to fight it. It’s a sign that your hair is doing quite well and that soon enough, you’ll be able to show all them inches with shrinkage include.
Product Knowledge - The endless amount products for naturals to choose from is more than anyone could stand. Having the plethora of products to choose from is a good thing but it can also be overwhelming. I found myself trying a lot of things and spending a lot of money because I didn’t know what my hair liked and what it hated. There was a large learning curve as it related to product knowledge. This began for me by just getting to know my hair and what things are good and bad for my hair type. Once I figured out my hair type, the types of ingredients that were good for my hair, I started to notice a difference in how my hair would respond to styling!!
My hair is not going to change overnight – Like I mentioned earlier, I was an avid YouTube binge watcher looking for inspiration from other natural hair vloggers, just trying to find my lane in how I can make this journey work for me. I was inundated with videos of vloggers with beautiful, curly long hair doing exactly what they told it to do. After sleepless nights of YouTube binging and trying to employ those same techniques, steps and products, only for my hair to turn out to be some complete TRASH!!!
I knew I had to change my mindset about my hair and had to realize that it wasn’t going to change overnight. That my journey will be a marathon and not a race. That realization had me embracing my hair very differently!!! To this day, I couldn’t be happier with my hair and how it’s flourishing!!
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