My 5 Natural Hair Mistakes!
At the time of this post, I have been natural for 1 year and 5 months since my big chop back in September 2014. Prior to that, the last time I was natural was just before my high school graduation. During the 18 or so years that followed, until now, I had brief periods of natural hair. I wore it for a while in a boy cut (manhead), and then I let it grow out to about 6 inches another time.
That being said, it had been YEARS since I was properly natural. Initially, I did not see this as being a setback or potential challenge to me when I did my big chop. As a matter of fact, despite my anxiety about how it would wear professionally, I had no concerns whatsoever about taking care of my natural har. After all, I'd had it for years and years in school. What could be so difficult about taking care of it?
I got a rude awakening. The following are 5 mistakes that I made with my natural hair, causing me frustration and hair damage, simply because I was not adequately prepared to deal with my natural hair.
MISTAKE #1: I WORE MY HAIR IN AN AFRO ALL THE TIME
Consequence: Dry, split ends and frequent snipping off the damaged ends
Avoid this by: Wearing protective styles such as braids, and even finger coils if you can
From the moment of my big chop, my go-to hairstyle was the TWA and then afro puff. My hair was so short at first that the only thing TO do was an afro. I had no other way of styling it. At first, this did not seem to affect my hair at all. My hair grew like weed, and the ends were straight, especially to the front.
My hair care routine was to wash daily, or sprinkle with water on mornings to get it soft, comb it out aggressively with an ordinary comb (not a large toothed one), pat it down and head out the door. I was, and still am, a student, so I also didn't have time for any shenanigans with my hair. To be fair to myself, I tried an African Pride souffle-ish set once, and it didn't work on my hair, so I went back to my water-and-pat-down method.
MISTAKE #2: I CUT MY HAIR IN FRUSTRATION
Consequence: A botched haircut
Avoid this by: Trimming your hair in increments like about 1/3 inch, or visiting a professional stylist to shape your hair correctly
Only a few days after rocking this sweet afro in February 2015 (picture on the left), I "chang chang"-ed (did an unshapened cut) my hair. My beautiful, rounded afro shape was replaced by this high top, flat back look (picture on the right).
Why did I do such a drastic thing? Well, as you know, the thing about any type of hair though, particularly, Type 4 hair is that it does not stay soft for long. So just maybe a day or so AFTER rocking this sweet, soft, puff, cotton-feeling afro style on the left, my hair became hard and bulky again (middle picture). I admit that I did not plait it in the night time, so it bulked up on me. My fault, I know.
I had gotten so frustrated with feeling (what I know now as) single strand knots in my hair, and always having the hair sections behind my ears (toward the back) and middle of my head, shrinking up. The comb could not comb all the way through. The day I "chang chang"-ed my hair, a number of factors added to my distress as well. I had had a long day at school which included a presentation in an outfit I hated. Then, my hair just wasn't working with me. It had gotten all hard and bulky. After school, I went straight to a private remedial reading session with a child, so by the time I reached back home, I was HOT, SWEATY and IN A BAAAD MOOD concerning my hair. My hair did not stand a chance...lol.
These were some resulting looks:
MISTAKE #3: I WANTED ALL MY SINGLE STRAND KNOTS GONE WITH ONE CUT!
Consequence: I unnecessarily cut too much hair off
Avoid this by: Trimming your hair in increments of about 1/3 inch each time
Single strand knots (aka fairy knots) are the tiny, litle bumps you feel along your hair strand when you pass your fingers along. They are caused when our curly hair curls upon itself. Think of when you are knotting a single piece of thread. That looping action you make when you pass one end of the thread into the hole, well, our hair does that all on its own. Knots can ultimately damage your hair in different ways. Read what Black Girl, Long Hair has to say about the situation.
You can prevent single strand knots by reducing wash and go's (which I was doing a lot of with my TWA), lubricating or sealing the ends of your hair and avoid excessive curls by stretching your hair.
When your hair has a lot of fairy knots like mine did, it is wiser to trim it incrementally. Go gradually, so that you don't risk losing the shape of your hair.
MISTAKE #4: I DID NOT VARY THE STYLE OF MY HAIR
Consequence: I did not know the beauty, versatility and length of my hair and only saw the hard-to-manage side of my mane
Avoid this by: Styling your hair in a variety of ways - stretched and curled to see its range of beauty
Looking back, apart from my botched haircut, this was my biggest hair mistake. I kept my hair in basically one style (afro puff) when I had to go out, and when I was at home, my hair was just in my head, hardly any styling. What that did was that it limited me from experiencing the true beaty of my hair. There WAS one time when I could finally put my hair in a ponytail, with the help of some gel and tying it down with a scarf, but apart from that, I didn't know my hair's true length or even curl pattern!
These pictures below emphasize what I am saying:
Ain't no joke!
These pictures are 3 weeks apart, and yet it looks like months of growth. This is because I tried a different style on my head in the picture on the right. Essentially, it is the same headband style, but the picture on the left was my typical routine - wash this 'hard' hair or moisten with water, comb it back and put in a headband. My hair was constantly in this shrunken state, so I never KNEW how beautiful my hair looked.
To tell you the truth, when I took the picture on the right (I even posted it on Instagram), I was amazed and shocked. I had never seen my hair like this, and - here's my point -IT WAS THE SAME HAIR! One was in its shrunken, tightly coiled state and the other was a bit more stretched out.
I'll give you another, much more recent example. Just a couple days ago, I was editing my first ever YouTube video (yayy) and preparing a post about my hair type. To be quite honest with you, I was going through a similar feeling like I had before I did my ratchet haircut. My hair wasn't co-operating and I was getting despondent.
Anyay, so I did my 'What is My Hair Type' post, and when I saw my curls, and the hairstyle that I put my hair in, wow! it blew me away. I appreciate my hair so much more...and to think - AGAIN - that I was about to cut it up so more (in smaller increments though).
These are additional hairstyles that I 'chanced' and was pleasantly surprised by. The first and last pictures were accomplished using pomade (old-fashioned grease). I will have a tutorial on that in the near future, 'cause nothing softens and straightens my hair like grease (Vaseline, Dax etc). The one in the middle is beautifully light, and was accomplished using Shea Moisture Detangler.
FOR MY SAKE, PLEASE WEAR YOUR HAIR IN DIFFERENT STYLES TO EXPERIENCE ITS BEAUTY, VERSATILITY, SHINE AND LENGTH.
MISTAKE #5: I DID NOT MOISTURIZE MY HAIR DAILY
Consequence: My hair broke off easily and was very hard to manipulate
Avoid this by: Spraying plain water or enhanced water (e.g. mixed with leave-in conditioner or oils) on your hair, using pomade, detanglers etc.
I do no have a picture of my dry hair, but I do have a picture of moisturized hair immediately after a wash.
It looks so soft and touchable, and indeed it was. I used the Shea Moisture Extra-Moisture Detangler for that. Our hair is so easy to get tangled and break if it is not properly moisturized. Use creams, light and heavy oils, water- do your do, but always keep your hair happy.
I am currently on a regimen using extra moisture, applying it especially to my ends, so I will see how that helps to retain length. I think that my hair could go faster than it is doing now, but then again, I have been trimming my hair so much (I literally trim like every 2 weeks or so) that the growth keeps getting cut off. I attribute this to my constant afro puffs which I wear a lot of.
UPDATE: Because of all the damage I put my hair through, I am on a healthy hair care regimen. I wear a lot more protective styles now, and as I said, moisturize my hair a lot more.
Thank you, folks, for reading this article and I do hope that you take care of your hair better than I took care of mine at the beginning.
