I Want to Straighten My Natural Hair
Ah - this natural hair journey. It is indeed THAT - a journey. It takes you on highs and lows, and everything in between. Okay, so maybe I'm being a little dramatic, but I had a bad hair day today. I thought the unthinkable - I thought about chemically straightening my natural hair.
WHAT???!!!! Yes, I did and the reason for this is one that I've found to be common to some naturals: styling my hair is too tedious, especially when it is dry.
Stretched hair is fabulous to work on - wouldn't you say? Your hair strand is relatively straight and the comb / brush can go straight through with hardly any entanglement. Naturals generally obtain stretched hair from no-heat styles such as bantu knots, twist outs, threading, plaits, updos etc., or from using heat from a blowdryer, hot comb or flat iron.
When Type 4 hair is stretched from a twist out, or from being put in an updo, that stretch does not stay in your hair for long. As a matter of fact, as soon as your hair is exposed to the elements (air, sun, moisture in the atmosphere), it begins to shrink back up. What does shrinkage mean for your hair? It means that your curls or coils are tightened, making a lot of twists and turns in your hair strand that make manipulation very difficult. If you noticed, in one of my hair tutorial videos, I had to hold my hair up in the air (stretched out) before I could comb it. If I didn't do that, it would have been hairs breaking all over the place.
Apart from the natural rigours of manipulating my Type 4 hair, I am positive that my hair was extra dry because of a product review that I did two weeks ago. If you haven't seen that video, check it out here. My hair was left brittle and DRY. I believe this contributed to the condition of my hair, making it so uncomfortable to work with.
Now, I acknowledge that perhaps my hair perhaps could do with a good deep condition made with natural ingredients. In that light, I will definitely try out a hair mask and see how that works.
In conclusion, although I do not intend to straighten my hair anytime soon (or ever!), I did want to share my hair reality with you. If you're going through a similar case of frustration with your hair, be encouraged. WATCH THE VIDEO!!
Until my next post,
