I have been natural for at least three years now, I am not sure I stopped counting. I became natural because it was difficult and expensive to take care of my relaxed hair here in Bermuda. My hair would never stay straight because of the humidity so I decided to cut it off and stay natural.
It has been a learning process of trial and error. I came across all these natural hair blogs and became overwhelmed by all this information. When I had a TWA(teeny weeny afro), it was easy, I would just do a wash and go. I loved this stage. After a couple of months I reached the awkward stage and my go to style was the puff.I constantly manipulated my hair so it did not grow as fast and most times I did not know what I was doing. I had the information but putting it into practice was kind of hard. My hair did not do what I saw on YouTube, so I thought I was doing something wrong.
When I got pregnant,everything was harder to do including washing my hair. My scalp became tender, imagined or not we shall never know. The good thing was that my hair grew stronger, shinier and longer. It was the only thing I liked about myself when I was pregnant. Three months after Leo was born, my hair started shedding and my hair line vanished. Silly as it may sound I was devastated. I hated looking at my hairline and styling my hair became difficult.
Now the shedding has slowed down and my hairline is almost back. I now know what works for my hair and what does not. First I had to accept three things about my hair:
- I do not have lots of hair, I have fine, low density hair. Its bad for styling but saves me time when I am twisting or braiding.
- My hair dries quickly.
- I have 4b/c hair that shrinks and tangles a lot. I can not do wash and go’s or sleep without re-twisting.
- My hair thrives when in protective styles.
My routine is simple, with a child I need something that does not take me time. I do my hair once every week. Here is how I do it
- Undo protective style and detangle
- Prepoo with coconut oil and make large twists.
- Wash in twists or sections with Tresemme shampoo and conditioner. (I do not buy the natural hair products because they are expensive)
- Deep condition (I use my DIY Deep Conditioners)
- I use the LOC (liquid, oil, cream) method to moisturise. I use my DIY moisturiser
- Style, usually flat twists
- Moisturise again as needed during the week.
Length is not really my goal but I know I will gain length with all the protective styling I do. If you are planning to become natural learn what your hair needs because everyone’s hair is different.