My Natural Hair Journey

I've been "natural" since 2012 (Junior year of high school), and it took me a long time to come to that decision. There were several friends around me wearing braided styles, sew-ins, crochet hair styles (myself included, still to this day), perms, spiral curls (rollers, flexi-rods, perm rods), buns, ponytails or straightened hairstyles (wraps, feathers, layers, pressed, flat-ironed). For young Black women, our hair has been put in various styles from childhood and various hair mistakes were done to us or we've done them to ourselves.

For myself, all of that is what made it so hard for me to go "natural". I was hesitant, I didn't know how I would style my hair, what products to try, where I would get advice from (ask friends and family who've done it, it'll save you from the struggle), but I knew I wanted to know more about my hair, learn to love it in it's natural form, try various natural hairstyles, and start over from all the years of unknown damage.

My main reason for going "natural" was strength and growth. For Black hair, that seems to be everyone's struggle yet desire. Back in high school, I wished I watched YouTube tutorials on natural hair, I don't know why I was oblivious to that idea!

I remember how much hair my Mom or I would yank out of my head (I didn't know the proper ways to detangle), I didn't know about the "LOC Method", to section my hair in twists (I would let it air dry or always blow dry it), I didn't know about applying products to my hair with "praying hands" to stretch it out and I didn't know to use a T-shirt to dry my hair or that a "puff" was a simple and quick style to do just to name a few things...

Back in 2016 (Junior year of college) was when I really got in to watching YouTube channels dedicated to tips/tricks on how to treat, care and style natural hair, it was life changing! There were many days I wore my hair in a fro, just piling products in it that I thought would automatically make it "curly" and looking back, my hair looked like a black cloud. I remember wearing my fro proudly and people actually giving me compliments, I did me regardless.

From watching various videos I learned about "twist outs", "flat twist", 2 strands twists vs 3 strand twists, the LOC Method, "pre-pooing" and using products along with water (adding water to it or spraying water on my hair first). Some other hair hacks I learned was exfoliating my scalp with a vibrating scalp massager, training my hair to create a curl pattern, keeping my nails short to avoid breakage and how to keep my hair in "stretched styles".

The LOC Method stands for "Liquid/Leave-in Conditioner, Oil and Cream" which is a styling method used on wet hair to help seal in moisture, give your hair definition, improve hair texture, give you hair length (stretch it out), prevent breakage and promote growth.

The "pre-poo" method is specific to how you treat and cleanse your hair. "Pre-pooing" is a anti-breakage tip, applying oils to wet hair before shampooing, this helps the hair become easier to detangle with a wide-tooth comb or your fingers and leaves the hair with a softer, more moisturized texture.

Personally, for the LOC Method, a lot of the "style creams", "curl custards" and leave-in conditioners broke my face and neck out, so I had to ditch those kinds of products and focus more on finding more naturally, fragrance free products.

For the last 3 years I've used some type of moisturizing, rich, growth oil like Jamaican Black Castor Oil, Olive Oil, Jojoba Oil, Peppermint Oil, Rosemary OIl, Avocado Oil, Grape seed Oil, Almond Oil or Shea Butter (raw or melted) while spraying water on my hair to style it and it's worked out great for me! Also, mixing all these together in a bottle to moisturize you hair causes amazing growth, strength and healthiness to scalp, hair and ends.

Over the last 8 years, there's been a lot of trial and error. Plenty of times, I've dealt with my hair not coming out like the videos, my hair still being wet after a day or two of air drying, lots of split ends or shedding, products breaking my face and neck out and switching through all kinds of brands to see what worked. I've had bad hair days and I've had several moments where I didn't know what to do with my hair at all.

What I will say about deciding to go natural is it's a lot of work, it takes a lot of patience, you will grow to love your hair, learn how to manage and care for it better and learn how to do and try versatile "protective styles". I've also learned about having "Low Porosity vs High Porosity hair" and figuring out what texture/grade of hair I have (that's worth another story). I am proud of the change in growth and texture I've seen as well.

My hair is my crown and I have to protect it and treat it as such.