It’s been two years since I decided to stop relaxing my hair. I recall being frantically glued to YouTube sucking in all the information I could tolerate about all things natural hair. How to wash, co-wash, pre-poo, no-poo, dc my coils, and all of that. I made sure to use Shea Butter, EVOO, EVCO and all the needed essential oils. Whew!
Fast forward to last week, when my daughter said, “Mom, doing my hair is so much easier now than it was before. We should have learned how to do our hair a long time ago”.
I couldn’t be upset because she was right. Even at the age of thirteen, she confirmed what I had figured out not too long ago. Natural hair wasn’t as hard to maintain as it seemed.
One evening, after a family swim, I just didn’t feel like going through the wash, condish, deep-condish, leave-in, seal, etc., for four heads. Well, three, since I trained my thirteen year old how to care for her own hair. So I decided to cut the routine short using just Kinky Curly Come Clean shampoo, Knot Today Leave-In, along with the Curling Custard. That was it. If you’ve used this product line before, you know the results were awesome. More importantly, I did my hair and my two youngest girls, and they have a LOT of hair I might add, in an hour and a half. I felt so proud that night. There were no tears, no long conditioning sessions, none of the usual.
That night I pondered that it was just too easy. I felt guilty that I didn’t take hours doing our hair, as if I had left off part of a regimen that may cause our hair to fall out or something. However, it didn’t and our hair was just fine. I thought, hair is hair. Why all the fuss? Maybe this natural hair thing is just overrated. I suppose it depends on whom you ask, but from my perspective, natural hair can be just as hard or easy as you want it to be. You can simply find your own groove. I’ve decided I’m keeping it simple!
Is your routine complex? Why do we seem to make it harder than it needs to be? Thoughts?
I agree with you. I was shocked to find out that natural ladies fret over their hair just as much as anyone else. I also agree in finding your own groove and finding out what works best for your hair. I actually enjoy taking care of my hair now that I know what it needs.
Absolutely, no matter what the texture, the hair will still have to be maintained and cared for, even if the process changes a bit.