Things I have stopped doing to my natural 4C Hair // PEDA.6
Day six ya´ll!
Da combs
So me and combs have a bit of a special relationship- It all started a while ago when I had just washed my hair and stepped out of the shower and over to my trusty black spaced out tooth comb with a good grip for the struggle ahead. As the firm comb headed for my shrunk wet fluff hair, a thought, like a little Afro Goddess landed on my shoulder and whispered –“Why you combing your hair child? Who told you to comb your hair child? Are the white folks at it again? If it was a natural thing, why you need to buy so many damn lubricant products to make it happen- think about it child!” and poof, away it flew! So basically I had comb doubts folks, like why should I comb my hair??Like I get that white people enjoy combing their hair, in their white night gowns while they sigh at the magic of their lives, but why do my curly tight strands have to be combed/tortured?? So I put it down..and walked away.
The products guys, so many products;
The amount of products and preparations natural girls have to go through to make their hair ‘combable‘ is redic and even more if you are blessed with 4C+ hair glory 😛 Like, I just started feeling like this all smelled more of capitalism and Eurocentric beauty standards than logic, or maybe girlfriend was feeling kinda lazy – whatever it was, I was questioning stuff and so I decided to ease off the conquering comb and allowed my hair to just do its thing. I still use my fingers though for styles, for separating more than detangling and helping my pro ‘togetherness’ strands find some space between. So there is that.
My hair thanks me obviously and is enjoying the free roaming times and so is my happy nappy scalp. When I get ready to put my hair in some braids or twist I also just use my hands to create sections and some oil to keep it well fed while it hibernates as I like to call it.
Another thing I was no longer feeling was all these freak´n products I was supposed to ‘need’ to ‘manage’ my hair. Yeah, that concept also started smelling funny to me. I remember as a kid wondering why every African home had so many freak’n products? And often, before one product was finished, another one would be bought with the promise of new miracles for your mystery of a hair type. We were always trying to find a ‘cure’ for the condition of our hair texture. I told myself that when I grew up, I didn´t want to own and to rely on so many products. Being pro natural stuff, I am now only feeling things I can also eat for my hair and skin, cause hey, if you can eat it, how bad can it be? The list of products usually consists of all of God´s great 100% oils; Shea, Coconut, Olive etc, – and I am loving it! It is simple, cheap and good for you and the planet 😉
No shampoo no shame’yo
What do you mean ew?? While I was in France last year, I randomly saw a clip of an Afro girl saying that she had stopped washing her hair with the usual suspects and was seeing great benefits. I believe that the body is really awesome if you just give it time, do your own research and let it do its thing! Did you know your head naturally produced a hair care product called sebum which is meant to nourish you fluff cost free and naturally??? I was like, dude, I need to give this a go like right now! A few days in and the waxy magical stuff (invisible usually) started to show up when I was washing my hair and I became a believer! My hair is now more soft and has a good flow to it as well. Some people stop the shampoo and also do not add any extra oils, but I live in Denmark and obviously this aint my natural habitant, so I like to give my hair some extra help. I do however, no longer religiously apply stuff/oils to my hair nor scalp because I trust that it has it under control 🙂 I try as a rule to listen to my hair and follow my intuition a long with the process, so if needed, sometimes I use Apple cider to wash and if my hair was filled with dirt of some kind, I would use a small amount of natural, usually African soap. It about balance more than mindless routines I feel.
Letting go of silly expectations!
Another great thing I started doing to my hair is let it be true to itself and stopped seeing it as a disease which needed fixing or managing. When I went natural, I found myself trying to dictate the state of my hair, the texture, shine and bounce because I had gotten it into my head that all of those things were just one right product and technique away. Thankfully, I failed miserably at many techniques and I have no patience to import magical curl products from the internet to Denmark, so I just kind of had to deal. And what a great blessing that turned out to be! I got to practice unconditional love for my hair, shine or no shine, fail twist outs and matted frizzy braid outs and all! Letting go of the natural hair expectations was such a liberating act because god knows I didn´t leave one hair prison to enter a new one.To every girl who embarks on the natural hair journey, please make it your own journey. Get to know your hair, to fall in love with it, to let it teach you about yourself. But then again, perhaps you are like India Arie and not your hair so this aint even that deep to you,.. in that case, just do you boo! Your hair, your rules – but try to remain conscious about which decisions you make about it.
Okay, more on my hair routine or whatever I call this randomness in another post 😉
Stay fluff, magical and never stop defying gravity.
Don´t be a stranger
