Reasons every Black Woman should love their natural hair

Natural hair seems to be what’s trending for most black women these days. What used to be a fashion No No for most, now seemS to be the BIG fashion statement and it’s amazing how fast the Black Natural Hair Community is growing.

I’m sure for the Naturalistas reading this, you are probably thinking ‘here comes another natural hair HATER’, lol, no I’m not one of those, I am a Naturalista myself.

Different people go natural for different reasons. For most, it’s because it’s trending right now, while for others, they want to embrace their God given hair texture, and some will say it’s because they want to grow healthy hair. But for which ever category you fall into, I think going natural is a great decision for every black woman out there, and NO, I am not going to preach to anybody to go natural, because it is a personal decision, and unless one makes the decision themselves, it’s a journey they won’t enjoy.

Now, back to the reasons I decided to grow my natural hair and my journey so far in general.

It all started at the beginning of 2014, I was really getting bored and tired of my relaxed hair (though, I wasn’t thinking of going natural), I had ran out of hairstyles and was really frustrated that my hair was thinning. I initially brought the idea of cutting my hair to my boyfriend (now ex) after one of my cousin’s cut hers and looked really cute on low-cut, but he talked me out of it. So I decided to dye my hair with a deep red colour, which I did. Not knowing that I had only made matters with my hair situation worse.

I have always been the lazy type when it came to taking care of my hair. How my hair grew to shoulder length when it was relaxed, I still do not know, I guess I will attribute that to heredity, not maintenance cos I sucked at it.
What my stylist failed to tell me was that I needed to really treat my hair and do lots of deep conditioning after colouring to avoid damage, and the truth is, even if she had told me, I’m not sure I would have done any of that, cos like I said, I sucked at taking care of my hair.

Anyway, to cut the long story short, my hair got seriously damaged and I didn’t like the way my once long and beautiful hair looked, so one evening, after taking out my PS (protective style), I took a scissors and chopped most of my hair off (that was in April 2014, a month after colouring and relaxing my hair).

I decided to start afresh (still didn’t know anything about going natural, but made up my mind not to relax my hair for a while, to allow healthy new growth), but I was still not taking care of my hair like I should. A few months later, one of my other cousins who has been natural for a couple of years introduced me to a group on Facebook, where they deal with everything that has to do with natural hair. I started scanning through the group every single day, getting tips on products and procedures to treat and maintain a healthy natural hair. The more I saw people’s hairstyles and textures and the more I learned about maintaining hair in general, the more I fell in love with my natural hair.

So in August 2014, I decided to do the final BC (Big Chop – means to cut off all relaxed parts of ones hair)

This was a really huge step for me, because I NEVER thought I would ever cut my hair so low. I wasn’t so sure I had made the right decision, and decided that I was only going to put my hair in a PS until it grew long enough for me to style, because I felt I looked awkward. And that was the beginning of my hair journey which I have been on for about 7 months now (my hair is 1yr old).

Like I said, I am not going to try to preach or convince anyone to go natural, but I will be explaining the reasons and the benefits that made me decide to grow my natural hair. Bear in my mind that my reasons, may not be the same as someone else, so don’t try to compare my experience/reasons with someone else’s.

I Was Frustrated With My Hair � I couldn’t find nothing but complaints within myself about my hair, so it was time to consider a new route. Natural hair’s advantage over relaxed is the protein bonds (responsible for the curl pattern and kinky hair texture) are intact within natural hair strands. Therefore natural hair is stronger and more resilient by default.

I wanted a change � Our Caucasian counterparts are lucky to have lots of options when it comes to changing their hair. There are dozens of haircuts suited for Caucasian texture but sadly this isn’t the case with black hair. I was itching for a hair change and had exhausted all styles possible with relaxed hair, so I decided to go natural.

To Eliminate Growth Pitfalls � Relaxing or straightening creams are powerful chemicals. There is always a risk of scalp scalds or over-processing either of which could hinder or stagnate growth. Going natural freed me of this pitfall since there are no chemicals in contact with my strands.

Hair Versatility � I was seeking to maximize styling options for my hair, so I decided that going natural was absolutely the best alternative. It’s impossible to exhaust every natural hairstyle, including wearing it bone straight as if relaxed. But in case I do, I can always morph styles or coin my own natural hairstyle.

The possibilities are endless.

I think it’s a good thing a lot of black women are embracing their natural hair, because I think it brings to life, ones beauty and also gives a very unique look. Nowadays, when my hair is not in a PS, I always stand out from the crowd, because of my coily kinks.

Thanks for reading.
Till next time

XOXO
Miss Reetah
instagram – @missreeetah
twitter – @missreeetah