Mane Matters with Ibukun Aiyemo

Hello Naturalistas,

Welcome to another episode of Mane Matters, Today I bring you Ibukun. Enjoy 

AN: Can you tell us who you are and what you do?

I'm Ibukun Joyce Aiyemo, a student and an Aspiring TV presenter. I'm quite young but I'm driven by my passion to impact the world positively. 

    

AN: What's your thoughts about natural hair?

Natural hair to me is something I see as very lovely; in the sense that it reveals your true personalty and makes you feel more comfortable in your own skin. 

AN: Why did you decide to go natural?

I've been natural all my life. At first I was always having arguments with my mum about relaxing my hair but she never succumbed to all my advances lol. She gave numerous examples of my friends whose hair had chopped off because of the damage the relaxer caused.  I still insisted as usual.  But as I grew older, I began to fall in love with it. Every time I went to the Salon to get my hair done, everyone would just turn to me. They always commented and were wowed by its length and how full it was. Obviously this made me realize how people actually loved it. Fortunately I kept my natural hair, so I never had to BC or transition. 

       

AN: Do you think you are in it for the long haul or is it just a phase?

I've been on natural hair all my life. It'd be a huge decision I'd have to make if I decide to relax it. I love my hair, and I haven't thought about that and I really hope I dont.

      

AN: Do you have any hair regimen you stick to?

I wouldn't say I have any special hair regiment but when I have time I get a twist out, afro, braiding, etc. I'm going to College real soon, so I believe I'd have more time for my hair. I plan to have my own statement natural hair, which would be an Afro-Twist out which would definitely make me unique and make people appreciate the Natural Hair.

AN: There are people that definitely have negative comments about you hair, how do you deal with that?    

 Most of the time, when I go to the salon, alot of people ask me if my hair hurts and why I have to go through the stress of keeping a natural hair.It really doesnt bother me because your Passion overrides the Pain. Its hard sometimes when you can't do a weave and leave your hair out in the center, knowing that it wouldn't look nice.  But not everything is for everyone. 

  

AN: Whats your must have product and accessory?

 My must-have product is definitely the Hair detangler ..its been very helpful since I was a child.  Apart from that, I use shea butter and other soft and curly products. 

  

AN: Whats you advice to anyone planning to ditch relaxers?

My candid advice to anyone planning to dictch the relaxers it " GO FOR IT"and I promise you wont regret it. I hope you enjoy it even more than I do.

AN: Thank you for your time.

Thank you so much for enlightening so many people on Natural hair and I'm very grateful for this opportunity to also tell everyone about my natural hair journey. 

Biotin on Natural Hair update and moving house!

Happy Tuesday ladies! I am back after taking a short break to move houses. Its been a hectic time and just wanted to catch up with you and bring you up to speed on my Biotin Challenge. Bless up ladies!

Diary of an Honest Naturalista: Week 47

So I found myself in the bus on my way to work, after we resumed from Easter break. I carried my big work bag, as usual. You know those big bags working class ladies who don’t have cars have to carry, in order to contain a pair of flat slippers, portable umbrella, in case of sudden rain, novel, make up bag, etc. Like many Lagos ladies, that’s my regular work bag. It was this same bag that I was about to be robbed from, before I attacked with my naturalista weapon of mass destruction.

The thing about this kind of bag is that they have the ability to swallow anything put into them, as most of them don’t come with partitions nowadays. Because of this, I always make sure my wallet doesn’t travel all the way down, by making sure it is one off the last things I put in my bag.

I had forgotten to arrange the contents of my bag in the most convenient way for me before I boarded the bus. On getting a comfortable seat in the bus, I got lost in thought and reminisced about my recent regrettable hair cut incident. Next thing, the voice of the conductor snapped me out of my reverie, and I immediately dug my hand into my bag to fish my wallet out.

Shoot, the wallet had travelled deep into the bottom of the bag’s ocean. To make matters worse, my wallet is not the long horizontal fat one, but those ones that fold into three parts, so it had more opportunities to get lost.

After using my hand to dig all through my bag without results, and the bus conductor had started flashing me wicked eyes, I decided to use my eyes to search, and looked into my bag. Still, nothing.

I lowered my head further, in order to intensify my search, and about 20 seconds or so later, I finally found the elusive piece of accessory. “Bingo!” I thought, and felt a spirit of triumph soar through me.

I put my head up to display my trophy, but the head refused to obey instructions. What was happening? I tried again, and all I head was “snap, snap.”

A bunch of my hair strands had been caught in the zipper hook of my bag. I had put my now-short hair into a forced ponytail, and part of the hair strands in front had found a way to get themselves out of the band, curled up, and ran into the zipper hook.

By this time, I was the only one in the bus that hadn’t paid. The conductor had left me, gone to other passengers, and come back to me. He was now screaming at me to bring my money. He saw my head down, the way I was twisting it, and probably felt I was acting weird, and probably feigning insanity or illness.

I knew I couldn’t afford to be hasty, and force the hair out of where it was stuck, and the guy’s harassment was already getting to me. With my head still down, and hair still stuck, I opened my wallet, and thanked God I had the exact currency he needed. I took my t-fare out, and with my head down, gave the money to the passenger seated beside me, to pass down to the conductor. From my side eye, I noticed the eyes of the conductor and some other passengers looking at me strangely.

The conductor just shook his head, and sat down, while I thought of the best way of solving my situation. I had just cut my hair, so taking out a blade to cut out the snag was out of it. Besides, I couldn’t tell how many inches were stuck. To make matters worse, I couldn’t even turn my head to see it, so I couldn’t tell if I was getting the hair more stuck. It seemed like nothing was happening. I was frustrated, and trying not to freak out.

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We got to a bus stop, and the passenger beside me alighted, so the next to me moved to my side. He seemed to have noticed my strange posture. After coming into a full understanding of my struggle, he took pity on me, and offered to help me get my out of the rut it was stuck in.

After begging him to take it easy, little by little, he was able to get the strands out, and I heard only about three or four snaps. Not bad for a guy that had probably never detangled in his life.

When he was done, I put my head up, and took a good look at him. He was quite young, good looking, and had a welcoming face. I flashed a very embarrassing smile to him, and said “thank you, I really appreciate it.”

“No problem. You are welcome.” He said, with a slight Yoruba accent, and the added, “but you women are trying o, with all these hair wahala.”

“You can say that again.” I sighed.

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Using Aloe Vera on Natural Hair - Tricky as a fox

Despite all the glorious information about Aloe Vera, it is one of those things your hair either really adores or absolutely detests. I am sure that had I not had a first-hand experience, I would have joined everyone saying Aloe Vera lays down hair cuticles. Aloe vera is a very strong humectant, and at the same time, of acidic ph. If you use it on your hair, there are two things that can happen. It would either lay your cuticles down, giving you a smooth look, or it would act as a humectant, and do basically what humectants do. Please, note that many naturals have said Aloe vera dries out their hair, while some others say their hair thrives after using Aloe vera. With all said and done, I will share, in this post, my experience with this wonderful natural resource.

It all started when I twisted my hair, with the intention of achieving a twistout for a photoshoot I did for a fashion magazine interview.

I read a long time ago that a great recipe for leave-in conditioner is your regular leave-in conditioner + Jojoba oil + Aloe Vera gel (the famous kimmaytube recipe). So I tried this on my hair before doing the twists. The plan for the photoshoot was for me to have about three different hair style. (Well-defined curls, loosely defined curls, and a giant fro).

The Aloe Vera I used was raw Aloe Vera Gel directly from the plant. As you know, we manufacture hair products, African Naturalistas hair products, so I have my own small Aloe Vera plantation.

I did the twists, and three days later went for the shoot. By the time I got to the venue of the interview, and undid the twists, I knew something was definitely wrong, and the culprit was the Aloe Vera. Compare pics below.

So all that talk of Aloe Vera being acidic, thus laying your hair cuticles flat was arrant nonsense for me. It caused my hair to swell, be very big, and undefined. As a naturalista, since we are versatile, I found a way to make the epic fail work to my advantage. And I then noted that I would never use Aloe vera on my hair again, if the intention is to do a twistout in the end.

After the shoot, I got home, and retwisted the hair. Exactly, a week later, I was at a venue of another photoshoot. I untwisted the hair again, hoping the effect of the Aloe vera would have worn out, since it was almost 2 weeks. The picture below is what my hair looked like after I untwisted it: Still not defined, but not as bad as the previous week. We had like five sessions of shoot this time.

With all the photoshoot and manipulation of hair, I felt this would set me back in my hair journey, cos my hair doesn’t like being left out. I lose more hair when it is not in protective styles. So that same day, I did some corn rows. As the stylist was making the hair, I noticed I was losing a lot of hair. A week later, when I took down the corn rows, deep conditioned, and washed, I lost a lot of hair, like twice of what I lose on a normal day. I moaned and blamed it on the photoshoot, and the manipulation we had to do two weeks in a row.
After washing, I applied the Aloe vera leave-in recipe again. I did this because I did not plan on doing twist outs. Two days later, I had my hair in corn rows, and then two weeks later, I took it down.

Oh my gosh. My hair was the driest ever. It was terrible. Again, I lost a truck load of hair. I lost hair so much than I have ever lost since I started measuring my hair loss. I compared the loss to when I had twists on for 4 weeks, travelled out, took four flights, and used sulphate shampoo, and the Aloe vera had a worse effect than the former situation. My hair was as hard as a rock. I began to wonder who sent me message. It was then it occurred to me that even the previous massive hair loss was caused by the dryness due to Aloe Vera, and not the phantom manipulation I pictured in my head, cos all I was doing to my hair was pinning it to achieve different looks for the shoot.

Aloe vera causes my hair to swell, dries my hair, and causes me to lose all the hair on my head. It is not good for the kind of hair on my head, though it might be good for you.

I am done with Aloe vera. If I want the benefit, I will be content with the fact that it is already an ingredient in most of the products I use, which is enough for me. But to add it directly on my hair again, God forbid. It means I will go bald in about six months.

Now, I have to be looking for ways to undo the damage Aloe Vera did to my hair.

Have you tried using Aloe Vera on your hair? What was your experience?

P.S: This post was written first week in March. The damage occurred February/March. I have since cut part of my hair last week. Yea, the damage was that bad, but there's one more reason I cut it. I will upload the post in the next couple of weeks.

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Naturallure Spotlight: Tracee Ellis Ross

Hi Naturalistas
Tracee Ellis Ross is an actress, a very beautiful one :)
She is very popular for her role in 'Girlfriends' but I strongly believe she has made more rounds on the blogs for her beautiful, natural hair than she has done for her works. She is one great inspiration the natural hair community never fails to call. She is Diana Ross' daughter so what do you really expect? I mean every one remembers Diana Ross' renowned big hair. Who doesn't? I guess it is safe to say her daughter is carrying the trend well. I would have put her up a long time a go myself, but I know her hair is not as typical as most people's type 4 around here. But then again, I know some people will still relate to her hair so please, Enjoy her pictures!

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I hope she inspired you to love your hair more?

Remember to keep your heads high and rock your kinks with pride 

JB

Twitter: @janylbenyl

7 Natural hair styles for Tender Headed Kids

By DiscoveringNatural

Raise your hand if your child is tender headed? **raising my hand**

OKAY!

Now, I do not always look forward to wash day... well... until recently. Lil Sis is very tender-headed and God has blessed her with very long hair. I wish I could do intricate designs on her hair, but due to the crying when the comb touches her hair, I do not dare attempt it. Due to this, I have to come up with hairstyles that do not stress her and her hair ...and even me!

Below are some styles that have worked for us so far:

Buns


Finger coil bun

Not only is this a quick style, but it is a great protective style because all the ends are tucked away.

Twists
 Twists are easy to do without over manipulating the hair, you can also style them in different ways.



 Twistout
From doing twists, you can create a twistout style that could be worn for a couple of days, with proper maintenance

African Threading
I love threading Lil Sis's hair. With this style, I get a lot of stretch to her hair and also create so many styles. Now, I have heard that threading grows hair, Comment below if you believe this myth is true.

PonyTail Styles
When you think of ponytail, you think of taking the hair, tying it with a hair tie and leaving the ends loose. Yes, that is one way, but ponytail styles don't have to be boring. You can jazz it up in so many ways.

Plaits/Braids
Similar to twists, this can be styled in many ways and with added hair accessories such as beads, you can beautify the style.

Roll and Tuck/Pin
This is the simplest style of all. If you don't know how to do roll and tuck, click here to learn.

What styles do you do on your Tender-headed child's hair?



Natural Hair Care 101: Product Ingredients

Hello everyone,

I came across a post on KL's Naturals blog 'Reading and Understanding the Ingredient List on your products,' and I got her permission to share the post here. It's full of so much detail, so get ready with your pens and notepads. I commented on her post saying that I used to use a hair product that's a mix of oils, and one day, decided to look at the ingredients list very well - to my horror, I saw that mineral oil was either the first or second ingredient, and that's BAD NEWS! I quickly stopped using that product and found something else with better ingredients. Anyways, here's the post, which can be found here

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When you embark on a hair journey (whether relaxed or natural) the one thing you must begin to pay attention to are the ingredients in the products that you currently use and the ones you intend to purchase. Being aware of what you are putting in your hair is key in enhancing the moisture, resilience, softness and strength of your hair which in turn leads to healthy hair that retains length. The only way you are aware is by reading the ingredient list of your product AND understanding not just the ingredients listed but the ORDER in which they are listed.

INGREDIENTS ORDER
Ingredients are typically listed in descending order i.e. from highest to lowest concentration. So whatever you see listed first is the main ingredient and whatever is last is the least ingredient. You'd be amazed to know that the first 3 ingredients make up about 90% of the entire contents! Everything that comes after will take up between 1 - 3% each. Therefore, don't be fooled by the marketing gimmicks of some companies that have exotic stuff emblazoned on the cover of their product (Argan Oil! Shea Butter! Murumuru Butter!) only to have it as the 15th one in a list of 17 ingredients!

MOISTURIZERS
When picking a daily moisturizer, ensure that it is a water based moisturizer and the way you will know this is the first ingredient listed will be 'water' (or aqua) . Water hydrates hair and is the best thing for our thirsty locks. So if you're not using a spritz that you've mixed yourself, ensure that whatever you use has water as its first ingredient.

SILICONES/SULFATES
The next thing to be aware of are the silicones and sulfates contained  in your shampoos and deep conditioners/leave in conditioners/daily moisturizers - if you missed my post on the interaction between both ingredients, please click here. Sulfates if used regularly will strip your hair and ideally should be limited to once a month to clarify whatever product build up you may have. Silicones can generally only be removed by sulfates so if you must use products with silicones then you can't stick to sulfate free shampoos.

SYNTHETIC OILS
Moving on to synthetic oils a.k.a Mineral oil and Petrolatum - the way I always explain this is: if you smear petroleum jelly on your hand and you pour water on it, what you will notice is the water immediately gliding off as the petroleum jelly has created a barrier. Same thing with these ingredients - they coat your hair and eventually prevent moisture from penetrating the strands - everything you put in the hair subsequently literally just sits on the hair. The result is dry thirsty hair that begins to break. Some people swear by their products that have these ingredients - just remember if petroleum and mineral oil are the first and second ingredient in your products, then you will need to use a sulfate based shampoo more regularly to remove them - and using a sulfate based shampoo regularly will dry out your hair.

Natural oils (coconut oil, almond oil, avocado oil etc) are preferable as they create a permeable barrier that moisture can still penetrate through and the oils in and of themselves are healthy and beneficial to the hair.

HUMECTANTS/EMOLLIENTS
Humectants help moisturize and keep hair moisturized and include ingredients like glycerine, propylene glycol, pro vitamin panthenol, aloe vera, honey. These are generally great ingredients to have. Emollients (butters and oils) also aid in moisturizing your hair.

SURFACTANTS/POLYMERS
Surfactants and Polymers are conditioning agents which help improve hair's sheen, pliability and shine. Surfactants (Quartenium 26, PPG - 9 diethylmonium choloride)  are typically combined with fatty acids (cetyl, stearic, oleic, linoleic)  while polymers are generally added to thicken the otherwise watery consistency of the product. Polymers also improve curl patterns in hair and common examples are: Celluloses, Polyquarternium 4,10,44 etc)

PROTEINS
There are different variations of protein - hydrolized protein, silk protein, keratin, wheat protein, silk amino acids etc. Protein adds structure to hair, reinforcing it and keeping it from being a weak, limp mess. PLEASE NOTE: Some people are very protein sensitive - they use it and their once soft and manageable hair begins to feel hard and becomes a tangled mess.

Relaxers break the protein bonds in hair (hair is predominantly made up of keratin which is a chain of proteins) and this is why when your hair is relaxed, you need to have a balance of moisture and protein in your hair products and regimen. Natural hair many not need protein as often as relaxed hair does, but it is still useful for strengthening and reinforcing the hair.

Whatever the case, it is up to you to 'listen' to your hair and determine what it likes and doesn't like - for instance as fantastic as Coconut Oil is  some heads of hair do not take to it because coconut oil binds to the keratin bonds in the hair, helping with protein retention.

For some, it may not be all protein their hair is sensitive to but certain kinds of protein - my hair for instance is not a great fan of some Taliah Waajid's products ( it loves the Protective Mist Bodifier though) as they seem to contain some form of silk protein. So you just need to figure it out really.

PRESERVATIVES/FRAGRANCES
Finally you'll have the preservatives and fragrances -  examples of  perservatives are: potassium sorbate, sorbic acid, and the controversial parabens (which some studies have now linked to tumors). Fragrances will say just that - fragrance.

So there you go! Hope that helps when next you go product shopping so you're better informed of what you're putting in your hair - nothing beats being informed and taking responsibility!

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What a wealth of information right??? I hope you use this knowledge in your search for products in the future. And as always, you can find great products in the African Naturalistas store :)

Berry Dakara. 

Natural Hair Tips!

Hi ladies!

Today, I'm gonna be sharing some natural hair tips that would help you along your journey. Courtesy @justcurlyqutee

Enjoy!

Have you tried any of these tips?

If you have, please share with us.

Till next time.

Love,knots and kinks

eBunite

Photo credits: Link no longer active

5 Simple Headwrap tutorials for Bad hair days

Hello Naturalistas,

I have recently become a pinner and for those of you under the rock thats for people that use Pinterest and Its really helpful to say the least. Anyways, I have been wearing my hair out alot and my go-to styles are the twist outs and the pineapple bun, but there are days I am just so very lazy to do anything to my hair, scarfs are not my ''save the day option" because I don't know how to tie them.

I had the pictures saved on my phone but just last night my memory card wiped off and Pintrest came to the rescue.

Now, some of these are not work appropriate but you know how to tie it when the need arises and weekends :) Too much talk, lets dance.

I'm still trying to figure out how she did the bow, Probably just pinned it down? Click on the pictures to enlarge.

I Love this one 

This too is really simple and easy to achieve.

And for some Jara; 

**Image Source: Pinterest 

Will you consider Head wraps on Bad hair days? What's your ''Save the day" option on those days?

Don't forget to rock the kinks - even when it looks bad.

Ghana Hair Chick's Letters: Henna for Natural Kinky Hair

Hello!
I hope we've all been quite good. Today I would like to share some information on henna use for natural hair. I took down my twists this past weekend and decided to do a henna treatment as usual. After I posted a picture of my hair in henna on the GHC Facebook page, I got questions about henna and I decided to share what I've learnt about it so far.

ghanahairchick.blogspot.com

Henna is a natural herb originally from Asia and the Middle East. Women in India especially have used henna for their hair for generations. I also have a friend from Iran who said henna is a regular part of their hair care routine and has been for hundreds of years. Most women in these countries use henna for  conditioning, strength, shine and color. Henna contains a dye which binds to hair strands very tightly. This dye is a reddish orange kind of color and is released as henna is mixed with acidic liquids and left out. The longer henna is allowed to sit in a paste form mixed with an acidic liquid, the more dye will be released. Some of us who have muslim friends may recognize this dye as the color on the feet and hands of our muslim brides. They dye their hands and feet with henna to celebrate their marriage.

Anyways, apart from color, the henna dye also acts like protein in binding to hair and making it conditioned and strong. This means just like a protein treatment henna can dry out hair and make it dry and brittle. It is very important to follow up a henna treatment with a good conditioner or to mix a conditioner and oil into the paste before applying it to your hair.

From personal experience, the henna dye is not very good at penetrating kinky hair and giving it color. If you do a henna treatment for color you may have to repeat it several times before you see any result. I have done 3 treatments so far and cannot tell the difference in hair color, but then my hair is naturally brownish to begin with so that may be why. I use henna in alternation with protein treatments monthly, so I should do 6 henna treatments per year, but with protective styling that usually reduces to 3. So far, I like the results on my hair since it helps with breakage and also making my hair strands stronger. One disadvantage for my hair is that my hair actually shrinks more after henna and the coils are tighter, making it more difficult to manage my hair. Other ladies report a loosening of curl pattern, so I guess the response to henna is very specific to your hair.

ghanahairchick.blogspot.com

Do you use henna? Share your experience with us!

Diary of an Honest Naturalista: Week 46

Last week was not a very great one for me. It was just like one misfortune on top of the other kept coming at me. It all started when I woke up to the news of the Nyanya bomb blast, and everything after then just took a spiral downturn, from Madam Adams being a pain in my neck all week, a very major fight with Dimeji that lasted all week, to everyone in my family just getting on my nerves. I just wasn’t sure how much I could handle anymore, before I broke down.

By the time Friday hit me, I had had it to the brim. I was weary, sad, angry, depressed, and every other negative emotion you can think of. It was with this mood I went into wash-mode on Saturday.

I started by detangling my hair, and it just did not want to cooperate. I cursed my bad luck, and wondered why my hair was conspiring with the whole world to kill me before my time. I managed to finish detangling the hair after one hour, but not after losing more hair than usual.

I did not have time to do any prepoo treatment. Although I was rushing anywhere, I was already walking on eggshells with my mum. I just wanted to lie in bed, and hide away from the whole world. I got my hair into the bath tub, and started washing, and the tangles were even worse. I battled with it for a long time, and eventually dried my hair, went to my room, took a pair of old scissors, and started cutting chunks of my hair off!

In my mind, I was cutting away tangles that could never be possibly undone, but in reality I was just taking my anger out on my hair, and chopping it off.

Later in the evening, I heard Dimeji knock on my door. I knew it was him, because he has his own way of knocking, and the first thought that came to my head was “What is this one doing here? Who invited him here?”

After he gained access, and saw me, the first sentence that jumped out of his mouth was “Oh my God, Anna. What did you do to your hair?”

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“What? Can’t I trim my hair again?” was my response.

“You didn’t trim this. You cut your hair, and without telling me.” He retorted.

I just kept looking at him. I did not think I could deal with one more drama, without losing it totally.

“What’s wrong with you? You have been acting out of character all week.”

To cut the long story short, I ended up crying for over 10 minutes in Dimeji’s arms, and he left after about an hour of consolation.

When I was about to go to bed that night, the reality of what I did dawned on me. My hair was barely packable, and I did not like it.

I was able to admit to myself that I had been impatient with my hair, thereby losing and detangling in a hurry, leading to tangles, breakage, and eventual loss of temper and hair. I should never have touched that hair when I was angry and depressed.

And that is months of good hair care practice gone down the drain.

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Four reasons why people assume Natural Hair is more difficult to manage

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Is natural hair difficult to manage? If you think yes, let me pick your brain and ask you why exactly you believe so? Think well before telling yourself the answer, and then see if your answer is any of the options below.

1. Do you say it is difficult to manage because the hair care regimen is complicated?
2. Do you say it is difficult to manage because the number of steps in caring for your hair has increased dramatically, and therefore it is more time-consuming?
3. Do you say it is difficult to manage because natural hair products are expensive?
4. Do you say it is difficult to manage because you believe your own hair is difficult to manage?

2. Okay, let me start from the second point, i.e. the number of steps increased dramatically. The number of steps you actually take in caring for your hair is wholly dependent on you. You can choose to moisturise and seal every day, or you can choose to do LOC every single day. On your wash day, you can choose to DC, wash and style, or you can choose to prepoo, wash, DC, Henna, do hot oil treatment, and style. Everything depends on you. The number of steps you choose depends on you. If you have chosen to care for your hair using steps that take 24 hours, it is because you chose to do so, and if that is the reason why you said natural hair is difficult to manage, then you made it difficult to manage.

1. If you say it is difficult to manage because natural hair care regimen is complicated, I will say, contrary to what you might think, you don't need to do every single thing yourself. Maybe the reason you think it is complicated is because when your hair was relaxed, your hairstylist did everything for you, and now that your are natural, you decide to do everything yourself, and are overwhelmed. It is okay to buy natural hair products, instead of trying to make every single thing. It is not a sin. The manufactured ones are always more effective than the DIY ones, anyway. For example where do you want to get detangling and conditioning agents to put in your home-made conditioner and deep conditioning treatment? If you can stand it, it is okay to go to a good natural hair salon and pamper yourself. What I am saying is you don't have to do every single thing yourself. If it is complicated for you, simplify it. Also, understand the regimen you choose, and if you discover unnecessary parts of it, cut it out.

4. Let me jump to the number 4 point now. You think your hair is the one with the issue, not the process. Unless you have been living under a rock, you should know by now that you can manipulate your natural hair to get what you want out of it. The key is to moisturise and deep condition regularly. If I put fire on your hair, I am sure it will melt in seconds, after taken nano seconds to get soft. So the theory that your hair cannot be soft has just been debunked. Deep conditioning and moisturising your hair tames it. After a while, you will see changes in your hair if you do this regularly. If you chose this reason, then it means natural hair is difficult to manage for you because you did not know what to do. For more information about how to make your hair softer and more manageable, click here.

3. And lastly, for those who think natural hair is difficult to manage because the products are more expensive. While it might be true that natural hair products and oils are slightly more expensive that their counterparts due to the fact that they are not loaded with cheap harsh harmful chemicals, they are not as expensive as you perceive them to be, though some are really expensive. There are many natural hair products that are quite affordable, you can check out the prices of ours on our online store here. The good news is that when it comes to natural hair products and oils, a little goes a very long way, and eventually what you thought was expensive becomes even cheaper than the ones you thought were cheap. Many people make the mistake of slapping more products on their hair than needed. This is one of the reasons why many naturals deal with fast product build-up. The key is to get the products that work for you, and not be a product junkie, and when you get them, use them in moderation. You will find it to be money well spent.

So what do I need to tell you in addition. Natural Hair is not more difficult to manage. It is actually different to manage. For some people, different means difficult because the process of dissociating themselves from the old methods they are used to, is difficult.

1. If you must comb your hair, never comb it dry
2. Switch your regular hair nets for satin bonnets or scarves
3. Switch regular shampoos for sulphate free ones
4. As you moisturise your skin every morning, remember to moisturise your hair too
5. Think about the deep conditioning process as the usual hair relaxing process.

So you see, you still do mostly the same number of things you did when relaxed, but a different process this time. All you need to do is condition your mind, because that is where the battle is won.

So the process of growing natural hair can be complicated if you complicate it. It is left for you to avoid all the drama some people ascribe to growing natural hair. Find a simple hair care regimen that works for you, and stick with it. Find hair products that your hair love, and stick with them. If you want it to be simple, it will be. If you want it to be difficult, it will be. You choose.

Do you agree of disagree that Natural Hair is more difficult to manage? Whatever your answer, please let us know your reasons in the comment section below.

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Naturallure spotlight: Nneka

Hi Naturalistas

Most of us from Nigeria already know Nneka. Born to a Nigerian father and German mother, Nneka has already become a household name in Nigeria through her music. She has made her mark in the music industry by turning out songs that usually have an in depth focus on reality.  She has won so many awards both in Nigeria and outside Nigeria. She has steadily worked her way to success through defining her own style which is usually very innocent, simple but speaks volumes and truths. The current Nigerian idol judge is such a fun person to watch and listen to. I love the way she wears her natural hair, usually very laid back in style. I have a personal love for Nneka. She is so talented and humble.

Enjoy her pictures.

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I hope she inspired you to love your hair more?

Remember to keep your heads high and rock your kinks with pride 

JB

Twitter: @janylbenyl