So why exactly do you want to be natural?

Picture from Beyond Jane

I know the title of this post makes the post seem like it is not for ladies who are already natural but I suggest you read it to the end. At least, you can advise your protégés on what to do. Many ladies (some of my friends) see my hair and decide that they want to go natural because my hair looks healthy, full, bla bla bla. So I encourage them, give them loads of tips and advice, and few months down the line, these ladies are completely natural.

A month or two later, they come crying to me, ‘my hair is cutting’, ‘I have no front hair’, ‘this is not how I thought it will be when I went natural, I went natural because I wanted healthier and fuller hair, I wanted my front hair to grow and now, I am not getting the desired results.’

Then I ask, ‘Did you go natural because your hair was cutting?’

They say ‘Yes.’

‘What do you have on now?’ The conversation is usually on phone or BB messages.

They say ‘Braids’ or ‘Weaves.’

‘What have you been doing to your hair since you went natural?’

‘Just combing, braiding and fixing. I also use olive oil and water.’

‘I asked you to follow my blog or subscribe by email or read any other natural hair blog. Did you do that?’

‘Wo, I don’t have time jo.’

At this point, I really have nothing more to say. I know many natural hair gurus would have gone through this with some people too. It is apparent that my friends went natural for the wrong reasons. The truth is that they were not doing the right things to their hair when it was relaxed and so they lost lots of hair and they thought going natural would automatically change this.

If your hair is not natural, don’t relax it so often such that every strand will all fall off, and if your hair is braided, moisturise and condition it rightly. And when you decide to go natural, please and please, educate yourself and don’t just treat your hair anyhow. Going natural does not give one the ticket to be lazy.

My advice is, if your hair is relaxed and you don’t like what is happening to it, find out what you are doing wrongly and correct it. When you have developed a healthy routine, you can now go natural. If at all you decide that you have had enough of relaxed hair and you will do the Big Chop, abeg, let the hair rest for a while before you begin to manipulate it and don’t distance yourself too much from whoever it is that inspired you to go natural in the first place.

Better still, follow this blog or subscribe to it by email and follow us on twitter @africanaturalis.