Natural Hair Rules - Rebel or Loyalist?

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Do not use Sulphate shampoos – The Anti-sulphate rule

Avoid products with ‘cones’ - The Anti-cone rule

Check the ph level of your products – The PH rule

Stay away from mineral oil and petroleum products - The Anti-petroleum rule

Use only distilled water on your hair - The Anti-ion rule

Always attend to your hair in sections – The sectioning rule

Don’t make your extensions too tight – The anti- breakage rule

Always sleep with a satin bonnet on – The moisture trapping rule

Always seal in your moisture with oil or hair butter – The Pro-seal rule

Never comb you hair dry - Another anti- breakage rule

And so much more than you care to count...

If you have been maintaining your natural hair for a while, you will be very familiar with the endless ‘rules’ of maintaining a healthy natural hair. These so called rules are what have discouraged some people from going natural, as they feel they are too many and tedious. In my own opinion, as much as the Dos can be refreshing because we get to try new things, the Don’ts can be very annoying at times.

As for me, I try to adhere to these rules as much as possible (who wants to face the wrath of disobedience by ending up with a damaged hair?), but I believe everyone has a breaking point. For me, the breaking point came when I was told to try to use only distilled water on my hair, including for washing, as normal water deposits ions and causes build up. In other words, they said we Nigerians should use only satchets of pure water to wash our hair.

At this point, I snapped and said ‘Enough is enough with these rules. I can’t even wash my hair as I like again? I don’t care, I will use normal water to wash my hair. If the hair likes, it should gather build up! It shouldn’t grow! It should fall off! I don’t care! I can’t be buying bags of pure water just because I want to wash my hair.’

And so, naturalistas, this is how I rebelled against one of the natural hair rules. I am glad to announce to you at this point that my hair hasn’t fallen off my head.

The other rule I am really ashamed to announce that I did disobeyed for a while (only while) is the Anti-cone rule. It was due to the fact that someone got me this wonderful and richly natural hair product called African Pride Olive Miracle moisturizer lotion. The fragrance can take you to heaven and leave you there. The only issue was that it came with a ‘cone. I constantly stared at this product in my closet for month. I was afraid to touch it because of the fear of disobeying the Anti-cone rule. In fact, because of the denial I was putting myself through, I constantly researched the positive and negative effects of cones and how I could get away with the negative effects. I also looked for natural ways to get rid of cones, without having to disobey the Anti-sulphate rule. In order words, I wanted to eat my cake and have it!

Through the course of my research I found out that were a lot of naturalistas disobeying the Anti-cone rule because, according to them, the ‘disobedience’ worked for them. So one day, I told myself ‘Damn it, I can’t resist this temptation anymore. I will use this product and nothing will happen.’  Lol. So I rebelled against another rule. The only thing is that I don’t use it so often, so it doesn’t completely coat my hair cuticles. But honestly, I wouldn’t intentionally buy a product with cones in it.

The reason I put this post is that, I know that most naturalistas don’t follow every single hair rule. What exactly is your breaking point? Which rule(s) do you disobey? Don’t lie o, let us know. Does the ‘disobedience’ work for you? We could learn one or two things from your experiences

I personally follow almost every rule, cos I have a healthy hair and want to keep it that way. Below are some rules I adhere to and they work for me.

I avoid sulphates.

I don’t joke with my deep conditioning. The long term effect on my hair is amazing

I sleep with a satin bonnet on.

I don’t use petroleum product on my hair. My scalp gathers too much build up for me to take this risk.

Water (moisture) is my best friend. I don’t play with the daily spritz

I never comb my hair dry. I don’t care how much of a rebel you are, you shouldn’t do this.

And so much more than you care to count. Lol