5. Not knowing WHO your natural is
What is your natural hair language? Does she thrive in the winter? Hate the summer? Love the spring? Coast through the fall? Does your natural like oils*?
Or is it more of a butter lover? Learn your hair. Learning your hair is loving your hair. When you do this you can look at other naturals and not drool with envy to the point you start viewing your hair through negative eyes. Look at the mirror and really explore your natural hair.
Get in there touch it, feel it, carefully play with it. Look at your scalp then follow down the whole hair strand. You should familiarize yourself with your hair to the point if something is not right you can tell quickly.
Have a Kanye mindset, love your hair, and be all into your hair like its God’s gift to you. Well, it pretty much is. (If you don’t feel your hair is a gift, then you still have some loving to do. Contact me for help.)
6. Not reading ingredients and following product directions
You see this new product that in bold letter says “Argan Oil* and Marshmallow Root” on the front and before you bought it you probably searched YouTube on how to use this product.
You go home and use the product they way YouTube showed you and unfortunately it doesn’t work out for you. Now you’re puzzled on why it didn’t work.
You contemplate returning this open product and if you bought it from Walmart you probably can (ratchet life). However, instead you keep it and just utilize it in different mixes and concoctions (kitchentician things).
If you had read the ingredient list and followed the directions on the product your results might have been different. What you fail to realize it that you did not follow the direction of the product.
It is important to follow the directions verbatim that is on the product and to read and understand the ingredients contained in your hair products.
The maker of the product has spent several months and some several years going through the development phase of their line. They have tested it and modified it continuously before finally finding the perfect formation to be released into your hands. The directions they provide have been proven to be the most effective way to use their product. They would know best as opposed to someone who was not a part of the developmental process.
The marketing team has done their research they know what words to bold and highlight to get you to buy the product. Don’t be fooled, instead read the labels. Don’t be misled, instead follow the directions given to you on the product.
Your natural journey is going to be filled with a lot of trials and errors. Mistakes are inevitable they are going to happen however, there are some mistakes you can try to avoid among the many we naturally make.
Here I only give 6 mistakes a lot of us naturals make. However, there are plenty more and if I were to mention them all I’d be writing a book!
Nonetheless, I believe this helps so if you want to know more of the mistakes I think us naturals make check out my channel Nappyfu TV.
What are some of your natural hair mistakes? What changes will you make today?
That was a very insightful article!
I don’t know…YouTube was a godsend for me in my journey. I viewed styling videos of lots of hair types and then followed the ones that looked most like mine.
I don’t know…YouTube was a godsend for me in my journey. I viewed styling videos of lots of hair types and then followed the ones that looked most like mine.
I think the artarticle had some good advice the rest needed to be taken with a grain of salt. To speak in such absolutes as if the writer’s opinions were facts could discourage some new naturals who simply don’t have enough experience to know better. One’s personal truth isn’t always the personal truth of another person.
I think the artarticle had some good advice the rest needed to be taken with a grain of salt. To speak in such absolutes as if the writer’s opinions were facts could discourage some new naturals who simply don’t have enough experience to know better. One’s personal truth isn’t always the personal truth of another person.
I feel like I need a dictionary to understand this. As a mixed black girl who didn’t grow up with my black side of the family I don’t know a lot of terms and things like “4c” confuse me beyond belief. I really feel like I couldn’t understand what I was supposed to be learning
If you Google “hair types” or “curly hair types” that will help you out. There might actually be a chart on this site to be honest with you.
If you Google “hair types” or “curly hair types” that will help you out. There might actually be a chart on this site to be honest with you.
I found this article really hilarious….was laughing whilst reading it! It’s the absolute truth.
I found this article really hilarious….was laughing whilst reading it! It’s the absolute truth.
Im a white mother of a mixed race little boy. I refuse to cut his hair because I love his curls…or what I now think would be called coils? This is all new to me and Im trying hard to learn how to properly care for his hair. It appears I have a long journey ahead of me. Wish me luck ladies 🙂
This is going to be long winded and lengthy, so here we go.
I’m going to say that I’m mostly 4 type and I don’t agree with all of this article. I think that you aren’t going to know what works for your hair until you try that includes using a plethora of products and tools that you see others use whether they are your same type or not. I tried to use products that 4’s raved about. Thank GOD I kept the receipts because my hair HATED those products, so I decided to just try what I saw and amazingly enough though I have 4 type hair there are some products that work great in my hair that 3’s have raved about. To stay specifically in your type of whatever is just plain dumb. Bare in mind that since you have a specific type that some products may work better than others, but don’t take it as gospel (THAT WAS MY MISTAKE). Figure out what works for you and throw specific rules out the window. This is about learning about your hair not conforming to what people tell you that you should be doing with your hair due to your type. I love my Denuman brush especially when I’m defining my curls, it helps distribute the products through my hair (I keep it nice and slow, I don’t just rack it through) I don’t always wet my hair, but if my hair is having a hard time of parting then yeah I wet it, it helps me do my hair without having to fight with it and further adding damage. Yes my hair shrinks a lot, but my hair also gets dry FAST! Which is funny because if I wet it too much then it takes forever to dry. =)
Who is my natural? Well heck my natural is Bipolar. One day it loves cream, next it likes oil. It does the same through all seasons because in CA there isn’t that much of difference when it comes to the weather and the seasons. One day I’ll try this method with my hair next time my hair may not want that method, so I’ll switch it up. I’m flexible. People need to be patient and flexible. I see this article POSSIBLY upsetting and POSSIBLY intimidating newer naturals which really when it comes down to it, you make your own rules, you buy your own products (no matter what brand or what’s in it. If it works then it works). But it is a good thing to follow someone that has close to your type hair because it does give you the realistic idea of what your hair will look like. I follow Naptural85, BUT I have gotten a lot of hairstyles and tricks from girls that are no where near my type, but their styles were doable and sometimes quicker and/or easier to do.
So that’s my 2 cents and my experience.
This is going to be long winded and lengthy, so here we go.
I’m going to say that I’m mostly 4 type and I don’t agree with all of this article. I think that you aren’t going to know what works for your hair until you try that includes using a plethora of products and tools that you see others use whether they are your same type or not. I tried to use products that 4’s raved about. Thank GOD I kept the receipts because my hair HATED those products, so I decided to just try what I saw and amazingly enough though I have 4 type hair there are some products that work great in my hair that 3’s have raved about. To stay specifically in your type of whatever is just plain dumb. Bare in mind that since you have a specific type that some products may work better than others, but don’t take it as gospel (THAT WAS MY MISTAKE). Figure out what works for you and throw specific rules out the window. This is about learning about your hair not conforming to what people tell you that you should be doing with your hair due to your type. I love my Denuman brush especially when I’m defining my curls, it helps distribute the products through my hair (I keep it nice and slow, I don’t just rack it through) I don’t always wet my hair, but if my hair is having a hard time of parting then yeah I wet it, it helps me do my hair without having to fight with it and further adding damage. Yes my hair shrinks a lot, but my hair also gets dry FAST! Which is funny because if I wet it too much then it takes forever to dry. =)
Who is my natural? Well heck my natural is Bipolar. One day it loves cream, next it likes oil. It does the same through all seasons because in CA there isn’t that much of difference when it comes to the weather and the seasons. One day I’ll try this method with my hair next time my hair may not want that method, so I’ll switch it up. I’m flexible. People need to be patient and flexible. I see this article POSSIBLY upsetting and POSSIBLY intimidating newer naturals which really when it comes down to it, you make your own rules, you buy your own products (no matter what brand or what’s in it. If it works then it works). But it is a good thing to follow someone that has close to your type hair because it does give you the realistic idea of what your hair will look like. I follow Naptural85, BUT I have gotten a lot of hairstyles and tricks from girls that are no where near my type, but their styles were doable and sometimes quicker and/or easier to do.
So that’s my 2 cents and my experience.
I think some really good ideas are mentioned here but I rather disagree with #1. To me, that implies that going natural is some scientific intellectual process that you have to fully educate yourself on ahead of time if you want to be successful. Sort of like “make sure first you are smart enough to be the real you.” Hmmm. Not feeling that at all. Plus, tackling all of that pre-research may cause some to become so overwhelmed that they conclude the journey is not worth the effort. And that will so rob them of a wonderful experience. That being said, I do believe it would be helpful to seek advice from someone you know personally who is natural (we probably all know someone among friends, family, workmates, etc.), to get tips and perhaps personal guidance.
This is one of the best no I’ll say the best article I’ve read on natural hair. Thank you