• It’s difficult to convey just how different you should expect to look when your edges no longer lay down. The sleek updo’s will take a lot more effort and a lot more gel. My advice: Decide if sleek edges is really that important to you and get products that work for your hair type if so.
• Deal with the fact that you wont be able to tie your hair into a ponytail for quite some time. My advice: A pulled back puff will have to do for now.
• Your relaxed hair techniques will no way work on your natural hair. My advice: Forget wrapping your hair to sleep and embrace the pineapple.
• A lot of your products will not moisturize your kinks and curls as well as they did your relaxed hair. My advice: You need heavier products to do the job from now on. Think Shea butter.
• Combs and brushes will instantly become your enemy. My advice: Your new favorite styling tool is your fingers.
• Wash day may take longer as you negotiate this new world of tangles. My advice: Take your time to begin with, you will get faster as you get used it.
The truth of the matter is this. As difficult as you think that your hair is to manage, there’s always someone out there with thicker, longer, coarser and tanglier hair than you who’s somehow making it work. Seek them out and copy their techniques until something sticks. If you are not willing to do the work then don’t expect any changes. Period.
Before you reach for your flat iron* to try and recapture your straight hair, ask yourself, does your hair really need to be made more manageable or should your expectations be changed? Natural hair is only as manageable as the person looking after it. I don’t want to say anything as cliche as ‘Get the kinks out of your mind not your hair‘ but it kind of fits doesn’t it?
Most black women need to readjust their thinking, they lack the patience it requires to deal with their natural hair. Personally, I think that females who weren’t taught responsibility at a young age, are the ones who claim they cant “deal” with their natural hair because they don’t take personal responsibility. (My opinion)
don’t judge if you’ve haven’t been natural all your life,i was born in the 60’s were’s being natural was all you could be now women has choices like myself. and hair was taught in my home. it was taught it got you no where, brains do.
I’m in that phase right now. I haven’t had a perm in 5 months so I have a lot of new growth. Learning to manage it takes time and patience but I’m working it. I’m not ready to do the big chop so I do wear wigs often and it doesn’t help that I’m in the military so I really can not do many styles at this time, hence the constant wear of wigs. But I have read plenty of ways to keep my hair moisturized, conditioned, oiled, no heat ect. Once I get out I should be all natural and can experiment more with it.