We all want to look good. We want to be beautiful and appreciated along with being treated fairly and respected. Don’t knock it, just understand it and don’t discount it as being trivial. I want to be valued for my mind, but I’m sorry, I also want to make sure I feel good about my appearance when I’m out in the world and part of my appearance is my hair.
As we curly girls fight for the right to wear our tresses anyway we see fit. There are some of us (OK, a lot of us) stuck on having picture perfect hair all day every day. Picture perfect hair does not just happen. Sorry, but you don’t wake up with your coils, kinks or curls flawlessly defined without a hint of frizz. That takes work and time and product. Let’s face it, a bad hair day can alter your mood if you let it and one unkind word or glance can make you want to hide your entire head in the sand.
Taking pride in your appearance is noble. Making your hair camera-ready every single day is exhausting and setting the tone for your hair to ‘perform’ on a daily basis is setting yourself up for failure. Perfect hair isn’t possible and yet we try and obtain it and for whose benefit? I know we dress up, fix ourselves up for ourselves as well as others and although other body parts can take the daily pounding can our tresses?
Wash day is expected to be one of the longest hair’s requirements and when you couple that with the chore of detangling it can be an all-day event. It is a necessary component of your hair’s maintenance and even if it involves over-manipulation to your tresses. It’s not an everyday routine, so you manage and get through it. The problem with desiring picture perfect hair is that it can require daily over-manipulation that is unnecessary, time-consuming and counter productive.
There is no steadfast rule on what is considered over-manipulation because one woman can re-twist her hair every night and have no problem, but another can do it and see breakage that they never had before. Damage is determined by you and your hair needs, and when you see the warning signs like breakage, thinning or split ends, you must take heed. Your hair is telling you something that needs to be heard, ignoring the signs will lead to compromises of your hair’s health over a style. It’s not worth it!
Brenda Baltazar says
Beautiful