Hair care does not have to be so difficult. In fact, hair care should be as simple as eating pie. Seriously, when you first start on a specific hair journey, everything is so new and you’re like a sponge that will soak up anything and everything that will cater to your hair needs.
You watch YouTube tutorials, read blogs, check out every hair care book in the library, and even stop strangers in the street for their “hair secrets.” Hair care can become so difficult from complicated terminology to how to wash your hair that all you need is one person who can explain it all…the guru.
In the natural hair community, we tend to call our hair crushes “the natural hair guru.” But what is a guru? According to a regular dictionary, a guru is a person who advises, counsels, and mentors on a specific subject that he/she is mastered in.
The guru has “know it all” in his/her field of study, expertise, and research. So when you hear your friend say, “OMG! You have to check her out. She is a natural hair guru!” Her favorite naturalista “knows” everything there is to know about natural hair…that’s what I am referring to.
Well, let me debunk this for you. Hair gurus don’t exists! Now wait a minute, before you reach for the comment box and go off on me continue to read.
I mean what I say that hair gurus don’t exist. Now you may have a kitchenista whip up some concoction in her kitchen to make your hair grow like weeds in 3 months or you may see 800 thousand subscribers on your favorite naturalista crush’s YouTube page and find her regimen may help your hair see the light. But those facts do not make either woman a guru in her specific field. Let me go further.
Appearances can be deceiving, especially when you don’t know the people you are following, watching, and reading about personally. Of course, they put out quality information, do hair care interviews, and have the most awesome tips/styles to try for your own hair.
You may even be so lucky to find someone of your “same hair type and texture” and follow her regimen and hair care style to perfection, since the hair gods virtually sent her to you.
Sometimes, I even find myself saying, “She’s my favorite natural hair guru.” But let me be frank, you don’t know how this guru got her hair, recipes, and techniques together the way she did.
If she has long hair, she may have worn sew-ins or braids for years before uploading videos of her present hair care regimen while showing off her waist length hair.
I’m just saying that the key words to her success are “trial and error.” Her hair care regimen came about from her experiences.
You must admit you have heard a lot of gurus say, “This works for my hair.” The hair care personalities you are following are still on their own hair journeys as well, with a majority of them not having beautician licenses or degrees in dermatology and other hair care studies.
They simply use their specific platforms to share their information with others. Like I said before, the guru you are following may have quality and enriching information, but long or thick hair does not qualify her as a hair guru.
Don’t think that I am bashing all of your favorite hair care crushes out there, that’s not the case. I have a few hair crushes of my own, but I don’t stay on their page for the next big thing.
Good Article.
Good Article.