Newly Natural is a series of post for newbies who wants to transition to natural hair.
Check out the first post on how to set SMART Goals for your hair, the second post on 3 ways to go natural and the third post on 10 key topics to research about your hair. The fourth post is about the basics of hair typing. The fifth post in this series in about 10 things you need to stop doing after you’ve gone natural, so that your hair can really thrive.
When you make a change in lifestyle, you also make sure that you make some changes in your habits, thoughts and overall life choices so that you can get desired results. Insanity is described as doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result.
I have seen many naturals struggle in their journey because they just can’t figure the natural hair thing out. Some have even gone back to a relaxer because their hair just “won’t cooperate”. At the same time, lots of other women won’t even give the natural hair route a chance because they just don’t know how other naturalistas do it.
When asked how I manage my hair, I simply answer by saying that “Natural Hair is a Mentality Thing” . To truly enjoy your hair while seeing desired changes in the overall health of your hair, you will need to make some changes in the way you would normally take care of your hair.
RELATED POST: How to Adopt a Coily Hair Mentality
There are so many things that one could change, but I have listed these 10 lists to help get you going. Please feel free to add additional points in the comment box.
Here are ten things you should stop doing if you truly want to enjoy your natural hair journey…
1. Coveting other people’s hair because no matter how hard you try, your hair won’t change texture to the hair texture you want it to be.
2. Thinking your hair texture is an affliction and can never be made to look nice. With an open mind and lots of practice and patience, your hair can be made to look really beautiful.
3. Worrying about what other people think about your hair or will think about your hair. “Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, not in the eye of the onlooker”.
4. Using the same hair brush you use to used to comb your weave or relaxed hair. Your coily hair will need completely different set of tools such as a wide tooth comb or a denman brush.
5. Straightening your hair and start wearing coily hairstyles. While there’s nothing wrong with wearing straight hairstyles every once in a while, you want to make sure that you minimize hairstyles you use to wear when you were relaxed. This way, you can truly maximize your experience as a Naturalista. Examples of coily hairstyles you could wear are flat twists, two-strand twists, twist outs e.t.c.
RELATED POST: Top 5 Detangling Tools
6. Using heat. Heat damage might not be visible with your relaxed hair, but it is very obvious with natural hair. Instead of a flat iron, you can stretch your hair using African threading or plaiting the hair. You can also substitute your curling wand for flexi rods, curl formers, or rollers. And instead of the blow dryer, you can style your hair at night so that it will dry by the next morning
7. Wearing compromising hairstyles. These are hairstyles which looks good but are wrecking havoc on your hair.
8. Putting yourself through unnecessary pain, natural hair does not equal painful hair
9. Combing your hair when it’s DRY. Simply applying grease in your hair prior to combing is not enough. The only way that you’d be able to easily glide a comb through your natural hair would be to saturate it with conditioner so that its soft to comb and painless.
RELATED POST: How to comb 4c hair without pain
10. Going to a stylist who refuses to learn how to style your natural hair. Instead, find a natural hair care specialist or be your own hair stylist.
RELATED POST: 20 Natural Hair Salons in Toronto Canada
What else can you add to this list? Comment below.