Dear new natural,
It is with absolute excitement and nerves that I write this to you. Firstly I’d like to welcome you to this exciting journey and to the natural hair community. Welcome to an exciting, yet overwhelming world of pre-poos, oil treatments, deep conditioning, stretching, protein boosting, shrinkage, leave-ins and a whole lot of….
Growing healthy natural hair is no walk in the park…but it’s one of most rewarding journeys filled with a whole lot of mistakes and discoveries.
Right, so you cut off your relaxed hair, thought “Now what?”, then started natural hair blog/ YouTube channel-hopping with hopes of learning how to grow & take care of your hair. Then you found yourself drowning in a whole lot of info and somewhat logged off hoping that with all those products and techniques you saw on there, you’re sure to crack this thing! Your then rushed to the shops to buy all those products you read about online….then POP went your balloon when you discovered almost all those products weren’t available in our South African stores.
REALITY CHECK:
- I hate to break this to you but that hair you saw on YouTube…there’s a high chance that it’s not even the same texture as yours. Unless you’re a type 3 (loose curls), get the Tracie Ellis hair image out of your head.
- Some of the people in your life will HATE your hair, your man might turn out to be one of them . This is where you have to put your self-confidence panties on and walk with your head high. Hey, there’ ll also be a bunch that go ga-ga over your naps, so you’re alright.
- You will have bad hair days – some days you’ll go to bed with a twist out still in tact and wake up with a head full of matted chunks of hair. That’s alright though, once you get to know your hair, you’ll come up with your own damage-control methods.
- Your hair will shrink – like…one day you’ll be on some Pearl Thusi tip and back at a Lira length two days later!
- Your hair will get dry & groff – this is when you need to play around with moisturizing methods that work for YOU.
- Your hair will shed, that’s normal but please don’t confuse this with breakage.
- You may struggle to find products that work for YOUR hair type which will subsequently turn you into a PJ (product junkie); but that’s ok…that’s how we all learn.
- DO NOT set yourself some unrealistic goals; your hair wont grow at the same pace as the next natural.
- DO NOT force your hair to look like that of Pearl Thusi or Corine Bailey Rae while you know for a fact that you have a Lira texture. Avoid depression at all costs.
- Get the basics right – pre-poo, wash, deep condition, apply a butter/cream that works for you & seal with an oil of your choice
- Don’t drive yourself crazy with frequent length checks
- Every now and then you’ll have your hair braided, plaited or weaved – whatever you do, please take care of your hairline. Once it’s gone, it’s not easy to restore.
- You will need stacks of patience and confidence.
- For a while you will look very strange to other shoppers each time you spend a good 5-minutes going through the list of ingredients by the hair product isles.
My intention is not to scare you off but to curb those false expectations.
COMMONLY-USED TERMINOLOGY TO HELP YOU blend in:
- BC – Big Chop
- Deep Conditioning – I’m pretty sure you’ve met tons of hairstylists who’ve made you pay that extra R100 for “treatment”. Make that a thing of the past as you can do that yourself. This is what naturals call deep conditioning. there’s a number of deep conditioners out there you can play around with eg ORS Replenishing Pak Deep Conditioner and Dr Miracle’s Deep Conditioner. You can even spruce them up by adding an egg or a few spoons of olive oil to give your hair that extra va-va-what va-va-who.
- Detangling – self explanatory…the method of unravelling the knots at the tips of your hair either by comb, finger, needle etc
- LOC/LCO method – Info here
- Pre-poo – applying oil (eg coconut, olive etc) to your hair in preparation for shampooing. Some people will leave the oil on the hair overnight with head covered in a shower cap/cling wrap/plastic bag before putting on a doek (head scarf). Others will only keep the oil for a few hours before a wash. This helps in softening your hair and protects it from dryness after shampooing. …..
- Protective styling – any hairstyle that assists in protecting the tips from breaking eg, twists, braids, tucks etc
- Shrinkage – self-explanatory. This is when your hair shrinks after a few days of a good stretched length.
- Stretching – A look of naturals prefer a stretched look. Some go to bed with hair braided and then take down the braids/plaits in the mornings
- TWA – Teeny Weeny Afro (I call it the Lira length)
- Bantu Knots/ Amagoda – you get the idea. this is also a brilliant hairstyle that can give a dry-curl look when undone (Bantu Knot outs).
- Twists (with own hair) – another protective hairstyle
- Twist-out – the above unravelled into nice curls
MUST-HAVES:
- Silk Doek/ Satin cap (those silky granny doeks work just as good) for bedtime – keep the moisture locked in.
- A few natural oils (Coconut, Castor, Rosemary, Olive etc)
- Glycerine – serves as a humectant for those who live in dry areas such as Jo’burg
- Water – for daily moisture
- Cream/Butter – eg Shea butter or a any moisturizing cream of your choice
- Leave-in conditioner of your choice – these are a God-sent
- Conditioners – You’ll need two types, protein boosters such as ORS Hair Mayonnaise and moisture-infusing ones (my current favourite is Tressemme Naturals, Dr Miracle’s as well as the ORS)
- Sulphate-free shampoo - doesn’t dry your hair out (strip the natural oils off your hair) like “normal” shampoos do. My current favorite is the Dr Miracle’s Sulphate & Paraben-free shampoo and the Clicks kiddies one, but there’s quite a few out there.
- Spritzer bottle for your concoctions
- Wide-toothed comb for less breakage while combing
- Alcohol-free gel for those edges. Not necessary
- Hair accessories – for those days you ‘re feeling less creative
I wish you all the best in your journey. Remember to use FroChic as your platform to share milestones, vent, get advise from our very knowledgeable readers (Lord knows how blessed we are to have such readers). We’re only an email away (frochic[at]gmail[dot]com