The good thing about insomnia is that after laying in bed for hours trying to sleep and it's not working and I can't bring myself to study either, I remember I have a blog i have abandoned hehe. I have wanted to talk about this topic for ages because it seems to be one, if not, the most frequent question I get from people and it always goes like this, "where do I start?" Now, this is a very loaded question especially for someone who is new to natural hair and is seriously considering going natural. Going natural especially in these times can seem really daunting because of the loads of information out there, either by word of mouth or on the Internet. But, if you commit to it and set up a plan on how to go about it, including making up a regimen which is subject to change and flexibility, it can be a breeze. In this post, I want us to discuss where to begin. I have 3 points that tries to summarise the very early but important stages or aspects of going natural.
Another way I could say this is to "prepare your mind". It might not seem like much but believe me, you need this to even begin and not just begin, but to go further in your natural hair journey. This has to do with the simple acceptance of your hair as is, you might think 'hmmm, but I love my hair' but my question is, do you? Really? And if you are not sure, then answer these few questions honestly;
- how often do you wear your hair out?
- How often do you wear extensions, wigs, braids? etc,
- when do you feel most beautiful, with your natural hair or not?
- you're going on a date or a night out with friends choose between an 'amazing Brazilian/Peruvian/whatever hair' or your own natural hair?
- do you always feel like your hair is a burden..like we got the shorter end of the stick? (real words from someone)
- do you wish you had straight hair?
- do you think afro hair is attractive?
The list could go on and on but you get the picture, you need to ask yourself some tough questions and be brutally honest with yourself to know where you stand with yourself and your hair and decide how to tackle those issues if you want to move forward with your natural hair journey.
This is another really important point, it's very easy to get carried away and dream up this beautiful curly hair texture you want just by admiring someone on youtube/internet and then you get very disappointed when your hair doesn't look like theirs or move like theirs and then you get fraustrated because your hair isn't what you envisioned when you thought of going natural and then to feel better about your look you go back to relaxers and the cycle continues..which is why the first point is very important. Going natural is accepting your hair as it is, and this is not to say it's a burden or a situation we should just accept because we can't change it, but because afro hair is beautiful in it's own right, but we need to open ourselves up more to be able to see it and why is that? Because, after years of believing that our hair is a "problem" we need to also condition ourselves to see it for what it truly is..beautiful coily hair. I believe all types of afro hair are beautiful, it doesn't matter if you have a 4a, 4b or 4c type hair and I have to say this because I'm tired of hearing people say "but I don't have your type of hair" or "you haven't seen my hair" oh, and the worst of all "My hair is tough, i have the real African hair" as excuses (you see why i say this is a mentality that we need to change before even considering going natural). If you decide to go natural, remember you are making a decision to learn how to take care of YOUR OWN hair.
When I decided to go natural, I didn't have the luxury of an option. I had to big chop because my hair was already damaged and so, I had to cut what was left of it off. If I have to do it again, I would still go the big chop route. But, I will truthfully admit that when I big chopped I really wasn't ready for it, I felt so self conscious and the little self esteem I thought I had, dropped to zero and sadly, I had to cover with wigs and extensions till it grew to a stage where I could wear it in a puff and even then, I would still wear my extensions. It took a while before I finally decided to get rid of the covers and just wear only my hair ..and let me tell you, it's easy to think you are one confident lady and that you are all that, with a full head of Brazilian/whatever hair, until you have to pull it off and work with what you have naturally and then you sadly realize that our sense of self worth/esteem are placed on the wrong things..All i'm saying is, wearing your natural hair takes a lot of courage (only because it is not the norm) and believe me, you build your self esteem in the process. My whole point of telling a bit of my experience is to show that we have to be careful in choosing what will work for us, if you want to just begin your hair journey without any issues of working with two textures and just get started, then you should probably consider the big chop but if you are not ready to loose your length, then, transitioning is the way to go. I wish I could say more about transitioning but, I don't really know much about it since I didn't experience it first hand so I will include some links with more info so you can choose wisely ;)
http://heygorjess.com/transistioning-101/
http://naturalhairfanatic.wordpress.com/transitioning-101/
With these 3 points I hope I have tried to cover the very beginning of what deciding to go natural entails. If you would like to add to the above points, please feel free to do so in the comment section or if you just have questions, ask and I will try to answer to the best of my knowledge. Thanks for reading!
http://heygorjess.com/transistioning-101/
http://naturalhairfanatic.wordpress.com/transitioning-101/
With these 3 points I hope I have tried to cover the very beginning of what deciding to go natural entails. If you would like to add to the above points, please feel free to do so in the comment section or if you just have questions, ask and I will try to answer to the best of my knowledge. Thanks for reading!
