It’s complicated.
If you’ve seen my YT (in particular my hair story vid) then you know that I’ve always had kind of a love-hate relationship with my hair. Even now, when I’ve become super familiar with its kinks & coils, confident in my ability to get it to do [almost] what I want and the skill to do more natural styles than I’ve ever been able to do before in my life- I still have my moments of discontent and hair envy.
What are the things that frustrate me most about my natural hair? Well, funny that you should ask, because I’ve just come up with a list of the most annoying natural hair caveats and what I do to overcome them- or at least deal with them.
- One Strand Knots. The bane of almost every natural woman/curly girl’s existence. One strand knots happen when your hair curls around itself to form a little knot- often times the hair that has knotted is already weak (read: about to split) and tangles up other hairs around it, creating one huge knot or a tangled mess. How I deal: It’s definitely helped to keep up with trimming my hair and moisturizing my ends. Random search & destroy sessions with my hair shears also help.
- Frizz. A long time ago I came to terms with the indestructible frizziness of my hair. I’ve never had perfect curls and I know that I never will, but my bangs are ridiculously frizzy! How I deal: I’ve started adjusting my wash and go routine to include large twists (when my hair is soaking wet) with product, and leaving them in for a bit before blow drying. I do two of these with my bangs since they have a much looser curl pattern, and I’ve had pretty good results so far. Also, whenever I blow dry, I always blow-dry the frizziest parts of my hair on low heat and cool heat/cool shot.
- Multiple textures. Hair typing isn’t a perfect system, but it’s helpful as a gauge of what hair is on your head- and I have all sorts of hair on my head. The crown is frizzy and wavy, the nape of my neck is full of corkscrew curls and the rest is somewhere in between. Multiple textures not only leads to frustrating styling but also lends itself to tangles and twists. How I deal: Moisturizing! That and styling products. Some of the best styling products I’ve used so far include Carol’s Daughter’s Hair Milk and Curls’ Curl Souffle.
There are tons of other frustrations that I have with my natural hair- and I’ll probably list them as I keep this blog. It’s all about learning and growing. I still haven’t found every solution there is and my hair care routine is far from settled, but I’m proud of where I’ve come so far.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again- this natural hair journey is some serious business. It’s full of twists, turns and snags (heh, pun intended) but all in all it’s definitely worth it. There’s nothing like walking in a light rain or fog without freaking out over what’s going to happen with my hair. It’s a sort of freedom- and I definitely dig that.
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