Saturday, August 31, 2013

Hair Crimes: When Slacking on Natural Hair Catches Up With You

Hey Beauties and Gents! It's been a long time... I shouldn't have left you. Ok, enough with the old school hip-hop references.

Have you gotten to a point in your journey where your hair just doesn't like you? Have you slacked on maintaining your mane and it has had told you off? Well, I'm guilty of several hair crimes, and I'm going to share ways to own up and fix your natural hair issues.

Crime #1: Not sealing ends properly
Evidence: Those damn fairy knots!
Sentence: Hot oil treatments and daily use of castor oil.

This summer I took a break from EVERYTHING, including sealing my ends. My hair's texture changed, and for reasons I still don't know, I decided to stop using my castor oil blend. (What was I thinking?!?) Combine that with "leaving my hair alone", and I got tons of fairy knots for my trouble. I've never had them before, so I'm going back to basics, AKA, what works.

Crime #2: Trying too many products
Evidence: Hair that refuses to cooperate
Sentence: Find staples and go into PJ Rehab

Ah, the natural hair subscription box! You get to try new products and learn about the latest in hair care. For product junkies like myself, those boxes made me the kid in the hair candy store. Unfortunately, my hair was none too pleased with my experimenting. The result? Dryness, itchy scalp, and frizz. To aid in making my hair happy again, I'm getting rid of products that didn't work and only buying products that my hair likes--no more subscription boxes for me!

Crime #3: Not moisturizing my hair enough
Evidence: Parched ends
Sentence: Moisturizing twice a day and sealing ends properly

Spending almost a month in Arizona this summer did a number on my hair! The "dry heat" which is actually akin to walking into an oven, sapped my hair's moisture. I couldn't get a good handle on which products to use in a dry climate, and my strands suffered. Now that I'm back home in humid Houston, my hair is happier (but more frizzy). For future reference, I will do a LOT of research on how to keep in moisture when dealing with dry climates.

While my crimes against my hair aren't unusual, they definitely reflect my relative newness to natural hair life. I'm a year in the game, but I'm constantly learning new things about how to properly maintain my curls. If you've ever committed a hair crime, post it here in the comments. How did you get back on the right track?

Thanks for reading... Peace, Love, and Curls!