Showing posts tagged as "2c"
Hair Intimacy
Hair is a very personal thing. It is a standing testimony to your culture, your beliefs, your fears and insecurities and your personal taste. Hair is held in high esteem. Don’t think so? Consider that you’re reading a blog about hair (just saying!) With so much tied into your strands of dead protein it’s no wonder that such controversy can be caused by just having a stranger touch your hair.
So what about the not so strangers in your life, your significant other? One of the most intimate actions is having someone run their fingers through your hair. When young girls fantasize about romance they imagine their dream boat tucking that one errant strand behind their ear. Ask almost any guy about what they prefer in woman and they’ll have at least one thing to say about hair. But many women, especially black women, push their lover’s hands away when they reach for a strand. Why? Because we don’t want to let people know about the cost of meeting those ideals of perfection; the crunch of product, the feeling tracts of fake hair or even not wanting to mess up the hours of work to make our hair “look” good. It can be costing you another level of closeness with your partner. That absence may even be the difference between keeping or losing them.
Spring/Summer Hair Update!
A few months ago I committed to treating my hair better for the spring and summer and now that we’ve reached August I thought I’d update you all on how that went!
My hair is much healthier! During the spring I followed the guidelines almost exactly. The only variation is that I ended up, more times than not, just washing my hair once a week due to sheer laziness and truthfully, not feeling the need. I deep conditioned every week using a simple mixture of egg, olive or coconut oil, honey, cinnamon (for hair lightening) and a small splash of apple cider vinegar. Once, I substituted eggs for what was left of my Ouidad 12 Minute Deep Treatment. It made one of the best deep treatments even better!
Spring 2012
This spring my “mane” goal is to regain my hair’s health. I plan to this by:
- Keeping my hair moisturized daily by using water or water-based leave-in conditioner
- Use oil to seal moisture in ends before bed
- Put away hair at night and sleep with a satin scarf and or satin pillow case.
- Keep hair clean by washing and co-wasing at least twice a week
- Deep condition hair once a week
- Use low/no manipulation styling
For summer I did much of the same and was surprised to find that I didn’t swim nearly as much as I though I would and I’ve found myself inside more than anything so most of the summer additions were unnecessary as of yet. Though, the few times I did swim I pre-wet my hair with a conditioner water mixture and then after swimming I immediately rinsed my hair and washed it. I have not purchased my biotin or multivitamin yet but have been drinking much more water (to the distress of my bladder) and doing my best to eat a healthy well balanced diet. Plus, the summer isn’t over yet and I will be incorporating the vitamins into my diet.
Summer 2012For summer my goal is to optimize my hair growth by:
- Continuing spring regimen
- Takinga multivitamin and biotin daily
- Incorporating scalp massage
- Properly maintaing hair before and after swimming
- Usinga swim cap for lap swimming
- Use hair sunscreen
- Incorporating protective styling
- Eating healthy and keeping hydrated
As far as hair styling I have been wearing my wash and go’s as usual but I did try Curl Formers (post coming soon!) and I straightened my hair once. With the straightening I was extremely cautious and used tons of heat protector and low heat.
Natural Hair Myths
When one goes natural they are filled with certain expectations built by blogs, websites, youtube gurus, friends and family. While a lot of these ideas are healthy, helpful and accurate there are a few misleading myths that can be harmful to one’s natural hair journey. These are some of those myths:
- “My hair will grow extra long now that my hair is natural!” This is one of the biggest most harmful myths in the natural hair community. Your hair will grow at the same rate as it did before. One of the main reasons some people see extended growth then when relaxed is because they tend to take better care of their hair when they are natural. If you already took good care of your hair you may not see any difference in your maximum length.
- “My hair will grow back quickly.” It may seem that your hair will grow back quickly after your big chop because it’s growing back from being very short but hair grows a fraction of an inch a month so it will take years before you get back to where you were before and due to “shrinkage” you likely won’t see that length in your natural state.
- “My hair will look like _________.” Do yourself a favor and don’t expect your hair to look like anyone else’s! That’s their hair your hair will look like you! This will save you some grief and money from expecting one type of hair and having another.
- “I need all of these products!” watching some gurus 10 minute staple products videos may make you believe you’ll need an army of products to make your hair look halfway decent. But, as I have recently discovered, you need 3 products tops! Shampoo, conditioner and leave-in conditioner. That’s it. No really.
- “Protective styles will help me to retain length.” They can definitely help when done properly but doing them too much or too tight can lead to breakage. They can also lead you to be lazy with your hair and leave them in too long without washing or moisturizing properly which will is extremely unhealthy for your hair.
First Post
Yeah, I know the title of this post isn’t original but it’s accurate! Anyway, I just wanted to stop in and say hello. I’m just getting started on this “social journey” but I’ve been on my hair journey for almost two years now (officially). Not to say there weren’t first/accidental attempts at both of these journeys. Look forward to hearing more from me in the following months leading to my 1 year natural hair anniversary/my birthday! I plan to do my 1 year hair reveal & length check, the customary hair journey slideshow and a surprise! Don’t miss it!
Until next time!
~*Ashley*~
