I am a full-time student and nearly a full-time mom. I have had natural hair for the last 3.5 years. I love my hair, but right now, it doesn't look or feel like I love it. It's dry, crunchy, tangled, and hidden under a very pretty scarf. I can't find 3-4 hours to do nothing but devote to the maintenance and styling of my hair. And plus, and even more importantly, I don't want to. If I have that kind of available time, I want to rest, visit friends, watch TV, etc., not spend it with my arms in the air, cringing and sighing.
So I thought about loc'ing my hair. I love the look of locs. Always thought I might get them if I ever got to this point, i.e., tired of my hair. (I have no desire to relax, mainly because I now realize that flat hair does not match my cheek bones, and because I'm no longer keen on the idea of chemicals near my scalp on the regular. But it's mainly the first reason.) I asked around a bit on Twitter, and I found that I may have underestimated the amount of maintenance necessary to care for locs. *le sigh*
I was thinking that locs needed to be done every 6-8 weeks or so, kind of like a relaxer. And I was planning to find an experienced loctitian and work that expense into the budget. I was mulling all of this information over when all of a sudden it hit me:
Work it into the budget NOW! Why am I willing to pay a cosmetologist for relaxers, a loctitian for loc maintenance, but not a stylist for my loose natural hair? Because I think that you should not pay for something you can do yourself. Well, that's some bull. I'm tired. I don't have time. And I'm too fly to be walking around shot-out when I don't have to.
I think this is what can sometimes be overwhelming about going natural. We take on too much. We get all excited. And understandably so. It's empowering to all of a sudden be in charge and in control of hair that for years has belonged to your beautician. (You dared not cut your own hair, or heaven forbid, visit ANOTHER stylist!) And so you kick everything to the curb and strike out on your own. You've got YouTube on your side. Who can stop you?!
Well, I'm stopping me. I'm waiting on a callback from a natural hair stylist I like. I am going to start going every 6-8 weeks. My frustration levels are about to plummet while my cuteness will rise exponentially. :-)
Natural hair is not a game & I think most people underestimate the time involved which is why I relaxed my hair after being natural twice. Props to you for making the space in your life for taking care of it!
Posted by: C | February 23, 2011 at 10:12 AM