Natural Hair – A Juggling Act

MadameNoire.com



A night out with the girls is never short of good food, good drinks and good conversation.  More often than not, here’s the formula:  Hugs and smiles followed by preparing our palettes for whatever looks good on the menu, on to one of our fave topics, our men and children and last but never least – OUR HAIR!  No surprises there right?  Nine times out of ten, one of my relaxed friends will start in on how she wishes she could go natural but refuses because it’s simply too much work.  That notion is one of the most common ones I hear when it comes to reasons not to go natural.  I must admit, that notion is not without merit, it is a lot of work but whether or not it’s “too much work” is relative.  My response?  Natural hair is a juggling act but you can learn to juggle.  Truthfully it is a necessary skill to handle most things in life and just because we do not always have the luxury of concentrating on one thing at a time, does not mean we cannot do those things well.  Here’s how:

Conquer the basics

Juggling natural hair is all about knowing the basics.  Determining what the goal is and then breaking down how to achieve it.  For example,  going natural for some is an overwhelming idea at first so it would helps if you break down this large concept into small steps.  Once you have determined you want to enjoy your hair absent of chemical relaxers, ask yourself, “what do I need to do to get there?” I.e. Do I transition and allow my relaxed hair to grow completely out or do I say good bye to my relaxed tresses with a pair of scissors, in other words, the big chop? 

Get Familiar with Failure

Ok maybe failure is too strong of a word and I don’t want you to read that as negative.  With failure, comes success, with rain comes sunshine, with dark comes light.  It’s the natural balance of the world and we can’t escape it and natural hair is not exempt.  There will be many bad hair days, many #epicfails, many moments of doubt and frustration but guess what, it’s ok.  If you expect and accept that, it will be easier to wrap your head around it.  When those instances arise, have your moment, shake it off and move on to the next. 

Watch and Learn

While no two heads of hair are alike, it doesn’t mean you cannot learn from the many resources available to you.  Hit up the blogs and vlogs, network by attending a meet up in your city, utilize social media outlets.  Use all of these things in conjunction with your own research and a little common sense to aid in filtering accurate information. 

Commit to the process

In this natural hair game, you only have your commitment to the process.  This means respecting your mane by creating a regimen, paying attention to the health and condition of your hair, exhibiting time management skills, etc. The more you commit to the process, the smoother a process it will be.   

“The trick to juggling is determining which balls are made of rubber and which ones are made of glass.” 

It’s Friday so don’t forget to check me out on Curly Nikki!  Have an awesome weekend!

How do you juggle your natural hair lifestyle?