So you've heard all the news about
going natural and you want to see what's it all about, huh? Well, first, lets bust some
natural hair myths! We'll call them
black hair myths. These are the lies or "theories" or even "old wives tales" that have been passed down for generations about
black hair and
black hair care. These myths, have discouraged (understandably so) many women from
going natural and discovering their
natural hair.
First, let's talk about what exactly is "
black hair"? To be honest, I don't believe in "black hair", none of us, no matter if we are all brown and have African ancestry, have hair that is the same. Hair varies from person to person or I should say
head to head. Yes, a lot of us have hair the has similar traits but, when you get to comparing hair between all races, you'll find many of us share the same hair traits.
This post is going to be my attempt at encouraging those of you who are interested in
going natural or are
newly natural and a bit frustrated. Let's get to those myths, shall we?
Black Hair Care Myths
- Black hair is more brittle. Brittle hair is a trait of dry hair. Dry hair is hair that doesn't have the proper moisture. Learning how to properly moisturize and seal in the moisture will help keep hair from feeling dry. Also, maintaining a great protein moisture balance will help prevent hair from becoming weak and damaged.
- Black hair is more dry. I have read a few studies on why curly hair tends to need more moisture than other types of hair and concluded that this is not a symptom of black hair but, of curly hair. Studies have shown that our scalp makes a natural oil called sebum. When hair is curly, the sebum has a harder time traveling down the hair strand. To rectify this "problem" (I don't find it a problem, it just seems like this may just be a difference in hair types and there is possibly a reason why straighter hair may need the extra sebum.) we can add oils to our hair strand that "mimic" sebum such as, jojoba oil.
- Black hair breaks easily. With education on how to properly care for your hair you can minimize breakage. If your hair isn't properly moisturized and doesn't have a healthy dose of protein, it will break easily. Learning how to gently detangle your hair will also minimize breakage. (Remember how mom combed root to tip? Ouch! Yeah well, you will have better results combing tip to root.)
- There are not many natural hair styles. It's 2011! Just about any style you can do with relaxed hair, you can do with natural hair. Some natural haired ladies even know how to get their kinks relaxer straight and keep their hair healthy. (check out YouTube for tutorials)
- Natural hair is nappy and has a lot of tangles! To minimize tangles, using great techniques when detangling will remove all or majority of the shed hair. Shed hair is what causes a lot of those big tangles. Also, be sure to your keep hair moisturized (seeing a pattern here?) this will help keep curls clumped and keep them from having love affairs with one another, in my experience.
- Black hair doesn't grow. With the proper knowledge on how to care for natural hair, MANY naturals have experienced 6+ inches of growth a year and some, 1 inch a month! The average seems to be 1/4 -1/2 of an inch a month for growth but, I think many of us have passed the average. *smiles*
On this natural hair journey I have learned that sometimes as we try to encourage others to go natural we can be pretty hard and negative about our hair. I wouldn't want to go natural either if someone was constantly telling me my hair would be
brittle, dry, tangled, and just down right undesirable. Yeah, I would reach for the relaxer too. Truth is, natural hair or "black hair" isn't bad at all. Yes, curly hair has it's challenges but, once you get the hang of things, it's not that hard at all.
What have you learned about YOUR hair?
