Lessons learned...

Look at that fro! Never again will I underestimate the time, energy and skill it takes to sport a tight fro. Here is mine as I went to church last night.... and I thought it was a hot mess because everytime I looked in the mirror at the back, I saw that it wasn't.....well fixed. It wasn't even or clean all around.

Well this post isn't all about fros...its the lessons learned, the things I never realized about natural hair or caring for natural hair until recently. Its those things that probably makes most of our childhood experiences quite...hmmm unpleasurable when we think of our hair experiences 'before-relaxer' days!

What I learned:

• I should NEVER comb my hair dry....that is unless it was already detangled and not sitting for any long periods of time. i.e. even this morning as I attempted to braid up my hair, I had to part into sections and then using my spray bottle damp my hair before trying to comb through (and detangle again) before attempting the braids. Why is this? well first of all, despite popular belief my hair is curly..its just the curls are uber small and thus they get tangled very very easily. So its not a matter of hard vs. soft hair...(any hair can be soft if its properly moisturized), its just that us black women with 4b (coily/springy/cottony/kinky texture) has to be more careful about how and when we try to rake a comb especially a :gasp: fine-tooth comb through these tresses. So to create my fro style, I also damp my hair with a spray bottle before using the handy dandy afro-pik!


• I should NEVER try to run the comb through my hair from root to tip. Now this may sound like a given, but I can't tell you how many times, even when my hair was relaxed and I had new growth that I would try this method. Its just not the method of combing for anyone whose hair has texture. Its definitely better to begin at the tip and work backward to the root.


• I should NEVER try to comb my hair all at once. Another 'given' but I've done it and seen others attempt also. Now most times, we attempt with a wide tooth comb but even that can be detrimental i.e. pulling out hair unnecessarily. its best to divide and conquer. the smaller the better. The exception may be trying to create the aforementioned fro. But by the time, I'm creating the fro, my hair is already detangled and the divide and conquer session was already done.


• I don't need to comb my hair. Now this is not me being nasty or any other derrogatory term we use for people who don't comb their hair. Becuase my hair is still under 10 inches long, my fingers are excellent detanglers. Furthermore, now that I'm natural, not every style I need a comb for. I remember the first 3-4 months after I cut, my hair never met a comb unless I was experimenting with a style at home.


• Water is my friend! I was the queen of washing my hair ONCE per month. If it was a good month, maybe twice...but never more than that. Somehow I became to believe that washing my hair was of the devil. Well, its not the washing or the water that could be bad- its the ingredients in certain shampoos. So now I wash my hair whenever I please (once, twice or every day per week) but very rarely do I use shampoo and if I do use shampoo, its a sulfate-free product and I alwasy follow up with a conditioner. When I wash without shampoo, I use conditioner (any old cheap one I can find) and I use that to lather/scrub my scalp. who knew huh?


• Water is my friend! no, this is not a mistake, I meant typing that twice. not only is water helpful for cleansing purposes but water is moisture. Moisture = happy, healthy and soft manageable hair. I also prefer how my hair looks when its moisturized. It has more definition (i.e. curl pattern), more sheen (cause my hair doesn't shine naturally) and like I said...I just like how it looks.


• Everything that claims to be a moisturizer -isn't. Now there are some technical parts of this explanation that I don't feel quite fit to explain but let me say this. Stuff like grease, pink oil moisturizer that contains either mineral oil or petroleum only sits on the top of the hair shaft and makes it feel greasy. But this isn't beneficial to the actual hair. :shrugs shoulders: I've chosen to just avoid these ingredients whenever possible and try to use products that are water-based and ingredients like shea butter, aloe vera gel and some natural oils (coconut, safflower, olive, tea tree etc...) in attempts at moisturizing in my hair.

That's all I can think of right now! and besides, I have to go get ready. I just got offered a FREE ticket to the Miss Universe Pageant being held in t-4 hours. As I mentioned, I actually braided my hair because we (hubby and I) were supposed to go to the beach, now I have to find a dress, hope that the braids make a cute, well-defined braid out and just get all purty for this event! woohooo

smooches!