| Hair, Of Coarse! |
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| Thursday, 06 March 2008 | |
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In this article, I'd like to talk to you about how I deal with my hair as a woman of color. Not trying to toot my own horn here, but I do often hear people compliment my hair on its volume, shine, bounce and length - but I work on that, it doesn't just happen. So hey, allow me to share what I do with my sometimes unmanageable locks and see if that helps improve your own hair!
At age 9 I asked my mother to relax my hair for the very first time because I wanted a change for my yearbook photo. The results were great and I loved the fact that the waves were left behind in exchange for a more slick and manageable look. I continued to relax my hair at a salon and they would use products by Revlon which can be pretty strong. Unless your hair is like a brillo-pad, you should avoid using products that contain strong chemicals and claim to have more "strength". This was mistake #1 for me. I think every woman should experiment wisely and ask for professional advice when it comes to their hair type and what kind of relaxer they should use. After realizing that my hair wasn't in fact as "hard and unmanageable" as I thought, I made the switch to kid's relaxers!
Even though it doesn't seem that way, I've done as much damage to my hair as I could and I'm not proud of it. I've dyed it (but quit recently because I want my hair to be even healthier), I leave it wet after showering (coarse hair + wet = NO-NO) and sometimes I don't comb it for days. I also use flat irons, curling irons and I also blow-dry it myself at home. God only knows how bad heat can be for the hair.
Your hair's appearance will be as good as the effort you put into maintaining it, so do your best : ) |
Hair, hair, hair... it can be a beautiful thing. In our uniqueness, we've all been blessed with different hair types and textures. We've got a variety of fine, curly, wavy, coarse, shiny, dull, dry, oily, limp, volumized and... well, you get the point. If you take wavy, coarse, dull and volumized - you've got my hair type!
As a little girl my hair had a natural shine. Because of its wavy nature, it would get tangled very easily and I remember the suffering I went through when my aunties were doing my hair. However, they managed to keep my hair beautifully abundant and long. I remember they would use hair grease (of course!) and wash it every sunday. 
Yup, that's right. I've been relaxing my hair with either Just For Me or Beautiful Beginnings for years now and I couldn't be happier. My hair doesn't fall out as much, ends split a lot less and it feels softer to the touch. Not to mention I don't even get burns or sore spots on my scalp after relaxing. 
Fortunately though, I've also found products that I can use weekly/daily to keep my hair in check. For our time's sake, I am going to quickly break down the types of products I'm using that have shown excellent results and are coarse-hair friendly:
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