Why I Decided To Stop Growing My Natural Hair

Natural Hair Travails: An “Ex-Naturalista” tells her story.

A lot of people have taken the first step towards keeping their hair natural “THE BIG CHOP”, and everywhere you go, you see women and ladies everywhere with an afro and you ask yourself; is it really worth it?

What satisfaction does natural hair have that a relaxed hair won’t give you? What people will tell you is, you no longer need to fear water as you can swim with your hair out, go out in the rain and not worry about your hair (even if it will shrink), you don’t need to go to the salon to get your hair styled, they say it saves money, you even make new friends because the other person is natural, some even says it gives you confidence (how exactly?).

After months of rocking my natural hair. I got tired of it and decided to go back to relaxing my hair. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed being part of the natural hair team but it was so stressful to keep up with.

Going through the transitioning trouble and getting to know your hair which means buying a lot of products. Because your natural hair will react differently to the thousands of creams, lotions, and oils out there, you have to test and try until your hair responds to the right ones.

Why I Decided To Stop Growing My Natural Hair

For me, it was extremely time consuming. I had to spend at least 40 minutes to get the hair de-tangled and styled the way I wanted it. Yeah, there are simple styles but you can’t really go out everyday with your hair in a bun. Then my hair became so thick, combing was a problem. I always had to moisturize and comb. When I say comb, there are different steps to this “activity”, there are different combs for different natural hair situations.

Now, it’s not just about the time I spent combing or styling to get what I wanted. My hands were always up and I would be in front of the mirror trying to get the right style. I’d feel like a hero when I thought it was all done and I was good to go.

Most times, you have to make protective styles to keep your hair in shape. You see this beautiful hair-do and you want it but you can’t have it on because it won’t be good for your natural hair. One night, you decide not to twist your hair before you sleep and you wake up the next day, your hair is a total mess. You’ve got to start from the scratch.

Thinking about going through all these stress, you just want to relax your hair and forget about all the troubles of natural hair. When your hair is relaxed, you don’t have to always wash condition, rinse and straighten every week. You don’t need to watch Youtube Videos everyday to get the latest treatments for natural hair.

When you relax your hair, the comb goes through your hair with ease; you can decide to leave it the way it is till whenever not worrying about de-tangling it, and Yes! Those styles you saw on the internet, you can have it on and do away with the protective styles. Perfect!! No restrictions. Who says you can’t style your relaxed hair to be as beautiful as natural hair and guess what? It doesn’t take so much time like natural hair. It’s way easier and faster. If you could style your natural hair on your own then what’s the big deal about styling your relaxed hair and laying those edges. Natural or relaxed, it’s still your hair. Why go through so much stress?

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10 COMMENTS

  1. Great work?. I am on a relaxed hair and can totally relate to this post , most of my friends on natural hair complain about it being stressful to maintain and I wonder if it is worth it. You can be on a relaxed hair and maintain it as easily.

  2. I can’t relate… But I feel the writer doesn’t enjoy the natural squad because of her hair texture.. Anyhow, I love the piece… It is beautiful ??

  3. This is the honest truth constructively out down. Yes the natural hair is pretty, but its exhausting to properly maintain. Kudos to those who do… But it doesn’t make the relaxed hair less beautiful ..beauty comes in all forms remember. More grease dear writer

  4. This is so true. I tried keeping a natural hair for like a year but I just couldn’t continue the stress was just too much. I can’t count how many combs broke in my hair. Seeing different styles of styles for natural hair online makes me want to continue but then the stress, the money for upkeep and the combing is enough to deter me from even trying it.

  5. From relaxed hair to naturalist to low-cuts…. It’s still MY HAIR!!! (or your hair) .

    Nice twist to airing your experience, kudos!!

  6. Well, some people just want to follow the crowd… I’ll always say whatever works for you and I don’t keep natural hair because it doesn’t work for me.

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