Going Natural is Easier Said than Done...

With the opening of a Carol’s Daughter store in Lenox Mall, and spending way more than I had planned. It reminded me that this natural thing is easier said than done. The products are very expensive and maintenance is more time consuming than ever.

But I guess this is the case on a per person basis, because after listening to a local radio station I concluded there’s a difference in the meaning of what we ourselves consider natural. Is it wet and go, however it falls ( or stand up) is the way you rock it? Is it simply free of chemicals but you still get it straightened ( or the new term Dominican press) to get that usual European feel of sleekness? Or are braids / weaves your way of life?

I’ve been told the most enlightening but yet most difficult route is to cut it all off, snipping out the relaxer with every cut until you get to your new growth. Believe me, one of my most favorite things to do is be enlightened but this was never an option for me. I quickly concluded that the whole “Natural Awakening” stuff was much too overrated and way to drastic for the girl. However, I do know some ladies that have taken the plunge and work the low cropped style something fierce.

But after nearly 15 years of relaxed hair, touch up after touch up every 4 weeks to achieve that highly desired straight hair, I decided to let it go. It wasn’t a long drawn out process at all. One day I decided my hair was over processed, it was fried, dyed and laid way too much to the side and if I didn’t do something soon I would lose it all.

A stylist I visited every so often preferred natural to relaxed hair because of the damage she consistently saw from hair too often process, relaxed combined with color, it was too much. She didn’t persuade or push her clients to go natural but would subtly gave the benefits at every visit. And after seeing several of my friends go through the transition with her, she would wash and condition their hair with great products and than press it so good, you really couldn’t tell they didn’t have a fresh relaxer, I decided to give it a try. Not really committing to it, just seeing if it would help my hair or not, I mean it couldn’t be too hard, right?

I was completely clueless of the aftermath that was maintenance of natural hair, OMG!

Due to the amount of heat needed for a press its not recommended that you get one too often because it damages your hair, but it wasn’t until after breaking a single sweat during a much needed workout that I realized my newly pressured, silky, shiny, straight divalicious do had swollen up like blow fish in damage and I was too taken aback because I didn’t have a clue of how to get it back like it was without adding more heat or paying that hefty fee to have the stylist do it over.

Dazed, confused and very frustrated because the results of no chemicals we great and I now loved my hair in its natural state, there was no way I was going back anytime soon, so with relaxing not an option I set out to do whatever it took to maintain it. After going on the hunt for the best all natural products around I was slapped in the face with how expense they are, most three to four times more than the black gel I was accustomed to buying to lay my edges down. It was then I realized this natural stuff was easier said than done.

It’s been three years since my transition and I’m still learning the ins and outs of being natural. The battle is tough but the reward is amazing, I highly recommend going natural and are more than welcome for some advice to help with this process.