A lot of people have asked me about going natural, and usually there’s a lot of concern about what to do and what to expect. Here are 5 tips on what to do before you go natural.
1. Mental preparation is key. Is your hair long and about to be big chopped? Start looking up short and TWA (Teenie Weenie Afro) styles now. Are you transitioning? Get ready for 2 different textures. Never had your hair curly before? Start picturing yourself with kinky/curly/coily hair and start following natural hair Social Media pages (like this one! @naturalfeministablog on Instagram, and @naturalfeminist on Twitter).
2. Wide-Toothed Comb. Buy one, because you will need it. Please hold off on trying to use a rat-tailed comb, and those little combs you can fit into your handbag, on your kinky/curly hair. Natural hair calls for a proper wide toothed comb so get one ahead of time.
3. Research the products for your hair type and start small. No need to go all out when you’re just starting the process. You’ll need a gentle shampoo (preferably no sulfates, but just try to find something hydrating), a good moisturizing conditioner (something that hydrates and helps with detangling), a good leave-in conditioner, and oils to seal in the moisture (start with the basics: olive oil or coconut oil and then castor oil or shea butter to seal). You have the rest of your journey to experiment!
4. Start collecting bobby pins because these will be your saving grace. You can never have too many of these partly because they seem to occasionally wander off and reappear right after you buy a new pack. Styling your hair will be so much easier when you have bobby pins on hand.
5. Develop patience. You will need it and you will be grateful once you see the results. Patience is truly a virtue and natural hair demands it. Ever heard the Kiswahili saying “haraka haraka haina baraka”? Direct translation: hurry hurry has no blessings. In other words rushing through a task will not yield very good results. Trust that this kinky/coily/curly crown we’ve been blessed with lives by the same principles. Give yourself time even though you don’t see the results right away. You may think your hair isn’t growing, or better yet you’re convinced it will never grow. The truth is, it all takes time. Trying to rush the process will give you single strand knots and shrunken twist-outs.
I picked these tips mainly because I found them to be the most useful, but there are so many more you’ll learn along the way. Start with these and I’ll share more as we move along this journey 🙂
naturalfeminista 