Sunday 16 January 2011

I love Natural Hair :)

I remember when I initially told my Sister I was going natural i.e. No more relaxers. She didn't understand why I'd want to do that, especially as my hair was very healthy and was long enough.

For a quick recap, take a quick look at THIS

Recently, I recieved a few comments which made me have to bite my tongue to avoid giving a rude reply:
  • "If my hair was as long as yours is/was, I'd relax it" - Errrr... ok I'll keep my thoughts to myself on this one, I'm trying so hard here, haha!
  • "Your hair is different, it's not like the usual African hair" - Last time I checked, I was 100% African, 100% Nigerian. My hair looks "different" because I take very good care of it :)
  • "Why did you go natural when your relaxed hair was thick and full" - This was the most acceptable comment/question because  I totally understood what they meant. Some people go natural as a last resort - damage caused by relaxers, thin hair due to overprocessing (constant application of relaxers), etc I decided to stop relaxing my hair because I decided that I didn't need relaxers to have nice looking hair and also because I didn't want relaxers (chemicals) applied close to my scalp every 4-6 months (but I'm  not trying to preach in this post so I'll not go into that now).
I've been relaxer-free for just over 2 years now (25 months) and I straightened my hair in December... right before Christmas, I was wearing my hair like this:


On Xmas Day, I did a donut bun (I love these!):


And I straightened:


I've heard a lot about going natural hair being a fad and I roll my eyes.

I understand that some people are going natural because "everyone" is going natural. I see nothing wrong with that because, although a huge fraction of these people will get frustrated and go back to relaxing their hair, a significant number will love having natural hair and will stay natural :)

Anyone who needs tips on taking care of relaxed OR natural hair, let me know - I'll be glad to help :)

Oh... and my Sister is going natural too, it's been a year since she last relaxed her hair :)

8 comments:

Tiwa said...

YAYYYYYYYY! go Adura!!! your my hair inspiration

Uzo said...

I looove. I am 8 months into my transition and trying to learn to do my own hair. Love the bun. Tips pldsss

Ms Afropolitan said...

healthy and shiny, and without all the fuss of relaxing. beautiful!

Adura O. said...

Aww thanks Tiwa darling :) You know I love your hair :)

@Uzo Thanks! Your hair's beautiful :) I think I have the steps in my fotki but I'll show detailed steps soon.

@Ms Afropolitan - Thank you :) I love your hair... **drool**

Preye K said...

Lovely...I am 6months post big chop and still at a loss on what to do with my hair (I think i get about 99% shrinkage) any tips for growing the edges? I just took out my kinky/loc sew-in and it did some serious damage to my edges :(
Thank you

Adura O. said...

Preye - Definitely avoid braids, sew-ins for a while to give your edges some rest. I've heard castor oil is great for growing in edges... please avoid products that claim to help grow hair. There's more proof of Castor Oil working.

Victoria said...

There are still so many stereotypes about natural hair and people just fail to see how versatile natural hair is. Your hair is gorgeous btw.

ebonie said...

Pls can you give tips on what I can do to my hair on the way to making it natural.