Natural hair requires maintenance and if you aren’t ready for it, you should stick to your relaxed hair. How many times have you heard that from people? Enough to discourage you from joining the natural hair gang, I guess. But while it may be true that Afro hair requires adequate maintenance, it is still among the natural hair myths you should discard right away.
I mean, whether natural or relaxed, every hair requires maintenance to grow healthily.
If you’ve been contemplating joining the natural hair gang or you are already, you must have heard many discouraging misconceptions about it.
But not to worry.
Here in this article are dubunked natural hair myths you should let go of ASAP.
5 Natural Hair Myths
Despite the existence of relaxers, many black women still prefer to wear their hair unrelaxed. This in itself is a movement on its own geared towards a full acceptance of the black race and everything about it. However, there are misconceptions that prevent many women from growing their hair naturally. This misinformation has made some refuse to accept their hair in its virgin state.
If you are among these women, be prepared to let go of these misconceptions. Because you are about finding out the truth about these natural hair myths.
1. Natural Hair is Difficult to Maintain
We’ll start with this because it’s the commonest of all natural hair myths. And to prove that it’s indeed a misnomer, I’ll ask again:
Is there any hair that isn’t difficult to maintain?
Difficult to maintain in the sense of investing in the right hair care products, adopting a hair care routine, paying regular visits to your hairstylists, etc. While natural hair requires consistency in sticking to the right hair care routine, so does relaxed hair if you want it to be sleek and healthy.
They both require different maintenance methods peculiar to each type of hair. The only thing is that natural hair requires being more meticulous because it is delicate.
Transitioning from natural hair may be difficult especially as the texture differs from that of relaxed hair. But the good news is that once you set your mind to it, your hair care routine will become a normal thing for you.
2. Natural Hair is Always Tough
This is not true per se because just as faces are different, hair textures differ too. There are ladies with tough hair regardless of how often they relax it. Similarly, there are naturalistas with soft hair too.
Furthermore, sometimes your hair isn’t tough; it just needs a bit of moisture to soften it. This is why you have to learn how to properly moisturise your natural hair (link) so you don’t think it’s tough when in actual fact it Isn’t.
3. It isn’t Versatile
This is just one of the natural hair myths that aren’t helping out at all. Naturalistas can attest to the fact that their hair is really versatile.
There is just not any hairstyle you can’t do with your natural hair. Is it bantu knots, corn rows, shuku, bounce twists, protective hairstyles, crotchet, weaves, yarn braids or other hair extensions? You can wear any coiffure of your choice even as a naturalista.
Don’t think because natural hair shrinks, some hairstyles won’t suit it. If the situation calls for it, you can always straighten your hair without damaging it so you can rock your dream hair.
However, if your hair is short, this may limit the kind of styles you wear. Nonetheless, the longer it grows, the more hairstyles you can rock.
4. You Need to Always Grease Your Scalp
Your hair has natural oils to keep it greasy and moisturised. You don’t have to apply plenty of products just because you want to grease your hair.
This is because many of these products result in buildups that can clog your hair follicles. In turn, this will hamper the growth of your hair.
You don’t have to grease your hair all the time because you are a naturalista. Let it breathe sometimes while you apply any of the natural oils for hair growth.
5. Natural Hair Doesn’t Suit Everybody
Oh well! Who made the rules? Who decides what suits who?
How can your own hair not even suit you? Does it work that way? Of course not!
You should wear your hair with pride no matter what anyone says. While your friend’s hair density may be thicker than yours, you should understand that people differ and not feel bad because yours is less dense or shorter.
What you just need for you hair is the right maintenance and in due time, even those with relaxed hair will admire the look of your natural hair.
