Hair is such a nuisance in the African-American community. It makes all kinds of statements it shouldn't. It builds all kinds of stereotypes that are completely unnecessary. For example, the Afro, a nice-natural way for women to wear their hair has become synonymous to revolutionary thoughts and acts. I thought it was just a hairstyle??
Another example is the relaxed and straight style. There's always that stigma of trying to be European for chemically relaxing your hair or for wearing wigs and weaves to achieve the same outcome. Women spend thousands of dollars for wigs and weaves, and then spend hundreds of dollars going to the beautician every 2-3 months to get their wigs re-tightened.
It's too much! It's just too much! This whole 20-miles of baggage that comes with how I want to wear my hair is ridiculous. This is why India Arie will remain one of my favorite artists. Her song, while extremely important, was extremely underrated. It was slightly celebrated by people like Oprah, but the message just wasn't taken to heart as it should have been. "I Am Not My Hair" is the plain and simple truth. I wish people would not look at my hair and judge what type of Black woman I am. I mean I'm still figuring it out1
My hair has been relaxed and natural, but mostly in between all my life. My first trip to being natural started in 2000. I was living in Washington, DC at the time. For those who don't know, DC is quite an Afrocentric place if you visit the right areas. I live there for only about 6 months before I decided to grow out my relaxer. It was a big step for me. It was a complete change from how I had always worn my hair. I was ready for the challenge. I grew my hair out for a year, then one day I got tired of my two-textured hair, went to the bathroom, and cut off all the straight strands. It was such a dramatic change, but I love it, and that's where my first natural journey began.
Over the next couple of years, I had to really figure out how to style my hair. There were virtually no products for natural hair, and my hair went through many different phases, which meant I had to keep relearning how to do my hair. It was difficult, and eventually I ended up relaxing my hair again. It was a huge decision, but I did it anyway because I wanted straight hair and bangs again.
Fast forward about five years, and I am back to where I was at the turn of the century. I want to be a naturalista again! Over the past year I have noticed so many different women wearing their natural hair. It's seriously become a trend! Where was this trend when I needed it 12 years ago? To coincide with this trend, there are numerous websites, bloggers, and hair products dedicated to naturally curly hair. In fact, it's completely overwhelming! Gladly, though, there are samples sizes and trial kits, and this lovely subscription service I discovered last month called the curlBox.
My mission now is to find out which products work best for my hair. I've bought many and with the curlBox, I'll have many more samples to test out.
I've been actively growing out my relaxer since April. Since then I've bought and tried a variety of products.
First up is Miss Jessie's.
Overall Grade: C
Super Slip Sudsy Shampoo and Creme de la Creme Conditioner--> A+ non-drying
Stretch Silkening Creme--> C+ Heavy smell and eventually made my hair feel heavy and oily
Curly Buttercreme-->C+ Same problem as the Silkening Creme
Curly Pudding-->F My hair felt so crunchy after it dried!
Super Sweetback Deep Treatment--> B- It smells nice, it was hard to wash out, and my hair was so-so soft.
 |
| Day 1 Beautiful |
 |
| Day 2; Not so much! |
Miss Jessie's didn't satisfy me as much as I thought it would. It was very disappointing. Also, I discovered that the products have mineral oil in them which is why my hair felt crunchy.
However, I'm still planning to try the Rapid Recovery deep treatment. I'll let you know how that goes.
I'll be sauced until I find the right products in this hair jungle.
Later!
No comments:
Post a Comment