Hi guyss its been a while since we had a guest on here but yay we have naaku talking about her natural hair care/journey/frustrations. Please feel free to comment and share the fun :) 

——>Honestly, one main reason I went natural was so I could have ‘new’ permed hair.. you know, grow it out for a year or so, perm it and pray that it doesn’t break ever again. My hair started breaking when I got to college, so I retouched it and put it in a weave with the intention of retouching it again when I got to Ghana in December. But for some reason, I just braided it instead and it was after that that I decided to have some nice new hair on my head, and I liked the idea cos I was really curious about what my ‘real’ hair was like. 

For almost two whole years, I did absolutely nothing with it.. wash, braid, wash, weave was the constant routine.. the last time I permed it was in September 08, and I cut the permed hair off in the summer of 09. I never bothered to learn how to take care of it, and in between the fake hair I’d just leave it in an afro and wet it whenever I needed to comb it. Then, with so many people around me going natural and talking about how they deal with it, I finally did my research and washing my hair alone has become a whole different, now 3 hour, story.

One of the most important ways to keep your hair healthy and growing, natural or permed, is to keep it moist constantly. This is how that works for me;

 - First, I mix coconut oil with conditioner and put it in my hair in sections (braid after), then cover it with a shower cap. Heat is a great addition here, and I have a mini hair-dryer which I’m too lazy to use most of the time so I just blowdry into the shower cap for a bit and add a scarf and a towel and keep them there for an hour.

This helps with moisture, and the oil protects your hair from the “damaging effects” of shampoo.. some people even say shampooing is unnecessary, so do what works for you 

-Shampoo it, again in sections.. I’ve found its soo much easier (longer, yes, but easier) to shampoo my hair in sections, and to do everything else for that matter. But I have a big head so..

- It gets a bit gross (and quite smelly) here.. there are all sorts of things you can use but for now I mix coconut oil, any other oil I have (olive atm), egg yolk, honey, avocado, shea butter, used hair mayonnaise a couple of time, and im getting some hibiscus powder after I take my braids out. Again with the heat and coverings and I leave it on for as long as I can… never done more than 2 hours. I’d be lying if I told you I know exactly what everything does but my hair is much softer after its been dried and styled, and it stays that way for a while.

-Rinseee, leave-in condition, and I try to avoid blow drying as often as possible but I do sometimes, then oil with shea butter.

- I keep a spray bottle with a mixture of glycerin (greaaat for retaining moisture), leave-in conditioner and coconut oil just to spritz during the week, especially when the hair is in braids. Need to find a sub for the natural coco oil though cos it doesn’t smell great, and this isn’t something I wash out. I actually don’t mix the towels/shirts I use to do this with any of my other stuff, even during laundry.

And yea. That’s it not saying it’s the best way to do your hair, and there are so many other things people say but its too much to take in, so this is what I’m sticking to for a while.

There’ve been at least 7 times when I’ve decided (and ‘firmly’) that I’m perming my hair. I really don’t miss my permed hair (except wrapping!)but natural hair, especially if you’re like me and hate having it in twists, can be a bother. It takes tiiimmee and work to get it to look sensible, and if natural hair doesn’t look nice, it looks terrible. Going to bed with it is another problem cos even if I don’t have to twist it, which I usually do, I have to ‘arrange’ it under the cap so that when I wake up some parts aren’t flying in their own direction. Just saw this today though.. from about 6.45. If you’re considering going natural, I’d say give it a shot.. its much fuller, thicker, and there are so many things you can do with it. I love everything about it except getting it done, like watching youtube videos alone makes my arms hurt. Honestly, I might have permed it by now if I wasn’t so scared I’ll miss it.. but the ooonly reason I’d ever perm it is cos of how much time and effort goes into it. That excludes what I’ve described up here, that I would do even with permed hair. Its what comes after that. So if you have the time and dedication to deal with natural hair, I think its niceness is way nicer than permed hair’s, and give it a shot & If you decide you can keep it, excellentttt, and if you don’t think you can, having new, undamaged permed hair is a great option :D 

Afro

Twist out 

I loooove natural hair and the way it looks but to be honest i dont think i have the strength or patience to grow out my hair :/ You can find most of the products in any grocery store or online (amazon,ebay etc)

Please feel free to post a comment or if you want to share your story feel free to email me at makeupbysharms@gmail.com and you can have a slot on the blog :) 

as always thank you for reading hope you enjoyyy