Today is my Big Chop Anniversary, yay! I learned a lot about natural hair straight out of the gate, some of which I shared with you guys in my 5 Things I’ve Learned About Natural Hair Since Doing the Big Chop post. After a year I’m now a little more seasoned as a Naturalista. I’ve learned so much more about natural hair and I’m constantly learning new things everyday. Here are some natural hair tips to help make your first year after the big chop easy.
- You’re Not on this Journey Alone
Whether you do do the big chop or transition, the beginning of your natural hair journey can be extremely overwhelming. All of a sudden you have this new set of hair on your head and you have no idea what to do with it. The thing is, you are not alone. There are so many others taking this journey with you. Through social media you can all learn from each other and from seasoned Naturalistas. You’ll find so many natural hair tutorials, tips, tricks and inspiration pictures on YouTube, Instagram, Periscope, Pinterest, Facebook and Twitter, that you’ll now be overwhelmed with options. Make sure you follow me on YouTube and Instagram as I’m always posting TWA (teeny weeny afro) tutorials, tips and inspiration pictures. Also check out my post on 5 Natural Hair Pages You Should Be Following On The Gram for more Instagram pages to follow.
2. Practice Makes Perfect
As a Naturalista your ideal goal is to style your hair yourself. Finding a good natural hair stylist in your area may be hard and also very expensive. If you see a style that you like, find a tutorial (all it takes is a quick Google search) and try doing it yourself. Keep on doing it until you get it the way you want it. In time you will perfect that style and gain more confidence in your skills, then you can move on to other styles. Before you know it you’ll be a natural hair pro.
3. Natural Hair Requires Patience
I get so many comments on my YouTube tutorials with people saying that they love my hair, but they don’t have the patience to sit there and do the style. Well patience is a virtue that you absolutely need for styling natural hair. Especially Type 4 hair, and even more so for a Type 4 TWA. If you want styles like Finger Coils, Perm Rod Sets, Twist Outs etc., then you’re going to have to suck it up, sit for a few hours and put in that work. The results are not only beautiful but can last up to a week or two with proper maintenance. In my opinion that’s worth it.
4. Less is More
With so many natural hair product reviews and suggestions online, you are going to want to try everything. Don’t be a product hoarder. Once you find a set of products that makes your hair thrive and works every time, stick with them. These are your holy grail products, they are tried and true.
5. Life Is Too Short to Have Boring Hair
I don’t know about you, but I don’t like to wear the same exact style week in and week out. Even with my relaxed hair I changed it up on the regular. Be creative or you’ll get bored with your natural hair quick. Don’t be afraid to try different styles. Get the funky haircut that you’ve had your eye on. Try a protective style like crochet braids or faux locs. Add some color. Sometimes you gotta change it up on em’!
Feel free to share your tips that you’ve learned on your natural hair journey in the comments!
6 Responses
Another great post! What I love most about being natural is the cost. It’s basically free for me. I’m not spending bundles of $$$ on bundles of weave. However the main reason I returned being natural was out of self respect for my precious time. It’s hard for me to sit in a barber’s chair nowadays so imagine my tolerance for a salon visit that averaged 2 to 4 hours??? Now that takes the patience of JOB!
LOL!
I remember in high school when I used to go to the Dominicans to get my touch up and wrap. I’d get there at 6am and get out at like 1pm. What was I thinking smh lol ?
I declare you need your own tv show!!!Thankyou for sharing your talents and expertise with us!I absolutely love every style you’ve shared,including your makeup!You say and show just the right amount in your tutorials!!!None of that talk,talk,talk….time is precious!
Awww thank you so much. I try to keep it short and to the point so I appreciate that! 🙂
??????natural hair is a physical and spiritual journey. Regardless of what people say about hair being just hair being a black woman in America shows us that it’s not…it’s so much more. Your hair looks great and make up always on point. So good to have another beautiful brown girl being a living counter narrative showing that brown girls are indeed FLY!
I totally agree with you. Thank you so much. I do my best to show my sisters that our natural hair is beautiful and we should rock it confidently. We are magical and no one can tell us that we are not FLY!