Me vs. Nature

5

September 3, 2013 by CJ

When I first decided to go natural I had envisioned a head full of curls, styled in a neat controlled bob of sorts. I did the research, read all I could, watched the tons of you tube videos out there. I was prepared…or so I thought. What I didn’t know was exactly how my hair was going to behave. While I pictured a simple cute perfectly coiffed head of hair, what I got was something different.

When left to its own accord, my hair likes to stand on end. Straight up in the air.

Me in the beach in Antigua this past summer.

This picture (on your left) is what happens when I attempt a wash and go without using a styler. Straight up in the air and all over the place. When I first cut my hair and realized it was not going to sit and lay the way I wanted I fully embraced stylers. What are stylers? They are gels, mousse, creams whatever people use to get their hair to fall the way they want it. My favorite stylers were gels. In my opinion, they provided the best hold, maximum hold is what I searched for and that’s what they gave me. The biggest drawback in using these gel stylers, rock hard hair. Yes, my hair was controlled and the curl definition was awesome. Yes, there was little to no frizz and it looked great. But I quickly realized I needed more than a look. I wanted my hair to feel soft.

I am not one of those people who do not want her husband’s hands in her hair. Just the opposite. There is nothing better after a long stressful day, than to rest my head on my husband’s lap and receive an amazing scalp massage. OMG! It’s heaven. But when your hair is rock hard or sticky and tacky from gel stylers, it’s not very welcoming. So I began my search for cream stylers.

There are many out there. The biggest downside to cream stylers that I have discovered very few, if any, provide maximum hold. Which means, I spend a lot of time fighting what my hair wants to do. I’ve piled on the creams and potions to get my hair to lie down and behave. All it really did was make my hair feel yucky, too much product is not good either. From what I’ve read, many naturals are fighting this fight. For me, I believe it is getting use to a new look. I’ve spent the past 40 years with smooth, straight hair. It was tamed and in control. Slowly, I am getting accustomed to the curly, sometimes frizzy, most times big hair I now have. I’ve decided that I’m not going to fight it anymore. With most cream stylers that I’ve tried (I’ll post some reviews of some since I’m still trying various things), I am able to get defined, beautiful curls…it’s just a little big, for me.

It’s pretty big

Close up, a better view of my curls with a cream styler

 

At some point, I’m sure, my hair will come back down. When it does, I will welcome it with open arms. I believe it just needs to get to a certain length. Until that time, I vow to love, protect, cherish and honor this big, poofy hair.

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