JOURNEY TO HAIRVEN
Monday, September 12, 2016with South African Chisomo
My hair has always played a major role in
defining who I am, an adjective used to describe me more often than not by
other people. All through high school I was one of a few girls with beautiful,
long, relaxed tresses. Compliments about my hair came swinging from almost every
direction.
Fast forward a few years later, my now
over-relaxed hair pretty much stopped growing and started to break. By then, my
sister had been natural for about a year or two. I fell in love with natural
hair watching my sister’s hair gain length like never before. I was mesmerized
with the texture, how one crop of hair could appear short one minute and long and huge the next minute. My sister encouraged me to go natural and I had my first big chop in early 2014.
Getting comfortable with natural hair, specifically how to care for it, wasn’t an easy thing for me. It was confusing, especially with the amount of information there is. My regimen was all over the place at the time, but co-washing without scheduling any clarifying washes brought my first try at natural hair to a halt because it resulted in a lot of build-up which I frustratingly mistook for dandruff. So a few months later, on the 15th of October 2014, I had my second big chop.
Going in this time around, I decided that giving
up wasn’t an option and that I would inform myself as much as possible about
natural hair. I followed as many natural hair groups and pages as I could and
sought advice from other natural hair ladies. I haven’t had any issues with my
hair except for build-up which has brought me to a knowledge of hair porosity,
and how even though I’ve had steady, healthy hair growth, I haven’t necessarily
been using all the right products for my hair. I’m learning to treat my hair not as 4a hair, but rather as low porosity hair without overlooking
what’s essential for type 4 hair.
My regimen consists of washing my hair once a
week. Currently, this involves dry detangling my hair the day before wash day
and setting my hair in chunky twists. On wash day, I wash my hair with a
solution of one part water and one part Tresemme Deep Cleansing shampoo. This
is followed by spritzing a solution of water, aloe vera
juice and ACV into my scalp and hair and finger detangling
before rinsing it out. Then I deep condition with a mix of Tresemme Naturals
conditioner, ACV, African Pride Olive Miracle Growth Oil,
lemongrass oil and tea tree oil, using heat while I deep condition. Lastly, I
do the LOC method using Dr. Miracles leave-in conditioner, grapeseed oil and
avocado butter and keep my hair in a protective style for the week, only
letting my hair out over the weekend.
One thing I love about my hair is how it
naturally and beautifully coils up, I literally fall in love with my coils over and over again. I really feel like God was showing off when He made
kinky, coily and curly girls (and guys).
Being natural has helped me grow in
many areas of my life and it has taught me, most importantly, how to be my authentic
self. I’m no longer the girl who relies on anyone’s acceptance because truth be
told, whether it comes to your hair or who you are, there will always be
someone who doesn’t approve and you know what? It’s okay…you can’t please
everyone. Being on this journey has made me realise that my hair doesn’t define
me, it is just an extension of
me, a manner of expressing who I am without spilling a single word at all.
You can find Chisomo on social media
Instagram: @oh_fro
Twitter: @OhFro_
Facebook: www.facebook.com/OhfroOfficial
Blog: www.ohfroblog.wix.com/ohfroTo be featured, please send an email to naturalhairven@gmail.com
2 comments
Nice one! Am yet to figure out what hair type my hair falls into. 4a -c? Could you do an article about that? I have really tight coily hair with a shrinkage level of 99.9 on a scale of 1-100
ReplyDeletei will definitely do a post on that very soon.
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