How's your hair routine going during this Lockdown? If you feel like you can't stand mending or caring for your natural coils and contemplating on relaxing your fro... This piece is just for you. I'm here to give you insight and to bust myths about both natural and relaxed hair. Let's start at the beginning...
I did my big chop in June 2018, this girl was focused on growing a strong beautiful afro and I'm so proud that I did. This year I went back to being a full time student to finish off my studies and get that diploma! (I'm so proud) I realised time management wasn't my best skill, I seemed to rush in the morning, so I observed and came to the conclusion that it's probably my hair causing me to be late(I was wrong). So I took the plunge and decided to relax my hair. Let's breakdown the myths we've always believed about relaxed hair...
This is not true. If you want to have good hair whether relaxed or natural, you still have to thoroughly take care of your hair. This means you still need to detangle, hydrate and moisturise your hair. You still need to deep condition your hair atleast once a week. The only thing we stretch with relaxed hair using relaxers on hair. Once in six months is OK, if you've trained your hair well and take care of it, you can end up just relaxing once a year.
This is a myth. When relaxed hair well taken care off, you can still grow and retain length.
No need to cut off split end This is the biggest myth that actually leads to relaxed hair breaking off. Yes chemicals in the relaxer does cause some damage to your hair strands, but split ends will be an addition. You still need to cut off those split ends.
This is also a bad myth. You can have dandruff on relaxed or natural hair, as dandruff happens when the scalp is dry. So it can appear on any dry scalp.
This is a common myth most hairstylist believe in. Ever been to a salon and the lady fries your natural 4c curls with a dryer trying to get the strands as straight as possible, I know I have. Protective styling duration really depends more on your stylist than your hair.
Most believe that with relaxed you can go weeks without washing, without deep conditioning, or go to bed without hydrating or using a silk scarf or bonnet. Since relaxed hair has been stripped off its natural proteins, it's most likely, slightly more prone to breaking. Just like natural hair, stay away from tight protective styles, continue to deep condition your hair and please use a silk scarf or bonnet when you go to bed. Friction against relaxed hair causes dryness leading to breakage.
So if you still feel like you want to relax your natural, do it for the right reasons and know we celebrate all black crowns.
With love and guidance Ndo
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