How I Found Moisture
Our hair is much more than washing, conditioning, styling and then drying. For a while this was all I viewed as my responsibility to my hair. I felt as though if my hair didn't look,"good" it was because I just didn't style it right, so it's no surprise why after years of this minimal routine I developed split ends.
If you've been blessed to never feel disappointment I promise you that split ends will introduce you to the feeling. After months of frantically searching for the, "magic" product that would stop my split end nightmares I took to Youtube.
At the time, I religiously permed my hair for it to be straight. As soon as my new growth became,"unmanageable" I would be at the hair salon ready to go back to being silky and smooth. So we're talking a month and a half I would be getting perms for my hair. On top of that I used a lot of hair sheens or hair serums for shine but when I look at my old hair regimen I did absolutely nothing to add moisture and lock it in. Yes, I did own leave ins but because I wanted airy and light I did not use as much as I probably needed.
So no surprise my hair started to break and maintained that energy every salon visit. My hair stylist had no clue why this was happening and would say,"you have good hair I don't understand why it's doing this" and then asked if my birth control could be doing it or if I'm stressed or basically if I'm breathing in oxygen. For months I was going through all the possibilities as to why my hair would continue to break.
After a long list of possibilities being etched off, I stared in the mirror and told my hair,"I don't know what your problem is but I'm not dealing with you, I just can't". I then went on a 4 month binge of Marley twists. Each time I took my twists out to deep condition my hair and let it breathe before the next twists were put in. I would stare in the mirror at the "fro" that stood so unapologetically above my shoulders. Now mind you this wasn't my fro yet, this was just a preview that the aged gel in my hair showed me. But, each time I took my hair out I looked like I had a blown out afro and I LOVED how I looked.
Fast forward to our 8th month of transitioning and my hair placed an ultimatum on the table for me. I took a break from twists because I was starting to see my hairline becoming a tad sparse and what's the point of growing your hair out if you have no edges? But all of the transitioning Youtube videos I found could not save me from the fact that my hair demanded it's either it's permed or natural. I would spend hours on perm rod sets or Flexi rod sets, holding tight to Shea Moisture's Coconut Hibiscus mousse. As soon as I walked outside my hair would explode and I would look like a frazzled ostrich. Who needs that?
My Youtube videos all of a sudden changed from transitioning video searches to big chop searches :) I would spend hours watching people choose to start over and it was even better if they continued to record as their hair grew. We get to COVID-19,circa 2020 and now I was working from home. What did I have to lose? I got a pair of scissors and for the first time in my life embarked on my hair journey.
I would say for me my hair journey became a bunch of virtues and guides finding me and steering me in their direction was my hair.
At first when your hair is really short you can get away with doing absolutely nothing and it will be fine. When people who have had chemically processed hair cut it off for a while, we deal with what is called scab hair. This is the new growth that is made, which hasn't figured out yet that chemical treatments to the scalp has stopped. During this period which differs for everyone, for me it was 2 months, you really can't tell what your hair wants. I'll never forget my older cousin as I spoke with her on how much I love my new curls and I can't believe how easy my hair is, smiled. Then she wisely said, “it's fun now but wait until your thickness and length comes in, this will be a completely different experience”.
Hello month 5 post big chop! All of the holy grail natural hair products did NOT work for my hair. I would wash, deep condition then style my hair and wonder is this how my hair should feel? Until I found natural hair channels that went on about MOISTURE!!
"Our hair needs moisture in order to retain its elasticity, otherwise it will break off"1.
It's that simple, if your hair is not properly moisturized it will break and cause you to feel as though it's not growing and spiral out.
Once I came to this realization I found an article by Byrdie, "7 Signs That Relaxers Are Damaging Your Hair"2.
What makes me laugh is that this article hit my issues on the head when we got to #6 but really it was #7-Dryness that was my main issue while I had permed hair. "Oil sheens, sprays, and lotions don't actually add moisture; they're designed to hold it in, but hair needs to be moist before adding products. Otherwise, they simply sit on top of the hair shaft and help to keep moisture at bay."2. Wasn't this me in the beginning of this blog????
This article is when I got serious about making sure moisture is added at every step of my hair regimen. We will get into hair regimens in our future hair blogs but it is very important to figure out your hair's needs and build a regiment around it.
Deep conditioners and some hair masques are a great punch of moisture that your hair needs to get it to its next wash day. Being high porosity I need as much moisture I can get so I can lock it in but I have to be back at it some days later or my hair will become dry and crunchy.
That is why I made the Avocado CoconutMilk Hair Masque. I wanted to treat my hair to a dose of protein while also giving it the moisture it needed. I quickly also found that due to the use of Marshmallow Root, Panthenol(Vitamin B) and Honeyquat moisturizing can also mean detangling in a whole different way.
When you try this product you will notice how easier it is to get the hair masque in and through your hair, you're gonna be at awe at your new found curls and then when it is washed out and your hair is styled and dry you're going to have to tell yourself to stop touching it because you are going to feel how good your hair feels. When I say good I mean good in healthy, moisturized, balanced etc.
Once your hair is properly moisturized everything else falls into place and that means you finally get to enjoy your hair being healthy which is different for everyone. I naturally have thick hair so the body of my hair and it's natural shine let's me know it's healthy. My length will come in behind that.
Space Cadet Tip: Hair growth is just like weight loss. You have to not focus on the numbers but on your effort to be healthy. Once you let go of length and focus on how healthy your hair is and what it needs to stay healthy, I promise you, you will wake up and notice your hair right where you've always wanted it to be.
--K Spacely Out
Stay Safe Out There My Friend
Citations
1.https://floracurl.com/blogs/curl-blog/protein-vs-moisture
2.https://www.byrdie.com/signs-a-relaxer-is-damaging-your-hair-400143