Natural Hair Philosophies

Hey everyone!

Hope everyone had a safe and happy new year. I spent it in the northwest with over a dozen cousins and flew back to NYC Monday morning. Hair wise, my trip was a success. When I left, I was approaching washday, so I packed my 3oz Jessicurl Cleansing Cream, some Extra Virgin Olive Oil in a little bottle, and a travel size Herbal Essence Hello Hydration (was trying to comply with airport regulations since I had a carry-on).  I didn't really do much to my hair, but I did try a really nice gel that my cousin had on hand that I cannot remember the name of. I just know she got it at a regular store and it cost about 3 bucks.

Speaking of hair and my cousins: I showed them this blog and some youtube videos featuring naturals styling their hair and they really liked it. They thought it was cool that SP and I (and other naturals) blog about hair. My cousins are all natural, but they put yarn in their hair (which apparently is popular now, but my family has been doing this since the 70s lol) and they flatiron. They don't really see their hair as manageable and consider my hair as "mixed people's hair" even though my cousins are mixed as well. I feel like they stop short of saying "good hair" and "bad hair" and my 8 year old cousin expressed to me that she just wants hair "out" that she can play in. I shared with my cousins that I had wanted to relax at some point because I felt my hair was un-manageable because I didn't know how to take care of it and it does appear that dealing with natural hair is harder because there is still not enough mainstream information about it. And when you're a mother of 5 (like my cousin) and a wife, who wants to hear about the expensive products you buy to keep your hair looking good or the amount of time  you spend washing your hair in the shower and doing treatments?

While I personally have found that high-quality shampoos are good for my hair, I use fairly inexpensive products. Even if they seem a little pricey, they are usually products I have more than one use for or last a while. It really depends on people's lifestyle, keeping it simple or high maintenance is a choice. I place myself in the medium category, because I like playing in my hair but I'm busy and can really only make time to pamper my tresses once a week, with simple daily maintenance.  Natural hair care isn't hard, and it's the blogs and youtube that have been showing me that. I hope that it can show them too.