A Natural Hair Story, 9 Months Strong

I've been neglecting my natural hair tales, so here it goes. It's been nine months.

Not one month of confusion.

Not three months of knowing a little bit of what I'm doing.

Not a full year yet to say I'm fully experienced in natural hair care.

But it's been nine months. There has been trials, triumphs, and then more trials. I've learned my hair just to let some hair stylist say I was wrong and cut it off again. I've developed a washing routine that keeps from hair from getting dirty, but lets it stay moisturized at the same time. This hair has been styled, colored, treated better than a newborn baby, and then played with all over again.

9 Months Of Natural Hair Products
If I had to list all the brands that have graced my hair it would be Mizani, Kinky Curly, Kimble products, Motions, Organics, Herbal Essences, Garnier Frutisse, Jojoba, Creme of Nature, Talia Waajid and Jane Carter. That's probably a small list compared to what some people do. I'm a patient person. These haven't been whole line of product usages.

As far as Kinky Curly I've fell in love with the oil. The shampoo and conditioner can kick it in someone else's head. As far as shampoo and conditioner are concerned Kimble products have been decorations in my bathtub. I tried Herbal Essences to get the arousal that the women in the commercials get, but that never happened. Plus it didn't clean my scalp good. The rest of the products I use from time to time consist of oils and leave-in conditioners. This hair has to stay moisturized some way.

Moisture has been a huge problem starting this summer. Moving forward I'm going to try Giovanni shampoo and conditioners to fix the problem. The sun will not win.

9 Months of Learning And Losing Patience
They tell you that picking out products is going to take time, but its not true. Products are the easy part. The hard part is letting someone give you advice on your hair. For instance my problem was the person who originally gave me the big chop. She taught me that we all have different textures, but she also taught me that just because she's natural doesn't mean she knows how to handle my hair. The woman big chopped me too many times. The first time I believed my hair really needed to be cut again. The second time I knew she was just scissor happy. That was also where I lost patience.

She had this idea of what she could do with my hair, but was not listening to me. She listened when I told her not to put texturizer on my head. That costs extra money to get done. However, she did not listen to why I did not want the texturizer. She also did not understand that I like my hair to look wild and untamed, which means stop cutting it and patting it down. Plus the ultimate part that irritated me was when I told her what color I wanted, showed her a box, and then she confused me by pulling out salon colors. She could have matched my color choice and what she had her damn self. However, I got a color and  it turned out perfect but that doesn't change the confusion. On the flip side I've been to a barber. Barbers have no room for advice. They just trim or cut, or cut and trim, which leave no room for unsatisfied customers.

Wait...

I did meet a natural hair stylist recently and will be giving this one a chance. Her work is amazing from what I've seen and I want to experiment more with colors. My hair needs to grow big and thick. I want people to see a girl with an Elle Varner type Afro and Kelis type colors. She understands that I'm trying to get my hair to grow and cutting doesn't grow it.

I don't know what else to tell you. There is one more thing. When I went to Hawaii my hair did not get washed the whole time. It never felt like it needed it either. However, when I came back to Houston it started feeling dirty real soon after being washed. Some girl I met that was from some islands once said this mainland weather and water is rougher on hair. I'm starting to believe that.