I think the term “good” hair is used because some hair is seen as more easily manageable and I guess more physically attractive. My best friend used to always say she wanted hair that could blow in the wind. I’m not really sure what that means but I guess that would be her definition of good hair.
As far as I’m concerned, no matter what your hair texture is (we’ll talk about the hair typing systems in a different post) if your hair grows from your scalp, you have good hair. The sad part is that so many women of color think that our hair doesn’t grow. It’s simply not true, unless you suffer from a medical condition to the contrary, your hair is growing everyday.
For example, my relaxed sistas should be able to testify, if your hair was not growing then you would never need to retouch your relaxer. That’s why we call that virgin hair that is growing in, your new growth. For us naturals, sometime it’s harder to see the growth because we suffer from shrinkage when our hair is dry. But I’m guessing you’re in awe at how long your hair has grown when you straighten it out.
So if all hair is good hair, why is there so much drama between the Black woman and her highly textured hair? Simple. Our hair needs special attention. Step into my science class for just a minute. The scalp produces a natural oil known as sebum. The purpose of sebum is to lubricate (moisturize) the scalp and the hair. But the sebum produced by our scalp has a hard time traveling down a textured strand. When you think about it, it’s perfectly logical, it’s much easier to travel down a straight road than it is to move down a road with twists and turns.
So what does that mean? As women with textured hair, our hair is prone to extreme dryness. Dry hair leads to breakage, split ends, and excessive shedding. When your hair is dry and breaking, you never get to retain your length because you’re always having to trim away your hair’s growth. If you hair grows .5 an inch a month but you have to trim off an inch every 6 weeks because of split ends and breakage, you’re going to feel like your hair is not growing.
What do we do to combat the dryness? First of all, you have to moisturize your hair. Most of us need to moisturize everyday (I moisturize twice a day during the winter). But if your hair feels heavy or oily after moisturizing every day (especially if you have naturally fine hair) then switch to every other day.
What should you be using to moisturize? Avoid products with mineral oil and petrolatum. These cheap fillers, both by-products of gasoline production, clog the pores and lock moisture out of your hair. Deeply Rooted Beauty makes 3 different moisturizers for customers. The first, and my personal favorite, is the whipped daily moisturizer. It contains shea butter and babassu oil which provide the hair with moisture and don’t weigh it down. I recommend it for women with relaxed hair and natural hair who like to wear their hair straight. Because it is all natural, it is also great on your skin. I use it as a facial moisturizer (shea butter has a natural SPF) and lotion (it feels like butter on dry skin). Our water based daily moisturizer is for women with fine hair and women who think that ANY moisturizer must have water as the first ingredient. Lastly, a lot of naturals love using our spray leave-in conditioner/detangler as an everyday moisturizer. A couple of mists and your natural fro will have shine and softness.
If you use a moisturizer regularly, you’ll be able to retain length because your hair won’t be dry and breaking.
Other moisturizing tips:
1) Be sure to pay close attention to your ends when you’re moisturizing. The ends of your hair are very fragile because they are the oldest part of your hair. Make sure you moisturize them well.
2) Most women like to moisturize at night because it does not interfere with their hair style. Moisturize at night and then wrap your hair up and cover with a satin scarf OR sleep on a satin pillow case.
No comments:
Post a Comment