Weaves, extensions, white girl hair...that's not your hair! I don't mean that as an insult to those styles and types of hair at all. The black hair experience is full of extensions and weaves. Whether it's being worn as a protective style while growing out your hair or just as a way to switch up your look quickly, weaves and wigs are a great choice. This post is not meant to put those styles down, however, when you are ready to learn how to rock your natural hair, you have to first let go of everything you think you know about hair, especially as it relates to weaves, extensions and long, flowing hair you can easily run your a comb through.
Why? Because if you expect your natural hair to behave the same you are setting yourself up for failure. And I know from personal experience. I grew my hair from a super short wave length temp fade (pictured here)...
...into an Afro using wigs and braids. And even though I chose wigs that were similar to what my natural hair would like when straightened, there was still a drastic difference between my wigs and my real hair. Wigs tend to be much fuller, require very little maintenance and are generally a lot longer than your hair. All you have to do is put it on and go. And when you are ready for a new look, just walk into a beauty supply store and pick out a new one.
Step one on the road to becoming someone who can rock their natural hair every day and for all occasions, is to understand that you cannot expect your hair to do or behave the same way your wigs do and no where near what the white girls are doing. We have to accept our hair for what it is and isn't. And that is how you begin to succeed with it.
What does it look like to accept your hair or learn to live within the rules of it? In a practical situation lets take the school bus stop in the early morning. For me a naturalhairrockstar, with short hair, I cannot throw my hair into a ponytail or a cute messy bun. I have to prep my hair the night before for an early morning showing. Sounds like a lot of work but it really isn't. It's just knowing what I am working with to set myself up for success. So for me, I can rock a cute cap over two strand twists or braids. Or I can put on a cute head wrap, or if I had my hair out the day before, I could wrap it up at night to extend the style which means that all I have to do in the morning is take off my night time head gear and be out the door.
I know it seems like hiding your hair or chemically changing it would be much easier, but that's only because everything we think we know about hair was actually information on hair that is nothing like ours. And ours can be easy to style and ready for whatever just like any other type of hair once we learn how to care for it properly.
So lets get our minds right! Weaves, extensions, white girl hair, while fabulous, is not our hair! Our hair looks and feels different and has to be treated differently!
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