Natural hair newbies will be the first to tell anybody that one of the main reasons they recently ditched the relaxer is due to how fabulous natural hair tends to look on everyone else. While finding the beauty in someone else’s texture, many have not been able to find the same kind of splendor in their own hair. Is this simply because only a certain type of natural hair is deemed fabulous? No, it’s just that many have just not mastered how to style their own natural hair.
And this is when the question of rather a stylist is essential or not comes into the conversation.
I’m quite candid when the debate comes into a conversation in my own social circle, and my opinion of it does strike a chord in some. But it’s not because I’m insensitive to the new journey of the natural hair newbie, it’s just that after ruining my relaxed hair and having several hair stylists in the process, I finally get it:
It’s better to learn how to care for and maintain your own hair.
Trust me when I say your hair will love you for it.
Truth is you don’t need to pay someone else to care for your hair. Natural hair isn’t the kind of lifestyle change that warrants the dependency on anyone else’s knowledge of our own tresses. You, yes you, must learn to style your own hair. If you refuse, you won’t stay natural for very long, considering that natural hair styles on average just don’t last as long as relaxed ones.
Is that a reason to shudder? Hell no, just a reason to get on Youtube and embark on a little independence.
When we were relaxed, we needed a stylist. And that’s because most of us didn’t have the knowledge of how to properly administer all those terrible chemicals without ripping our scalps off. And despite that, our hair still suffered in the long run. So if that’s the case, just maybe we should be a whole lot more tender with our natural hair, and make the commitment to learning how to finally learn the tactics needed to make our own hair look good.
I’m not knocking hair stylists, I do understand that they must make a living. And it doesn’t hurt to get a professional trim or a little break from time to time, but the era of hair salon dependency ends (well should end) when you become natural.
I was never a hair genius, but I figured I’d better learn some things if I planned to make this lifestyle change long term. It hasn’t been easy, but definitely not difficult enough for me to have given up. I’m proud to say I’ve learned to do my own stylin’ and yeah, I feel pretty fabulous about it.
The good news is that I’m not a special case, and it’s belles like myself that have encouraged some newbie somewhere to forsake the creamy crack, and work with what she has.
You too can be someone else’s inspiration. You just a need a little Youtube, a good bit of patience, and a whole lot of fearlessness.
I feel this on so many levels. I've been natural for a little over a year, and I've come across a couple of newbies who obviously had no clue on what they were getting themselves into. To them, being natural is more like a fad, and they didn't want to take the time to learn how to style and maintain their own hair. To make a long story short, they ended up wasting lots of money on "natural hair stylists" and spent a fortune on hair styles that weren't meant to last long. Of course, they shortly reverted back to relaxers.You have to learn how to do your hair, period! It's nothing to do a few plats, twists, or knots if you can't do anything else. It's all on Youtube, and there are many bloggers who have a lot of great tips and tutorials. A little patience will get you far with natural hair.