3 Things I Wish I Knew Before I Went Natural

2013: Afro

I have been natural for about 4 years now. My decision to go natural was mostly because I wanted to reduce the amount of money I spent doing my hair. The other reason for my decision was to get my hair healthy again since putting chemicals on it had made my hair dull and limp.

I don't regret going natural. If I could go back in time I would do it all over again. However, there are a few things that I think would have made me approach my going natural differently.

2017: High puff

Below are 3 things that I wish I knew before I went natural.

1. It's important to know your hair texture.
I have a friend who has hair that curls naturally while mine just doesn't. No matter what I do to my hair, it never looks like hers. So I have had to learn how to style my different textured hair so that it looks good and intentional. Otherwise it mostly looks like a hot mess.

2. Shrinkage
My hair shrinks A LOT! I hadn't noticed this too much before but now that it is in its natural state, I have noticed how much it shrinks when it gets wet. While I don't mind this on a day to day, when I started exercising more often, it became a bit of a pain. The constant sweating made my hair impossible to manage especially if I had blowdried it. Now because I have to work out, I either leave my natural hair unstraightened or I keep it plaited so that I don't have too much breakage trying to comb through two different textures of hair.

3. Cost of natural hair products
The good thing is that there are a ton of products readily available for girls who have natural hair. My biggest issue with these products is that they cost an arm and a leg. To counter this, I have learned to look for alternatives. There are some cheaper products in the market that work just as well on my hair. Also learning to make your own products will reduce costs tremendously.

My biggest take away from my natural hair journey is not to focus so much on what other people are doing, trying to make my hair like theirs. The best thing I can do is to learn how to manage my hair on my budget, finding what works for me and sticking to it.

Do you have any tips for managing natural hair? Do share in the comments below.

Related Posts:
~My natural hair journey
~How to repair a damaged hairline
~3 of my favourite protective hairstyles

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