These are comments from a contributor and do not necessarily fully reflect the views of Locstyle.
I know it’s a little cryptic, but we’ll get there. One of the biggest complaints about the natural journey that I’ve been hearing is that being natural is hard to maintain. I’ve heard that with a perm, or a weave, you can set it and forget it – and all you have to do it touch it up every now and then and you’re as fresh as ever. However, with the “natural style” you have to keep maintaining it and maintaining it.
So I remembered this statement I had heard about telling the truth at all costs. It went, “It’s not always easy – but it’s always right.”
So here we are – talking about what’s easy and what’s right.
Why does a “manufactured” hair style seem to be easier to maintain? Well to be blunt, it’s because of the processing (mostly chemical) that’s done to it. Essentially, the chemicals that people of color introduce into our hair are mostly intended to make it manageable, or easier to handle, or hold a style better – or a million other cliches. What it comes down to, it that the intention is to remove the nap from our hair so that it can fall, blow in the wind or be styled in a way that more closely mirrors Euro-centric hair. Why? That’s a whole other discussion which I’m sure you can chase down anywhere on the web.
Bottom line is this: If you apply enough chemicals to change the texture of your hair, you end up making it do what you want it do do rather than what it wants to do!! Sure it’s “manageable” – just like a child would be if you broke his or her spirit!! Manageable – but lifeless. So after rendering it “manageable but lifeless” you now have to add more chemicals to make it appear shiny, lively and “healthy”. The reason why most folks claim that this is easier to maintain is that after beating the hair into submission, you only have to “touch up” the new growth – and make sure that it doesn’t betray you by showing what your natural hair texture really is.
But your hair is a living, breathing organism. And it should be treated as such. Embalming away it’s natural texture, nap and heft are inexcusable – no matter what the arguments made.
Naturally styled hair “appears” to be harder to maintain because you have to take more consistent care of it. This is because it’s not soaked in chemicals or baked in intense heat and rendered almost embalmed…. It’s natural!!! And its natural state requires that it be treated more gently.
Think of your average grocery store with rows and rows of cheerful looking, symmetrical genetically modified fruit – that will keep looking that way for months on end. Then at the end of the shelf there’s a display of organic fruit which don’t all look like soldiers, but taste a whole lot better. There’s a reason why they’re more expensive and probably won’t last as long on the shelf. Simply put – they’re natural…
Making sure your crowning glory stays natural, well hydrated, well groomed and otherwise well cared for isn’t always easy – but it’s ALWAYS right.