Hair is Skressful!

For all my Spelling Bee champs, this title is not an error. Sometimes, people in my community replace their "t's" for "k's". Skrimp..Skrawberries..Skrong..Skress.. So yeah, hair is skressful! I am so thankful that it's growing back, but my God my God (Tabitha Brown voice) the struggles are still real! I'm sure a lot of women, and even men can relate. I decided to post something light during these stressful (skressful) times, so humor me by following me on a hair adventure.

The Wash Day Struggle If you are a natural or someone who is trying to grow their hair back, wash day is definitely a struggle. Is it me or does it take ALL DAY? I literally have to save this event on my calendar, knowingly that it will get rescheduled at least twice. Then, once my hair is matted on my head, I figure it's about time. If you don't know what I am talking about, let me break it down for you real quick.

Step 1: Pre-poo

Some of us skip this step, but not me. This is when you get all of your moisturizing in to protect your hair before you shampoo it. Once you have applied your pre-poo, then you have to let it sit. This takes at minimum an hour but if you have time, take an extra to really get the goodness in. So if you're starting at 8:00 AM it is now about 9 or 10.

Step 2: Shampoo

That doesn't take long, but it is still a special technique to it. Even if you half ass it, it is still time spent. It's between 9:15-10:15 now..

Step 3: Deep Conditioning/Protein Treatment/Whatever Treatment

Whatever treatments that you need to do are necessary, and will take the minimum of 15-30 minutes under a hooded drier. The fancy people do a little hair steaming. So yeah, it's getting close to between 10:00-11:00 AM..

Step 4: Detangle, Rinse out, moisturize, LOC, or figuring out the style of choice

At this point, it's lunch time. I usually take a snack break to keep my strength up for the next part. In no particular order, you're detangling, rinsing, applying your leave-in, moisturizing, twisting, braiding, or straightening. The list goes on and on!

The moment of truth is after all that, it might or might not look good. Have you ever said to yourself, "I've only wasted about 3 hours, but I'm going to make this work"? If you're missing hair like me you can cut about 30 minutes off your time, and if you're a bald beauty then you're good to go! Ya'll can laugh, because it really is funny.

The Headwrap Struggle

Babyyyy you couldn't tell me anything when I decided to use my neck scarf as my first head wrap. I just knew I was going to have all these versatile old Erica Badu, African goddess looks. I looked at YouTube videos, trying to figure out the variety of ways I was going to wrap my head. First, all headwraps aren't created equally. Just because it is a wrap, it does not mean it belongs on your head. Secondly, the thing about me and YouTube...nothing ever turns out the way THEY do it. I have two go-to looks; tied at the top and in reverse in the back, BOOM!

I tried ok, and I just don't wake up early enough for work to try something new. For my headwrap queens, is it just me or is taking a headwrap off at the end of the day, equate to taking off a bra or a face mask? Your head does not breathe ok! So, make sure your hair is moisturized under it.

The Clip-In Struggle

My Hair with Clip-In's

Whoever invented clip-in's are the truth! The moment I found natural clip-in's during this journey I thanked God. In between my headwraps, I decided to wear clip-in's when I take my twist down. It gave a natural twist-in look. Ladies clip-in's are nice, but you have to put in a little work. PLEASE make sure you shampoo, condition or even co-wash your clip-in's. Then, you still need to style it like it is your regular hair. That just added another hour to my wash day routine *eye roll*. But wait, nobody told me that you have to re-wash and style your clip-in's. That hair went from looking like a fresh twist out to a 10 day old twist out. The funny part is, I refuse to put in the work again to make it look fresh. I just clip it back in and say to myself, "I'm going to make this work". Trust me, nobody can tell.

The Wig Struggle

Wigs and I have a hate hate relationship. I admire people who can wear wigs. Not only do I feel like they suffocate my scalp, but they make me sweat. I can't add anything else to myself that is going to make my body perspire (my sweat glands are real). Maybe I should order

them online, like I use to do with hair weaves. Nope, I like to go to the beauty supply store and allow those women to convince me that the wig looks great. They love to say, "Yassss sis you bought to slayyyy!" I go from looking like an Instagram model at the store, to looking like Sho'nuff from The Last Dragon. Kudos to ya'll who can rock wigs. Look though, someone please lead me to the cute natural headband wigs. I slick want to try them.

Embrace the Struggle

Even though hair is a struggle, I am thankful that I have this struggle. Many women with this scalp disorder, don't get their hair back. While you're going through the struggle, just laugh because there is another woman going through the same thing. I wonder if our new Madam VP shares the same problems ;)? I would love to hear about your hair journeys!! Let's humor each other by commenting below. We all need a little laugh in 2020.

Naturally, Curly & Coily,

Gia

"If there is no struggle, there is no progress"

-Frederick Douglass

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