Natural hair problems

I want to make it clear that I LOVE my afro. There is not a day I find myself even thinking about relaxing my hair to change its texture.

But let's face it, natural 4c hair can be too much to deal with.

There are a lot of good things that come with being natural and they outweigh the frustrations by far if you ask me. 

However, there are sometimes when you will wonder why you put yourself through the whole process of taking care your natural hair because it seems like you are putting in a ton of work with nothing to show for it. 

Here are some of my biggest frustrations with having 4c natural hair. Just remember that the pros outweigh the cons...by far!

Combing

The very first frustration I have with 4c hair Is combing it. Sometimes even people with smoother textured Hair experience this, so imagine putting a comb into a puffy tangled mop of hair… well, that could be bearable. But pulling it through is a different story. 

I know most of you understand. It gets almost impossible to comb through 4c hair, especially when it is dry.

Tip:

Try combing your hair while it’s wet, it certainly reduces the pain to almost nothing. But be careful not to break your hair because it gets very fragile When it is wet.

see how to manage your afro: the daily routine

Shrinkage!!!

This is probably every black girl's biggest frustration. Probably the main reason why we even relax our hair. 

Surely part of the reason why people believe 4c hair does not grow. 

Because it just seems like it is not growing!

Many girls aspire to have very long hair. So, imagine how frustrating it is to take down a hairstyle you had on for two months and getting all excited to see your growth only to have your hair shrink back four times its length after washing it. Not a plane many people wish to board.

Tip: 

After washing, deep conditioning and moisturizing your hair try stretching your hair by putting it into braid outs, twists, cornrows or threading. let it dry like that and your hair will not revert.

Wash days can be gruesome

Washing your hair is a very fundamental part of taking good care of it. If you want to have healthy, strong hair that displays a good retention of length, you will have to wash it regularly. 

The process is not particularly time and energy sensitive.

Pre-pooing, shampooing, conditioning, deep conditioning, detangling for hours and then styling!

When I was still well in my twa days, washing my hair was not a problem at all, in fact, I used to look forward to my wash days, newbie thrills! 

But after time worked its magic and my hair started getting a whole lot puffier, I started to loathe the whole process. 

It literally takes the whole day to do a proper wash day routine and believe you me, it’s nothing less than tiring.

Tip:

When your hair feels grimy and overwhelmed with products, co-wash it instead of going through the whole wash day process.

Managing 4c hair

Another important factor that contributes a lot into whether or not your hair will be healthy and strong enough to retain more length is what you do to it between wash days. 4c hair dries up quickly and hence you must keep moisturizing it to avoid it losing moisture and becoming dry and brittle and more prone to breakage.

This, for me, is frustrating because it gets hard to keep up with the process of moisturizing... and the results: dry, dull, and brittle, just isn’t a good look.

Tip:

Keeping your hair in a protective hairstyle or braids helps to avoid dealing with your hair.

Styling

Now this will not be much of a problem if you are creative and are able to come up with different styles without sweating or if you don't mind rocking the same style for your whole natural hair days. 

Otherwise, if you are like me i.e. not so creative but likes to rock a different hairstyle every day, then this would be a problem.

I spend at least half an hour in front of the mirror, NOT doing a bomb hairstyle that just came to my mind, but merely thinking of what hairstyle I can wear today that I haven't worn since the beginning of the week... and then just end up tying my hair up into the standard ‘fro hairstyle bun... the pineapple hairstyle!!

It is so frustrating to not know what to do with your hair. And sometimes you just wonder why you put yourself through it.

There are probably more natural hair frustrations than the ones listed above. These are just the ones that affect me a lot. please leave a comment down below, I would love to hear any frustrations from you guys.