Hair and... Politics!?

I do not view going natural as a political statement, because frankly, I do not care about politics. I believe that politics are fake, and that they only portray into the media what they want the masses to believe.

I went natural for two reasons. For one, I was sick and tired of society's view on bashing black women who did not keep their hair straight and 'manageable', and secondly, I already had a passion for 'naturalness' my whole life but I didn't really know it yet.

I got tired of buying lotions and hair creams that 'didn't work' for my hair and skin because they were full of chemicals. I would complain to my sister about commercial lotions that we'd buy and use, and the next day, we were so ashy, it was as if we put nothing on at all. 

I would get utterly frustrated when I got a cream for my hair, lather my hair in it, twist or braid it up, and the next day, it would be as dry as the Sahara Desert. When I did get perms, I only got them every 4-6 months, so I was pretty much wearing my hair natural and curly, anyway. I went to college with my hair still wet a lot, and people called me 'white girl' because my hair was long and wet, and still looking good, even though it was damaged. So 'big chopping' after transitioning for two years wasn't hard for me and it wasn't a hassle. 

I did, however, have to learn how to really take care of it, and that's what I continuously do today.

The rise of natural hair products has definitely made me feel better as a black woman, knowing that we no longer have to succumb to buying crap in the stores because that's all there is. We can wear our natural hair as we have been so afraid to do for years and not have it break off due to overuse of parabens, sulfates, and petroleum.

Going natural is like going on a choosing a healthier diet; you cut out a lot of the bad things, but you have to learn what healthy things you should substitute for and put into your body as well as how to care for your body. You can't just say, I want to eat healthier but I'm not going to research how to do it, so you continue to eat the same way and not exercise. Sorry, not going to work. You won't get anywhere anytime soon with that kind of mentality. 

It may seem that going natural is harder than being relaxed, because in a way, it is. Everything that we are supposed to be doing right is automatically going to be harder. That's just life. We were born natural, so taking care of our curls is what we were born to do. Growing your own food will automatically be harder than just going to the supermarket and picking up any type of food you want with no hassle, because that's the way the world was originally supposed to work. We've just gotten lazy over the centuries, and we don't want to do any more work then what we are allotted to do. Constantly spritzing, detangling, moisturizing, twisting, parting, and styling seems to be harder than just going to the salon for a relaxer every six weeks or so, but that route has it's share of hard work as well. 

Technically, your hair may require more care with a relaxer than our natural curls, only because the chemicals wear our hair down, but hey. Either way you rock your hair is still work to look nice and be as healthy as we can.

Natural hair maintenance can be super hard work, but it's worth it, ladies! Peace out till later, curly mamas! https://www.facebook.com/pages/Curls-of-Innocence/256662627753918

~Epic Realist~

New Hairstyle Update and...Follower Glitch? O_o

Hey, everyone. Does anyone else have a blog that you direct other people too and for some reason, they cannot follow you? The follow button that's supposed to be at the top of he blog page is missing? I've actually seen that on other people's blogs, and I'm trying to figure out why that happens. I've been missing out on followers because they end up telling me that they cannot find the follow button at the top of the blog page. This is not good news because I have a lot of page views on this blog already but the people who really want to follow me cannot.
I thought it was a browser problem, so sometimes I tell people to try another browser, but apparently, that doesn't work, either. I use Google Chrome and whenever I'm not signed in, I see my follow bar at the top just fine. I'm not understanding why others can't see it, no matter what browser they're using. I MUST figure this out! O___O Who knows how many followers I've been missing out on? Either that or I will have to find another method of placing a follow button on my blog.
Has anyone else experienced this problem? If so, please let me know and if you have a solution. Will be greatly appreciated!

Now for some hair talk lol! Last week, I did finger curls in Sy's hair. I used to do these a lot when she was a  little baby, because it was quick, cute, and easy. Her hair was super thin back then. Since then, she's gained some thickness. Not too thick, and not too thin, either. The old finger curls I did back then never lasted more than a day because I wasn't using the right products, and I didn't exactly cover her hair, either. I didn't have anything to cover her tiny head. For these, I washed her hair with the Shea Moisture Coconut shampoo and detangled immediately afterwards with a wide toothed comb and EVOO.
Then I parted her hair and applied my shea butter concoction (unrefined shea butter, EVOO, grapeseed oil, jojoba oil, lavender oil) to each 'twist' and gently curled with my finger. I did it as close to Sy's scalp as possible because finger curls tend to unravel easily with her hair type, and I found that as I finished them, they still began to come out in the middle. Rawr. Oh well. I tried again a little tighter and left it alone.
I was surprised that they lasted three days, with a quick touch up in between because her hair cap had actually come off her head at night and the curls were a matted mess in the morning. We happened to have to go somewhere that day, too, so messy hair was not going to fly at all. So I fixed it up quickly. The fourth day, her hair was through. The finger curls were way too matted from her playing around and being nothing more than an active three year old, so I had to take them out completely.
I was happy that for the first time, finger curls had lasted longer than a day. Shea butter has awesome hold. I'd rather use that than gel any day, even though certain hairstyles just call for gel. But I barely use gel at all in my daughter's hair. No need for it, and we don't even go anywhere important to where she has to look that 'spiffy'. These days, our 'out' days consist of my prenatal visits, an updated doctor's visit for one of the kids, the grocery store, or a trip to Granny's house to hang out. I'm experimenting on different styles right now, new protective styles, because when this baby comes, I won't have much time to put lots of emphasis on Syriah's hair until her baby sister is a bit older and has somewhat of a schedule going. I'm aware of this, and don't want to be an overly burdened mommy, as hair is of the least importance when there's a new baby around. lol
So, I'm practicing more twisting/braiding styles that last for some time right now, so when I go into labor, I don't have to worry about omg, I haven't fixed her hair in three days and it's gonna look worse when I get out of the hospital and have to tackle it...I won't have time for that in a few weeks! I will have more pics up soon, of another 'box twist' style I did on her that she's still rocking now. Until then, peace out, curly mamas! <3
Questions? Comments? Write below or on Facebook! https://www.facebook.com/pages/Curls-of-Innocence/256662627753918