Arcadia Page - A Busy Girls Guide to Natural Curls

A Busy Girl's Guide to Natural Curls

By Arcadia Page

Copyright 2014 by Arcadia Page

Smashwords Edition

Smashwords License Statement

This ebook is licensed for your personalenjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away toother people. If you would like to share this book with anotherperson, please purchase an additional copy for each reader. Ifyoure reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was notpurchased for your use only, then please purchase your own copy.Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

A Busy Girls Guide to Natural Curls

Contents

So whats keeping you from discovering yournatural hair? Is it a busy schedule? Expense? Fear?

If going natural is what you really want todo, you shouldnt let any of these things hold you back.

For me, saying no to relaxers cameunexpectedly. I had beautiful relaxed hair for a long time, and itwas no problem. But as I started approaching my mid-twenties Inoticed that it was getting a little bit shorter than it used tobe. It was like, my hair had reached a stand still. However, Ipushed that little concern to the back of mymind because my hair was still long.

At the age of 25 I had met the man that Iwanted to spend the rest of my life with. We got married and movedinto a little house, and everything was great. Except my scalp was now shedding like a long hairedcat. My hair was everywhere. I wasnt going bald, but thenthe hair just wouldnt stop falling. My husband and I went out tobuy a vacuum specifically designed to pick up pet hair because theshedding was making such a mess.

My hair was relaxed a month before mywedding, but two months after the special dayI was turning to the flat iron to get things under control.Sadly, the flat iron is only satisfying for so long, and my arm wasstarting to ache. It was time to get my hair relaxed again.

I went to a friends house, and she relaxedmy hair for me with a box perm. My hair came out nice andstraight--it was beautiful. Then two weeks later, my hair hadreturned to super frizzy-ville. It was like it was never relaxed atall! Along with that, it was still shedding relentlessly.

Out of complete frustration I decided that Iwasnt going to relax my hair for a year. Wash, blow dry, and flatiron only. So thats what I did, but the out of control frizzy daysbetween flat ironing were so hard to deal with. I had shapeless,poofy, triangle hair.

By the end of that year, I was ready to throwin the towel. On Facebook, I voiced my defeat to family andfriends.

Ive gone a year without relaxing my hair,but Im tempted to go back to the chemicals.

To my surprise, I received all kinds ofcomments along the lines of PLEASE DONT DO IT! No one wanted meto give up. They encouraged me to keep going.

One of my cousins who has been natural for over ten years sent me some hairadvice and a link to a very popular natural hair blog. Thats whenmy journey truly began.

There are so many online blogs about naturalhair; its overwhelming. Then as I read throughall of the advice and life stories, I realized that thiscould take some time.

Of course, transitioning to having fullynatural hair wasnt going to happen overnight, but it also takestime to detangle hair, wash it, and deep condition it every week. Iwork as a writer and as a graphic novelist. I want to spend my timecreating, not babysitting my hair. On top of that, some of thoserecommended products are quite pricey, and I dont have the moneyto spend like that. I need to eat first.

Right then I decided that I would find a wayto go natural without using too much time or money. Your hairshould simply be a part of your life. It shouldnt take itover.

At the moment Im still transitioning--I onlyhave an inch of relaxed hair left. But in the process I havelearned many things that have helped me to keep my hair routinesimple.

The main purpose of this guide is to cutthrough the information overload and to give the basics on creatinga realistic natural hair care routine.

If youre finding that going natural istaking up too much of your time or too much of your paycheck, thenthis quick and to the point guide is for you.

* * * *

Reduce Hair Product Clutter and Learn to ShopWisely

I confess. When my hair was relaxed, I was aproduct junkie. Under my sink were all different kinds ofconditioners--leave-in and wash out. I had an impressive collectionof hair creams and oils. Most of it was gathering dust.

If this sounds like you, then you my friendare a product junkie.

When entering the world of natural hair, youread about so many different and amazing products. The firstimpulse is to run out to the store and try them all. The problem isyou can only try so many products on your hair at a time. Keepingthat in mind will help you to be more reasonable when shopping forhair products. Also realize that being a product junkie is also ahuge waste of money because most likely there will only be one ortwo products that you will use regularly, and the rest will go towaste.

Breaking the Cycle

The first thing I did was take inventory ofwhat I owned. As a natural, you will need (or already have) thefollowing products:

Leave-in conditioner

Wash out conditioner

Sulfate Free Shampoo

Deep Conditioner

Oil (Common ones are olive oil, coconut oil,and jojoba oil)

Cream/Butters (like a moisturizing, leave-incream)

Curl Holding Styling Product

Plastic Caps

Silk Head Wrap

Spray Bottle of Water

If you have any of these on hand already,dont buy them. I had a whole bunch of leave-in conditioner, so Ididnt buy anymore until I had run out of what I already had. Iwont buy anymore until I use all of what I have.

Repeat after me:

I will not buy anymore until I use all ofwhat I have.

Okay, so after taking inventory I had somethings that werent usable. I had no choice but to throw them away.Thats the price of being a product junkie. If you have any new andunopened items, maybe you could give them to a friend who could usethem.

Looking back, I wish I wouldve washed outsome of those old product bottles and saved them. Youll see why ina moment.

After inventory is done and you see what youalready have, what do you do about the products that you actuallyneed to buy?

Shopping Wisely

Before going to the store, do research. Findout what products are most likely to work for your hair type. Myhair type is a mixture of 4b and 4c (For hair types, check outwww.naturallycurly.com), so I learned that my hair would workbetter with heavier oils and creams.

Then I looked at the reviews for thoseproducts. For people with a hair type similar to mine, the Shea Moisture brand is very popular, and the product reviews are also good. So I wentto the store and picked up some SheaMoisture deep conditioner, and I was not disappointed.

Doing research prevented me from buyingproducts that wont work well with my hair. I didnt have to trythem all to find something that hit the spot.

If a new product comes out, and yourecurious about giving it a try, check the online reviews of it tosee if its worth it or not. And remember our motto: I will not buyanymore until I use all of what I have. So put off trying that newproduct until youre almost finished with what you have onhand.

Natural hair products can be expensive, soalways be on the lookout for sales. When your favorite product goeson sale, dont just buy one bottle of it. Stock up.