Three (3) Myths They Told You Would Grow Your Natural Hair. Part 1

                                   

The word myth can be defined as a popular belief or story that has become tied to a person or thing. It was created to teach people about something important or meaningful. When we hear the words myth or mythology we automatically connect it with the ancient Greeks. We think about deities, goddess and goddesses. These stories are usually fictitious and the actual existence is not verified and or validified. But they can teach us a lot about the mindsets of people at a certain time in history. Things like what they wore, who they worshipped, how they did their hair, what they ate and their overall lifestyle. 

There are countless myths about almost everything including how to care for natural hair. Back in the days, there were limited resources available to help our ancestors treat natural hair. Whatever was at their disposal would be the evident selection. This is where many of the remedies we hear about or utilise today can be traced back to. 

These limited resources travelled throughout history and have become part of our tradition today. With the increase of technological advancement and research mechanisms, many have done the research and came up with all types of new ways for treating natural hair. Some feasible and others are very counterproductive and misleading. 

Orrrr you thought that would grow your hair? Nah Sis

The use of social media platforms has skyrocketed over the past ten-plus years. There has been an influx of all kinds of information and misinformation. If you scroll through outlets such as YouTube, Instagram and Tiktok you will see tons of influencers putting out content that are usually misleading. In terms of natural hair, you may have seen headlines such as, 'What grows natural hair,' 'Tips and Tricks to growing natural hair faster' and 'Growing your hair 1 inch and a half in a week.' These headlines are what many researchers, cosmetic scientists, professional hairstylists, trichologists and the like would deem 'selling dreams' or misinforming. There are also many factors that come into play as to why influencers may publish these types of information. Some include clickbait, growing their platform at a faster rate and of course getting that coin. 

On the flip side, there are influencers who actually do research and consult professionals with knowledge on the relevant information that's needed. These Influencers are usually very passionate about what they put out even though their content most of the time receives less traction than those who are all about the watch time, views and dollars earned. 

This topic will focus on some striking factors that have caused some confusion in the natural hair community. These myths include but is not limited to; the use of products, the hair typing system and over manipulation. 

1. Natural Hair Products

Anyone who is fully invested in learning to care for their hair usually asks the question, 'What products can I use for my hair to grow?' With the rise of the natural hair movement, there have been hundreds if not thousands of natural hair brands that claim to have the best secret remedy to grow hair faster, longer and even healthier. Maybe it's the psychology of natural hair that causes many of us to first ask about hair products. Yes, it is true our hair needs moisture. The most important moisturiser that is needed in our hair is water. That's right. Water. We get so caught up and confused when we visit our beauty supply store. We walk in for wipes, air freshener and a roll-on and by the time we reach the cashier our baskets are packed and our bills are $200 plus. When we check our bill the majority of our money went into buying hair products because our favourite YouTuber/influencer used it last week (in their sponsored video) and recommended that we purchase them. Mind you, the products that they use are often from a new collection that the brand has launched. This is a business strategic plan used to get consumers to buy what most of the time is a want and not necessarily a need. 

This month will make it two months since I've last visited my local supply store (Pennywise) to purchase natural hair products. It feels so liberating knowing that I can walk in there and just pick up what I need. I might have been a mild product junky in the beginning when I started doing my own research on natural hair. I will honestly say it did lure me in and I was drawn to purchasing any product that looked good on the shelf, smelt yummy and had the most enticing words. I no longer allow everything that I view on the internet to hypnotise me into buying products that I may use once. Natural hair is a wonderful journey. It is personalised and individualised. We all want what's best for our hair. Well, at least we all should. Nothing is wrong with trying different products to see what works best for our hair but if the conditioner from the Shea Moisture Coconut Collection worked on my hair it does not mean it will work on yours and vice versa.  

I am not advocating abandoning all-natural hair products. However, just as the company uses a strategy to get the consumer to purchase their product, so too must the consumer rationalise if it is really necessary at all. We can try to buy all the milks, butters, custards, creams, gels, shampoos, conditioners, co-washes, deep conditioners and leave-in conditioners but they are not the onset of growing natural hair. Despite the science behind growing natural hair, our hair grows if we have a positive outlook and have the patience to allow it to do its thing naturally.  So, focus less on the product. Our hair grows from the inside out so maybe we should consider what we eat on a daily basis rather than what we topically apply. 

The Hair Typing System

The natural hair typing system will not enhance the growth of your hair. It is very frustrating when the first thing that people ask is 'What is your hair type.' This question is asked oftentimes by transitioned naturals who are now learning how to care for their virgin hair. The only thing that the hair typing system does is perpetuate the inferior/superior ideology and causes conflicting views. If you have never seen a hair typing chart just take a second to google it. You will see that it portrays the most desired hair texture at the top and the least desirable at the bottom. Even if it was not the intended notion it still causes segregation. If your hair texture is closer to the bottom row you will feel inferior and that may have a negative overall impact on one's mood and behaviour towards themselves and or their hair. Many may beg to differ but the truth is in the pudding.

 https://naturalcurlsncoils.blogspot.com/2020/08/reasons-why-i-hate-hair-typing-system.html

Realistically speaking, how can a hair typing system help you grow your hair? This system has tried to categorise all hair 'types' not acknowledging that many of us have several curl patterns and cannot fit into one type/part of the system. Perhaps, if the focus was more on moisture training and length retention strategies rather than a clumped system then many of us would see the results we long for. 

A great example of the negative effects of the hair typing system is that many naturals with looser curl patterns are proclaiming to be 4C. 4C is the last hair type listed on the hair typing system. This hair type is very kinky and the most fragile. There have been many persons claiming to be 4C natural when they are not. Think about the effect this will have on a person with actual 4C hair. When they search YouTube to learn how to style their hair and sees someone with a looser curl pattern labelled their video as 4C how do you think this will make them feel? There is already little representation. Little representation may perpetuate neglect, uncertainty, doubt, second-guessing and a rise in self-hate. 

 Over-Manipulation (Styling Too often)

Over-manipulation is a hair care practice where handling, styling and maintenance of the hair are kept to a maximum.  It is very confusing that anyone would believe that the more you style your hair the faster and healthier it will grow. Sometimes it may be an unconscious act because we want to look our best at all times not thinking about the negative effects of over-styling our hair. Other times it is the slurs that our friends, family members and even strangers imply that make us do the most. 

As I reflect on the point of over manipulating the hair I envision what it is like for many YouTubers who have sponsored videos to do. They will do a flexi rod set on Sunday and have to do a wash and go Wednesday because the contract says the content needs to be uploaded on the respected social media platform by that said day. Just thinking about it is traumatising. If your hair could speak (it actually does but we do not listen most of the time) imagine what it would say to you...

Over manipulation may cause breakage, split ends, heat damage from flat ironing too often and even colour damage from changing the hair colour and or bleaching frequently. Braiding every month may result in thinning hairline and an irritating scalp if not moisturised and oiled twice to three times a week. Manipulation is necessary to care for, style and maintain our hair.  Over-manipulating the hair strands can cause advert effects which could be preventative.

I used to wash my hair once per week before putting in a protective style that has been on for almost two months (I am taking it out next week). There are several things that I have noticed which I will discuss in another post. In my weekly wash day routines, I would always opt to change my hairstyle and whenever I washed my hair and prepped it for styling, my scalp would always feel sore and bruised. I knew I was overdoing it but I still neglected the weeping from my hair. I may still do weekly washes because that was not the issue for me. The issue was over styling each week. This will definitely be reduced when my protective style comes out going forward.

 

Myths Debunked

 This topic may come as an eye-opener to some. Natural hair products, the hair typing system and over manipulation will not grow your hair.  Therefore, buying all the products on the shelf, asking questions about your hair type and styling very often can invert the growth of your natural hair. These are three of the most popular factors that many refer to when speaking about natural hair growth but they are actually myths. Stick to your simple hair routine and use techniques that work best for you. Do not believe that you need to dump a bunch of everything on your hair to make it grow. This is an unhealthy practice for your mind, body, spirit and perspective of yourself and others. Your natural hair journey is a personalised and individualised experience. Treat it as such!

It Is Your Hair-Rite-Age To Know Your Heritage

Nappily ever after is the reason why I came. To feel the anguish and never deny you again. Through toils and snares. Anger and despair. I yearn to learn about your fate and faithfully, willingly, totally accept that you will always care. Carefree but bold. Carved by the craftsman who cannot die or grow old. But, are we really just wool and cotton as they painted us to be? It is long overdue to change the narrative and the narrator. Woolly but still cushiony like the clouds. You bounce up and down my shoulders letting me know of your whereabouts. I look in the mirror and I see your shine. You lifted the depression that has been painted on my face for quite some time. Dark and coarse or fine and kinky are words that have manifested within me. Every time I touch your swirly, fluffy, frizzy, porous, thick, poufy and springy form I teleport to the time my hair-rite-age was almost gone. Gone physically but retained mentally. You who so never abandoned me even though I've done it countless times to you. I promise that it was not my doing.

My hair is like cocoa. It may seem hard and unmanageable. Crack me open and you will be speechless. I am multi-layered and ready to be pressed. Not the creamy crack way though. I prefer to use the exotic and natural version that I have finally learned how to slay. My hair is magical and mysterious. Untamed at dawn and peaceful at dusk. Who knew that cocoa can make chocolate delight? Delightful to be a part of this journey. Learning about my mane never cease to amaze me. If you wanna be wild and free I cannot stop you. If you wanna be shy and sweet I will cuddle with you. The varied characteristics of me is mostly because of you. You raised me. Claimed me. Never disregarded me. You saved me. The mirrored walls were an illusion that played me like a violin. Threaded lightly so that I can never break the ceiling. Alternatively, I threaded through the peaks of the window and went where ever the wind blows. Now I can learn to accept me for dismantling the misguiding myths that fostered centuries of hate.

Behold the one true love. The one to exude grace and glory from up above. I have no resentment for the times you made me look and feel "ugly." You were never ugly my friend. It was the one-dimensional lens they viewed you through that fogged up their image of me and you. So fogged up are they to scrutinize you inside and out. Isn't it ironic that my hair is black and so too is my skin? They must think my hair is cocoa at the roots which magically produces chocolate at the length that submerges and creates this melanated skin.

Skin so smooth and skin so soft. The sun brightens up each time one of us walks out. Out the door and down the street, will I ever be able to stroll in peace? Peace or pieces? The latter is executed more so because we are uneven. Uneven in the way we look, talk, walk, the jobs we hold and the children we bare so they say. Baring children is a gift. Too bad we spoil that gift by anticipating the colour of their skin and the texture of their hair and vice versa. Texturism walked so colourism can run. They crept up on us when we aren’t aware so they can reflect on the reasons why they don’t want us around.  Children must be born knowing that they are enough. You must be capable of educating them on their history. Shaping, influencing and motivating. The self-esteem must be at a boiling point. Otherwise, oh those poor souls will always validate the biases that they will eventually encounter each and every day.

Every night I lay in bed a million thoughts flood my head. My head was pounding. The overthinking. Overanalyzing. Over synthesizing. Overestimating. The tongue is more powerful than any physical harm. Physical wounds are healed. But, how do we effectively heal from the negative connotations and underlying slurs that make up our everyday thoughts, pronouns, adjectives and verbs?

Gosh, no wonder my hair is falling out.  All this time I thought it was alopecia. Each time they mention something negative towards my hair or appearance, ten strands of hair are quickly evicted because I don’t have money in my pocket to spare. The pressure is too much to bear. No wonder I was bawled the day I was born. Eviction started in the womb at conception. My mother must have been in so much pain. I wished I could help her eject the hate before it weakened her weakened me. Was my birth a celebration of life or an eviction not nice? The only way to find out is by living contrite. Contrite in mind, body and soul. Oh, this world was so bitter and so cold. But when we allow our hair to escape its home because of what they say, we also lose a piece of our ancestral train. The train that has no end. The train of thought, philosophy, life history, anthropology, diversity and so much more. There is a story in each hair strand, indoctrinated by God in his image and likeness.

It is never okay to bash another because what makes us special is the fact that we do not look like each other. The world would be such a boring place. Creation exists in all that we do. Take time to understand what it is really telling you. Some like history and some like art, some even like mathematics and that's a fact. All these subjects are not subjected to one race or ethnicity. We all have passions and should always desire to be the light. That hope. That grace. The light that shines the way for the next one in line. The one who will receive the baton and continue the legacy that you have trademarked so we all can see.

Many of us think we are living when we are merely existing. Some are so numb it is equivalent to death. Inside sets the tone for what is presented on the outside. Be careful of what you consume. It can trigger an off-balance of the flow of energy. It creates a lack of unity. Just like the way our hair hugs each other, clumped together, never apart. May we visualise life with each other growing old but never asunder. Alas, you have finally learned. Accept this baton it is your hair-rite-age. Never neglect it or you will burn to learn.

The Psychology of Black Hair

  

Marcus Garvey once said, "Take the kinks out of your mind instead of your hair." 

Martin Luther King, Jr., "I have a dream that...children will one day live in a world where they will not be judged by the colour of their skin or the texture of their hair, but by the content of their character."

Bob Marley, "Emancipate yourselves from mental slavery, none but ourselves can free our minds."

Emperor Haile Selassie, "It is us today. It will be you tomorrow."

Malcolm X, "Truth is on the side of the oppressed."

We may have all heard about the Science of hair but how many of us have heard about the psychology of hair? 

This topic, like many discussed before, is a starter kit to imagining, reimaging and then redefining what we deem good hair and what we deem bad hair. 

You may ask, "Where or when did the term good hair and bad hair originated?"

Everything has a history. In this case, we all have a Hair Story. In African countries long before the transatlantic slave trade became the fate of many Africans, hair texture, maintenance and beauty standards were not seen the way it is today. The Africans had their own techniques to comb their hair. 

Two main events during history have contributed to the good hair/bad hair syndrome. These two historical events were slavery and colonialism. Many enslaved Africans were forced to cut their 'umbilical cord' from their homeland and journey to foreign lands where it was assumed their entire being would have changed. With this change came many restrictions. Some aspects of African heritage that were restricted or neglected were the use of their original names, languages, communicating with one another, the manner in which they prayed and even what they ate and drank. 

It is important to note that it took months before the slave vessel arrived at the respected destination. Because of this, Africans were unable to tidy themselves much less for their hair. As a result, their hair began interlocking. With the absence of a suitable elder to comb one's hair or wash one's hair during this shift in history, many were forced to cut their hair off completely as it did not meet the 'newfound' beauty standards.  

Then came the birth of the good hair bad hair syndrome. Many may wonder, "Where did the dread in dreadlocks come from?" Afro aesthetic hair has its own way of growing and because these enslaves were neglected the opportunity to groom and upkeep their hair (much less their bodies), they were forced to cut it. Whether it was man, woman or child. They had no rights and so they had to abide by the rules set out to make them feel inferior. 

Afro-centric hair was compared to that of wool so in this case it was made easier to identify them as a thing and not as a human being. This was one aspect to which Massa and his conglomerates would auction off, beat, kill, punish and belittle the blacks. For someone to use harsh words towards you on a daily basis much less centuries can have a traumatising undesirable effect. This bruise can hurt for a lifetime or it can heal and turn into a warrior scar to strengthen the moral thinking capacity of the individual the hurt was inflicted upon. Harsh language was a vehicle used to drive the whites to control its enslaves. This method of control was moreso psychological and ideological and emanated throughout the livelihood of slavery and colonialism to this day. 

The new standard of beauty which was still foreign to the enslaves had to become their new reality. But how you may ask. Many African women were forced (raped) by white slave masters (Massa) and other aristocrats. With this act then came black women bearing children who then expanded the hierarchy further. With the introduction of this new colour sequence (mulatto) came even more prejudice towards Africans. Moreso, Mulattoes we also confused about their identity. Because they were somewhat in the middle- (Black +White=Mulatto) there was an identity crisis. The whites did not want to accept them and the blacks also saw them as a new threat. They were fairer, their hair softer and curlier. 

Fast forward a bit, African women began wearing their natural hair in elaborate hairstyles that were adored by white men and envied by white women. So this was another issue that needed to be dealt with accordingly. The headdress was the result of sumptuary laws passed in 1786 under the administration of Governor Esteban Rodriquez Miro. Miro called the 'Tignon Laws' that were prescribed and enforced to oppress public dress for female gens de coleur in colonial society. Low and behold they thought that having African women tie their heads in public spaces would be a genius idea. However, this law backfired because head ties radiated and made the black woman look even more beautiful. 

Black hair has been the only hair texture that has gone through the most changes throughout history. This hair texture has forced many to gravitate towards the more suitable European standards of beauty. The most prominent being hair. This hair texture has been hot-combed, permed, relaxed, texturised, weaved, wigged, loc'ed and even shaved off completely. The resurgence a few years ago influenced by the black power revolution and many other movements across the globe, African descendants began reembracing their hair because they were now reading and educating themselves on bits and pieces of historical events that has denigrated their ancestral lineage. 

In order for one to fully understand the psychology of black hair, he or she must dig in the roots of their ancestral train. Swim in the seas that swallowed their ancestors who could not bear the pains of enslavement. Step in the shoes and walk a mile....if you can make it that far without becoming dehydrated. Sit on the bottom of the hierarchical structure and listen to their stories and store-weeps. 

It must be noted that history was written by a certain group of individuals. Many stories were lost, ripped out of pages and hidden while others never got a chance to speak. The psychosocial traumas that have taken place have lived with many and travelled through various channels. Why do we still talk negative about our hair?

Well, it is embedded in many of our aunts, uncles and even grandparents who have also lived through many historical events that have also shaped how they view the world. Our brain is the engine that dictates what we fear or what we have faith in. It gives us commands and operates just like an organisation/association would. In each organisation, there is someone at the top and others fall somewhere in the middle or bottom. You may not want to believe it but there is also a hierarchy in your place of work. Each position has a function and if one part refuses to function accordingly then it can throw off the whole.

For example, If we continue to perpetuate the ideology that good hair is associated with naturally straight, loose curls and bad hair is associated with naturally tighter, kinky, coily curl patterns then when we look in the mirror this ideal will be reflected back to us. Our brain is very powerful and if we do not deal with certain elements accordingly then the secretary (Amygdala) and associates- Hippocampus (forms and stores memory, Cerebral Cortex, Cerebellum, Frontal Lobe along with the others will continue to store this information and the feelings/reactions we have of our hair and other person's hair will be just that; the feelings and reactions displayed previously will continuously be portrayed to us by our interaction with ours or from others based on our interactions with them. 

For many of us, the psychology of hair is embedded in our belief systems of who we are and who we are meant to be. The psychology of hair cannot be erased because well that's just not how things work. However, we can learn about the history of our hair and try to change the narrative in a positive light so that children would be able to relate to it. Children will be able to identify with it in a way that allows them to feel beautiful and included. It is our duty to change the image that has been placed on us. It is our responsibility to change the way in which we view ourselves so that the way in which others view us will not affect the former primarily. 

Marcus Garvey, "A people without the knowledge of their past history, origin and culture is like a tree without roots."