When I first started my natural hair journey, I did not love my hair, nor did I show my hair any love. For years I had been damaging my hair with heat and chemicals. I would literally straighten my hair every day! After years of neglecting my hair, I finally decided to start wearing my hair natural. I did so only through the encouragement of others. At first I hated my hair, however, I slowly learned to love it. Today I want to share what I did to start loving my hair, to helpfully help you learn to love yours too. Learning to love your natural hair is a journey, but it is one worth embarking on.
5 Ways To Starting Loving Your Hair
1. Stop comparing your hair to others
We all have our hair crushes, but we should not expect our hair to be exactly like theirs. Stop comparing your hair to the YouTubers, Instagrammers, bloggers, or strangers on the street. We all have different textures and volume. Your hair is beautiful because it is yours! Appreciate it as it is.
2. Find a supportive community
Find an online or in-person community of other women embracing their natural hair. Through this supportive community, you can share tips about hair care, share the struggles of the hair journey, and share words of encouragement. YouTube has an awesome online natural hair community. Facebook also has a great online community. My friend Amber’s facebook page the Curly Corner is dedicated to empowering women to love, care, and have fun with their natural hair. Once you find a community, the journey becomes that much easier.
3. Track your journey
Take photos of your hair each month. This will allow you to physically see your hair growth. Whenever you feel discouraged, look at your hair journey photos and see how far your hair has come (health-wise and length-wise). At first, it may not seem like much, but after a couple of months, you can start to see a major difference. I think seeing growth psychologically motivates us to not give up. Also, it is fun to look back years later to see the progress you have made.
4. Find a hairstyle you love
Find an easy style that you feel comfortable wearing until you gain the confidence to wear your hair in different ways.
5. Avoid looking in the mirror
Once I finally decided to start wearing my hair out, I always wanted to check the mirror to make sure it looked okay. In my mind, it did not look very good, so I would constantly run to a mirror to fix my hair. My advice to you is to save yourself the trouble. Literally, leave your hair alone. I promise you it looks fine. I believe in the saying out of sight, out of mind. If you aren’t looking at your hair, you won’t be worrying about your hair. The best part about this method is that on days when you think your hair looks terrible, some friendly ladies will compliment your hair, even when you think it looks like total crap. It’s better to get reassurance from actual people, rather than discouragement from a mirror.
Do you have any tips on how to love your natural hair?
To start, your hair is so so GORGEOUS! I absolutely love it!! Secondly, this post is so important for everyone to read, no matter who they are or what type of hair they may have. Just the other day I went down to the beach to have some photos taken of me and within seconds my hair frizzed up and went wild. I kept wondering how in the world some women can have perfect beach waves and I'm over here with a huge knot from the wind and waves haha. Long story short, I often have a love/hate relationship with my hair, so this post was incredibly inspirational! Thanks so much for sharing.
xx, Taylor (thesprinkle.tayloramead.com)
Taylor, thank you so much! I am so glad that you found this post inspirational. You are gorgeous and I'm sure your beach hair is as well!! Our hair won't always be "perfect" but it is important for us to love it regardless. Thank you so much taking the time to comment <3