”Wavy Girl!! you’re on a wavy level and ever ready to go,’ were the words that echoed sharply in the hostel corridor. I blushed as I stood in front of my mirror. That echo, believe it, is still in my head. It was early this year. The beginning of a new semester. As an impressionable 18-year-old girl, all I could really do was to appreciate such compliment. However, I had another thought if maybe I was being teased. I never believed so though because I could remember all the time and effort I do put in order to look good. Wavy hair! Wavy girl! Whatever! My hair journey was averagely okay.
Unlike mine which was complimentary, most girls encounter uncomfortable, downright discriminatory, comments about their hair. Many, many others have endured much, much worse.
Each of us desires to take pride in our appearance, and I believe that our opinion about our hair consumes at least a whopping 50 percent of that. Wavy Girls! Matter.
READ MORE: Dealing With Hair Loss
So, what to do now that you’ve decided to embrace your waves? Allow me to step off my soapbox and share with you my top nine (9) tips to embracing, improving, and appreciating your wavy hair. In my 18 months of exclusively being a wavy girl, I’ve found these to be the most important keys to getting started and sticking with it.
9 Tips to Start (And Stick With) Your Wavy Hair Journey:
Practicing safe hair colouring
Many people must have thought about changing their hair color in a bid to be classified ‘wavy’. On the other hand, some people might insist that coloring their natural hair could be damaging and you can’t grow it long because of that. While it is true that coloring causes some damage, you just have to make sure to care for the colored hair safely.
Wash less often
Washing curly hair too frequently dries hair out. At most, wash curly hair two or three times a week. This allows the natural oils from the scalp to work their way through hair. If you must wash more often, use a hydrating shampoo or co-wash.
Use coconut oil
Coconut oil is one of the only oils that penetrates all the way to the middle of the hair strand. It helps provide strength, softness, and repairs damage to chemically treated hair. The night before wash day, try to sleep with your hair saturated with coconut oil. You could sometimes use a little bit of coconut oil in place of a serum to minimize frizz on day 2 or 3.
Focus more on your scalp
You could try using certain blends of essential oils on your scalp while you sleep with coconut oil on your length. Applying them before bedtime and giving yourself a scalp massage, would help increase circulation and blood flow to encourage growth.
READ MORE: Length Retention For Natural Hair: How to actually keep the hair you grow.
Paying attention to ingredients
In your wavy hair journey, it is recommended that you pay more attention to the ingredients used in producing your desired hair product. The more products used that didn’t contain sulfates, non-water soluble silicones, parabens and heavy waxes, the better your hair health would be overall. More natural products with moisturizers, healthy oils, butters and vitamins are so important. When you avoid using products with heavy silicones, your hair becomes less frizzy and better able to be managed.
Detangle Gently
A wide tooth comb is great to help tangle. Start from the bottom of the hair and work your way up the length to detangle. One big comb through from scalp to end will get the comb stuck in the hair and the results won’t be pretty. It might take a little extra time to detangle more carefully, but the reward of long healthy hair is worth it. Also, please don’t try and detangle hair that is all dry with styling products in it.
Protect Your Hair at Night
Sleep on satin or silk pillowcases because they cause less frizz and breakage than cotton pillowcases. This helps prevent hair from tangling during the night, which can cause breakage. If hair is feeling particularly dry, use a small amount of moisturizing cream or use a moisturizing spray before bed.
Eat Clean
Your hair is made up of what you put in your body. By now, you know that healthy, strong hair starts from the inside out. So the better you eat, the better your hair will be. Eat plenty of fruit, vegetables, healthy fats, and lean proteins.
Keep a hair journal.
During your wavy hair journey, there are at least a dozen ways to keep a hair journal. Record the products you used, from washing to styling, and any styling techniques, then snap a couple selfies to go along with the details. You could also go ahead to include the date, so you can track your progress and figure out which products work consistently well, and those that don’t, during different seasons of the year.
Okay! so with these tips, my hair journey till date has been a lot much easier. Also, appreciating my wavy texture for what it is, good hair day or not, and getting on with enjoying my day, has become a daily exercise in self-acceptance and self-love.
So you! Go on and try out these few tips and thank me later when you start noticing positive changes in your hair journey.