Do You Have 4 -11 Hours To Care For Natural Hair Every Week?

Do you dream of having long flowing drool worthy natural hair? Most of us do and some of us can gladly say that we have achieved it. I am here to tell you that waist length hair even hip length hair is very achievable and if you make it there, you will have a lot of fun taking the most exotic selfies you can imagine.

You will fool the average instagramer with your smiles and enjoy them envying that kinky* long hair of yours but secretly you will know the truth. You will know that your detangling sessions take hours and that if the wind blows a bit too hard your hair will create the biggest knots known to man!

Maybe that is a bit of an exaggeration but there is a trend going round in the waist length and beyond natural hair club. The latest trend involves scissors and less stress, as many of these women have decided to cut their hair back to what they call a more ‘manageable length”.

Our own Alma Ruddock did just that, I did it too, Natural Chica also chopped her hair off and many other hair guru’s like Kimmaytube, have also taken the plunge never looking back. If you are new to this journey you might say, what? “Yall crazy, why can’t you make up your minds? Long hair one day, short hair the next, we cant get a grip on what you all are thinking”

Listen I get it, but after a few years you may be faced with the same dilemma as well. I don’t know about you but I do not have 4-11 hours to dedicate to my hair every single week. And when we say it takes hours to properly care for your loose hair root to tip I mean it takes hours.

I am not trying to be a deterrent to any of your goals all I am saying is that there will come a time where the time invested in managing your hair  might become a little overbearing.

The cool thing is, by the time you get to waist length or hip length or whatever length that kind of starts to drive you crazy, you will already have become the master of your own hair. What this means is that there is no fear when it comes to cutting your hair because you will already know how to grow it back again if you choose to.

This is the mindset many of us should strive for, it takes the stress out of hair care and allows you to have the freedom to cut it one day and grow it out the next. Here are 4 things that can happen in your life that will tell you, you do not have a ton of hours to dedicate to hair care.

1. Lifestyle changes

If you want to know what having no time to do your hair looks like, just have a couple of kids. If you are a stay at home mom or a mom that goes in and out of the office you know just what I am talking about. There is just not enough hours in the day for 3 hours worth of detangling or even styling to get the best stretched style.

The only way this works is if you install a protective style in your hair for the week and don’t touch it during the week. Boring much? Yes but it works. Other changes include having a more active lifestyle, if you are a gym rat then you know having a full bottle of co wash conditioner is nowhere near your vocabulary. You are constantly getting rid of sweat from your hair because if you don’t, oh the buildup and the smell.. yuck!

Typically you just want to work out, hop in the shower, co wash and hop out. That is all of 40 minutes max which a girl can work with, any more than that and we kind of start to get a little frustrated.

2. Manageability

Many long hair gurus will tell you that it is much easier to manage their hair at bra strap length or even shoulder length and that desire for just an easy wash day often overrides the idea of long hair.

Not only are wash days shorter, but if your hair is shaped beautifully with nice clean ends the detangling is so easy you might just cry with joy every time you are done in record time. I repeat, nobody has 4-11 hours to dedicate to a wash day unless that’s your job or something.

3. The compromises

Compromise is a part of life, and it will become a part of your hair care routine as your hair grows. Long hair means longer protective styling sessions or the use of heat just to help you to get through your hair management session. I prefer heat, and protective styling to be a choice rather than a necessity if that makes any sense?

When your hair is longer you will find yourself making these kinds of sacrifices to preserve the length of your hair, length that you cant even use which leads me to the next thing.

4. The lack of styling options

Kimmaytube announced in a blog post that she cut her hair and the one thing that struck me was when she said “I am free to style my hair more often, yay I’m Free”.

That pretty much sums up this next section because, long hair is so fragile in the sense that, knots increase, snags increase, dryness increases everything is amped up to the next level with care. You do not get to truly enjoy your hair or your length but for the random special occasion.

When your hair is shorter your styling options increase and you feel free to get creative and you enjoy your hair much more than you may have done with longer hair.

The truth is they can call us ‘confused’ if they want to but don’t you worry your pretty little long haired head, you have to do what’s best for you and if 4 – 11 hours just doesn’t work, then grab the scissors girl. An if you should change your mind, you know that if you want long hair again, you already know what to do to get it!