5 Common Mistakes Made By The New Natural

Returning to natural hair can be an interesting journey, especially if you haven’t cared for your hair on your own in a while. Depending on your knowledge of hair, the whole process can sometimes be nothing more than trial and error.

I remember when I first began my hair journey, I had no idea what I was doing. One day, I tried doing a twist out on two month transitioning hair with no perm rods* and had no clue why I didn’t have definition (you live and you learn right?).

Well, we’ve all been there. And if you are new to a natural hair journey, you may find yourself doing one of the common mistakes below. Leave a comment if any of these apply to you!

Becoming a product junkie

The product junkie struggle is real, especially in the beginning of a hair journey. You may not have any idea what will work for your hair, so you go out and spend tons of money on new sets of products.

Your favorite blogger or vlogger may suddenly have a new staple, so you run to the store. Over time, this leads to nothing but an empty wallet and drawers full of unused products (trust me I’ve been there!).

To save yourself the trouble, do some research into products and ingredients. Learn about your hair type, and find some common suggestions.

Play around with certain products, and learn what your hair likes. You can even experiment with product recipes of your own – there are plenty of DIYs that could potentially work much better than something from the store.

Give away or trade the products that don’t work for you. Don’t keep them laying around, but don’t throw them away. A lot of natural hair groups do swap events, where people can trade gently used products. Swaps are also a great way to save money!

Not remaining consistent

Along with the thousands of hair products out there are thousands of hair care regimens, tips, and hacks. Everybody tweaks their regimen to fit their lifestyle and benefit their hair. Things may work for some people and not for others.

When creating your hair regimen, be realistic. Know how much time you can dedicate to your hair and how often you can do it without creating a burden on yourself. Don’t create an elaborate wash day regimen when you know you’ll be too tired to do all fifteen steps every week.

Also, don’t get discouraged when it seems like nothing’s happening and stop. It takes time and patience to see results. Remain consistent, compare your growth, and change things as necessary.

Using excessive heat

Many ladies transitioning to natural hair (gradually cutting damaged ends as new growth comes in), make the mistake of trying to blend their two textures with heat. It’s important to cater to the natural hair growing in instead of the processed hair.

Excessive heat can lead to unrepairable damage. Hair can become dry and frizzy. This defeats the purpose of a healthy hair journey!

Instead, try to do low manipulation styles that suit your length. Try wash n gos or coils on shorter hair, or twist outs, buns, etc on longer hair. Keep hair moisturized, and try to stay away from heat as much as you can.

Over manipulation

When I first got a glimpse of the natural hair community on Instagram, I was so into it! I wanted to do every single Bantu knot out, flexi rod* set, and twist out I saw.

However, over manipulation is not good for natural hair. Constantly touching, fluffing, or styling hair can lead to dryness and breakage.

Instead of jumping from style to style every day (unless you really have that much energy) try to preserve your hair styles.

Use a satin scarf to pineapple your hair at night or sleep on a satin pillowcase*. You’ll prevent the extra pulling on your strands. And besides, third day hair is way better than first day hair!

Hair envy

Every curly girl is different, and social media allows us to see almost everyone! It may be common to come across someone with a hair texture you like and get a little jealous. Stay in your lane!

Find women with hair textures similar to yours and take tips on styling from them. Learn to love your hair and realize that it’s unique. Play with different styles until you figure out what you like! Appreciate your crown and your journey for what they are.

Returning to natural hair doesn’t have to be a hard process. Like with everything else, time and patience are important.

There aren’t any set standards for anyone – as long as you care for your hair and pay attention to what it needs, you will have a happy and successful hair journey. It won’t be perfect, but it’ll be fun!