10 reasons you should ditch relaxer natural hair

We’ve heard it said (in Hollywood movies at least) that get the dress right and every other thing will fall into place.

Somehow, a section of people thinks that while that may well apply to white folks, it’s not necessarily true for their black sisters. In this writer’s opinion, for black women, the hair is the most critical in the equation as far as a woman’s appearance is concerned. Get it right and watch your confidence soar.

The African hair is sometimes perceived to be difficult to maintain, which in this writer’s opinion accounts largely for why most black ladies get their hair to straighten out by artificial means aka relaxer. However, there’s  growing section of ladies who are turning their attention to rocking natural hair. There’s even an annual summit championing a return to natural hair for ladies, which last year was championed by Nollywood star actress Kate Henshaw.

 

And to help those who might be considering whether to revert, natural hair enthusiast Frances Uju Umeh, writing for styleinblac.com has some insight that might help you make an informed decision. Frances has been rocking natural hair for several years and knows a thing or two about it.

 

Listed below are her 10 reasons why you should ditch the relaxer for natural hair.

1. Cost

There seems to be a view that natural hair is costlier than relaxed hair but I personally have tried both and can boldly say that natural hair is way cheaper to maintain (if you want). The use of the things you easily find in your kitchen like eggs, avocado, coconut oil etc make your natural hair pop but relaxed hair will always need a relaxer, a salon visit, a weave etc.

2. Health

Natural hair as most of us know is healthier. Heat, perms and weaves can diminish your hair longevity. Our thick textured hair being forced to stay straight with the use of chemicals is definitely damaging because the original state of the hair is altered therefore making it difficult for the hair to reach its full potential.

3. Time

Relaxed hair has the upper hand in this aspect since the relaxer makes it soft and straightened, it is way easier to style while natural is incredibly time-consuming, ranging from wash day to detangling to styling and let’s not even get started on airdrying your hair.

4. Versatility

Natural hair is more versatile when it comes to styling compared to relaxed hair, from the kinky look to the sleek look, it can also be worn stretched or shrunken, straightened or curly, unlike relaxed hair.

5. Transitioning

You won’t need to transition or big chop if your hair is relaxed, and trust me these two can be a real challenge for the ‘naturalistas’ when starting their natural hair journey. Transitioning can mean relearning your hair while the big chop can come as a shock to you and those who knew you but it only gets better.

6. Thickness

The natural version of your hair is definitely the fuller and thicker version, trust me on this one. Since relaxed hair is thinner, wanting a fuller hair means doing away with the chemicals.

7. Huge buns

Girls like me who love their buns huge should probably go for natural hair, while the ones who don’t care about how huge a bun is as far as it’s a bun can achieve it with their relaxed hair.

8. Length

More length can be retained with natural hair because it is healthier, stronger and can retain more length, no matter how long you think relaxed hair can get natural hair can retain even more.

9. Tangles

It’s a general knowledge that natural hair can be a b---h when it comes to detangling, while the comb can smoothly go through your relaxed hair, natural hair could take hours or even days to detangle depending on how tangled it is.

10. Beauty

There is something about seeing a woman head full of hair. Naturals tend to get the most attention when it comes to this. I personally can not count how many times people have starred and admired my hair ever since went natural. Men simply describe it as beautiful.