January 2017 marked the three-year anniversary since my big chop. I still remember it clearly: I’d been growing out my relaxer for 15 months, and I was ready to be reintroduced to my natural texture. I saturated my hair in conditioner to make it easier to see where my natural hair ended and relaxed hair began, and started to snip away. I felt a twinge of panic and excitement as my locks fell the floor. No turning back now! Once I was done with the front of my head, I handed the shears to my friend Alex and forced asked her to do the back for me. Since that fateful day, I’ve experienced a lot of styling failures and successes as I’ve watched my hair grow up, up and away. Here are three lessons I’ve learned so far.

 

 

Lesson One: Don’t Get Frustrated, Get Creative

Your Styles Will Not Always Come Out Looking Like Your Favorite YouTuber’s: And That’s Okay

YouTube is a great resource when it comes to finding style ideas and step-by-step tutorials, but it can be frustrating when you dedicate hours to a style, and the end result is far from what you expected. Over the last few years, I’ve attempted many YouTube-inspired styles. They were not all successes. Was it frustrating? Of course, but life goes on. One thing to keep in mind as you’re watching that YouTube tutorial: this probably isn’t the first time that vlogger has tried that style, so don’t be discouraged if your first attempts don’t live up to your expectations. Also keep in mind that everyone’s hair is different! So, if necessary, modify that style to work for you.

Here’s an example. I don’t know how to flat twist. I’ve tried, but I am just not there yet. So, when I came across a cute protective style involving flat twists, I modified it and did regular two strand twists instead. I unraveled the twists in the front, used bobby pins to pin that hair to the side, and pinned the remaining twists in a criss-cross pattern, and voila: I ended up with a style that worked for me. This is now one of my go-to protective styles. The best part? After a few days, I can let those twists out and rock a twist out for a few more days.

 

 

 

Lesson Two: Shape Matters

The right haircut can make a world of difference

As I mentioned, I did my big chop without the help of a professional hair stylist, and I don’t have any regrets about that. However, as my hair grew out, I did encounter some awkward shape issues which may have been avoided if I’d gotten it cut professionally. The hair in the back of my head tends to grow out faster than the hair in the front. Let’s just say, I had a serious mullet situation happening for a while. I did some research and browsed some before and after pics and came to the conclusion that a good haircut can help remedy this issue. Still, I was hesitant about getting my hair cut professionally, so I just made the most of it and gave myself regular trims in my bathroom.

In the summer of 2016, I decided to go for it and finally go to a professional. After some research, I made an appointment at the Devachan salon in Soho. My stylist was Melanie and she did a great job. I told her I basically just wanted her to trim my hair and give it a nice shape. The result was a nice layered cut with bangs. Unfortunately, I accidentally drowned my phone recently, so I lost a lot of the pictures I took during the weeks following the cut, but here is a before and after from the day of my haircut.

 

I liked the results, and I liked the way it has been growing out. The DevacCut method, which you can read more about here, is designed to keep in mind the way your curls and coils fall naturally, which is why it’s done on dry hair. Cleansing and conditioning is done after the cut. This method tends to work best if you wear your hair in its natural state the majority of the time. If you straighten it or wear it in a stretched state often, this may not be the right haircut for you, because there is a chance your hair might be uneven in its stretched/straightened style. I can’t speak to this personally because haven’t straightened my hair since my DevaCut, but if I ever do, I’ll share the results. I can say that I am happy with the shape when I wear a wash n go or a twist out.

 

 

 

Lesson Three: Switching Up Your Routine Can Be Helpful

Trying different products and techniques can actually save you time and/or money

Now, I’ll be the first to admit it: I am a product junkie. I love trying new products on my hair, and I’ve spent a lot of money on hair products over the years. However, I don’t believe that having natural hair has to be expensive. I’ve actually scaled back a lot on my product junkie-ism.

Over the last three years, I have been able to simplify my routine by trying out new product combinations. A year ago, my regular wash routine went as follows: detangle in the shower with an inexpensive conditioner, rinse, shampoo, then deep condition. This is what worked best for me at the time.

Lately, my routine has been: shampoo with Camille Rose Naturals Sweet Ginger Cleansing Rinse and deep condition with Camille Rose Naturals Algae Renew Deep Conditioner. The Sweet Ginger Cleansing Rinse has so much slip that it eliminates the first step in my old routine; I can actually detangle my hair with this shampoo! It saves me time and cuts down on the amount of product I have to use at one time. So even though my old routine worked, if I hadn’t been open to switching things up, I wouldn’t have discovered how well these products work for my hair.

All in all, I’ve learned a lot about what does and doesn’t work for my hair over the past few years. Possibly the most important lesson I’ve learned is that I can’t compare my journey with anyone else’s. I say this a lot, not just as words of encouragement to others, but also as a reminder to myself.

 

What has your natural hair journey taught you? I’d love to hear about it!

 

 

 

*Additional clarification: As mentioned above, I have been growing my hair out since October 2012. However, January 2014 is when I became fully natural: this is when I cut off the remainder of my relaxed hair, after growing it out for over a year. Whenever people ask me how long I’ve been natural, I feel obligated to include this info, because although it’s only been three years since I did my big chop, saying I’ve been natural for 3 years can be misleading, because that doesn’t account for over a year of hair growth.