To my fellow Black women, what common misconceptions about your hair did you grow up with? I know that ever since I was a little girl, I was taught that Black hair was too unruly and that we had to be rough with it. I was taught that we possessed the strongest hair texture and that it could handle almost anything. As I grew older, I began to see a parallel of stereotypes between ourselves and our hair: we’re strong and resilient so our hair is too. Of course, Black women are strong and resilient, but only because we have to be and it’s the same concept with our hair.
- Black hair (type 4) is actually the most fragile hair type.
Ever wonder why we as Black women have to wrap our hair in silk bonnets before we go to sleep each night? It’s because contrary to popular belief, our curls are more fragile than we think. Whenever you forget to wear your scarf, have you ever woken up to frizzy and dry hair? That’s because the friction of your hair against the pillow case causes your hair to not only get frizzy, but to dry out. Which brings me to my next point:
- You do not have to blow out your hair before doing protective hairstyles.
It will help your hairstyles look neater, but it may defeat the purpose of the protective hairstyle. You could easily wash your hair, let it air dry, and carefully brush it out to detangle it. Like I said, our hair is very fragile and though we were taught it was not, it is so important to make sure you take your time when combing or brushing out your hair. One of the best tricks I’ve learned is to detangle your hair from the bottom up so you aren’t damaging your hair or pulling out clumps of hair.
- You have to let your hair “breathe” out of protective hairstyles.
Having your hair in braids or twists can do more damage than you think. Giving your natural hair a break from braids can help your hair take a minute to “breathe” or recuperate from being tied in braids or twists all the time. Most times, we have protective hairstyles for months and not giving our natural hair a break from time to time could dry out or cause damage to our already fragile hair.
- Trimming your hair often helps to not only get rid of split ends, but aids in healthy hair growth.
When you have your hair in protective hairstyles all the time, you’re unable to trim your hair. Split ends can travel up the shaft and cause you to lose or have brittle hair. Trimming your hair might seem counterproductive, but it truly does help. It can help your hair grow healthily and evenly without the added damage.
- Not every product works for every curl texture.
Did you know that each curl type has a different porosity? To find out which category you fit in, you can go to this website: https://www.byrdie.com/hair-porosity-test-5070329. (Or any [credited] website that provides information about Black hair porosity). Based on your hair porosity, some products may not work for you. So, if you ever get frustrated and wonder why your hair may be too dry and tangled, check your hair porosity and view the products that are best for managing your hair type.
I think by far the biggest misconception of them all is that Black hair isn’t beautiful. I’ve heard this whitewashed narrative for a long time; in schools and jobs, there’s this idea that Black hair is “unprofessional”. But in my opinion, our hair is the most beautiful and our crowns of curls make us the queens and kings we are. It took me a long time to embrace my hair, but just like my race, I wouldn’t have it any other way. Can my hair be extremely hard to manage?
Absolutely.
But I love my head of curls and I hope that if anything, this article helped you realize some common misconceptions about your hair and how delicate and beautiful our hair truly is.