Dare to look natural

Yoliswa Dube
SOME men have never seen their partner’s natural hair because they move from one weave to the other and from one hairstyle to the next in a flash.

Because hair is both personal and public, women in a quest to satisfy both spheres, experiment with many different products. As they do, they sometimes go overboard and fail to take care of their choice of hair.

Hairstyles are influenced by cultural, religious and popular considerations, but as times continue to evolve, women have taken hairstyles to a whole new level, regardless of the influence.

Women continue to use their hair to express themselves and exert a certain sense of power. A significant number of us feel a bad hair day equals a bad day because hair is extremely important to us.

I recall wearing a curly hairstyle for what must have been the shortest time in my life not long ago. I wore the weave for a day and just couldn’t wait for the week to end so l could have it removed. A waste of money perhaps, but the way I looked was rather more important than the hairstyle. I decided that curls were not my thing. I felt as though the hairstyle drew so much from my look, it didn’t quite work.

Similarly, hairstyles have become one important aspect of personal grooming and fashion. In as much as makeup can improve your look, hair matters more. It’s worth underscoring just how critical good and clean hair is to a woman’s appearance.

Admittedly, the glory of a woman is in her hair, it’s her crowning grandeur and a reflection of her identity. Hair is a symbol of femininity, freedom and beauty. When a woman’s hair is too thin, dry, turning grey or falling out, her self-esteem is utterly affected.

A lot of women’s natural hair doesn’t grow as fast, as long or as thick as other women’s hair, so there is pressure to buy hair extensions or weaves.

Through various mechanisms, weaves and hair extensions are used to cover one’s natural hair and are not removed for the next month at least, for many. Other hairstyles are worn longer than a month, which makes the hair dirtier and smellier.

Little or no shampooing takes place during this period, leaving no room for the scalp to breathe. The person next to you can smell the hair reeks of certain oils and hair chemicals.

Continuous use of artificial products makes hair hard and brittle, causing it to break as well as depreciate the hairline and causes split ends, which if not trimmed cause hair to thin out as it grows.

At the rate at which women change hairstyles, it’s not surprising that many complain about their hair breaking and losing their hairlines. They use different chemicals to try and restore the lost strength, a feat which could have been avoided.

Even when hair is continuously processed with hair straightening products and tugged and pulled at whenever it’s plaited, it depreciates from its natural state.

It’s necessary to shampoo one’s hair as often as possible and let the scalp breathe by doing away with weaves once in a while. Rocking a natural look now and again won’t hurt.

So ladies, cut yourself some slack and take care of your natural hair first. You’ll look clean, crisp and stylish still.