I have no idea why I’m making that face, or why I’m reading the newspaper instead of playing outside like a normal kid! Check out that hairstyle.

Do you remember how long and thick your hair was before you got your first relaxer? My pig tails were super thick! I can remember my mother washing my hair about every two weeks and blow-drying my hair straight. Sometimes she would hot comb it, and oil my scalp with Blue Magic or African Pride hair grease. Then she would style my hair with bows and barrettes, and I would wear that hairstyle for about two weeks. Sometimes she would braid it, but all the time; she left my hair in whatever hairstyle she did for about 2-3 weeks. The only thing she would do is tidy up that hair style and make sure it was still detangled.

Somewhere between me having long healthy natural hair as a child to about 6 years ago I went crazy and got a perm, got glue in weaves, and really screwed up my hair. I did not treat my hair very well. Now that I am rekindling my love and acceptance for who I am as an individual, I am careful about how I treat my hair. When I first went natural in 2006, I took a lot of advice from people about how to grow my hair. I believe that because I didn’t know too much about my hair, I took a lot of advice from people who had me doing too much extra stuff to my hair that was unnecessary and costly. In 2012, I realized that my hair does not need my hands to help it grow. As long as I keep my hair and scalp clean and moisturized my hair will grow at its own unique rate of growth.

Now that I am 29 years old, I am taking care of my hair the way my mother used to back in the day. I wash it every 2-3 weeks with Design Essentials Natural Curls Sulfate-free shampoo and steam condition it with the follow-up conditioner. I spray Design Essentials Blow-dry and leave-in conditioner spray in my hair, detangle with a Denman brush, and blow-dry my hair straight. I never allow my hair to air dry because it causes too many knots and makes it harder to detangle which promotes hair breakage. I press out my edges with a ceramic flat iron once it’s blown out straight. I only wear my whole head pressed straight if I go to my beautician because I feel I use too much heat when I try to press it straight myself. When I try to press my hair myself it never comes out looking as straight as when my beautician does it. After I blowout my hair I moisturize it with an organic virgin coconut oil that I get from the Farmers Market and braid it. The next morning when I unbraid my hair, my hair is straighter than when I blowdryed it the day before. I style it, and for 2-3 weeks I will not use heat on my hair. I re-oil my scalp when I feel it’s necessary, and re-press my edges when necessary, but I don’t use heat throughout my hair until it’s time to wash it again.  I also do roller sets using flexi-rods, a twist and lock gel, and a hooded dryer. I set and dry the curls under a hooded dryer for about an hour, and oil my scalp once the process is complete with my Organic Virgin Coconut Oil.

In this post, I have mentioned maybe five hair products that I use. Only one of those five products I use almost daily. My hair regimen is kept simple and it works well for me. I hope that this post reminds someone how simple hair care used to be back in the day.  I am all about maintaining hair growth without the over dependency of a ton of expensive hair products.