by Noni of Three Naturals
I stumbled across this on a blog I regularly stalk and thought it was so hilarious and accurate to the point of being intrusive. I was like… ‘umm, were you peeping through my bathroom window Sunday night?’
Patience is more than a virtue…It’s the defining line between happy hair or haggard hair.
My hair’s been in the zone and happily predictable. It’s wonderful cause I don’t have to babysit it. I try my best to ‘listen’ to the old girl (hair) and she’s hinting that it’s time to pack up and hibernate for a while. Winter is coming. And winter in Canada is tough, taking prisoners if you’re not careful.
So, the other night I plopped myself infront of the mirror and started two-strand twisting. Before I took my summer hiatus from steady protective styling (twists) I was efficiently getting my whole head finished in 1hr 30 min tops. With that expectation, I got to twisting.
1 hr in I was still obsessively tryna section my hair straight. Grrrr.
At the two hour mark I was like, ‘yep, I’m gonna just dread’.
At the 2 hr 30 mark I was borderline abusive to my hair strands.
So when I saw the post pictured above I laughed at myself and felt a little less freakish. The positive is I don’t have to touch my hair for the next two weeks or so.
In the attempt to gain and maintain healthy hair patience is a requirement. Without it you’ll perpetually find yourself in frustration purgatory. As we ladies at three naturals like to say, ‘you’ll get out of your hair what you give to it’.
Check my current winter regimen to see how I do.
Is patience a virtue you have for your hair?
I have to have patience when dealing with my hair. It can definitely get frustrating. I can't lie, my strands get abused sometimes. But I'm definitely learning everyday how to work with my hair and not against it.
I can almost cry just thinking about the torture I used to do to my hair before I started following this blog. I was "transition" and didnt even know it; I just thought I was growing out relaxed hair because my hair seemed to be getting thinner by the day. I had NO patience with my hair by any means. I remember pulling knots apart, flat ironing on the highest setting to get done quicker, going to sleep with nothing covering my hair, on cotton cases….etc….HORRIBLE! Since I found this site about 6 months ago, I have been taking extra slow and fine care of my hair, and she has responded wonderfully! Patience is now a virtue because my hair is a priority!
When I was transitioning, once I realized that it would take me up to two hours to do my hair sometimes, I decided that I didn't have the patience for that and big chopped after only 3.5 months (I was supposed to transition for at least 6 months). I also don't have a lot of patience detangling my hair, even when I was relaxed. So that's something I'll need to work on as my hair gets longer. Right now, I'm just trying to be patient waiting for my hair to grow back, and I'll probably try to get away with the least time consuming styles when it does.
Surprisingly I have great patience. I don't know, maybe it's because even before I went natural I used to do my own braids with extensions. Those take 2 days. So doing twists on just my natural hair taking 2 or 3 hours is not so bad in comparison lol!
– Marion
I think natural hair is ALL about patience. I mean think about it -whether it's putting in a protective style, sectioning to wash/condition/detangle, twisting or braiding every night- most solid natual haircare practices require patience…
…and this is why I wear braids (with extensions) for half of the year!
Love this and totally agree!
I have no patience SO…. to avoid abusing my hair I bun it until I'm convinced I won't get too annoyed during the process. Most times I do my hair when I'm bored.
Patience is so key with my hair! This past week, I two-strand twisted my hair in medium sized sections every night. Usually I'll only twist it once a week, then put it in 4 puffs at night to preserve the style. But when it was time to wash it, it would take FOREVER to detangle. But I noticed that when I wash my hair last night, it was super easy to detangle because I had twisted every night in the past week.
So you're definitely right, you get what you put in. I put in time (and patience) with my hair by styling it every night and I'm already seeing a difference in my hair. It's awesome!
Honestly I just went straight to dreading after experiencing this. I couldn't even fathom spending that much time to let it just last for 2 weeks. I just need to re-twist my hair once every 5-6 weeks. I haven't looked back since.
…this is why I am wash-n-go! Although, I have tried twist-outs lately. Like them, but wash-n-go works for me especially with a diffuser for the winter months!
🙂
So true. I was just telling myself today I need to have more patience with all things ESPECIALLY my hair! smh
Sure. I wanted patience, and I wanted it yesterday.