My natural hair does what it likes. It likes to shrink and will do just that. I cannot and will not fight it.
When I began my natural hair journey, my main focus was hair growth and learning how to maintain length. Now, almost three years natural, I have stopped worrying about hair growth and instead focus on keeping my hair healthy. Here is how–and why–I stopped stressing about hair growth.
As a child, I always remember having hair that was past shoulder-length, but when I chopped the remaining of my relaxed ends, I was shocked.
Quickly adjusting to the shorter hair was difficult for me to deal with. Having longer hair was my safety blanket, something I thought I needed in order to feel like myself. When I went natural, I couldn’t wait for my curls to grow out. I would read articles on ingredients at stimulate hair growth, and search “how to grow natural hair fast.” I went on to try outrageous hair treatments and used any and every hair growth simulator. I went on to do weekly length checks just to see how much my hair has grown and stressed about whether I was losing too much hair on wash day.
The madness continued up until my no-heat bid last year.
I came to the realization that I no longer needed to worry about my hair length. I stopped using heat and mixing different hair growth products. I also did not focus on how far my hair can reach down my back, but instead I focused on what made my hair healthier.
I quit the unnecessary length checks every day and obsessing over shed hair. I no longer desire those straightened, stretched styles and opt for styles like the wash-and-go to embrace my hair shrinkage.
Since then, faster hair growth has been the least of my worries.
My hair health is and will continue to be the main focus in my natural hair journey.
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