Looking at all those youtube videos that promise you how you will look like a diva you will have syke to do your hair. It begins with the anticipation …
Anticipation
You’re excited. You just took down your braids or did a big chop and have spent the entire afternoon on YouTube watching one too many naturalistas talk about their hair and the jargon that comes with it. Your head hurts a little but there is no such thing as too much information at least not when it comes to natural hair and your curls will soon ‘popping’ and you’ll have a hairdo worthy of a Solange Knowles Don’t touch my hair video.
In the morning you wash your hair and slather it in coconut oil and avocados and leave your bathroom in a fruity mess before you get down to the crux of the day’s activities. The twists.
Armed with an arsenal of curling butters, leave-ins and oils, you are ready to take on your mane. You begin hopeful and enthusiastic like all beginners. There is an endless sea of possibilities and you have just dipped your toes into the water. You do the first twist and it turns out beautiful but this is short lived because ten minutes into the routine, your excitement wanes and it morphs into…
Scepticism
Maybe the world isn’t your oyster after all. Your arms are tired because you’re not used to holding them up for that long and you begin to wonder if calling out all those naturals on YouTube for what you deem as misleading advertising will make you appear petty. How do they do it? Do they have some type of super power? Or are they just highly motivated when it come to styling their own hair? But you soldier on partly because pioneering a hairstyle with a head that is half an afro and half in twists isn’t really your forte and also because the rewards will outstrip this mild form of torture you are subjecting your forearms to.
Hours later you have finished. You look into the mirror. Not bad for a beginner and you wrap your hair and wait for it to dry. The initial excitement is back and you can’t wait to see your hair in the morning.
Anticipation (again)
You wake up bright and early because you probably hardly slept anxiously waiting to unravel your hair in the morning. Once again you arm yourself with coconut oil and an afro pick and begin. You undo the twists gently because all the tutorials said to do so otherwise it will lead to frizzy hair or you might accidentally break off some of your strands.
Anger and a slight feeling of betrayal.
This is the feeling you get when after the work is done and the hair is fluffed, it does not look at all like the YouTube tutorials or Pinterest boards and you’re not sure if your hair should still feel that wet. So you stare into the matted mess that is your hair and you’re on the verge of tears. After all that work!
Acceptance
You go back online and find a quick fix. You could either pull it up into a puff or tie a head scarf (you quickly give up on this option because you are poor with hand-eye coordination and frankly a little sceptical of YouTubers who begin their videos with watch this super easy head wrap ideas that you can do in under ten minutes). Your last option is to comb it out and rock that nappy hair afro. Check out Twist Out Disaster Averted!
To prevent this in future, allow the twists to fully dry before you take them down.
Featured image via www.youtube.com.
