On Your Natural Hair Journey: Embrace Your Shrinkage

There are so many women who are still not comfortable with a kinky, tight curl pattern. The obsession of growing long hair is constantly embedded in our minds despite the fact that we have overcome the hurdles of finally coming to terms of loving our naturals and nursing our abused, tattered strands back to health. However, we still have to overcome this obsession of elongated hair.

I’ve been noticing that there are so many cute, sexy, curly short hairstyles and there are so many ways that you can wear short styles even when the true length is hidden under natural shrinkage.

I feel it’s sad that we simply can’t be satisfied with the formation of our hair patterns and accept the length “as is.” I’m also guilty of this obsession so the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree!

There’s an excitement to see how long it takes to grow longer hair in our natural hair journey but often that same excitement falls short when we don’t see the results that we expected.

Many women lose patience, get discouraged and sometimes quit the whole process because they are too focused on hair length instead of hair health. I often hear women complain that natural hair is just too time-consuming. What hairstyle isn’t? Unless you are sporting a short, low maintenance style.  

Unfortunately, the focus is on the wrong things. The most important thing is having healthy hair which consists of thickness, shine, elasticity and moisture. Also, the scalp should not be ignored because that is often the source of tell-tale signs of hair problems.

It may take a lot longer than expected to see the results of longer hair, but it will be well worth it in the end if you just let your hair “be” and truly enjoy the journey which means embracing your shrinkage and accepting all the unique qualities and beauty of textured hair at any stage.

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