Here's a little trivia for you natural newbies. What's
one of the most commonly used reasons why women chemically relax their coils
and curls?If you said,
"because it makes my hair more manageable when I comb it", you are right on the
money.
If you once used that reasoning in your former relaxer days, then
there is something
you should know. When folks speak of challenges with manageability and
natural hair, what is being referenced is the ability for a comb to glide through
the hair with ease. Unfortunately, what many people may not realize is that the
combs found in convenient stores, supermarkets, and ironically, many beauty supply
stores, were not designed for coily textured hair. Therefore, it is inevitable to
experience resistance when combing your coif with grooming tools of that sort.
Prior to the transportation of Africans from their homeland to America and the Caribbean
Islands, the original people with natural coily hair created their own grooming
tools that worked effectively for hair maintenance and styling. One of the tools
that they used were "Combs having wide, rounded teeth befitting the curly structure
of African hair--[they] were carved from hard wood or ivory. The teeth were strong
and perfectly rounded and spaced so that they would neither snag the African's tightly
coiled hair nor pierce the scalp," as described in The Truth About Black Hairstyles
- The Whole Story Revealed. After the move from one country to
the other, "Black women, without tools made specifically for grooming their hair,
began using combs made for straight hair. This resulted in horror and pain. It would
not work,"
says, Kamu and Janice Kenyatta, authors of The Truth About Black Hairstyles - The
Whole Story Revealed.
Today, the combs that are available for purchase are mass produced, and are designed
for the general public. And I'm sure that it is needless to say that coily hair
doesn’t fall under a 'general' type of category. So, what do we do? Find a comb
that best suits our texture. I find that wide-tooth, round edged combs work best
for me; a comb similarly designed like the African comb previously
described. If I may also share, for daily grooming, I find that my hair responds
best when I finger comb it. This is a technique that is exactly how it sounds—apply
a moisture rich product to your hair, and glide your fingers through until the coils
and curls are manageable, to your satisfaction.
At the end of the day, it's not about adjusting yourself to make something work
well to the adjustment. It's about finding things that will work well for you, as
you are.
Here's a little trivia for you natural newbies. What's
one of the most commonly used reasons why women chemically relax their coils
and curls?
