I've Been Slacking And That's Okay.

Last Sunday as I rinsed my hair in the bath, I realised something: I’d been slacking with my hair, and I was totally fine with it.

When I first began my natural hair journey it seemed like I had nothing but time thanks to being unemployed, and in a mere matter of weeks I already had my routine down pat. Every other Wednesday was wash day (and I’d make a full day of it – complete with oil treatments, green tea rinses, Olive Oil Vitale deep conditions and so much more), every morning I’d moisturise with my Blue Magic argan oil leave-in conditioner, and once I’d perfected my braiding skills, I’d always make sure to freshen up my hair every other day; and it felt like I was discovering a new technique to try every day. But then something happened. I got a job, suddenly found myself with less time on my hands and wash day moved from Wednesdays to Saturdays (and now Sundays if you couldn’t tell from the first sentence). As the months went on, I recalculated my routine, perfecting the Lazy Girl Method to an art (goodbye green tea rinses and hello washing my hair with just water), only braiding my hair once a week at best, and moisturising with a lot less precision i.e. simply spraying my hair with Paltas B.K.C and smoothing some IC Shea Butter moisturiser. The drastic change dawned on me on Sunday when I realised it’d been about a month since I had deep conditioned (which is funny as it’s probably the number thing I can’t stress enough when it comes to growing healthy long hair lol). So as I rinsed my trusty OOV out of my hair (with just water because: lazy and I didn’t want to spend the whole day in the bathroom) I realised that despite my slacking in taking care of my hair, it was okay. My hair was still growing from my head. I still moisturised. Despite falling off the wagon at one point and not washing my hair for about a month and a half, I still washed my hair. But most importantly I hadn’t even thought about relaxing my hair again. Everything was fine and I was okay. After all, at least I was still making an effort.

One thing I keep reading about going natural (and something that’s incredibly important to remember) is that it’s a process, it takes time, commitment, energy, and that it won’t be easy. It’s about discovering, getting to know and love your true self in spite of the struggles.

I say all this to say, it’s okay to get lazy and take time off just so long as you remember why you started and get back on the horse.