You will never stop finding your signature style. We call it a natural hair journey because we are traveling down a long road of figuring out our hair, your texture, what products it likes, what color we want it, what shape it should be, and of course what style. Everyone’s hair is different so what works for you, may not work for someone else. For some, your hair and texture changes along the journey due to various reasons. So with all these changes happening along our hair journey, just like the journey of life, we have to adjust.
When I first transitioned to natural I knew absolutely nothing. I remember being astonished at the curls growing from my scalp because I had a relaxer for years. Back then I used what’s now considered the “natural hair starter pack” which consists of Cantu leave-in, coconut oil, scrunchies, bobby pins and a bonnet. Basically this is what every new naturalista at the time was using. Now, new naturalistas has a plethora of options and products to choose from but at that time cantu was really all we had. While transitioning I wore my hair in a pineapple about 75% of the time. Having straight hair for so long, I didn’t feel confident wearing my curls in a wash n go. My hair was at the awkward stage between being fully natural and still having straight ends. The pineapple hairstyle brought my confidence back, and this low maintenance style gave my hair room to grow and flourish until I felt comfortable enough to experiment with other styles.
After my hair grew and flourished in the pineapple phase, wash n go’s were now my Go-To. This was the stage where I was constantly trying and experimenting with new products. I was trying to get the best, defined wash n go possible. I was learning new methods like the LOC, LCO and Curly Girl Method to apply products. I rarely styled my hair any other way and my curls absolutely loved being loose and left alone. This allowed it to grow even more. As my hair journey kept unfolding, I started doing more styles. When my Youtube channel started it really pushed me to be more creative when styling my hair. I started doing braid-outs, twist-outs, and learning what protective styles were. My appreciation and love for natural hair really grew because I learned so much, and was apart of this new community of naturals that I could share and relate my journey with.
After my wash n go phase, I had the braid-out phase. For me it looked like my wash n go’s just with less shrinkage and it lasted longer throughout the week. My newest and current phase is the low bun hairstyle. I am so busy switching up my hair for YouTube videos and brand collaborations that when I’m not working, I just want a style as low maintenance as possible and the bun does that for me.
So I’ve had quite a few go-to styles since the start of my journey. Some styles were chosen because that’s what made me feel most confident, and more recently some were chosen due to work-life and low manipulation.
When it comes to finding the style for you:
- Make sure you like the way you look & feel when you wear this hairstyle. I think that is most important because otherwise what it is the point. Like I said at the beginning of my journey I felt more confident with a pineapple considering I was still in the transition phase. I knew no matter what I could always fall back on the pineapple hairstyle. My pineapple was very personalized, so although anyone could rock that style, the way I styled mine was unique to me. Now, some people may compromise the cuteness of a hairstyle for the sake of healthy hair, which is completely fine! Finding a style that’s an easy go-to and it’s cute, is a win-win. The pineapple did that for me.
- Figure out what you like and don’t like. That could be products, hairstyles and/or methods. Maybe something takes too long, or it’s too expensive, or your hair turned out mad dry. Go ahead and rule out everything you don’t like, that way you can focus on the things that do. Once you figure out what you like you can continue to tweak your method, style or regimen so it’s curated specifically for you and your texture.
- Don’t be afraid of change. You will outgrow and fall out of love with certain hairstyles the more often you do them. Use this an opportunity to get creative and come up with your own style. That’s literally how you FIND YOUR STYLE. There’s nothing more authentic then rocking a style you came up with yourself.
xoxo
Arielle Wilson @curlfriendari
