My Mane Won’t Be Tamed

I am a self-confessed protective styling junkie. My poison? Box braids. I learned how to install them in December 2016 but I had been living a Poetic Justice fantasy long before that. I love everything about them – picking the hair colour, choosing the size and style, the anticipation as I started braiding and the relief when I finished. I love how easy it is to take care of them and how long they last. I love how they make me feel – safe, confident and fierce! Box braids don’t disappoint me, catch me off guard or slow me down when I’m running late. They don’t have me in despair when it rains… you best believe it rains a lot in the UK. Box braids have my back.

My hair is type four – it grows out not down – and is unpredictable, unruly and requires a lot of time and effort to tame. I would watch videos on YouTube and see photos on Instagram, and Having such uncooperative hair was a struggle… so I used long term protective styles to ease the burden. But every “now and again” became “again and again” and now I’m consciously trying to cut back.

It hasn’t been easy but the last time I had box braids was July 2017. Instead of deciding what colour I’d wear next, I wore micro braids and two strand twists. In October 2017, I had a moment of weakness and went as far as wearing Marley twists – but I haven’t gone back to my beloved box braids. My mission for this year is to steer clear of them as much as possible, and instead I am embracing the curly, kinky, coily hair that I have been hiding for so long.

There is more than one way to have beautiful curly hair. The idea of the natural hair community is for us to share our journeys, not to compare them. We should only be trying to be better than we were yesterday. How you see yourself and think about yourself is important. In a society that thrives on our insecurities, it’s imperative that we do not create them within our own safe spaces, and inside our own communities. I’ve been a lot happier and more confident since I stopped trying to tame my hair, and started working with it rather than against it. My kinks and coils are beautiful and yours are too.

Join in with my tag #MyKinkyHairCan on Instagram and embrace your kinky hair too!

Until next time curlfriends

Love, Chlo xx