Hi Lovely Naturals,

I have been blessed by very informative hair videos from Dickey of Hair Rules! This man has so much knowledge about natural hair, which is why he created his own line. Today I stumbled upon his videos and found myself blessed! I thought I had to wash my hair only once a week and I wasn’t even going to co-wash it because I thought it dried it out. I guess that is the kind of misinformation I received from watching so many YouTube videos. 

What YouTube has taught me is four things. 

1.)First, there is not a one size fits all when it comes to black natural hair. Just because it worked with one sister, doesn’t mean it will work with me. This means that you may have to try a few or many products to see what works for you. Over the years this process has really frustrated me because I didn’t quite figure out what products really worked for me. So after awhile I bought a lot of products that were sort of useful and spent way more money than what I needed. As a result I became a product junkie because I just had to try everything because everyone on YouTube was saying it was good. 

2.)So that leads me to point number two: take time to understand your hair. What is your hair telling you when you use a certain product? Does it like it, love it or just down right hate it! you gotta know this. How long does your hair behave in a certain style before it dries out? Maybe 3 days or 4 max. Take note of it and write it down for future use. Then use that info. to your advantage. I decided that I needed to wash my hair 1x a week and then co-wash it one time a week.

3.) Don’t Give in to hair product F.O.M.O!!! Yikes, this rule is the most important for me. In tip 1 I told you I became a product junkie because of my bad habits. Well I realized my product junkie habits was the result of F.O.M.O. I was fearful of missing out of good products, while neglecting the good ones that I had at home. Ugh! There is a popular saying that you miss a good thing when it’s gone. Well you also miss a good thing when you have it, but are too busy looking out for something better. I learned that I needed to use what I had available in my home. And if it wasn’t good I needed to toss it or give it away. So I learned to stop chasing after this or that product just because a natural beauty said it was good. 

4.) If you tried over and over again and it’s just not working for your hair then Seek Professional Help! - I cannot emphasize this enough. It was by God’s grace that I stumbled upon Dickey’s Hair Rules Tips and learned the truth about how to take care of my hair. Truth be told I was running around with so much information that what I did to my hair was useless. Dickey’s videos honestly reiterated what I knew to be true for my hair and that was that I needed to apply my styling products on it while I was still in the shower. This meant that my hair was still damp with water and that I did it directly after washing out conditioner from that one section. However, what I didn’t know was about sitting under a dryer afterwards and that I didn’t need to put gel in my hair. Lately, I’ve been seeing my hair react off the hook when it comes to gel. It goes limp, frizzes up, and knots together. I couldn’t deal with it any longer so I tried researching information to help me. It wasn’t until I stopped trying to get the information that it came to me- signed, sealed and delivered at my door. 

5.) Consistency- This is a bonus tip that I want to add to just encourage myself the next time I read my own post. This tip simply means that when I practice a consistent routine with my hair  I will yield consistent results. I have made up my mind to stop trying this or that technique that I find on YouTube and just stick to a consistent routine with my hair so it has some repetition in life. I realized that maybe my hair is not giving me the results that I desire because I am constantly messing up my routine because I’m trying to try a new fad. When I am consistent with my hair routine my hair knows what to expect each time. It helps build a solid regimen and also teaches me the pros and cons of the routine. 

Though I have been on my natural hair journey for 7 years and it may have seemed like I just started (really it does!), I am thankful for every step that I took. It taught me a lot about myself that I needed to learn; like I was inconsistent, was a product junkie and had hair f.o.m.o. But it also taught me life lessons too: I needed to have a consistent hair routine to learn the pros and cons of what I am doing with hair, that my hair routine in the shower needed an extra step , and that I actually have good products that work for my hair. I also realized that my hair is not as bad off as I thought. I just need to wash and co-wash it more each week, and water is really my second best friend, besides Jesus!

I hope this helps beauty! I don’t want to leave you without one of Dickey’s Hair Rules videos from his YouTube channel. 

Peace, Love and Hair