Youtube as a resource

Go to any natural hair page, blog or forum, and you will notice that Youtube features at some point to illustrate a point or to give styling ideas.

I can't remember exactly how I found my first natural hair "How to..." video, but I do remember I was instantly hooked. I spent days going from video to video: "How to 2-strand twist", "How to flat twist", "How to rollerset natural hair"... There are thousands of videos on there, and they are a great way to get tips on hair styles and techniques.

My only caveat when suggesting people use youtube as a natural hair resource is that anybody, and I mean ANYBODY, with a camera and an opinion can put up a video. Quite often the suggested products and methods of styling make me cringe. There is definitely a lot of useful information out there, but I would urge anyone using this as a means of research to learn to filter the information you get.

Don’t rush to use a specific product because it has been recommended. You can take them into account, but remember to get into the habit of doing research and reading ingredients before deciding you want to try out a product used by the girl in the video you saw (e.g. a quick google search like “Aubrey Organics Honeysuckle Rose Ingredients” will give you all the information you need). Beware of the people selling products that they claim will make your hair grow. Hair rarely grows by topical application of products, but rather by factors such as a healthy diet, exercise, adequate water intake, etc. Additionally, the main problem people encounter while trying to grow their hair is the retention of hair, and not the actual growth (hair will generally grow anyway, its preventing it from breaking off that counts). So bear this in mind before dropping vast amounts of cash on the latest Miracle Grow product.

But if you're looking for style ideas and techniques, Youtube is the place to go! Youtube taught me how to flat twist, cornrow and 3-strand twist (I'm still trying to master any sort of updo, but I'm hoping that will come one day). For the most part, I tend to ignore/substitute the products used.

Also bear in mind that techniques used by other people may need to be modified for your own hair. For example, the vast majority of videos will feature the use of a Denman, or denman-imitation brush. Now I have had to limit my use of these, as while the Denman is a great detangler, defines my curls better and is great at removing shed hairs, it has also been known to rip out the hairs on my head that were not quite ready to be shed. Which is a problem. So while detangling with a Denman every time you wash your hair may work great for some people, this is not the case for me, and in mimicking techniques I normally elect to skip this stage.

Youtubers who I feel have a great understanding of caring for natural hair, products and the effect of ingredients include Rustic Beauty (who happens to be Nigerian), Mwedzi (beautiful long, thick hair with tight coils and kinks, with some great informative videos including one in which she demonstrates how she blowdries her hair safely), Coils Kinks Curls, Kimmaytube, MsHeatherNicole and sera 2544. There really are too many to list, but going forward, I will post videos that I come across and think are helpful.

Let's start with this demonstration, by cocoa89, of Curly Nikki's Twist-n-Curl, which is a great way for transitioners who are not yet ready to chop off the relaxed ends to wear their hair curly (the use of rollers helps create uniform curls on both textures), and is also perfect for all-natural hair, as it helps stretch hair out and prevent tangles.



Happy viewing!