Natural hair in Nigeria...meet Miss Fizzy!

Hi all!

Sorry, I know it has been ages. Life has been totally hectic, I'm travelling at the moment... for work, not play, so I have a number of things on the go and an extremely chaotic couple of weeks coming up. Rest assured that I have been continuing with my style challenge, and photographing my hair every day, it's just been a matter of finding the time to upload the pictures. I will try to do this tomorrow (and also have a whole load of Kinky Hair 101 posts to cram in, and a rather exciting "How the rest of the world does it" feature), so you have lots to look forward to on the blog over the next few days.

Until then, let me introduce you formally to someone most readers of this blog are already familiar with... Miss Fizzy! Many of you already read her awesome blog that she writes with her BFF Z (who I will also be trying to rope in to doing a feature). A few of you will also have met her at our first birthday party in December, where she demonstrated her styling skills on a very lucky guest.

But enough of my harping on, read what she has to say yourself...

Photo courtesy of subject

My natural hair journey

I have been natural since February 2009. Hmmm.... I wish I had some deep moving story of self discovery and realization but the truth is that I thought I would look cute with a fro so (with the encouragement of my BFF Z), I cut off about 10 inches of hair to grow it out natural. There was obviously the anxiety that comes with losing the curtain of hair that I used to hide myself (and my huge forehead) behind but the joy of being natural overtook that anxiety and now I can't imagine ever having relaxed hair again. It did start off superficially, but I fell in love with my hair and everything that goes into being natural... and that was it. I'm a hundred percent certain that being natural will be a lifetime commitment for me.

Photo courtesy of subject

Like most big decisions in my life, my big chop was done without much thought. I had initially planned to transition long term, but one night I was looking at photos for inspiration and saw pictures of women who had big chopped and they looked so beautiful. I thought "hey I could rock that", totally forgetting how oddly shaped my head is. Then I got some scissors and systematically cut off the microbraids that I had just spent three days doing. I took a look in the mirror when I was done and freaked out. I haven't had hair that short since I was 6! I quickly put it in kinky twists... which I left in for exactly a week before I took them down again and decided to rock my own hair. From then on, it's been me and my fro on this fabulous adventure. (I do my hair myself before y'all start thinking I have money to burn on changing styles every week).

On being natural in Nigeria

Ugh... well Nigeria, Lagos especially, can be a stressful environment (physically, emotionally, mentally etc) and this stress has definitely taken its toll on my hair. In the time I've been back, I've retained very little length and this has severely retarded my hair growth. There just never seems to be enough time for hair or anything when you're dealing with insane traffic and inhumane work hours so my hair has definitely suffered from the lack of TLC, the heat, lack of rest, my diet and many other factors. As a result, I've recommitted myself to making time for the TLC that my hair needs (who needs sleep huh?). I've also changed my diet and I now eat much healthier (my siblings call it rabbit food) and work out a lot. I've seen a big improvement in the health of my hair and skin and my energy levels (and my abs look amazing... just saying).

Photo courtesy of subject

I do get lots of stares and (polite and impolite) questions about my hair. The most common being what type of weave I'm wearing... and the most annoying being "why don't you relax your hair so it will be long?" That's just the normal everyday stuff. Few people outside of work are brave enough to approach me with negative comments and most of the reactions I get are neutral or positive. My guy friends like playing in my afro and trying to see if they can feel my scalp through all the hair. They also dig the fact that my hair looks different every time they see me and that I'm not afraid to jump in the pool or walk in the rain.

The only place I've lived in where natural hair seems almost taboo is Nigeria. It is pretty sad that that's the case. I have turned a lot of people natural or had them considering it though and I'm not the only natural in Nigeria. If every natural helps 5 people change their way of thinking, we could really be moving forward. I've never actually set out to convert anyone because I don't care what anyone does with their hair, but people see my hair and decide they want that for themselves and make the decision. And this is great. (Note to relaxed women who keep trying to convert me, how would you like it if natural women went around trying to forcefully convince you to big chop? Just saying).

How my hair is received by others

My family thinks my hair is cool... my mum and several of my cousins have gone natural because of me. There was never any major kind of reaction to my hair. I had been away for a few years and I came home with short hair and it was just like "oh, she's home, hair's different". And that was it. 

Photo courtesy of subject

I work in a bank which is possibly the most conservative place to work and I wear my hair naturally most of the time. It's usually in small twists worn in an updo or bun or something but I still get told that I look unprofessional or messy and that "it's just not done". I get told to get weaves and relaxers on an almost daily basis with people even offering to pay for my hairdo. The few times I've worn braid extensions I've gotten comments such as "oh they've finally paid you enough money to do your hair".  I've gotten comments from higher ups, lower downs, hr staff, cleaning staff... mostly negative. But I'm a pretty confident person so it's easy for me to shrug them all off and continue on my fabulous way. It's also easy to ignore when the people offering this "friendly advice" have severely damaged relaxed hair or bird's nest weaves. I wore my hair straightened once and had to laugh at the way their jaws dropped when they saw how long my hair actually was and I told them it grew because I kept it natural. But then of course they went on to tell me to relax it so it will always look long. *rolls eyes and moves on* When I ask why I should relax my hair, no one can give me a straight answer other than "that's just what is done". So why is it done? *Silence*

My views on natural hair before I went natural

I will admit that my views were not always positive... I always wondered why they just didn't get a relaxer. The Nigerians I saw with natural hair wore their hair in such unattractive ways and styling it always looked so painful that it just didn't appeal to me. It wasn't until I moved to America and saw and researched natural hair that I understood the versatility and variety present in natural hair. 

Photo courtesy of subject 

My regimen

I don't really have a regimen because it really depends on what style my hair is in. If it's loose I wash once a week, if it's in twists or braids, then maybe every other week. I try to deep condition once a month, shampoo twice a month and co-wash once a week. I seal my ends every other day and trim every few months. I have gone up to a month without doing anything to my hair because of lack of time and my hair definitely suffered. I'm trying to grow my hair out now so I'm protective styling as much as possible (with loose twists) and deep conditioning weekly. I'll be using no heat, wearing my hair up 99% of the time and sealing, moisturising and cleansing as needed. If I can keep this up, I should see the results I want. 

Photo courtesy of subject

Well, I think I'm at a stage where I've fully accepted my hair. I've adopted a less is more attitude and I'm also over the hand in fro stage (kinda). The problem is finding the time to stick to a routine with everything else going on. But we make it work. 

Photo courtesy of subject

Thanks for featuring me :) 

And thank YOU for agreeing to be featured without too much cajolement.

Have a great start to the weekend, peeps!