Hello Ndi nkem!! Hope you didn’t miss me too much. I was out this last month due to many reasons. One of them being that I moved into a new apartment and the other was because I was working on my medical school secondaries. Please forgive me eh. Thank you. I wasn’t completely off tho. One of my articles was featured in a blog: Is studying in the U.S. for you? Please do well to check it out.
On to the matter of the day. You see ehn, social media/the internet is a very funny place to be on. I remember going natural right after secondary school. We kept low cut (short hair) during secondary school, so I normally had to relax my hair before braiding it when I went home for the holidays. The last relaxer I put in my hair was right before prom and graduation, and I haven’t used any since then. When I moved to the U.S., my mom said it would be best for me not to relax my hair. This was because going to the salons would be too expensive. That was how I carried my hair from August when I arrived till December when I went back for the Christmas holiday.
Prior to coming to the U.S., I didn’t know what natural hair or ‘virgin hair’ (as it is called in Nigeria) was. I got to learn about it while in college and I decided to hop on the trend. My mom had already given me the go ahead, so I felt comfortable saying ‘Screw relaxers!’ But this was only the beginning of a tumultuous relationship with my hair.
Whenever I asked people for advice or watched youtube videos, they would always recommend Black-owned hair care products. Some of these products cost like $15 for a 16oz bottle of shampoo. We haven’t even bought conditioner and all the other things that I felt I needed to make my hair presentable. They also said I need to be washing my hair every two weeks. Impossible! So you want me to buy these expensive products and now be wasting them, Chukwu aju God forbid it! The whole thing stressed me out.
But me ehn, I no dey hear word. I have very big coconut head. I continued to use the white-owned brands that were cheap and I found to work for me. But it has not been without some criticism. I have had friends and a hairdresser tell me to stop using certain products because it is made by white people, so it won’t work for our hair. I have also seen people bash certain hair products on social media simply because it was made by white people. The whole thing is very strange especially since such sentiments make it harder for people to ‘go natural’. There is no one way to be a naturalista. If Tressemé or Head and shoulders is what works for your budget and for your hair, my dear use it like that. Nobody wins award for having the most collection of Black-owned hair products in their cupboard.
Again, this is not to say that you should not or cannot support black-owned brands. This is rather to let you all know that the white people stuff works too. If you like it better, use it. If it is cheaper for you, use it. If you were using a product then found out it was owned by a white person, you are not being a traitor by continuing to use the product. Don’t let internet people, who know nothing about your life, dictate how you spend your money. Pattern up and be wise my lovelies. Till next time. Bye!
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Thank you soooo much, this gave me such a relief! I recently discovered that Cantu is a white-owned brand and I was very shocked, but I still like their products. Plus, black-owned products don’t really reach my country so there’s no way to get them, so I was really struggling. After reading this, I feel less guilty on still liking Cantu.
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You are very welcome 🤗
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