Real question to my fellow black girls, naturalistas and kinky, curly and or coily baes. I’d like to get a consensus. Do you still use the old school hair-care technique of greasing your scalp?
For those of you who didn’t live a 1990s black American childhood, it used to be common practice to use hair grease on one’s scalp. I’d dare say every black household had at least one jar of Blue Magic at all times. Whether the style was twisted pig tails with barrettes and knockers or a cute braided hairdo with beads your mom would slather grease on your parts.
As a teenager, I moved away from these traditions. I processed my hair and there is a whole other set of rules to caring for relaxed strands (which I don’t recommend – but alas it’s your life, girl). During my freshman year of college, I transitioned to my natural texture and wore it out – AS IS- for the first time ever.
I discovered the natural hair movement and an entirely different set of haircare mores and paradigms. I think I’ve tried every mainstream curly hair technique out there. From shingling to plopping (which is an utter flop on type 4 hair), following the curly girl method, and even being the girl buying up most of the produce section to make homemade deep conditioners. The mineral oil laden grease was not a major player in this movement that inspired black women to embrace the hair that grows out of their scalp.
Almost 10 years later, I’m a little less radical about my hair. I still believe you should be at peace with your natural God given appearance. I think chemicals are crazy harmful and the practice of hair straightening can be damaging to our psyches when it becomes a beauty standard. I love variety, so I’m the type of natural who switches textures via wig. All the fun, none of the commitment- or heat damage. I guess you could say that I’ve mellowed in my “old age”.
Despite having seasons of being extremely meticulous about my hair, I have yet to see long hair. Mid back length (when stretched) is my goal. I’m revisiting some of the methods I’ve tried over the years to find what works and omit what is taking too much time and yielding minimal results. For the past month or so, Blue Magic has been back in the mix. In addition, I’m using a hair steamer to make sure moisture can penetrate the shaft of my low porosity strands I’m also using a method I read about years ago but didn’t have the guts to do until now.
I guess my approach is “something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue”. We’re committed to the cause forreal, forreal ✊🏾😂
I want to hear your thoughts on using hair grease vs natural oils and butters. Are you team old school or new school or are you taking a hybrid approach?
