Going natural and staying natural is never easy. It requires a lot of dedication and hard work especially if you want it to meet your expectations.

If your hair is not looking like how you envisioned it to look like or how you see others own flourish then you are probably doing somethings wrong. Here are some of the things you might be doing.

You are not researching enough

Researching in general is not something most Ghanaians do. I was able to gather this through a survey I conducted for my thesis about the switch to natural hair in Ghana and how the hair relaxer products market has been affected in general some time ago.

Researching products, ingredients, and treatments is not our culture. Most of us prefer word of mouth. The problem with word of mouth is that it doesn’t apply to everyone the same way.

You have to research everyone and everything. Don’t stick to Madam Adwoa’s hair product and hair routine because her hair is growing faster than yours.

Research ingredients in your natural hair products, research treatments you can do. Understand your hair, know what your hair likes and doesn’t like and the rest will follow.

You are not experimenting enough

You own your hair. You have the choice to do whatever you can with it. Try new things even if it hasn’t been recommended to you by anyone. Try new products, new techniques of styling, try a different hair regimen.

Try them with a critical eye. You should be able to track if your hair has improved after using a certain product or treatment or if your hair reacted negatively.  Whoever said having natural hair was easy lied.

You have to continue to work and try new things. Practice makes perfect, so if you don’t experiment you will never know what looks and works best for your hair type.

You are following hair that doesn’t look like yours

Hair types differ in terms of structure, density, porosity. Genetics can also determine how the hair grows. Some people’s hair grows faster than others.

In my country, some people are “brenya” this means they lack hair. So don’t compare your hair growth to anybody’s because everyone’s hair growth rate is different.

Some hair types receive certain ingredients well and others do not receive the same ingredient well. So understand your hair and do what works best for you. Be patient.

You think the secret lies in finding that one heaven-sent product

I’m really sorry to break this news to you but there is no heaven-sent product.  I always say it’s a 50/50 give and take situation.

Products won’t do magic on your hair if you are not using it well and taking care of your hair. The power is actually yours and not the products especially if you have a type 4 hair. This is because products will just sit on the hair doing nothing.

It is up to you to know how to maximize the products utility for your hair. Your hair will naturally respond to how to treat it. You can’t coat and layer your hair with products when your hair is not healthy.

You owe it to yourself to constantly feed your hair with the right products but most importantly you owe it to yourself to have a routine that allows the products do their work given its solid base. Bottom-line is you have to be consistent with your hair regimen.

You are not allowing your hair to breath

When you are constantly pulling and pushing your natural hair from one braid or weave   or other styles to the other, you weaken the hair.

This is because not only is your hair under constant pressure, it is also lacking so much nutrients, proteins and moisture.

As a result of this you will end up having weak hair and tracking any substantial growth is difficult because even though you see your roots growing the ends are breaking because your hair is weak.

Holding on to weak ends

Your number one mission should be Health not Length. If your ends are feeling weak and stringy or just lifeless let them go.

Trim your ends because split ends are going to eat into your healthy hair and spread damaged ends throughout your entire hair. Don’t hold on to dead ends or split ends. Let them lose.

You haven’t sought professional help

Like stated in the previous point, sometimes the problem might be health or genetic related therefore, seeing a professional figure who has insight and knowledge in dealing with what your hair is going through in order to give you some prescriptions or give you medical and concrete advice may be helpful.