Wearing Your Afro

My favorite way to wear my hair is in the afro style.  Your afro is your crown and glory.  It is a fairly easy style to wear and maintain.  I like to use a pick to pick my roots and bring my hair to complete fullness.  Wearing an afro requires you to pay attention to your hair more so because your hair becomes dry due to being among the elements.  It is advisable to keep a spray bottle filled with water or a mix of water and leave in conditioner so that you can spray throughout the day to keep your afro moisturized.

 

EMBRACING YOUR HAIR

Since I have been natural I have learned to embrace everything about my hair. I accept it totally, even when I feel like I’m having a bad hair day. I work with young people of different races and I see the admiration in their eyes of my afro. These young girls and boys freely give me compliments on my hair. What I also found surprising was young people, as well as older people of different races, are also complimentary of me rocking my fro. Being natural has helped to strengthen my self-esteem. Not that I had low self-esteem, but in this society where European standards are pushed; my feelings of wearing my afro are reinforced from the everyday people I come in contact with. I Absolutely love my natural hair and wished I would have started being natural a long time ago.

 

REPRESENTING YOUR CULTURE

For those of us who possess this kinky curly hair, we are making a statement that we are proud of our tresses. Many people of color have African roots which contribute to us having tight coily hair. If you research Africa’s pre-colonial times, you can see that the melanated people were very proud of their hair. Different tribes used hair to distinguish between ethnic groups and social status. In addition, natural hair was used to distinguish age, marital status wealth fertility, manhood, and religion. Africans use animal fat, mud and clay to create elaborate hairstyles.

 

EASY TO STYLE

Some people create their afro by doing a twist out or braid outs to form their afro. After untwisting or unbraiding your hair, you can then get a pick or a wide tooth comb and pick your roots to increase the volume in your hair. You can also comb out your twist or braid out and create a blowout type of afro.

 

KEEPING YOUR AFRO MOISTURIZED

Your afro is more likely to become dry as the day progresses. Natural hair is inherently dry and it is important to moisturize your hair with water and seal the moisture with oil. If you are wearing an afro regularly then you should keep a water bottle handy. Some people like to mix the water bottle halfway with water and halfway with leave in conditioner. Others might mix half with water and the other half with an essential oil. The choice is up to you and what works with your hair.