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Avoiding Natural Hair Videos on YouTube is Helping My Hair Thrive

Danni Archer

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Thanks! I will try this method! :)

I will say, when I used to wash my hair 2x a week (once a shampoo, and once a cowash) my hair was far more manageable, and I had fewer tangles too!

I didn't try the no oil/butters thing until now, so I'm going to see. I washed my hair with Paul Mitchell products on Saturday, didn't use any oils or butters, and I will be washing my hair again tomorrow (on Tuesday) with the Paul Mitchell co-wash. I 'm trying to stay in the same product line when I have wash day, just because I think products tend to work better when they're from the same line.

I will see how my hair feels, and if it is less dry/tangled with this method. :) I figure, it doesn't hurt to try it for a few months right lol? :joy:

Yes exactly. Try it for 30-90 days and be consistent with your washes. Gel only if you do a wash and go and a mousse/foam (like The Doux or Nairobi) if you're doing twists or braids (and twist/braidouts)
 

Sweet_chic

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Yes exactly. Try it for 30-90 days and be consistent with your washes. Gel only if you do a wash and go and a mousse/foam (like The Doux or Nairobi) if you're doing twists or braids (and twist/braidouts)
Thanks! :)

I'm definitely going to try this method out for at least 2 months to see how my hair responds.

I'm actually excited and looking forward to wash-day tonight after I come home from work because I don't think it will take hours upon hours to do wash-day, and I'm just keeping it simple for a while from now on. It's refreshing. :blush: I'm just going to co-wash, condition, leave-in, and twist in fat chunky twists with my PM sculpting foam lol. Das it! :joy:

I think that keeping the routine simple and to the point will also encourage most of us to wash our hair more frequently. When wash-day takes 4-5 hours from beginning to end, it's no wonder why so many of us wait a week, two weeks, a month, or two months to wash our hair lol! :joy: And then we wonder why our hair is "dry" lol :ROFLMAO:
 

Danni Archer

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Thanks! :)

I'm definitely going to try this method out for at least 2 months to see how my hair responds.

I'm actually excited and looking forward to wash-day tonight after I come home from work
because I don't think it will take hours upon hours to do wash-day, and I'm just keeping it simple for a while from now on. It's refreshing. :blush: I'm just going to co-wash, condition, leave-in, and twist in fat chunky twists with my PM sculpting foam lol. Das it! :joy:

I think that keeping the routine simple and to the point will also encourage most of us to wash our hair more frequently. When wash-day takes 4-5 hours from beginning to end, it's no wonder why so many of us wait a week, two weeks, a month, or two months to wash our hair lol! :joy: And then we wonder why our hair is "dry" lol :ROFLMAO:

YAYYY!! Yes I agree. I've had some personal stuff come up so I'm not keeping up with my regimen the way I'd like but to go from wash day/HOURS to just 1-3 hours is a great feeling,

I'd nudge you to skip the leave in and see how far that takes you tbh. If you have a good conditioner you don't need a leave-in conditioner!

PRECISELY!!!
 

Sweet_chic

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YAYYY!! Yes I agree. I've had some personal stuff come up so I'm not keeping up with my regimen the way I'd like but to go from wash day/HOURS to just 1-3 hours is a great feeling,

I'd nudge you to skip the leave in and see how far that takes you tbh. If you have a good conditioner you don't need a leave-in conditioner!

PRECISELY!!!
YAAASSS!

Girl! Let me tell you that from start to finish, wash day took me just 38 MINUTES (yes, MINUTES) tonight!!


Cowash
Condition (in the shower for a few min while washing my body)
Leave-In
Foam
Twist

ALL UNDER 40 MINUTES!!!!!!!! :joy: :ROFLMAO:

I have never had a wash day go this quick! Wash, condition, and style all within 38 minutes? Say what?? :joy:
 

A Small Foreign Faction

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YAAASSS!

Girl! Let me tell you that from start to finish, wash day took me just 38 MINUTES (yes, MINUTES) tonight!!


Cowash
Condition (in the shower for a few min while washing my body)
Leave-In
Foam
Twist

ALL UNDER 40 MINUTES!!!!!!!! :joy: :ROFLMAO:

I have never had a wash day go this quick! Wash, condition, and style all within 38 minutes? Say what?? :joy:
Yey! Congrats on a successful wash 38 minutes!
One thing I would suggest is to stop the cowashing and invest in a good all purpose shampoo, moisturizing shampoo and clarifying shampoo.

If you are co-washing without cleansing, you’ll experience buildup.
 

Sweet_chic

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Yey! Congrats on a successful wash 38 minutes!
One thing I would suggest is to stop the cowashing and invest in a good all purpose shampoo, moisturizing shampoo and clarifying shampoo.

If you are co-washing without cleansing, you’ll experience buildup.
Thanks! Yes, I couldn't believe it!!! :joy:

RE: Co-washing
Just to clarify, I'm not using conditioner to co-wash. I only use products that are designed for co-washing.

On Saturday, after I took my braids down, I used Paul Mitchell's Tea Tree oil special shampoo because a lot of people have loved it for itchy scalps (which mine was due to all of the buildup from the braids), and I used to like using it when I was relaxed. It's a sulfate shampoo and really did the trick (my hair and scalp were squeaky clean - but not dried out - after using it).

I used Paul Mitchell's Lavender Co-Wash for my hair last night because I just felt that using another sulfate shampoo (or even a sulfate-free one) was a bit much after only 3 days lol. :joy:

This is what I used.

1632931448123.png



I never use conditioner to co-wash (that's so old-school lol :joy: ), I just use products that are designed specifically for co-washing.

I simply alternate between a shampoo and a co-wash throughout the week since I wash my hair 2x a week and feel that using a sulfate/sulfate-free shampoo 2x a week is a bit much for my hair.

When I've alternated throughout the week in the past, I've found that it seems to work for my hair. :)
 

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Thanks! Yes, I couldn't believe it!!! :joy:

RE: Co-washing
Just to clarify, I'm not using conditioner to co-wash. I only use products that are designed for co-washing.

On Saturday, after I took my braids down, I used Paul Mitchell's Tea Tree oil special shampoo because a lot of people have loved it for itchy scalps (which mine was due to all of the buildup from the braids), and I used to like using it when I was relaxed. It's a sulfate shampoo and really did the trick (my hair and scalp were squeaky clean - but not dried out - after using it).

I used Paul Mitchell's Lavender Co-Wash for my hair last night because I just felt that using another sulfate shampoo (or even a sulfate-free one) was a bit much after only 3 days lol. :joy:

This is what I used.

View attachment 2942923


I never use conditioner to co-wash (that's so old-school lol :joy: ), I just use products that are designed specifically for co-washing.

I simply alternate between a shampoo and a co-wash throughout the week since I wash my hair 2x a week and feel that using a sulfate/sulfate-free shampoo 2x a week is a bit much for my hair.

When I've alternated throughout the week in the past, I've found that it seems to work for my hair. :)
Ahh, okay! Your routine makes a lot of sense. I was only offering guidance if you happened to be a co-wash only natural :ROFLMAO:

I hope you continue to enjoy the wash n go (or twist) life. It is so easy! Plus, I think it gives you the best growth retention and hair health ROI.
 

Danni Archer

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YAAASSS!

Girl! Let me tell you that from start to finish, wash day took me just 38 MINUTES (yes, MINUTES) tonight!!


Cowash
Condition (in the shower for a few min while washing my body)
Leave-In
Foam
Twist

ALL UNDER 40 MINUTES!!!!!!!! :joy: :ROFLMAO:

I have never had a wash day go this quick! Wash, condition, and style all within 38 minutes? Say what?? :joy:

yesss!!! You make me want to do a wash day but I’m going to the salon for a style and trim Saturday so it wouldn’t make the most sense money/time wise for me lol.
 

Sweet_chic

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Ahh, okay! Your routine makes a lot of sense. I was only offering guidance if you happened to be a co-wash only natural :ROFLMAO:
Oh girl heck no! I've never been a co-wash only natural lol, and I've been natural for over 10 years lol. :joy: I have always used shampoo at some point on a fairly regular basis. I would say that over the past 4 or 5 years however I've focused more on washing my hair more frequently throughout the week. :)



I hope you continue to enjoy the wash n go (or twist) life. It is so easy! Plus, I think it gives you the best growth retention and hair health ROI.
Oh I DO love wngs! As I Am Leave-in and Curling Jelly give me the best wngs I've ever had so I usually just stick with that and don't switch it up. I have yet to find a combo that works as good as that tbh lol :joy: I always get tons of compliments and people asking me about my hair when I use that As I Am combo. ;)

I just haven't done a wng recently because I find that wngs are a lot harder the longer my hair gets (it's a little past APL right now).

Also, my hair hasn't been trimmed professionally since this pandemic, so I have a lot of dead ends and ssks due to the hair not being trimmed by a professional. I wanted to get a trim but the natural salon that I trust to do my hair (there aren't too many black hair care salons that specialize in natural hair in my area. :( ) went out of business! :sob: I guess the pandemic took them out. :(

I also kind of wanted to experiment to see how my hair would fare if I just never cut it lol. I know some people/naturals who just NEVER cut their hair.

Like I said, during this pandemic I"m just experimenting with a lot of things. :eyes: If something doesn't work for me, then I'll just stop and switch it up. No harm, no foul. :emoji_shrug:

But I will definitely try to do more wngs again since I'll be washing my hair more frequently from now on, and on a more consistent basis. :D

Maybe my hair will behave differently because it's regularly getting water lol.

yesss!!! You make me want to do a wash day but I’m going to the salon for a style and trim Saturday so it wouldn’t make the most sense money/time wise for me lol.
Lol well, maybe you can do a wash day next Wednesday! ;)

That way you will be resorting moisture (water) back into your hair, and you can try out some new techniques!
 

Sweet_chic

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Also, another quick comment about wngs ----

Am I the only one who finds them so messy to do? :confused I usually do mine in the shower because I have quick access to water, but it annoys me doing wngs because the hair at the top/crown usually dries up by the time it's time for me to put the leave-in and gel in it, and so I have to cut the shower on again. But then I'm afraid the water is rinsing out the back portion of my hair that I already gelled and raked through.

Ugh...it's so annoying lol! :joy:

I think that's another reason why I sometimes hate doing wngs. I love what wngs look like on my hair, and it's so easy to maintain after it's done, but it's the process of doing them that really irks me lol. :joy:

If anyone has any easy quick tips on how to do wngs w/out annoyance, please let me know! If my hair would stay wet all over my head, then that would be one thing, but my hair dries out and gets tangly at the top, and then I have to re-wet it. Ugh.. it's so annoying.
 
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A Small Foreign Faction

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Also, another quick comment about wngs ----

Am I the only one who finds them so messy to do? :confused I usually do mine in the shower because I have quick access to water, but it annoys me doing wngs because the hair at the top/crown usually dries up by the time it's time for me to put the leave-in and gel in it, and so I have to cut the shower on again. But then I'm afraid the water is rinsing out the back portion of my hair that I already gelled and raked through.

Ugh...it's so annoying lol! :joy:

I think that's another reason why I sometimes hate doing wngs. I love what wngs look like on my hair, and it's so easy to maintain after it's done, but it's the process of doing them that really irks me lol. :joy:

If anyone has any easy quick tips on how to do wngs w/out annoyance, please let me know! If my hair would stay wet all over my head, then that would be one thing, but my hair dries out and gets tangly at the top, and then I have to re-wet it. Ugh.. it's so annoying.
I was having this issue a couple years back and went back to using Kinky Curly Knot Today leave-in. Basically what I do is wash and condition in the shower, squeeze excess water out then apply the KCKT, then my botanical gel (I have been using UFD). I style out of the shower, but I do shake in the shower. It is a bit kooky, but it works.

Going back to your experimenting, I gave myself a wolf cut a few months back -maybe not the best idea, but I was bored. So now Instead if that wng angle shape, I have an almost mullet-y thing going on. It shouldn’t work, but it does for me - it aligns with my punky-funky self. I guess what I’m getting at is continue to experiment and have a marvelous time doing so!
 

Danni Archer

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Also, another quick comment about wngs ----

Am I the only one who finds them so messy to do? :confused I usually do mine in the shower because I have quick access to water, but it annoys me doing wngs because the hair at the top/crown usually dries up by the time it's time for me to put the leave-in and gel in it, and so I have to cut the shower on again. But then I'm afraid the water is rinsing out the back portion of my hair that I already gelled and raked through.

Ugh...it's so annoying lol! :joy:

I think that's another reason why I sometimes hate doing wngs. I love what wngs look like on my hair, and it's so easy to maintain after it's done, but it's the process of doing them that really irks me lol. :joy:

If anyone has any easy quick tips on how to do wngs w/out annoyance, please let me know! If my hair would stay wet all over my head, then that would be one thing, but my hair dries out and gets tangly at the top, and then I have to re-wet it. Ugh.. it's so annoying.

How do you maintain yours?! That's my struggle.

I use on soaking wet hair after conditioning and top it with The Mane Choice Do It 'Fro The Culture Bold Buttery Gel followed by Aunt Jackie's Don't Shrink Flaxseed Elongating Curling Gel -- there's no dripping for me! I apply it like this girl in this video (she mirrored what a professional stylist did on her the week or so before). It's timestamped:

 

Sweet_chic

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I was having this issue a couple years back and went back to using Kinky Curly Knot Today leave-in. Basically what I do is wash and condition in the shower, squeeze excess water out then apply the KCKT, then my botanical gel (I have been using UFD). I style out of the shower, but I do shake in the shower. It is a bit kooky, but it works.
So you're saying that you just put the conditioner/KCKT all over your hair first, and then you put the gel in??

So you don't go section-by-section and rake each section through? Because for me it's like a process of sectioning little sections little by little, leave-in, gel, raking through. Like, it's a whole process when I do it lol :joy: But then again, I have type 4c hair. What type hair do you have? Because that can also possibly make a difference as well lol.



Going back to your experimenting, I gave myself a wolf cut a few months back -maybe not the best idea, but I was bored. So now Instead if that wng angle shape, I have an almost mullet-y thing going on. It shouldn’t work, but it does for me - it aligns with my punky-funky self. I guess what I’m getting at is continue to experiment and have a marvelous time doing so!
Hahaha cute! LOL :joy: No worries about the mullet lol. When I was growing out my twa after my big chop years ago, my hair started growing into a mullet lol :ROFLMAO:


How do you maintain yours?! That's my struggle.

I use on soaking wet hair after conditioning and top it with The Mane Choice Do It 'Fro The Culture Bold Buttery Gel followed by Aunt Jackie's Don't Shrink Flaxseed Elongating Curling Gel -- there's no dripping for me! I apply it like this girl in this video (she mirrored what a professional stylist did on her the week or so before). It's timestamped:


Well, I'll be honest... I keep my wng moisturized and fresh with the old-school SCurl product lol :joy:

Yea that's right girl --- The old-school stuff lol.

1632984151265.png



As long as I don't spritz too much of it, it keeps my wngs soft, moisturized, and feeling nice. :blush: I usually can't go past 4 days w/out washing my hair out of a wng though (even with the SCurl spritzes), otherwise I face major tangles, breakage, and dryness lol.
 

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Well, I'll be honest... I keep my wng moisturized and fresh with the old-school SCurl product lol :joy:

Yea that's right girl --- The old-school stuff lol.

View attachment 2945451


As long as I don't spritz too much of it, it keeps my wngs soft, moisturized, and feeling nice. :blush: I usually can't go past 4 days w/out washing my hair out of a wng though (even with the SCurl spritzes), otherwise I face major tangles, breakage, and dryness lol.

My hair LOOOOVES SCurl. My mom used it on my hair as a kid and when I went back to it, it was as if my hair was reunited with a lost flame. :LOL:

That @CrematedBaby chick who came through here giving skepticals to everybody who said "less is more" must be one of those trying to hawk her overpriced natural hair care products on social media. :disdain
 

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So you're saying that you just put the conditioner/KCKT all over your hair first, and then you put the gel in??

So you don't go section-by-section and rake each section through? Because for me it's like a process of sectioning little sections little by little, leave-in, gel, raking through. Like, it's a whole process when I do it lol :joy: But then again, I have type 4c hair. What type hair do you have? Because that can also possibly make a difference as well lol.




Hahaha cute! LOL :joy: No worries about the mullet lol. When I was growing out my twa after my big chop years ago, my hair started growing into a mullet lol :ROFLMAO:
For me, I think of KCKT as a styler, so while in the shower after rinse out, I squeeze excess water out of my hair, section (3 - 4 per side) then rake the KCKT through. Once I do this, it “holds” the water, so no dripping. Then I get out of the shower and apply UFD. I use 1-2 pumps per section, work it in so it gets foamy and I have coverage from my roots to ends, then smoothing each section.

Depending on what I’m going for, I’ll do a half-ass smooth, then a lot of shaking or more comprehensive smoothing then I’ll shake as I diffuse. I go back into the shower if doing a massive shake - let me just preface this by noting that I have an EU shower so it isn’t like I’m going in and out of a tub.

IF I want a harder hold, I’ll finish off with a topper gel. However, I don’t normally do this since I wash my hair every 3 - 5 days.

My hair is tightly curled too, what would be considered 4c. I have little pen spring curls and a lot of shrinkage. When stretched my hair is about BSL but currently coils up to mid-ear.

My current look doesn’t bother me at all! It’s currently giving me Joie Lee vibes :giggle:
 

Sweet_chic

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For me, I think of KCKT as a styler, so while in the shower after rinse out, I squeeze excess water out of my hair, section (3 - 4 per side) then rake the KCKT through. Once I do this, it “holds” the water, so no dripping. Then I get out of the shower and apply UFD. I use 1-2 pumps per section, work it in so it gets foamy and I have coverage from my roots to ends, then smoothing each section.

Depending on what I’m going for, I’ll do a half-ass smooth, then a lot of shaking or more comprehensive smoothing then I’ll shake as I diffuse. I go back into the shower if doing a massive shake - let me just preface this by noting that I have an EU shower so it isn’t like I’m going in and out of a tub.

IF I want a harder hold, I’ll finish off with a topper gel. However, I don’t normally do this since I wash my hair every 3 - 5 days.

My hair is tightly curled too, what would be considered 4c. I have little pen spring curls and a lot of shrinkage. When stretched my hair is about BSL but currently coils up to mid-ear.

My current look doesn’t bother me at all! It’s currently giving me Joie Lee vibes :giggle:
Oohhhh okay thanks for explaining more how you do your routine!

Girl you're gonna make me want to go out and buy KCKT and KCCC all over again lol! I haven't used that product brand in years!!!! :ROFLMAO:

My gosh.

But maybe I'll try it again. I do find that I get really great results with the As I Am Leave-in conditioner and the curling jelly though, so maybe I'll just stick with that and will just use your method lol. :joy:
 

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Girl you're gonna make me want to go out and buy KCKT and KCCC all over again lol! I haven't used that product brand in years!!!!
KCKT is a “cold dead hands” product for me, so I don’t think it will ever be out of my rotation! :ROFLMAO:

Since the As I Am products are working for you, finish them up, then think about trying something new. Also, in another thread you were asking about BOB products that can be used. Kinky-Curly is a BOB, just sayin…
 

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I think it's also important to make sure that the hair products that you use are pH balanced to where they can close and smooth down the cuticles. I've found this to be a game-changer in my hair routine. I've been using the Nature & Nurture hair products. The detangler provides much slip, and the deep conditioner and leave-in make my hair soft and moisturized.
 

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I’m right with you. I only watch natural hair videos from 2007-2012 lol like I don’t need high quality videos or personality, just gimme no-frills, unsponsored simple YouTube videos!! Those videos from back then are still relevant today bc it’s just hair.

What I’m learning is I like KCKT, Deep conditioning and Camille rose cleansing rinse. I just ordered kinky curly curling custard. This is all I need. I don’t mind shrinkage, I’m not doing 50 step wash days or doing trends lol. A lot of these YouTubers are bought and sold
 

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it's really wild i found this thread! i've noticed lately on youtube that views for natural hair videos have decreased SIGNIFICANTLY and i was curious why. glad to see people are listening to themselves. i went natural in 2013 so my intro pretty much was youtube. while it worked out in the beginning the community has become psychologically damaging for me. i really wanna look into natural hair care pre 2010 and see how people were doing it before the focus became sponsorships and discount codes
 

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Yes lol.
All these steps and things these gurus say we must do on our hair is exhausting and way too much.
I've stopped as well and decided to just go back to my previous routines which is simply:
Wash, moisturize, twist
Probably will at least add rice water in there.

I've also stopped looking for styles to do because I just find it overly time consuming and too damaging to my hair. We tend to forget that 4c hair is one of the most fragile so the constant manipulating is a bad thing.

The natural hair community needs to go back to its simplicity because that is where our hair thrives.
 

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it's really wild i found this thread! i've noticed lately on youtube that views for natural hair videos have decreased SIGNIFICANTLY and i was curious why. glad to see people are listening to themselves. i went natural in 2013 so my intro pretty much was youtube. while it worked out in the beginning the community has become psychologically damaging for me. i really wanna look into natural hair care pre 2010 and see how people were doing it before the focus became sponsorships and discount codes
That’s true. I’ll only watch older videos now and some videos from small YT channels have good gems. Honestly there’s only so much you can learn from natural hair videos before they turn into money gimmicks.

Many of us needed to start from scratch and learn how to actually wash our hair, how to moisturize, basic styles like twist outs, puffs, wash and gos etc. after that there’s no real need to continuously watch natural hair videos.

Plus yeah there’s a huge bias towards loose hair textures in the natural hair community and there’s a lot of nitpicking and judgment there whether it’s how good a hairstyle is, obsession with ‘juicy curls’, hair not growing fast enough etc. Which is sad
 
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ALL of this!

Omg I can so relate. I went through the phase of trying (and buying :confused ) everything under the sun for my hair that these YT "Natural Hair Gurus" would be suggesting, and all it left me was broke, broke, broke, with hair that didn't see a lick of growth. 10 years later since going natural, my hair is still not anywhere longer than barely APL, and has been that way for years. :emoji_rolling_eyes:

I got sick of all of the conflicting advice on YT: "Wash your hair once a week!" "No,wash your hair 1 a month!" "Don't use butters", "USE butters!" "Wash-n-go's are death to Type 4 hair" "Wash-n-go's helped me get to tail-bone length hair!" "Don't do twist-outs or manipulation styles" "I grew my hair 4 inches by doing twist-outs and protective styles!"

Ugh it's just so conflicting smh. Plus, I noticed that I was getting "Hair Envy" and comparing my hair to other natural hair gurus on Youtube, and it wasn't making me feel any good. :sob: I even made a thread on here about it before. My hair is fine and easily breaks, and is med-low density. So, to see a bunch of YT gurus with super long, super thick, high density hair only being the ones featured primarily on YT, it always made me feel less than. :( I thought surely my hair would get thicker by going natural (and it has a little bit) ,but 5 years ago I came to realize that my hair was never going to be the thickness (or maybe even the LENGTH) of most of these youtubers. I find that fine-textured hair girls seem to have a lot harder time retaining length.

When I logged off of youtube and just learned to love what God gave me, I found myself a lot happier in my hair journey. :) Now days I've learned to love my fine-textured type 4 hair, and tailor my hair practices to my hair type and texture. I'm much happier now that I've been appreciating my own unique hair, as opposed to always being frustrated that it doesn't look full and lush and thick like the typical type 4hair type.

I'm glad you've found what works for you. :) I think I'm going to keep my regimen simple as well.

May I ask what your regimen is now? And what hair type do you have?
I’m not sure if I answered this, it’s been about a year and my routine has totally changed. I wash my hair very frequently now (just because I want to), mostly wear wash and gos with just mousse or DIY flaxseed gel, and shampoo more often because I was having issues with product buildup.

I cut down on using oils but I still apply a thin layer right after washing and conditioning, since it helps lubricate my hair and prevent tangles.

And I agree! I recently went back to watching natural hair videos for some insight on wash and gos, and watching routines, and now I’m done and back to no videos. I was tired of everyone struggling with their hair and always complaining about it. Or obsession with growth. It’s not relatable it’s annoying

And those annoying thumbnails of women pulling their hair with a fake shocked face and saying “WHY YoUR HAIR NEVER GROwS” was getting too annoying. And saying this and that is horrible and bad, this is the magical fix that you need (that always costs $$$) yeah no.

No wonder so many women don’t like their hair these days.. these Youtubers practically encourage it and couldn’t care less about encouraging others to love and care for their hair.

Anyway since then it’s been a year and my hair is the healthiest it’s been and my routine is coming together really nicely. I gotta admit I didn’t have any routine and didn’t really do enough with my hair before, like not detangling enough etc. I’m retaining length even more than before, and there’s a very clear difference in my hair that pales in comparison to what I thought was ‘healthy’ a year ago.

My hair type honestly idk. I have multiple textures but most of it is 4a and 4b I think. My hair is mostly coily.
 
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