Why Can’t I Find the Perfect Hairstyle?

I have worn every hairstyle possible from my teenage years until now. I have worn my hair natural, relaxed, hot comb straightened, with braids, with extension braids; I have worn my hair in Afro, in Jheri curls, in S-Curls and now in locks. The only thing I’ve never done is to put in tracks for hair extension with my relaxed hair.

I must say when I put in my locks, I thought this has to be the perfect hairstyle! It’s versatile, I don’t have to worry about swimming, it doesn’t have to be a fight for me to comb and style it like I do with my hair natural, it will grow long enough for me to do whatever I want with it, I don’t have to use those harmful chemicals, in the mornings I can just get up and go, AND it might be cheaper to maintain!!! It’s the most logical and sensible hairstyle for any black woman!

Alas! Maybe that saying that “you can never please a woman” is true!!! Needless to say, I am now threatening to cut off my locks. I have had them for over five years and they are almost down to my waist. I love my locks but I have a few issues with the hairstyle.

The number one thing is that I sweat on my head, and when my hair is down it can get very hot and it doesn’t help that I am pre-menopausal so I sweat a lot. When I get hot flushes it’s compounded by the heat from my locks so I always wear my locks up in a bun. As a result my hair gets smelly quite quickly but I don’t like to wash it because it takes a whole day for it to dry due to its length. Somebody recommended dry shampoo which I am yet to try. I hear that it’s a perfect solution to this problem. So until I try it, I am caught between a rock and a hard place. Do I walk around with smelly hair or with wet hair?

Another problem is my weakening hairline because I am always putting my hair up in a bun. The strain on my hairline will cause thinning, receding hairline and I may end up losing some of my locks. It is not a pretty sight when your locks start breaking off and you have these stubs at the sides of your hair! It’s not pretty, I tell you!

Lastly, I don’t get to really enjoy my locks anymore. I can no longer sport the curly or wavy look since I don’t wear it down. Because it’s so long it’s also a more tedious task to even try to put in the curls. I am not good at styling my hair so when I’m tired of wearing a bun I have to pay to get it styled and it is already not cheap to maintain locks. Woe is me!!! Whatever shall I do?

Tell me what you think I should do by responding to the post at joleisa.com

Or you can drop your comments in the box below about what you think of my dilemma or what is working well for you.

Sandra we think your hair is absolutely awesome! One thing we suggest is to have it styled shorter so you can so you solve the problem of it being too hot and uncomfortable to wear down especially in the summer months. We have tried this product which works really well and has an awesome smell after we got a piece of real shea butter from a friend who got it from another friend after her trip to Africa. We also stumbled upon this awesome site that deals a lot with natural hair and beauty. Check it out here. Remeber afro? You’ll remeber frolicious hair!

Sorry we can’t do anything about the premenopausal symptoms, we’re too young, lol. Thanks for your post too! We think you should be a blogger (hint hint). Jo and Leisa xxx

xoxo