An Aha! Moment : Comb-Free Fro

Helluurr babies!

You know how they say “Necessity is the mother of invention”? Recently I was reminded of the truth in this statement.

Last Thursday, I just didn’t know what to do with my hair, but I needed to go out and I didn’t even have a headscarf to match my outfit. I had no choice but to get in there like a true gladiator.

How I Set Myself Up

See, the day before, I had lost a lot of hair trying to brush my hair into the perfect halo. After 20 minutes of brushing, I still didn’t achieve “perfection”, so please ask me why I even bothered! For the rest of the day, the lost hair kind of haunted me. After doing all that damage in the day, at night I still had the mind to be too lazy to twist (on the bright side, I wore a satin bonnet!) so Thursday morning, I woke up with a flat, very shrunken, super DRY and tangled mess.

I was conflicted. Whenever I don’t know what to do with my hair, I just ‘fro it. I could have shut my eyes and let Wednesday repeat itself, but I could not BEAR to even look at my comb or brush. Any comb activists in the building? *In Stacy Dash’s voice* Combs and brushes don’t cause breakage, kinky girls cause breakage when they use combs. Meh. So, after standing in front of the mirror for minutes waiting for a sign, I decided to tackle the dryness first.

How I Made It Out

In sections, I spritzed my hair with water, applied a lot of my Cantu leave-in, chunky twisted, and went into the shower- to let it soak in [like seasoninggg]

By the time I was done getting dressed and doing a little makeup, my hair was super soft again. Yay!

I just stood there. I still couldn’t bring myself to reach for the comb. Next thing, I saw myself using my fingers. Like I actually didn’t know when I processed the thought, it was super spontaneous. When I say I saw myself, I really mean it. I was already putting my fingers through each section from ends to roots, detangling as I went, in a shingling motion (the way people do Wash N’ Gos) before my consciousness caught up with the girl in the mirror like ohhh that’s what we are doing! I did this over and over until I was happy with the outcome. I held the left side back a little with a styling comb.

Filter of life LOL

[I’ve said this before: Youtube videos aren’t helpful to me when I need them right away. So I’ve taken to watching them for entertainment, as I’d watch the Food Network or any other How-To channel or even Telemundo sef, no pressure. I’m not trying to study these girls but somehow, their lessons are embedded in my mind, and come to the surface when I desperately need them. Isn’t it amazing how the brain works?]

It was my first time ever shingling and I loved the result. Honestly I was in disbelief for a while. Like, my fingers did this? So why the heck do I keep using combs and brushes? I even noticed some curls in the back standing out, they were clumping! Clumping! Few things give my 4C curls natural definition, so maybe I should look into this shingling thing? Wash N’ Go next, like the curlier girls do? I wish I could have taken photos but, it was a super busy day and I had to be out the door.

This is the end of the story guys. I happily went about my day, comb-less. Few strands were lost. The lesson from this is, Maybe I SHOULD ditch my comb and dear detangling brush. Because the truth is, I usually use them when I’m in a hurry and you know how that goes. Unnecessary breakage.

P.S. If you’re going to try this sometime, know thy leave-in. My good old Cantu is very moisturising but it takes a while to absorb. When I left the house, my hair was white, but I knew it would dry before I arrived at my destination, 20 minutes away.

And oh, here’s a quick Shingling tutorial below. It’s really simple, you just repeatedly rake your fingers through slightly wet hair with product in it. Most tutorials have the naturals working with soaking wet hair, but as I said, I simply spritzed with water, didn’t soak my hair in it.

Alright guys. Have you had any Aha! moments lately? Do you shingle your hair? Tell me about it in the comments! 🙂

Love,

AB,

xx