The Struggle of Being Natural and a College student.

Hey guys!

DON’T YELL AT ME!! I didn’t forget.

I’m still working on the Conrow Braiding video! Yeah I know It’s been a while but I promise, it’s coming up next! Literally. The next post will be the link to that video I promise. *pointing at you through the screen* You’re hold me to that.

However, in the mean time, Can I vent about how difficult it is to be natural with a low maintenance college budget???

It never made sense to me  in high school. I didn’t fully understand.

How is it that college kids are broke all the time? Well…

1) YOU are the supplier of ALL of your finances.

Unless you have a job…you ain’t getting no money from your ‘rents because all of your parent’s money is going to that 30K+ tuition. So when you don’t got it, and they don’t either. (Unless your parents can still afford to give you money here and there, that’s a plus…)

2) Everything seems more expensive at stores.

Depending on where you go, you can find stuff for cheaper prices. But I go to school up in the sticks, where book and convenience stores are far and if you don’t have a four-wheel vehicle, you have to pay extra shipping prices to get the things you want. (Amazon & E-bay have become my best friends)

3) Eating Out.

You’ll get sick of the dining hall food, FAST. And if you want something that doesn’t taste like pig slop at the troth, you’ll splurge a little here and there for some real food.

4) You’re still a student.

You have classes, you need sleep, you have to study, you have to read, you need YOU time whether it’s kicking back with your friends or simply just being alone watching netflix. With all those hours being spent, it’d be nearly impossible to work under 40 hours a week without seriously sacrificing some self-love and care.
With all these money sucking situations, that leaves a small window of being able to afford natural hair products. Let alone (doing your hair) And for me, this continuous state of being broke has put a serious detriment towards my natural hair journey. I can’t buy the products that I need and that are (most importantly) good for my hair.

So my hair length has fluctuated often and continuously keeps stopping right at the nape of my neck. So, last year I did a huge trim:

Hair Before Cut on May 21st

My Cut:
2-3 Inches Off!

And I finally got myself almost back to the same point I had before the cut.
Take a look at the ‘over-the-years- photos:

Around December 22, 2013

Cut on June 27th 2014

11 months later: May 20th 2015

I go through this vicious pattern. When summer time rolls around, I run out of products to use.  Then I don’t have any of the ones I know are good for my hair. And we all know: there’s good products and bad ones! I also…as many of us do…loose patience. It gets dry over a period of time and it becomes tough to comb and then I don’t have any products to use…so then it spirals into a huge mess!

My hair ( and I have come to terms with this)…grows at a very slow pace. About 2-3 inches a year maybe. (that’s a really wild and off guess…I’ve never measured). OR maybe it doesn’t! Maybe that’s all I can retain because my routine is constantly changing!! And for us afro-textured ladies who are trying to grow our hair…every little thing counts! You stop detangling. You stop wearing your satin cap at night you switch your products up too often or use too many….all plays into our hair looking short and like it’s never growing.

Because of the constant struggle of not having the right hair products and being too broke to buy any, I am always and forever just out of moisturizer…or out of this and out of that. And I switch to different products that I’ve had lying around due to my trial and error stage.

And let me say something that not everyone understands, (that I’m STILL trying to understand) Afro-textured hair is NOT like any kind of hair. You can’t be rough. It’ll break off our hair. You can’t use a blow dryer everyday. It’ll break off our hair. You can’t leave it tangled, un-moisturized, and not protect it at night. (Unless you want crazy knots). You can’t constantly roam your fingers through it every ten seconds. That can break it off too. It needs low manipulation if you’re trying to grow it out.
It’s time to understand that we won’t see our hair grow AT ALL unless we are consistent in our good hair practices. Because our hair texture and makeup constitutes the most delicate, tender-loving, care to see proper growth.
Now hold on, before you go crazy here, I’m not saying one day of not caring for your hair will ruin everything you’ve ever worked for. Or you can’t flaunt or enjoy your hair. No no. Relax.  Just be cautious (unlike me) One day of bad hair care habits can turn into 2 days, then 3 days, then 4…and then…well–you get the gist.

I’m trying to maintain a consistent wash day routine that still fluctuates around my schedule but at least it’s still gets washed regularly. I’m working a lot now…so I plan on buying back some products (and hopefully backups) slowly and surely. So I don’t have to worry about my hair becoming subject to staying in a forever short state.

I may even make a video focusing on Natural hair maintenance in college. Don’t crucify me! I’m hoping I can get that video out too!

Until next time guys!

~Jasmine