When I went natural in 2001, I was 18 years old, and didn't really have any hang ups about hair. I relaxed, colored/bleached, braided, weaved my hair all the time. I liked long hair, but I think because I was so all over the place, I never allowed my hair to grow long, or even thought about it like that--plus I loved cutting my hair short. Whenever I wanted longer lengths, I'd just wear braids for a time.
I did a big chop after 8 weeks post, right before graduating from high school. To all my friends, it was a HUGE deal, lol. They came with me and took pictures because I was "so brave" :-) Natural hair care communities on the internet had just gotten started (the discussion forums, and trying out new styles, etc) so really there weren't the resources back then that there are now for people to look in to. So I did whatever with my hair, lol.
And for 4 years, my hair looked the same--no different from my relaxed hair except for it was curly. It was still "blah", so I continued to braid, weave, color, experiment just like I did with my relaxed hair. I didn't do any of the regular care maintenance things that I do now (though I did study the Ouidad method for a time). In fact, it wasn't until I relaxed my hair again in 2005 that I began to invest the time on the forums and develop a regimen. And realized that if I wanted to make my hair look a certain way, I had to do the necessary work and stay consistent. Then in 2009-2010, I realized that while all my efforts and dedication into caring for my hair was working and I was on the right track, for my situation there was one factor that was undermining my whole plan: relaxers. I learned about hair texture, porosity, etc and determined that if I was really going to maximize my hair's potential I had to go back to natural. So I transitioned for a little over a year (to gather more research on my hair's 'tendencies' lol) and here we are today, entering my 3rd month natural. And off to a much better start that I was the last time.
So, all that to say, I learned a lot about basic hair care by caring for relaxed hair, although that's kind of weird to me, lol. I think it should have been the other way around, but oh well :) Anyhoo, going into natural hair now is a walk in the park because of the [informational] baseline that I have to work with. I don't even post on forums anymore or really share in the bandwagon discussions nowadays because to me there is just no need. I am still a PJ, though--that'll never change haha. But I do look at products very differently now that I have been into hair science for over 5 years. And to me, curl type does not matter at all. I remember when I was really "forum-active", all the time board members would straight up say that they would not take the advice of someone who had 3c hair because their own curls were 4a or 4b,c, whatever, but that's just dumb. Nowadays, I use the same kinds of products that a type 3, or even a 2 would use! What matters now (and should have always been the priority) is hair texture, porosity, density and elasticity. But mainly texture and porosity.
By Texture, I mean the size of the individual strands of hair (fine, medium, coarse), and sometimes [but not always] the feel of of the strands (silky v. wiry). This determines what kind of products you should be using and how frequently you use protein (if at all).
By Porosity, I mean how well your hair receives and retains moisture (and how your curl pattern shapes up). Your hair's ability to retain moisture can tell a lot about the integrity of the strand when the texture cannot. This is vastly important if you are throwing chemicals (color and/or relaxers) into the mix.
IMO, if these factors aren't at the top of your checklist when trying out products or just handling your hair in general, then you aren't even in the game. While it's fun and interesting to watch other people's YT videos about shingling, banding, twists/twist-outs, bentonite clay treatments, etc., I personally just cannot be bothered with all of that. Back in the day I spent 4 years doing twists on my hair and it didn't do anything positive or negative to my hair--it was just a style. Now had I focused on the basics of hair science and hair care prior to making certain styling decisions, maybe things would've gone differently (and I probably wouldn't have even gone back to relaxers!! *Real Talk*)...
So to anyone out there looking to step their hair science game up, I highly recommend you start researching texture and porosity. Also, a good starting off place would be Live Curly, Live Free . I am not affiliated with this site in any way, I just value the info and am passing it along :) Even without that, the general internet has tons of valuable information to provide those who really want to learn. Once you learn it, you'll see how simple it is, without all the over-production of some of these new marketed systems and techniques out there. Save yourself some mental energy (and...maybe some cash lol), y'know?
Peace!
xoxo
