Natural Hair 101- Introduction

I don't know if you're aware of it or not, but the entire reason the Caheez brand exists is because I got tired of struggling with dry, damaged hair. For so many reasons, my natural hair journey was littered with challenges that seriously made me rethink the whole natural hair lifestyle. Don't get me wrong, I LOVED my hair from the moment I big chopped in 2008. But the road has been rocky filled with twists, turns and 4 additional big chops which really made me wonder what I was doing wrong! 

I mean, I know comparison is the death of a healthy self esteem, and let me tell you, on paper, that sounds great and all but in reality, I was STRUGGLING for real! My hair was growing. But retaining the length was an entirely different story. 

​After starting a business crocheting hats for everyone else, I was super disappointed I could not wear my own creations. The joy I get when a project is completed and then the overjoy at selling that 

​project... it's immeasurable! But the fact that wool and cotton and all things yarn work as a wick to pull moisture away... well, wearing knit/crochet hats was a no go for me until... Enter Satin Lined Everything!​

As you can guess, this journey has led me down several roads. One of which was Big Chop Central! As I stated above, I have cut off all my hair no less than five times in the last 10 years. Of

course these cuts were choices I made, but the reason behind those choices was damage sustained to my precious curls. No matter what I did, especially, the TLC and all I was giving my hair it would only thrive for a week or two and then it was right back

 to dry, crunchy, ramen noodle like curls that looked split and ridiculous (see pic above). UGH!

Of course the satin lined hats and cowls I started making in 2013 helped tremendously. But they didn't completely fix the issue. They were merely tools that helped solve the dry problem I was fighting from one side of the equation. No longer did the accessories I wore to keep warm strip my hair of healthy moisture and in the spring, there was no reason to big chop anymore! Let the saints say, 'hallelujah!'

But the journey did not end there. Nope, that was really just one step to me growing out my beloved curls. After much research, many tears, prayers to the heavens and general feelings of dismay, it finally started to come together. The reason my hair was not thriving is because I was coming at it all wrong. I was following what popular bloggers and vloggers said to do to no avail. And that's because 80% of natural hair on women of color is on the low side of the porosity scale whereas I was on the high side.

Now you may be thinking to yourself, what the heck is porosity and how does it apply to me and why is it so darn important? Well, I'm going to break it all down in this series on hair typing and hair health because like so many of us natural chicks out here in these streets, I was completely clueless. No one ever talked about porosity (or at least I had never heard them talk about it before). All I was aware of was the curl patterns and how voluminous a person's hair was and how to deal with my hair based on those factors. Yes, those characteristics do contribute to the healthy hair journey but NONE of them is as important as porosity. Period. End of story. Pack it up and go home... but not before I break it all down for you.

See, porosity is the number one issue I address in my hair care systems and once this series is complete, you will understand why. Porosity is the reason so many naturals are thriving in their journey, with tresses flowing and glowing and growing AND the reason so many of us struggle with dry, brittle or straw like hair too.

​What is porosity? I'm glad you asked! 

Now before we go all out on the porosity spectrum discussion, I want to touch on a few other things... namely, Hair Density, Hair Elasticity, Curl Pattern and Hair Elasticity (not in that order). It is very important to understand those factors because they set up the reason that porosity is so important. So please join me next week when we embark on this study and break it all the way down.

Got questions? Comments? Struggles or testimonies you wish to share? Please leave me a comment. Also remember, your journey can possibly help someone else in their journey so please don't be shy. We are all here to learn and win and there will be no shade or dragging... just love and flourishing together! ❤️