Most women with natural hair are pretty much used to running through tons of products that don’t work and trying what seems like a million tips and tricks before we finally settle on a routine and regimen that works for us.
Whether you’ve been natural your entire life, a few years, or you just did a big chop, you know that the journey comes with a whole lot of trial and error — and sometimes that means absolutely hating things that are popular because they simply don’t live up to the hype.
Believe me, been there and done that!
In fact, here are 5 natural hair trends that weren’t actually all that great.
Using Coconut Oil For Everything
I know you guys remember when everyone started educating themselves on what was, and what wasn’t, good for their hair and we collectively decided to ditch hair grease.
At this time, experimenting with natural oils was our best bet and somehow coconut oil was sat on a pedestal and deemed as the holy grail of hair oils.
Years later, we’ve been able to experiment and go through many periods of trial and error with hair products and y’all, was coconut oil really as great as we made it seem? Yes and no.
For some of us, coconut oil works perfectly fine! But for a lot of us, coconut oil leaves our hair dry, rough, and just plain greasy.
While it’s not the worst oil of them all, after trying oils like jojoba, sweet almond, grapeseed, avocado, and many others, it might not be considered the best either.
Certain Edge Controls
Now I’m not going to name any names, but there has been a few times when edge controls have become popular off the belief that they’d work on any hair texture.
And I’d rush to the store and try it and fall completely in love—only to realize that my edges were lifting and curling back up within a few hours (if that!)
Truth be told, finding the perfect edge control for you is hard because what works for others may not work for your hair or do well with the styles you’re trying to achieve.
If you still haven’t found a good go-to, try a gel that is formulated with oil or mix a little oil in your current gel and lay your edges with that.
The “Pineapple Method”
I know you tried the pineapple method expecting your curls to just drop into place once the morning came, and instead they all just stuck in the same position you put them in last night.
Or your hair was smashed, frizzy, or even tangled. We’ll just call it a bad case of bedhead, and uhuh, it’s happened to the best of us.
The fact is that The Pineapple Method doesn’t work that well for shorter, kinkier, layered, or thick hair and there are other methods that may help you achieve your desired results.
Banding, twists, puffs, and a tried and true bonnet are all great options.
Relaxed Edges
Relaxed edges began as an attempt to make dealing with natural hair more convenient.
A good amount of us like to slick our edges, so we know how difficult it can be to fight them from frizzing out in sleek hairstyles.
While it seems like a reasonable solution to a sometimes hard to solve problem, it actually makes it harder to maintain healthy hair and may even cause thinning and balding around your edges in the long run.
Can you relate to struggling with any of these products or methods? Let us know in the comments below!
