Taking Great Care of Natural Hair During Pregnancy

Yes, my curly friends, the time will come in your life when you get the privilege to carry a mini curly in your body. As wonderful an experience as it is, let’s be real – it can wreak havoc on your hair if you don’t pay attention to the small changes that happen to your body, hair included. Here I share my experience with natural hair and pregnancy.

It’s true that during pregnancy some people’s hair can blossom out of nowhere into a better state than before. But the opposite happens as well, unfortunately. Normally, my hair can pretty much stand anything, but I realized well into my pregnancy that it was becoming dry and starting to look very lacklustre. That’s when I knew I had to act pronto! So I launched a serious project “rescue and protect.” Which brings me to the following:

1Observe and plan. By this I mean pay attention to all the changes happening to your hair, and come up with a plan of action. This could be moisturizing more often than before, doing more co-washes than usual or whatever. Let your hair guide you as to what it needs, because this will be different for everyone.

2Put your plan into action and try to be disciplined. Of course any plan is useless until implemented. Try to be as disciplined as you can with all the extra care your hair needs during this time in your life. The truth is, you’ll probably feel exhausted and not up to it most of the time, but just do your best. Remember, prevention is better that cure. You don’t want to be that girl dealing with hormones and falling chunks of hair all at once.

3

Protective styling is best. When it comes to hairstyles, I found protective styling to always be best, because you get the best of both worlds, i.e. you get to protect the hair and look fly in the process. This could be as easy a high bun, or chunky twists pinned to the side, or a fro hawk. Sure, you can unleash the fro and rock it every now, but try not to over-do that if your hair is showing signs of discontent.

4

Don’t be afraid of accessories. If they aren’t already, they will be your new best friends, especially on those days when you just can’t be bothered to do anything too time consuming, or when you are in a rush. A cute ribbon bow in your fro can elevate your style in a second, as well as distract the hair police from the real issue ;) Even a turban or a piece of jewellery re-purposed as a hair accessory for the day. Do whatever works for you and don’t be shy. Pregnancy is a time to unleash because onlookers are less judgemental (or at least they keep their comments to themselves ;) Nobody wants to make a hormonal pregnant lady cry, so take advantage of that ;)

5

Enjoy the pregnancy. Dress up and have fun, it’s one of those times that just whizzes by so quickly. So make sure your hair is on point, as it’s one of those few things you can at least control while the rest of your body expands ;)

Find tips on all things fabulous on Miranda’s Blog, Style Gallivanter.