Wednesday, July 09, 2014

Natural Hair At The Beach



Monday I decided to hit the beach with a friend for my annual tan and had my first experience with my hair a the beach at almost waist length. I want to show you guys the transformation(plus I wanted to share my beach shenanigans).
There's this thing about black women not wanting their hair to get wet at the beach or pool. I wasn't trying to get my hair wet. I wanted to play in the water but since my hair hadn't been detangled in a few days I wasn't sure what would happen to it once it got wet in terms of shrinkage and reaction to sea salt in regards to tangles since I hadn't detangled in a few days. I arrived at the beach looking like this:



1 week old blowout/braid out in the beach parking lot.

As I walked across the beach looking for a spot I felt the moisture in the sea air hit my hair. About 30 minutes later I had about 50% shrinkage. I hadn't even touched the water yet but I was sitting right in front of it so I got the wind head on.


30 minutes later, 50% shrinkage.
My hair was blowin' in that wind though -_-
WEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!
GOT SHRINKAGE DON'T CARE!!!!!


Then I decided to go play in the water. And it went a little something like this:


Laaa deee daaa....

The wave is comin'!

AAAAHHHHH!!!!!

I've fallen and I can't get up. The wave got me!

I'm still cute though.

Not sure why I look so mad, I really wasn't.

Back to my umbrella. I'm done with this!


In the end my hair didn't go to hell like I thought it would. It actually felt a little softer than usual, probably because of the sea salt. I read something that it can help with hair ph a few years ago and I did experience that effect when I first big chopped down to 1.5 inches in 2008 and came to this same beach(maybe this beach has special powers). My main concern was the length, the fact that it was dry as a desert,and possible tangles but it turned out fine. I learned a few things:


  1. sea salt can have a positive effect on the hair
  2. I should have braided my hair up 
  3. it would have been a good idea to braid it up with something heavy like castor oil or maybe even coconut oil before entering the salt water since it was so dry
  4. also the braids would help reduce tangles 
  5. fros can be sexy at the beach, even when faced with rapid shrinkage
  6. it's ok to get your fro wet, just roll with the punches and live a little

When I got home I applied loads of cheapie conditioner and coconut oil, detangled into very small sections, and washed in small sectioned twists. I haven't deep conditioned as yet but my hair feels fine for now. I currently still have them in those twists.


Some other things I observed:
  1. tie your bottoms on really really tight before you get into the water. The waves will try to take them.
  2. it probably isn't a good idea to where a bandeau top to play in the waves. Like your bottoms, the waves may try to take that too.
  3. water proof sunscreen is crap(at least the brand I used)
  4. if you don't secure your umbrella in the sand properly it will become a projectile like mine did
  5. it probably isn't a good idea to go to the beach with a fresh manicure. Mine was ruined.



So did you hit the beach or pool lately?
How do you protect your hair when at the beach or pool?
How are you enjoying your summer
What fun things are you doing?

3 comments:

  1. I've been wearing mini twists, and they are definitely perfect for the beach! I was there on July 4th and I didn't have to worry about my hair at all. It was fantastic!

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  2. I have my hair in some raggedy twists right now. lol I may neaten up the parts and see how I feel about wearing them out or throw a wig on. I'm going into protective style mode for my birthday in November.

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  3. I hope you post pictures if you decide to :)

    ReplyDelete

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