Have you ever felt like you need a little excitement? Bored with doing the same things over and over with your natural hair? Or thought, maybe I should color it, or add henna? All in search of a lost enthusiasm that you once had for your hair. Well, don’t feel bad, this is actually quite normal. I’ll call it “Hair Journey Plateau”. You hit that ceiling, and pretty hard too, and begin to wonder what else can I do. You still believe that there are so many options with natural hair, it’s the enthusiasm to try or do them that you lack. Hitting a plateau can be the result of length of time natural, lack of time to devote to hair, doing the same styles over and over, or length of hair.
I’ll speak for myself here! After I hit my one-year mark, I had the sudden urge to color, and that I did. I played with colors for over a year and wanted the color gone. I switched to henna for a little while, and from there had an unfortunate hair cut, which set me back in growth mode. After my hair reached the max goal I had set for it, I began thinking what’s next. These questions are fueled by a few different factors. For many of us, boredom sets in; yet for others, it’s the realization that once we get to our destination, there’s nothing there.
I, in the past months, experienced many of these sentiments. I reread some posts from last year and thought, what happened to this zeal and excitement, many times as I was putting my hair in a bun Nothing wrong with buns by the way!
Honestly there are many ways to handle being natural for a long time, and no longer feeling excited. You can choose that it is a phase and just deal with it until it passes and you get the excitement back. You can make efforts to begin taking better care of your hair again and try to be wowed by sitting with conditioner in your hair all over again. You can also try something new and exciting, be it color, cinnamon lightening, a new cut, etc. The method in which you handle “hair journey plateaus” will vary. Just find a way to get out of the rut, but whatever you do, do it soundly. Make sure it is not a decision you’re going to regret as soon as you are back to your senses. If you cut your hair back to TWA because you had an “out of love” moment, I can guarantee you that your hair won’t grow back overnight when the bad feeling is gone {this isn’t my personal testimony by the way }.
So tell me, have you ever felt that you plateau’d? How did you handle it? If you are currently not enjoying your hair, what’s the plan to get the love back?