Natural hair survival when living in a small town

By: Lashonda Balentine

Before and after I figured out how to resolve my hair struggles

I’ve lived in a small town for most of my life, Lake of the Ozarks in Missouri to be exact.

picture of my surroundings in my small town, lake of the Ozarks

           Because of that, managing my hair growing up was difficult. Don’t get me wrong, when visiting family in the city, I received ALL of the advice they could give me at the time, every time I visit. But it wasn’t enough to help with my hair on the day to day struggle.

before I figured out the
natural hair products

back in high school living at home,
before I figured out the natural
hair products

        Living in a small town, I'm PRETTY sure you can imagine the population and the ratio of ethnicities that live there, so putting two and two together, being a part of the minority in a small town was difficult and a big part of the hair struggle. With that being said... here is what I have learned through the years.

HOW TO MAINTAIN YOUR HAIR

        I would suggest calling family members and listening to their advice. Get their opinion on whatever hair care choices you have depending on what is in your nearest Walmart (because let’s face it, that’s one of the ONLY places in a small town that would have the hair care that you are looking for) . I ended up getting a lot of hair care advice from family. From using Luster’s Pink hair lotion (I used to call it “the pink stuff”) to using Organic Roots stimulator olive oil moisturizing hair lotion.

         Another suggestion would be to watch YouTube videos. Those have helped me out TREMENDOUSLY and they still do today. You can look up what products will work with your type of hair, how to get your hair into a certain style, and look at home remedies to help or change your hair; that you can buy at any grocery store ( I used cinnamon A LOT to try to color my hair but that’s a different story for a different time😅). There are an endless amount of tutorials that you can watch to keep your hair healthy.

WHERE TO MAINTAIN YOUR HAIR

           One way to maintain your hair is to locate the nearest beauty store. YES, I KNOW you will not find the “beauty” store that we are used to and have every hair care product known to man for natural hair, but you will be surprised. I took a shot at Sally’s Beauty Supply Store one day and they actually had a good section for natural hair. Granted it was not a whole lot of product, but a little is better than nothing at all. They are a little more expensive than a beauty supply store in a city but, when it is the only choice you got, you have to take what you can get. Some of the products that I would suggest would be the Wild hair growth oil and light hair moisturizer ( 2 different bottles), Proclaim black Jamaican Castor Oil, and Dr. Miracle's Edge holding Gel

light hair moisturizer 

Proclaim black Jamaican Castor Oil

 Dr. Miracle's Edge holding Gel

Wild hair growth oil

               Another way to maintain your hair is to order online. When I was growing up, I was not old enough to order things online so this was not an option for me. But when I got older, I realized that ordering online was my saving grace. After I looked on YouTube and found a product that would interest me, I would search all over the Web to find it, at a reasonable price of course! Because I was starting to order stuff in college, I was able to have the “free Prime for 6 months” deal that Amazon offers college students and it helped a lot.

               Maintaining your hair is actually an easy thing to do with the technology that we have today! so for people that live in a small town, there is hope and there is help for your natural hair: it won't have to suffer no more!

P.S. Here are some more after pictures of my hair 😄