Janet Hubert loves her natural hair! And who can blame her? It’s fabulous!
CN: Tell me about your hair today.
JH: I love the two-strand twist. That’s my experience with my hair now. I mostly do my hair myself, but Derrick Scurry, who is amazing, does my twists from time to time. My hair has a real curl pattern! I love that! And what’s interesting is that you will not find your natural hair until you leave it alone long enough to let it heal. And I feel that as my hair has healed, it has found itself. And unless you do that, it’s going to keep doing crazy stuff.
CN: That’s great advice for transitioners and big choppers alike. Your hair 2 months post-relaxer, or two months post big chop, is not what it’s going to be two years from now.
JH: You’re right! It will be absolutely different. And you are going to love it. It will become very sacred to you… just like locks. People feel very sacred about their locks. I have three textures in my head. My hair is a jungle in the middle, loose in the front, and I always say I have Mother Africa in the back! I didn’t know this until I left it alone.
CN: I’m in the same boat! My hair is loose in the front and tight in the back.
JH: That’s funny. The similarities. Now that I’m graying I’m amazed at how strong and resilient it is. As the aging process hits, it’s a whole other thing to deal with. Especially if you’re in the business. Because age is so frowned upon. We’re almost invisible. But at least for me, my natural hair defines and separates me from the crowd of weave wearers.
The beautiful part about having natural hair is that for three weeks solid, I don’t touch it!
The thing that people don’t understand is that our hair is very dry and sucks up moisture. I usually just two-strand twist it and moisturize, moisturize, moisturize. I love Miss Jessie’s Baby Buttercreme. I use a combo of Miss Jessie’s, Aveda, and Nexxus Humectress for moisture, and combine Vitapointe and Miss Jessie’s for shine. My routine is simple and I don’t stray from my products. I hate that I can’t find Miss Jessie’s in my local beauty supply. The Chinese and Korean owners don’t believe it will sell because it is so expensive. My thoughts are that if you are going to sell to us, at least provide us with some options, and some quality products… don’t make assumptions based on stereotypes. I usually end up ordering online.
When I want something a little special, I’ll take the twists and rod them for a curly look. Or, if I don’t have time for that, I’ll chiney bump [bantu knots] big sections of my two strand twists. I take a few, wrap it around and knot them. When you release them, you have a gorgeous curl. Instant!
CN: Do you only wear the twists, or do you wear twist-outs as well?
JH: What I do is wear the twists for about 2 weeks and then I’ll release them and wear it like that for a while. Then sometimes, I’ll get in the shower and just let the water run through my twist-out. I don’t comb it all, and just watch what happens. It swells up, I get my real curl pattern with all the separated sections, and I’m left with this fabulous bush. People ask me what I do to it. Easy… let the water hit and let it grow—it’s like chia hair!
CN: How often do you re-moisturize?
JH: Every three days with the mix of products I mentioned before. I also grease my scalp. I’m a firm believer in greasing the scalp. I know that’s old school, but I’m sorry, I’ve got to do it! I suffer from a dry scalp condition, that if I don’t use something, it will turn white, peel, and flake. It’s like psoriasis. A lot of us have this dry scalp pattern. No matter how much oil you use, your scalp just starts lifting and peeling. It’s called seborrhea. And because my hair is so thick, it tends to make it worse. It will stop your hair from growing because your scalp is irritated. Also, because you’re not touching your scalp for long periods of time, your scalp gets tender. So every 3 to 4 days, I’ll take my fingers and give myself a good scalp massage.
So as you can see, my routine is simple. It’s not a lot of work when you really think about it. Every three weeks I wash and start over, I keep it moisturized in the meantime, and when I want something special, I can chiney bump it or rod set it. Or just let it be!
