Travelling with kinky Curly or “Ethnic” hair? try these 7 tips for Natural and Curly Girl Nomads.

Travelling with natural hair can be very complicated. I’ve stuck to some basic protective styles over the years, each with their own pros and cons. Maintaining weaves, braids, and even natural styles while pursuing various activities can be complicated. What’s more, living in an area with few black people can mean that you can go without professional styling for months. Keep reading to learn about my five best tips to make caring for your hair a little easier while you travelling.

How to stretch out a style while travelling

While I love braids in all its forms, they can be quite tricky to maintain, nevertheless, I found that the best styles to stretch out are braided styles. With proper maintenance, which includes cleansing and re-braiding, braids can be kept in for up to three months and can be a great method to grow out your natural hair.

If you’re a long-term nomad whose hands weren’t blessed with braiding skills you are definitely travelling on hard mode. If you aren’t staying in an area with a good black salon, pray to the natural hair gods that your fellow black travellers have your back. I I’m quite good at braiding, but even I’ve gotten over using hours of my precious time to ensure that they are perfectly done. I’ve also discovered that braids worn for over-extended periods of time can also wreck-havoc on the edges of your hair, especially when braided tightly in an effort to increase their longevity. If you have fine strands like me, the incessant rubbing on your strands by synthetic fibres will have you suffering setbacks for years. 

Travelling with weave

We’ve all been seduced by the glamour or a good weave. From silky smooth and flowing, to textured and voluminous, dark to tropical, weaves give us an added glamour and versatility that many dream to achieve with their real hair. An unfortunate by-product weaves have psychologically made some of us very dependant on them. Naturals and relaxed heads alike have noted their inability to  feel “grown and sexy” without weaves, some wearing them at least 90% of the time. While I loved the looks that a good weave give me, I found myself fighting with my weave on a daily basis–whether It was because I was losing precious travel styling and combing or forgoing adventures in the anticipation that the aftermath would be a matted mess. The one time I threw caution to the wind I spent ages trying to revive my hair after submerging it into the notoriously drying waters of the blue lagoon in Iceland.

Styling-wise, weaves  can provide a level of versatility and durability that we can wish to achieve with our natural hair: you can cut, bleach and straighten without having to deal with the consequences. That said,  styling tools needed to maintain weaves styles can be very cumbersome. My blow-dryer (with comb attachment and diffuser) along with my flatiron added unnecessary pounds to my luggage allowance and limited my desire to pack light.

Never again.

Travelling with natural hair

Enough was enough. I grew sick and tired of feeling like I had to add additional hair to my head to feel sexy while I travelled, so  after about 8 months, I quit re-installing and gave my hair a chance. I started wearing my hair out more. I am very aware of—what are perceived to be—the styling limitations of natural hair. It can be very difficult to feel confident with your hair when you have limited experience with wearing it out, but with time I felt incredible free. 

I was free.

I was able to swim when I wanted. Wash my hair when I wanted. Hike when I wanted. Go on any adventure when I wanted. I even considered surfing. As time went by, I even started to feel sexy when my 4a/4b hair tossed in the wind. 

To others I instantly became more interesting. Guys (of all colours) would use it as an ‘in’ to talk to me, and locals saw is an unusual and unique. People seemed to be intoxicated with its volume and delicious smell. I felt like I was living in the twilight zone. All this time, I had been lead to believe that I couldn’t be attractive with natural hair, but that was a lie. I also felt that I was ascending another level energetically.

Now that I was travelling naturally–without the support of braids or weaves—I had to do things a little differently. I was washing my hair more frequently and consumed all my products until there was nothing left; although, Ironically, I felt like was styling my hair a lot less. 

Without further ado, here are some hair hacks that supported my hair in my most adventurous moments. These products will help to make travel more enjoyable without you having to sacrifice the style or freedom that you want with your hai

1. Source natural ingredients at your destination

You don’t have to rely on consumer packaged goods to maintain your beautiful hair. Knowledge about which natural ingredients are good for your hair is invaluable when you are travelling long term, because instead of lugging around so many products of having to have a checked-in bag, you can rely on what’s around you. Make the most of the markets and shops in your current country! Yogurt, avocados, honey, aloe vera and various kinds of oils can be found just about anywhere you are. 

Don’t be afraid to educate yourself about local hair traditions and products of the country that you are visiting. For the past few years, the natural hair/ curly girl community has borrowed secrets from many different cultures from around the world. We have incorporated Indian Ayuverdic practices such as the application of henna, alma oil and brahmi oil. The various rice water challenges have been inspired by the Yau women of China who grow their hair to extraordinary lengths. The latest trend is the incorporation of chebe powder from the women of Chad who maintain beautiful long hair.

 In Bali, I was able to find a natural hair store for ultra low prices. At Angelo store in Ubud, I was was able to find products I used at home such as: jojoba oil, shea butter, mango butter and a sulphate free shampoo. If your pockets are a little deeper and you need something closer to the city centre, Utuma Spice is a good option as well.

2. Learn to make shampoo & conditioner bars to travel with!

Shampoo and Conditioners that come in bar form are game-changing. Not only are they compact and long-lasting, they can also save you space and help you to avoid the horror of spilling product all over your clothes on a particularly turbulent flight. They also pass the typical allowance that you are allowed to travel with on flight, so forget being accosted by TSA for the 150ml conditioner you tried to sneak into your check-in bag.

I highly recommend Shea Moisture’s shampoo bar featuring Rassoul Clay, but since we want to avoid consumer packaged goods, I would recommend finding a god recipe and making them yourself. Youtuber________ has some excellent tutorials on how to make your own shampoo and conditioner bars. Make ‘em, freeze ‘em and be good to go!

(post video recipe)

3. Headwraps and Headbands

Travelling across multiple climates and ecosystems can be brutal on your hair. Different countries have varying climates, from hot and humid to cold and frigid. While it might seem ideal that hot and humid climates can do wonders for hair-growth, heat damage are legitimate concerns. Dirt and dust from certain environments can also wreck havoc on your hair. Headwraps are fashion-forward solution to manage these issues that arise from hot and dusty climates. They are also a statement pieces and a creative way to styl your hair.  Wraps & Whatever, a Bali based business created by fellow Black traveler Bria from @ThePintSized traveller on Instagram provides a solution for these problems. Adorn your hair with the plethora of colours and patterns the site has to offer. Headbands can also help to manage your hairstyle 

Need to be in the water?  The anticipation of messing up your hair shouldn’t stop you from testing the waters. A soul cap is a revolutionary swimming hat that provides a comfortable fit for voluminous styles. You don’t have to worry about messing up your style or looking crazy on your vacation with this in your arsenal. 

4. Shower filter / Clean water

This might seem a little extra…but…a shower filter. I know, you’re asking, but aren’t we supposed to be minimalist? Why are we packing yet another contraption?

Hear me out: Some countries have harder water than others (ahem, England). Hard water is water that is in excess of minerals that naturally occur; heavy metals like lead, arsenic, mercury and fluoride occurs in higher numbers in water sources (parts per million) than in others. Here is a comparison between the water in Toronto and the water in London.

As you can see the water in the UK was a lot harder than what I was used to, even though I grew up there. So I would always recommend that is you plan to stay in a place longterm, a shower filter is a must.

Not only can this affect your hair and teeth negatively, but I can also affect your health. As an English girl who later immigrated to Canada, one of the first differences I noticed was the quality of the water. While I never truly noticed the quality of Toronto’s waters, the water in London has my hair feeling dry, dull and breakable. Returning to Canada made me truly grateful for Toronto’s water quality.

One of my former hairdressers, who was English, always maintained that Americans had better, softer hair simply because their water was softer. The water in the United Kingdom is loaded with so many toxic minerals that it impacts the hairs ability to thrive and gives in a dull sheen. A shower filter, a device that can filter these toxins is a game changer. Shower filters can very compact and are easily attachable to just about any shower head.

5. Switch it up with very simple extensions: Clips-in and ponytails

6.

7. Get Support from the travel community

Another nomad hack I learned while travelling Asia was joining “curly” girl groups or groups such as “brothers and sistas of Chiangmai’  or curly girl groups in your respective city etc. here you can get advice and resources of where to find products. These groups also have products swaps, so if you aren’t happy or sure of a new purchase, or if you find yourself with more than you need, you can swap, sell or donate your products. I’m all about not going broke while travelling, so even if you are a PJ (products junkie) at heart and want to try so many new things in a new land, there might be someone willing to take those off your hands.

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