Making Quality Time Out Of At Home Quarantine

For many of us, natural disasters spell a time of fear and confusion. We break out the comfort foods and lock ourselves away from the world outside of our doors and the world within. Though, as a New Orleans native that’s been through hurricane after hurricane, disaster prepping isn’t new to me and like mother nature, I view natural disasters as a time for resetting.

This year I’ve been making it a point to prioritize my crown and so I’ve been taking better care of my hair. However, between working, interning, and studying, keeping a consistent routine has been a struggle. Though, living in a major city that’s on lock down has put me in the perfect space for prioritizing self-care. The best things in life take time and natural hair is a testament to that.

I’ve reached a hair growth plateau that I’ve decided to get past this year. I’m a lazy natural so protective styling is my preferred way of doing my hair. While protective styling has gotten me to mid-back length just pass my bra strap, I believe that neglecting things like deep conditioning and performing protein treatments has been holding me back a little. A month ago I bought new shampoos, conditioners, a hooded dryer attachment thing for a blow dryer, protein droplets that you’re supposed to put in your conditioner, and a few other things as well.

It’s only been a month, but the manageability of my hair has gone up tremendously. Seriously, if you’re not regularly deep conditioning and are experiencing hair that easily tangles (despite trimming) and feels stripped of moisture, deep conditioning more may be just what your tresses need. Doing a protein treatment every two weeks might help as well. However, I don’t plan on protein treating every two weeks indefinitely. After this 2nd protein treatment I plan on making it a once a month treatment.

I’ve also made juicy twists my go to protective style, but I feel like I need something more secure and so I’ve been installing large braids. After my second protein treatment the plan is to do some mini braids and leave those in for a month, only taking them down to wash, condition, and do a deep protein treatment.

Before the quarantine, I was almost falling behind on my regimen, but now I have another 3 weeks of being stress free. I’ve noticed how my relationship with my hair routine has changed too. I used to stress out about hair days but knowing that I don’t have to leave the house until I’m ready for the most part, has brought back a sense of joy to the whole process.

In addition to taking advantage of this time by keeping my hair in shape, I’ve also been consuming a lot more water and eating better. It’s quite easy to forget to drink 3L of water when the hustle and bustle of the day can in a way “punish” you for that. Constantly getting up to go to the bathroom at Uni can be disruptive and when in a meeting it can put attention on you in the worst way.

Being home, however, affords you all the bathroom breaks you want so drink away! Cooking is in a sense mandatory since a few restaurants have had to close their doors for the duration of the quarantine. So healthy dinners are not only more encouraged by this lock down, but also easier to do since I’ve got plenty of time.

If you’ve been affected by the quarantine, I recommend really using this time to catch up on a few open ends in your life, whether that’s reading more, spending more quality time with your kids and your significant other, or pampering yourself.

It’s not too often that we get the opportunity to hit a reset button on our lives in unison with everyone else. I’ve tried resetting with a busy schedule and it’s practically impossible to maintain let alone start. So, take advantage of this time and hit reset.

Lilith is a blogger with an emphasis in writing and reflecting upon social agendas that effect black women. When not at her computer writing she is more than likely still at her computer, programming. On the rare occasion that Lilith isn't at her laptop you can attempt to find her exploring the Chicago food scene or attending workshops in creative writing.