The natural hair movement was birthed in the U.S. in the early 2000s. The movement encouraged black women everywhere to put down the new perm products they just bought and instead wear the very hair that grows from their head. Black women took head and started loving and appreciating their hair. While I consider black hair to be one of the most beautiful parts of being black, it can also be a real struggle.

Here are six reasons black girls don’t wear their real hair.

1. You will become a product junkie!

When your hair was relaxed you had two, maybe three, product staples: shampoo, conditioner, and probably some wrap lotion. Once you went natural, you thought you needed to spend every cent you make on every serum, oil, and curl cream out there, thinking at least one would magically pop your curls into perfection. Once one product didn’t work you want them all.

2. You have to schedule your social life around #WashDay #TwistDay #HairDay.

Date night? Girls’ night? Girl, bye. You better start telling your friends to let you know about any future plans ahead of time. Wash day isn’t a 5- to 10-minute type deal: Shampooing + conditioning + detangling = 30 to 45 minutes bare minimum. And if you’re trying to pull off that perfect twist out, plan for one to two hours of twisting and overnight for drying time. Natural hair is NO JOKE.

3. You are not here AT ALL for all those hair type charts.

3C, 4B, 4A… Everyone around you seems to know their hair type and get products that help their hair grow overnight, but you don’t even know your blood type, so why would you know your hair type? What about a type with all the textures mixed into one? What about not having a hair type? When they add that to the chart then you'll become interested.

4. You battle shrinkage, but it wins every time and you get discouraged.

It’s all long hair, don’t care after a blowout, but when wash day comes around everybody in class starts asking why you cut off all your hair. You do everything in your power to keep your from shriveling up, but nothing seems to work. After a while, you feel like nothing will help and want to stop being natural.

5. You love experimenting with your hair.

You love rocking box braids (guaranteed good hair days for the next two to three months? Yasssss), crochets, intricately styled cornrows, and even trying new colors. Always wearing your hair the same can be a drag and so not wearing your real hair 24/7 creates the space for us to be as creative as possible.

6. It costs $$$.

With all the products and accessories available to take care of our hair, it’s not cheap. Walk into any beauty supply store and I can guarantee we walk out spending at least $60 on the new line of Shea Moisture products.