Natural Hair & Relationships

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I came across this discussion topic over at CurlyNikki.com & I felt compelled to share my thoughts on the issue of natural hair & relationships. The post on CN goes as followed:

Kadian writes;


Hi, Nikki! I'm not sure if this question has been asked, but I'd be keen to read the responses of other naturals out there. Recently, I took out my tiny, tiny twists after a month. It took me most of the night. I left it to the next evening to wash my hair, which was a big ol' tangled mess of trapped shed hair. Anyway, my partner made a comment about feeling left out and not getting to spend time with me because working on my hair always takes so long. Maybe I'm slow--I don't know. My question is:

Are there other naturals out there whose significant others feel like they are getting "robbed" of quality time because caring for our hair can take up so much time?

Now, I've been in a relationship with my boyfriend for over 5 years, going on 6 in October. Just this January we decided to move in together. So although it's my body or my hair, I feel he should have some sort of say in my decision processes. Yet, when I went through with my Big Chop -- it actually surprised the both of us. It wasn't something I was ever planning to do therefore we never discussed it. So you could only imagine after cutting most of my hair thoughts of what he might think came to mind. Will he like it? Will he hate it? I showed him immediately after and to my initial surprise he liked it. Since I did the Big Chop, my regimens really haven't taken up much of our quality time. My hair gets washed & styled within a shower session which usually happens while he's away. As of lately, I've been wanting to experiment with new regimens and products & with running this blog so a lot of my time has been dedicated to all things natural hair. But the thing about my boyfriend is he's great and he's supportive. When it's my natural hair time, it's his whatever time. But this is only the beginning, so I'm curious to know about my naturals with longer hair:

How is being natural affecting your relationship?