Better Late than Never... Why I decided to go natural!




     Sooo... this post comes so many years (10 to be exact) after I've had much time for reflection on my decision to go natural. I know I've explained to family members, clients and close friends my reasons, but I have never had the opportunity or rather thought it necessary to share this in an open forum. Well here you go!
 In a nutshell...
One day it just clicked, why do I continue to abuse my hair over and over, getting the same result, that I was totally unhappy with???

      It was 2004, the end of my sophomore year in college, and I was awakening to a few things about myself. One of them being, how much hassle and time I spent doing my hair, on the daily, with very little to show for it. There were always those few times, where I could whip my hair into submission, but those times were few and far in between...

A good hair night, after a lot of heat, I made the relaxed look work.

      What's funny is, two of my best friends, randomly decided to go natural back in our senior year of high school and I kinda looked at them like they had three heads. At that time I wasn't quite ready or mentally mature enough, to understand the choice or the freedom that came with the look.

My besties, rocking their natural hair. I would soon follow suit.


 
     What I did understand was that day in and day out, I would hot curl and wrap my hair, (sometimes blow drying was necessary if I had been out partying the night before) and the next morning within 10 minutes of me leaving my door for class, I had a big frizz ball! It was beyond annoying, I can even remember the comments some people would have or terms they used to describe me. I always had a decent length (which at that time showed no growth) but I continued to be the pretty girl with the "bad perm". It was like my locs were determined to rebel against the straight state I continuously forced it into. Not to mention the terrible scalp burns I'd get when it was "re-touch time". I probably only needed to get a relaxer once every 3 months or so. I was pretty good at maintaining my hair in between time. But when that dreaded relaxer paste touched my head, the pain that ensued, and the irritated scalp it left me with afterwards was starting not to feel so worth it anymore. 
 
     As a result, I started researching, I bought books and searched web sites and forums to find a solution. Which wasn't easy. 10 years ago, the natural hair movement, wasn't as big as it has grown to today. There were no videos on YouTube, just lots of forums, where women shared their haircare tips, and Fotki albums about their hair journeys. My number one resource I believe was Nappturality.com, when I finally decided to make the journey. At first, my main goal was just to get my hair back growing again, what I didn't realize was that it was growing, but the relaxers and my daily use of hot tools was causing it to break just as fast as it would grow.

     With the aid of the world wide web, and a few books, I began to learn about my hair, my natural hair, how it grows, what is needed to take care of it, basically the basics. I knew I wasn't bold enough to just chop it all off (plus my mom would've have died) so I decided to transition to a length I was comfortable with cutting. 


This became one of my signature transition flat twist out styles.


     Long story short, after about 6 months of transitioning, I had about had it. I had lost my patience for dealing with the two textures, the styles I came up with were nice. Mostly roller sets and twist-outs, but the imbalance of super curly kinks and straight ends was becoming a bit much. One quiet afternoon, with just an inch and a half of new growth, I took my scissors and set myself free. That was it, no more relaxed ends, no more fighting what was nappturally me, I was on my way. 

Right after my big chop!


    When you really think about it, the Most High made us this way, in His image. The fact that your hair grows out of your scalp, kinky, curly, maybe a little bit frizzier and thicker than our counterparts, is a blessing. 

    God makes no mistakes, if He wanted my hair to be straight and silky, He would have made me that way, right? But He chose to make me with curly frizzy, type 3C-4A coils and kinks, that are so versatile I can achieve practically any look I want! Our hair is our crown and glory, as Queens we should learn to appreciate and embrace it!

In love with my locs at last! Lol.

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