I had a very unique childhood… and I’ll leave it at that. For the first few years of my life, I didn’t have anyone to take care of my hair. Y’all, I went to an all black school, lol. I remember those taunts. When I moved to Texas in 1998 (at age 7) with my aunt and uncle, my aunt began to take care of my hair. After some time, I had hair down my back.
Sometime around 6th grade, I began taking care of my own hair. It broke off badly from manipulation. Around 9th grade, It was growing again but that’s when I decided to get my first short hair cut. I got it cut like Rhianna’s first asymmetrical bob. Couldn’t tell me nothing.
I became addicted to getting haircuts. Of course with a haircut, you have to keep it looking fresh, so I would condition and straighten it all of the time… plus I was a cheerleader in high school and ran track… sweat and ponytails on one spectrum and pretty girl with straighteners on another… my hair suffered.
When I got to college last year, I had a goal to grow my shoulder length hair 6 inches. It grew and I kept straightening it… and it grew so more. My hair was described as “shiny, flippy, Caucasian” lol… but I had split ends out the wazooo. I had also began to stretch relaxers (because I couldn’t go home to get it done). With each stretch I became more and more curious about my natural texture.
Around March of last year, I missed a relaxer… I was already 2 months post and “needed” one badly. That’s when I decided to go natural. I began to notice that the little bumps of hair that were growing out of my head were so soft and clumping when I put tons of deep conditioner in my hair. The more I played with it, the more I fell in love. It’s been a journey ever since.
My hair is definitely a topic of conversation nowadays. Friends and family ask me a lot of times, “Are you still doing that whole natural thing?” I try to show them videos and blogs of different naturals to show them of how it could be… I think they are slowly starting to get that I’m not changing my mind about this.
I love the confidence that I feel. I don’t know what it is. It’s like saying that I have nothing to hide. This is me,.. all of me. If you don’t like it, you can keep it moving. I also love that feeling of walking down the hallway and seeing a natural smile at you because she sees that you are going natural. It’s just different.
Ahh… transitioning woes. You’ve probably heard this countless times before, but that LINE OF DEMARCATION drives me nuts! I have places where I’ve “cheated”… they don’t have relaxed ends. Those sections are so easy to detangle… but when I move on to the rest of my head, it’s as if my straight hair doesn’t want to cooperate.
(I’m so weird, measuring by inches but…) I hope to have 8.5 inches of natural hair when I Big Chop in August of 2011. That’s about shoulder length? From there, the goal is mid-back length. After that, I don’t think I will care about hair goals anymore. I want just enough to frame my face in a way that I like.
I was toying with the idea of BCing in March, since that is the date that I decided to go natural… but I’d much rather do it in August. My hair will be a length that *I* am comfortable with.. and I can have a new doo for the fallJ
Advice for those transitioning:
Moisture. Right now, my hair is in a protective style, crochet braids. I make it a point to spray my hair every night before bedtime and put a satin bonnet on. I can feel my hair underneath this style (because I play with it:/)… (my edges are completely out under this pile of hair)… and it truly IS more movable when it’s been moisturized with WATER. So much elasticity and that, of course, keeps it from breaking.
Thanks for reading! J You can learn my about my ongoing hair journey at my blog: