Natural hair has taken on a life of it’s own and inspired many life style changes recently with celebrities such as Solange and Raven Simone learning to embrace their God-given hair. Due to the fact that my hair was breaking off dramatically at the nape, I decided to transition in January of 2011, no more relaxer for me I was going experience the versatility that natural hair has to offer regardless of what anyone thought. Like many of us, I spent hours on YouTube looking at natural hair videos trying to get up enough courage to do the big chop and in September of 2011 I finally did it. The experience wasn’t that dramatic because my hair wasn’t that long to begin with however, when I saw the end results I felt free and was ready to embrace change. Little did I know was how high maintenance natural hair is, after my initial salon visit I was so dead set on doing my own hair to save money I didn’t realize the challenge that was ahead of me, I washed my hair after 2 weeks and decided I would try a wash-n-go that so many new naturals do, BIG mistake! I ended up looking like Florida from Good Times, a HAM, but I still continued to rock it whether it looked good or not. As time went on styling my hair became a little easier because I would wear twist outs, I tried the banding method, coils,roller sets, the infamous fro hawk, side puffs, regular puffs, whatever I could to achieve something that looked decent. However, buying tons of products to find the right one for my hair was a pain I can’t even say how much money I have wasted buying products that worked for everyone else, but did nothing for me. I also grew tired of the nightly twisting sessions, especially after a night of getting it in the last thing I wanted to do was stand in front of a mirror blurry eyes and all and twist my hair or when I’m running late for work I have to take 20 minutes to un twist my hair and find a style that looks right, but it was worth to not wake up the next morning looking like I could use my hair to scrub dishes. I also received a lot of questions as to why I went natural? or what do you plan on doing with it? Going natural was the best decision I could have ever made when it came to my hair, but the single strand knots, tangles, and dryness were the last straw for me. I recently decided to still rock my natural hair, but in a straight state, this is much easier for me, it takes half the time for me to get ready in the morning and no more tangles and fighting with my hair every week, I love it!. I’m not bashing those who choose to rock a natural, I’m just saying what works best for me and I’m not saying I won’t revisit my natural state of hair, maybe when it gets a bit longer I will consider it, but for now straight is what I need in my life.
Transitioning, 2011
Transitioning with roller set, 2011
Big chop, 2011
Completely natural, 2012
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