My Hair Story

My Hair Story

Almost every Black woman has a "hair story"...or several. Here's mine :)

Ever since I was a wee one, I have had “nice hair”. Never really long but not short either, not too full but not completely choppy either. In summary, I had perfectly average hair. My hair got relaxed when I was pretty young, I can’t actually remember a time when it wasn’t, so needless to say, when I heard about this natural hair movement (thank you Chris Rock), I was eager to hop on that train and experience super full, amazingly rich, eventually long hair… *spoiler alert* my natural hair journey lasted a year and a half. Never one to shy away from cutting my hair, I did the big chop, well big ish. I left a bit of my relaxed hair and let it grow out (the old school Anita Baker haircut). Anyway, I was fully committed to seeing this through all the way, I tried eggs, black pepper, no poo, pre poo, any and all the “interesting” ideas google had to offer and I won’t lie, my hair did start to grow, however, I did not feel comfortable in my hair. The natural look didn’t seem to work for me, I don’t know what that says about me, but I do believe every woman should love the way she looks, be it with natural, relaxed, no hair, long hair, weave, wig, twists, whatever, just love the way you look, and I didn’t. That marked the end of my natural hair journey and I ran back to the creamy crack. *Spoiler Alert* That's not the end.

After going back to relaxers my hair grew longer than I ever imagined it could, and I didn't have to sacrifice fullness or empty my bank account to achieve this. Don’t get me wrong, it wasn’t the relaxer that did it, I had learned how to take care of my hair.

Now some 6 or so years later, I am ready to give natural hair another go. I've cut my hair to about chin length and will transition. I feel a little better equipped to handle my natural hair, and with the knowledge I have now, I believe I can get the best out of it.

Wish me luck!

2 comments

Yeah, I foresee that as my biggest hurdle, I figure worst case I’ll join #teamshorthairdontcare lol

Tope Obasa

I love hair stories! Just a little heads up, you may have heard this already too – working with natural hair can be tedious. A lot more than with relaxed hair. That’s something i’ve realized in my almost 3 years of growing and working with my natural hair.
You’re going to need a whole lot of patience. You’ve got this though! So all the best with this new hair journey.

Ediri

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