From a VERY young age I've been getting my hair relaxed. My mom says that my hair has always been long and thick and she has Carpal Tunnel and just wasn't able to style my hair and couldn't afford to pay someone to do it. I've always been curious as to my natural hair texture. In June 2003, my mother BC'ed and he hair was an inch long. When it grew out, it was so long and coily and beautiful. I had a severe case of hair envy. I asked her about my hair texture and she said that it was very similar to hers. I kept thinking about transitioning to Natural hair but, other than my mom, I didn't have any other Naturals to look to. Plus, I was just going into my Junior year of HS. I had no idea about transitioning and I wasn't about to cut all of my hair off.
This was me in Spring 2006:
I pretty much got a relaxer every 6-8 weeks and washed and flat ironed at home in between. In the winter of 2006 I decided I wanted a change and cut my hair:
This was the shortest my hair had ever been until January 2009:
Everyone I know was so shocked when I got the short cut. I had never had my hair that short before but I liked it. and either way, it's just hair, it'll grow back. In June 2009 I had my last perm and decided that I would go Natural. By then my mom had gotten her hair relaxed again, per request of my dad, but I had a few friends who were Natural that encouraged me. On September 1, 2009 I did my Big Chop (even though it wasn't much to chop since I had been cutting the relaxed ends off little by little).
If everyone was shocked when i had the short relaxed cut, then they were appalled when I BC'ed. Even though some people had negative comments, I got a lot of compliments on it and I felt good. In January 2010, 4 months post BC, I straightened my hair for the first time:
Then I straightened it again in April 2011:
Then I Straightened it again in Sept 2012 because I had a TON of split ends and fairy knots.
I went from this:
 |
| Look at how raggedy some of those ends look!!! |
To this:
I was sad to see my hair go but it gave me the motivation I needed to keep taking good care of my hair. It's hard because its so thick and I get tired but if I want healthy hair I have to MAKE the time. Besides, its growing back nicely :-)
I've been trimming regularly when I two strand twist as well as trying to keep as many protective styles as possible. I'm feeling good about my healthy, happy hair!
