From as far back as I can remember, my hair has always been a constant struggle and a work in progress. My hair in its natural state was so intimidating that for a long time I only dealt with it when it was straightend. After trying product after product, style after style, and many beauticians, I finally found what works for me. Even though I have cut my hair into a tapered natural style, natural hair can still be a scary transition no matter what the length is.
Starting at the beginning, growing up my mom struggled a lot when trying to maintain my hair. Wearing braids was the most convenient and easiest style to keep so like most young girls, that was my go to look. Over the years my hair became thicker and longer and my straightened hair was not lasting more than a couple of days so due to Houston’s humidity. My mom decided it was time for a change; my first relaxer. I was in seventh grade and this was huge step in my hair journey. With a relaxer my hair stayed straight for much longer and was so much easier to maintain. Once I got in high school my hair had changed a lot. From letting friends straighten it and not being educated on how to maintain relaxed hair, I began to notice how much my hair had fallen out and how it was no longer healthy like it was once was. By my senior year I randomly decided to stop getting relaxers. I realized it was not helping but damaging my hair. I missed my natural texture, my curl pattern, and how healthy it use to be.
Once I stopped getting relaxers the struggle began again. This was before the natural hair phenomenon, as I call it, began. I had no idea how to wear my hair in it’s natural state and how to style it myself. Have you ever had that feeling when you absolutely dreaded doing something? Where you procrastinated until the very last minute? Well that was me when it came to washing or doing anything else to my natural hair. Since I was in college the easiest style to wear was sew-ins. Eventually like everything else this got old and I knew I wanted to experiment with my own hair. By this time most of the relaxer had grown out and my hair had grown so much on length and in thickness. Seeing it back to how it once was I became excited for the next journey. I wanted to educate myself and find the best products for me so I watched tons of Youtube videos, experimented with different products, and tried many styles. After trial and error I finally found what works for me and my hair. For a long time I was so intimidated by my hair, I wanted nothing to do with it. I even thought about cutting it off and wearing my hair short just to save time, effort, and money but luckily I didn’t. In the end it took confidence and plenty of trial and error to get to where I am today.
I had to not only learn how to style my own hair but how to fully appreciate it. That was the hardest part. I can honestly say my hair is no longer my enemy and I’m no longer intimidated!
