The Beginning

People have told me "Oh... It's just hair. Do what you want. It'll grow back."
I can remember back when I was three years old and getting my hair pressed. I remember the grease, the fear that overtook my body when I saw the comb approaching my head, wondering "Is this it? Will this be the time I get burned?". And then I remember the confirmation of that fear and hearing the words "Oh, honey! It' just the grease. Didn't nobody burn you.", only to find out the next day that I had a burn on the back of my neck. That turmoil went every two weeks for two years until my mother finally let the beautician introduce my hair to "The Relaxer".

It was then that I realized that no matter how much activity I would do or even if my hair got wet, that it could stay straight. I was pleased with the results, but I was getting the kiddie perm known as PCJ. It burned when it touched my scalp and I hated going through with the procedure, but was always anxiously awaiting the results. I was just so glad that the pain had now been reduced from every two weeks from when I got my hair pressed, to now once a month. As I got older and my tom-boy habits began to increase exponentially, the PCJ relaxer did not stand a chance against a girl who was always sweating from running, playing football, climbing trees, and etc. So my mom thought it best that at age nine that I get the Super perm. Until then, I had not known pain that was as monumental as that was. I cried when the first bristles of the perm brush touched my scalp! Because of that happening to me every time I got a perm, I was diagnosed as having a "sensitive scalp" and needed a milder formula. But even with the milder formulas, the relaxers were still painful. I remember one time I went to a beauty school and because of the amount of pain I was in, the staff had a "bright" idea of using the soda Sprite to calm the irritation. (Yeah, don't know where they got that idea from since the hair cannot be wet while applying relaxer. Then the stupid people saw that I was crying even more than before and rinsed it out and then STILL wanted to relax my hair!! WTHECK!!!???). Needless to say, the tactic was a bust and I left that shop with countless chemical burns to my scalp. Once I got old enough to do my hair myself, I found myself perming my hair only when I had no choice. That would only happen when my hair became very disobedient and uncooperative due to the amount of new-growth that I had. I got tired of all the chemical burns so I decided to go back to pressing my hair.

At this time I was about 19 years old and just knew that I would love getting my hair pressed. So I went to a beautician and she pressed my hair for about two months. It was so thick and bouncy. I thought I was fine, ok! I was so happy not to deal with the pain of the relaxer I did not know what to do with myself. And the beautician was so good at giving me presses that she rarely ever burned me. So I felt confident enough to ask for highlights and streaks. ( I know someone is saying "Did she say highlights and streaks PLUS a press??!!! WTHECK was she thinking?!).  Once she applied the streaks, sure they looked good, but a week later, I could tell that the areas where the streaks were, were dry and brittle. About six months after the color I took a look at my ends and was horrified! They were almost non-existent! I had stringy-thin hair! My hair had always been think and full, so to see my hair in such a state was a mental blow. I had to cut like 5 inches of hair! So, needless to say, I went back to getting a relaxer. I figured although the pain was extreme, at least my hair did not break off and become thin. So, once again, I did my hair myself, (it just always seemed to work out better that way since I knew my scalp better than anyone else), and my hair grew back healthy and strong. It wasn't until I was 25 that I was fed up with the pain from the perm.

It was April 2009 when I gave myself, (at the time I did not realize), my last perm. In May, I was graduating from undergrad and I wanted my hair to be on point! So I set my May perm date for May 3rd. The only thing is, when May 3rd arrived, I didn't go through with it because I was tired of the pain. So for graduation, I just flat-ironed my new-growth and wore my graduate cap all day. Then in June 2009, I finally made the decision to never relax again and just flat-iron. But I didn't want heat damage. So I had the bright idea of checking out Youtube to see if there were any other girls who felt the way I did and just wanted to ditch the perm. I thought that I would not find that many sources, but boy was I wrong! Thanks to Youtube, I learned how to care for my hair in its natural, unflat-ironed state and I loved it!

In September 2009, I finally BC'd, (Whoop Whoop!!)! Of course there were obstacles that I had to overlook, even the voice of my then boyfriend, now fiance, his aunt, and even my mom! I kept hearing that I would be unattractive, I would look like a boy, that no one would claim me as their daughter (my mom said these words), and etc. Thankfully I had some support from my brother, (I love him to death). He told me to just wash my hair, blow dry it, and come over to his house and he would cut my hair for me. And he did. (He video taped it, but I have yet to post it. The conversation topic was....yeah...). Thanks to him, I went to work the next day in all of my TWA glory and loved it! My then-boyfriend loved it too! He loved it so much that in October 2009, I found out I was pregnant! He kept calling me his pregnant Jada Pinkett (due to my hair and the curls in my sideburns at the time). So now that I think about it, everything worked out perfect. I changed my lifestyle when I went natural. I was taking prenatal vitamins for my hair and drinking more water. And I found out that once a woman is pregnant, she should not put any chemicals in or on her body, which would include relaxers. So when I did get pregnant, these things were already put into practice which made for a great pregnancy. I gave birth to a healthy 8 pound baby boy on June 20, 2010. He is the joy of my life and everyday, I learn something new from and about him.

This journey of my completely natural self has been an awesome one, with some bumps and bruises along the way, which I will eventually share in future posts.

Until then,
Stay Natural @@(*_*)@@