Transitioning to Natural Hair

As a baby, I had soft bouncy curls. My mom told me she used to brush up my hair into a ponytail and wrap a scarf around my head like a headband so that my curls would peak through at the top. As I grew my hair took more time to do as a single mom of two so she relaxed it when I was about 8 or 9 years old. From that point on I had gotten relaxers every 2 to 3 months.

When I had someone doing my hair, it grew long and seemed pretty healthy even though it was being chemically altered. Once I got older I started allowing longer times between my relaxers for my hair to grow. I noticed that my hair grew faster during those times and that the new growth that came in was curly and soft.

In middle school, I decided I wanted to do my hair and I noticed that is when the health of my hair was depleting. I wasn't giving enough TLC or moisturizing it the way it needed. Plus I was scared of grease for some odd reason. Of course, like most black girls my age, I was convinced that beauty was defined by white skin and straight hair. And to reach that level of beauty I needed to have straight hair too.

Once I started high school, I began getting my hair done professionally. By the end of my freshman year, my hair was the longest it had ever been. After a while, I stopped going to get my hair done at the salon, 1) because it was expensive, and 2) because I didn't feel the need to. I joined our high school's show choir in my sophomore year, and the hairstyles we had to do were damaging to my hair. My hair was breaking off and thinning by Senior year. I wasn't trimming it like I was supposed to. Nor was I giving it protein and reparative treatments as needed.

My hair was still growing, and I began to trim my hair more often and take better care of it near the end of my Senior year. I was still getting relaxers, though. Exercising, and eating more fruits and vegetables helped my hair reflourish. I drank more water and less pop, and I stopped getting relaxers as often as I did. I started only relaxing my hair twice a year. In-between relaxers, I still flat ironed my hair, but I was deep conditioning and using heat protectants this time. My hair was significantly thicker by the end of my freshman year of college. The story goes on with me flat ironing and washing regularly, but the constant use of heat was damaging my hair too. I noticed that my hair was growing, but it broke off quickly, and the split ends were crazy!

Though I was still getting relaxers I was only getting them twice a year. Instead, I was focusing on deep conditioning and using a heat protectant when I straightened it. My hair was significantly thicker by the college. Even though I was washing regularly, I was still using heat. My hair grew as hair does, but it broke off quickly and had what seemed like an endless amount of split ends.

Come May 9, 2015, the day of my sorority's Midwest formal, I decided to no longer get relaxers. I made a pact with myself to go heatless for at least 6 months and I cut off about 2 to 3 inches of hair. This change was displeasing to so many people around me. I have had long hair all my life and as a black femme, it was something a lot of my family cooed over. However, I wanted to embrace what grew out of my scalp instead of altering it to fit some unattainable beauty standard that never had people like me in mind in the first place.

In August 2015, I moved to South Korea for a year to study the Korean language and history. I went there with no idea how to take care of my hair in a foreign country that had few options for black hair care. Luckily, a friend of mine found a hair store in Itaewon where I found business cards for braiders in the area.

Nelly's Hair Braiding Salon gave me Senegalese twists for the first time. I had never had extensions or weaves before. I loved them and wished I had gotten a twisted style before. These styles are great at giving you a much-needed break from constantly doing your hair which is what I needed at the time. I kept the twists in for about 3 months and removed them in October.

Taking out the twists was a different story. My hair was thin, stringy, and tangled upon unraveling the twists. This could have been from my hair being slightly damp when installed, but it also could have been from the stylist being so rough. To revamp my hair I deep conditioned it overnight and then moisturized my hair with shea butter and oil. My go-to style was twist-outs. Now and then I would do flat twists or braid-outs, but twist-outs were the quickest. If you are transitioning from straight to curly hair you may find that braid-outs do a better job of blending the two textures.

At the end of February, I gave myself a protein treatment. I kept doing twist-outs and braid-outs until I decided to cut most, but not all, of my straight, ends off near the end of March this year. Shortly after, I got long box braids installed by a different stylist. One who allowed me to get a discount and who listened when I instructed her not to install them tight. I kept them in for one month and took them down (with the help of Yasmin, thank you ^^) yesterday.

So what's the next step? I'm not sure. Since my hair is significantly shorter than it has ever been in my life, I'm not sure what to do with it. But for now, buns will have to do. I know that natural hair is advertised as being hard and expensive to deal with, but any haircare is. I am so happy that I decided to take this step toward liberating myself from the European standards of beauty that plague our society.

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