Granted, hair is technically dead and treating it as some living organ sounds silly, but there are many ways it can be mistreated it, like I've done over the years due to lack of knowledge and poor advice. My hair eventually started to get shorter, break off from the ends more often, and there were moments of whole patches of hair literally being melted off my scalp by relaxers.
Some ask me "why not just use the natural hair practices while keeping it relaxed?". Well, I have many reasons but the most important ones were that I just didn't feel good using them. The restrictions due to maintenance the smell of harsh chemicals, and don't even get me started on burning....
Yeah, it feels just like that.
For a long time I didn't even like curls, but at the time curls to me meant the artificial curling iron look. Not the twist-outs of kinky hair, though still a manipulation of hair, can still be soft and done without the use heat or hard gels. I had completely no knowledge of this so you can just imagine the look on my face when coming across this news.
This is one of those moments where I rue the fact that I didn't take more photos of myself during my teen years. I did manage to find one the day I graduated high school. That kinda makes me sad but makes me determined to do different now.
My hair was mostly chin length at this time but split ends is what killed me most >:(
After years of dyes on top of relaxers, my hair started to look and feel less vibrant. Don't get me wrong, I totally loved having X-men Storm white hair, or blue highlights, but if I was going to bleach and dye it one more time on top of the relaxer, I probably would've gone bald. When I cut off my hair, it was definitely an emotional experience. Yes, I was cry if you that's what you're wondering >:P.
About a few months after the cut
About a year of natural hair. I did a lot of blow out afros. Looking back it was counter productive to me remoisturizing the night before.
2 years natural and I've found a hair routine that works for me. My hair line was actually thinning right before the cut so you can imagine the relief I felt seeing it come back in full force. Notice I've finally gotten my twist-outs down as well. Hair style inspiration courtesy of Angelique Noir.
Lazy photo I took about a few hours ago. Most of the time I like it big whether tied up or loose. I really dig the way it forms waves a few day after wash.
It wasn't easy learning about what works and what doesn't work for hair, I can just be glad to had the web on my side and so many kinky haired bloggers/vloggers at my disposal.
Two discoveries I've made was that my hair was very fine (as in thin), and a mix of no pattern kinks along with tight coils. The amount my hair shrinks is immense and usually takes a few days after wash to fully stretch out even after a twist out. I must be very gentle with it or it can become very easy for me to rip out hairs, this has set regimen of not using combs for detangling. All fingers man lol. Many of my concerns were maintenance and I was surprised to find out that as time went by it was less of a chore.
That's not to say I didn't have some tragic hair days (and I definitely had more than one), however the pay out was definitely worth the commitment.
While I do feel this was a life changing experience in many ways, it's just the first of many experiences I will have. Do I have a hair length goal now? Yes, about breast length. Will it get longer? Maybe. However, only time tell on that one. One thing for sure my main goal with hair is for it feel and look healthy.....and have a little fun with it along the way XD.
