no longer straddling the fence

Wednesday, May 6, 2009

i used to get asked, "how long have you been natural?" the answer: 22 years. i would get presses, braids, cornrows, twists, weaves, or wash and go. today, i got a texturizer.

a brief history

it took me for-ev-er to muster up the courage. i remember being told by baldheaded little girls in elementary school, "that's why you need a perm". my reply: "so i can look like you? no, thanks". most girls' hair was severely damaged and short. my mother told me that would be my fate if i ever put chemicals in my hair. though she herself had a relaxer at the time (she wears locs now) and my sister has one, she justified not letting me have one: "you dont have hair like me, you have hair like my mother". which was true and when grandma at age 60-something got a texturizer and her hair broke off badly, it was a definite "no, ma'am" situation. so i went without. 

i went without ANY chemicals. not even hair dye. that changed when i was 18 and went to college and let an atlanta beautician give me color for the first time at the pursuasion of a friend. the result, nothing really bad happened. my hair was WAY drier but nothing that could not be remedied with deep conditioning and moisturizers. 
getting to this point

last summer, i decided i couldnt do it anymore. it's too hot wearing it curly, and presses either get sweated out or revert as soon as there is any moisture in the air. i knew my hair was in no condition to get a relaxer at the end of the summer so i decided to get a sew-in for a couple of months. after that, i flat ironed my hair one last time on January 2- --- i'd like to pretend i know the exact day, but i dont. i could find out but whatever...i know it was the end of the month so thats good enough. anyway, from then, it was washing almost daily and deep conditioning about weekly. i got frustrated this monday and got some consultations and settled on a place not to far from where i work and go to school. made my appointment and here i am:




Next Steps

as you can see, i cut my hair. the next step is to cut it again. one of my goals for straightening my hair was to get a really cute cut. saving that for next time. this was drastic enough for me...

2 thought(s):

Product Junkie Diva said...

Looks really good and the good thing about hair is we can basically do whatever we want. Some go from natural to permed back to natural and everything in between so just keep taking care of it and....have fun!

PJD

T said...

YAY! I'm all about chopping hair off lately. You can do it (but if you decide not to, it's cute at its currentl length too)