My Natural Hair Journey

So I was able to get Kim to share her natural hair journey, and then I realized "Hey I'm natural too". 

I have had a relaxer since I was around age 7. My hair has always been thick and because I was tired of breaking combs I begged my mom to get the "Just for Me" perm. It only lasted for a short time, my mom knew that I was too young for perms so I went back to getting my hair straightened and wearing braids. For most of Middle School, High School and the beginning of College I had a relaxer but because I love change I would always switch things up with braids, or weaves. I had an infatuation with bobs so I constantly cut my hair to keep it the same length and my hair was pretty healthy. 

This was the length that I liked to keep my hair

Unlike most naturals that are brave enough for the big chop to cutoff their relaxed ends, I actually big chopped with a relaxer (weird I know). It was almost graduation time, and I was feeling spontaneous and honestly rather bored. At this point in my life I had tried about every hairstyle under the sun, but I had not yet gathered enough bravery to cut my hair. So one random day weeks before graduation I went to JcPenny and chopped my hair off.

Above is a collage of my short hairstyles. I was absolutely in love with my short hair, it was so easy and surprisingly I was able to change it up every once in awhile, and of course when all else failed I added my signature bow. As you can see from the picture the back and the left side of hair were completely shaved off. I initially cut my hair on April 21, 2010 and I kept my hair this length and little shorter until January 2011 when I received my last relaxer and cut.

Although I loved my new pixie cut, my hair was starting to get a lot of heat damage from going to the salon so often to keep up with the style, so I decided to go natural. And my hairdresser told me that over time the relaxer would start to break my hair off because my hair is soft but just super thick.  I had not been natural since I was 7 years old so I had no idea what I was getting myself into. My hair texture in the natural world   is a 4b, so when my hair is wet it shrinks up and my coils are very tight. I lasted all of two weeks natural until I decided to get a full sew-in weave. 

Above is a picture of my first sew-in after my last relaxer

Here is a collage of a few of the many styles that I wore while transitioning 

From February 2011 until January 2012 I wore a lot of protective styles while I transitioned. I wore weaves, and braids for the remainder of the year. And suddenly I had the urge to investigate what was really under all of the weaves and braids, so I came home one day after church and I starting cutting out my tracks. So below is a picture of my first official attempt at a Braid Out about a year after my last relaxer. 

It took a long time for me to get used to my natural hair and it took even longer to find out what products to use, and I still don't have a clue. Because my hair is so thick and the fact that I am a wild sleeper at night, I was constantly finding myself re-twisting my hair at night to achieve the look I was going for so I decided to turn back to some more protective styles.

More recently I have tried ponytails, and buns courtesy of great tutorials on YouTube. (I will be sure to share some of my favorites) and my latest venture were my big box braids that I refer to as "Poetic Justice braids" that I actually did myself. It took forever to put the braids in but I loved the way they came out, and not to mention how much money I saved by doing it myself. 

So far this journey has been more of a battle, but I am embracing the natural me. I will be sure to make some posts of the different hairstyles I try and share some of my favorite YouTube videos, and of course my natural hair care routine.

Thanks for reading loves, and stay FAB <3