If you haven't already figured it out I am natural, and I have been for about almost 9 months. Im proud of my decision and Im glad I made it so soon. I don't even mind to stares I get when I'm in public or comments from my friends and family. The self confidence I have makes all the backlash worth it :) When I look back on how I used to view myself and my hair it seems like I always had a nappy head mentality. What I mean by that is that I was never one of those girls running to the salon to get a perm. I loved and appreciated all types of hairstyles. Hair to me was just another form of expression like art or music. I would stretch my perms out for months with braids or extentsions when I was in high school. I was really critical about my hair's healthy and spent a lot of time reading hair magazines and picking my cousin/hair stylist's brain for ideas. I stopped using heat on my hair, onlying wet setting my hair once a week, did a deep conditioner every 2 weeks, protein treatment and wrapped my hair every night. My hair's health was really good, but I knew I wanted more. I felt like I wasnt really expressing who I was with my hair instead I was doing something because it's what someone else told me was right. I never understood why it was necessary for me to perm my hair. I wondered what was wrong with my hair that I had to get a perm. Did I have bad hair? or was it just ugly? Why was a perm the only way my hair could be pretty? I even considered the idea that maybe I just didn't have what people classified as "good" hair.
My mom permed my hair starting at age 3 because she couldn't handle pressing my hair. Now yall don't jump on my mama cuz I love her, but she just combed it through and washed it out to loosen the curl. I can't fault her because she was doing what she knew she could handle. When I was in middle school I asked my mom could I grow dreads and she said I could do whatever I wanted to my hair when I was 18. I snuck some colored hair into my braids when I was about 13 lol. But on my 18th b-day I spent the weekend with my godsister and got highlights :) I surprised my mom at church but she liked it. For graduation I cut my hair up to my neck and I loved that as well. I got my last perm the week before graduation and havent turned back since.
When I look in the mirror, all I see is me. No one else tells me what to wear or how to style my hair (mostly because they don't know how to do my hair :). I can't even begin to describe the freedom I feel with my natural hair now, but I will say this... If your considering embarking on this journey know that you will be questioned, insulted, misunderstood, and talked about even by those closest to you. But keep in my that this journey is strictly about you. Educate yourself and find others that share the same interests as you.
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