Hello Beautiful.
So in ALL honesty, it's been over SIX months since my last post. I know, I know, what a slacker I am, but never without good reason. I did my last post in May and now its October and as usual me and my hair have gone through changes, we've seen the good, the bad and the ugly. To begin with, let me talk about my Journey a little bit. On February 4th 2012, I decided that enough was enough with my relaxed hair, the thinning, the split ends, the breakage, the dryness, I couldn't handle it anymore. And so without a second thought, I grabbed the scissors and chopped it all off. Now, prior to my big chop, I didn't know anything about natural hair. In fact, I didn't know I could wear my hair natural, it was like I was living in a parallel universe of wigs and weaves, a universe where natural hair is unheard of and unacceptable. I never thought that I could wear my hair the way God intended for it to be, natural hair was something I never contemplated until my hair reached a breaking point. There is this saying that says "Love, like a river, will cut a new path whenever it meets an obstacle." I'm the type of a person that hates defeat and will always looks for an alternative. At this point, I felt like my hair had completed and utterly defeated me, I din't know what else to do with it. I had no love for it, hated it, despised it, believe it or not, my self esteem was at its lowest point. I didn't want anymore weaves, and I could not, would not go back to the creamy crack. So like a river, I decided to cut a new path, to look for another way out of my wigs and weaves parallel universe. I took to google, and not knowing what I was looking for, stumbled across Curlynikki.com website. At first glance, I couldn't believe it, I couldn't believe what my eyes were seeing and reading. CurlyNikki had beautiful hair, I clicked through her autobiography and my mind failed to accept what my eyes were seeing. You can have beautiful natural hair without a relaxer. All natural. I remember that day I called my mom and my aunt to come and see the gem I had discovered, and we were all in denial! There is no way a black girl can have beautiful curly hair, it just doesn't add up, how? eh? HOW?!! I once took a math class in college that involves deductive reasoning to solve a problem. Geometric proofs. If you've taken proofs, then you probably know that a proof must demonstrate that a statement is always true, it requires logic, not unproven theories. If black women can have naturally beautiful curly hair like Curly Nikki, I was determined to experiment with my own hair and prove that it can be true indeed. My quest for knowledge on natural hair led to me to many hours of researching and youtube-ing. I spent many sleepless nights reading about the "science of black hair". I spent hours in front of the mirror trying out different styles. I learned about co-washing, sealing, moisturizing, protective styling, sulfate free products, porosity, deep treatment, protein treatment. It was like a whole new universe of natural hair knowledge had opened up and swallowed me up whole. My quest for knowledge soon turned into an obsession, and I found myself buying different products, testing each and every one. Of course by this time I had to hide my product junkiesm fixation under the bathroom sink, because I had no way of explaining to my mom why i had three different types of unopened coconut oil bottles, five different types conditioners, three types of deep conditioners, two huge bottles of castor oil, avocado oil, mustard oil, vatikia oil, three bottles of hair gels, two bottles of leave in conditioner, Six packets of Henna, and two jars of mayonese. I became the true definition of a product Junkie, and the more I read about natural hair the more I wanted to go out and buy more products. Well, it's been 8 months now since I went natural, and although I must say that I have cut down on my product consumption, I find myself spending hours reading products labels at the beauty saloon. I tend to buy products based on reviews, but this doesn't always pan out well because what works well for some people doesn't necessarily work well on my hair. It has taken me 8 good months to learn my own hair, and although am still learning, I can most definitely say that the Proof, does indeed exist. Black girls can have naturaly beautiful curly hair, it's not a theory or a fad, it is an authentic validity of which I'm a living proof!
Later,
Roots4LiA.
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