Growing up in a Black home, I have had my fair share of struggling when it came to the hair on my head.
As a child I always hated getting my hair touched by my mother and my sister who was styling my hair by the time I was 10.
Understanding my hair and what it means to me took time, but the natural hair journey isn’t always pretty.
I have seen just about three phases of my hair: childlike styling, heat-trained and I decided to transition after I saw my sister do a ‘big chop’ on her very own hair.
The ‘big chop’
When it comes to styling hair, there is a huge detector of what hair is heat trained versus new growth (the hair that is closest to your root). To keep things simple, chopping this unhealthy processed hair off and leaving just the hair that is closest to your root easily describes a big chop.
After seeing my sister complete this, I began to ask her 21 questions about what it meant to her, and also felt somewhat motivated to learn about my hair.
Transitioning, was not a breeze.
Next up in my natural hair process happened to be transitioning. I instantly decided that it would have been too difficult for me to personally cut my hair off. I have always hated when my hair was trimmed by family members, so I decided to begin my own journey by training my hair to grasp its natural texture back.
This meant that NO heat was put on my head except for once a year, this was very easy because I did not miss jumping while getting my hair flat ironed at all. At times I became impatient and wondered why my hair wasn’t curling up, and I felt that it became embarrassing to see, so I decided to wear knitted hats on my head.
Frustrated at times with constantly braiding my hair, people were curious and at one point my hat was ripped off of my head and my hair was exposed publicly, where I somewhat became fed up and decided that it was time to make changes.
Learning to embrace, and love for my mane.
A short while after being tired of wearing the hats on my head, I realized that it was time to become more confident in wearing my hair out.
I did what is called a braid out and my natural hair journey took a large step to where I began to not be ashamed of my hair.
In what seems like it took a lot of time to get comfortable with, I have noticed that many people have come well acquainted with styling their natural hair and that it has become a movement for black women and men.
Embracing that beauty that is your natural self no matter if you decide to be natural or not! Self love is the way to go.
Photo Credit: https://unsplash.com/photos/FZ65n5sAsaY