My HairSTORY

I can't say for certain when I first heard the term "hairstory", but the term instantly grabbed me, and I knew at one point I wanted and NEEDED to tell mine. However, I knew in doing so it would reveal areas about me that I (and Im sure MANY others) should not be proud about. But, acknowledgment of those feelings of insecurity has definitely set me on this path Im on today of, LOVING, EMBRACING, and UNDERSTANDING my hair in its natural state.

Ok, so on to my hairstory....I cant really remember my hair prior to my first MAJOR hair alteration at the age of 8. I recall my sister and I begging my mother for a Jheri Curl, It came after watching I guess one to many Michael Jackson videos. The way his hair swang, and the sheer selling power of the MJ machine had me HOOKED!! So, of course after alot of begging my mother obliged. I believe I wore a Jheri Curl til I was age 12 or 13 yrs old. Thats around the age I took on the task of doing my hair on my own. After the curl, my hair had some really good length (the longest I can remember it being). I recall my hair appearing really light sandy brown. Not the color of my hair today. (I think all the yrs of chemicals changed the colored).

From then on it was relaxers every 6 to 8wks, and going along with what every other hair fashion trends that was going on at the time. All I can say now, is the appearnce of any nappy roots showing wasnt it! Soon came alot of breakage and hair damage (that I can say now) I inflicted on myself to maintain a certain "image". So, to combat the breakage and to go along with the current hair trends, I did the very short pixie (beehive) hair cut taht emerged on the scene during the early to mid 90's.
After that phase, and never really liking the "short" look for myself,s oon the weave EXPLOSION happened. Weave became more affordable, and it became OBVIOUSLY marketed towards Blacks. Once again, I was hooked to something else.
But, sometime around 1999 or 2000 I made my first attempt at "going natural". However, it wasn't my intent to wear my hair out in its natural state. I was doing so in a attempt to get my hair back to a healthy state, only so I could go back to what I had done that made it so damaged in the first place. I know, crazy right?? My plan was to cover up with weaves as I grew it out naturally til it got to a point where it was long enough to be pressed or blow dried straight to a style of my liken. ( I always wanted that long swinging wrap). HA HAHAHAHA! Yeah, funny right?

I know at this point I still had so much to learn. I did the natural grow out for about 3 or 4yrs. No relaxers!! But stil using heat for blowdrying, straightening for length checks, etc.. I did achieve "some" length, but not anything to brag about. Plus my edges were always shorter than the rest of my hair. So, out of frustration, I relaxed for the convience of style for about 6mths or so. But, I did feel bad about relaxing again. As I was learning to pay attention to my hair, and how much more my scalp itched when relaxing it finally clicked that relaxers wasnt for me and I grew out the relaxer again.

The 2nd time around my plan was somewhat the same. I planned to be more concious of products I used, less heat styling and all, but still was in the grip of WEAVES!!!! Although, I knew weaves could be damaging, I thought I could get around it with some careful techniques. I would rest in between weaves, with braids or wigs. I thought once again, I would obtain the length I craved. Well, that didnt happen. Then major life changing events happened. I had a baby, got married AND moved out of state. Post-partum shedding, lack of haircare resources, and sheer frsutation caused me to do something I thought I was away from. (CHEMICALS!!!)

This time is was a texturizer! Thats not so bad right? LOL, I knew better. But anything to justify it made me go through with it. Plus, my hair was a MESS after I had my baby. The "look" I was going for was a short pixie cut (tapered back) with a nice texturized look on top. Well, I didnt get that either. I had more frizz than curl, so once again I went with the ole fail proof weaves to see me through this last relapse. I know I have to admit it, Im addicted to weaves! But, one step at a time right?

Well, that last relapse was about a year ago. At this point I have about a good 3-4inches of natural hair.  Now Im on the road to kicking my weave habit, lol. Im still LEARNING, EMBRACING, and BABYING my natural hair and Im LOVING IT!!! At this point I looking for natural  styles that I feel look good ON ME. Stick around and watch my hair BLOSSOM!!