October #7--Natural Hair and Me

Last year, I decided I was getting a little sick of my hair and decided I needed a change. While my hair was quite cute and suited me well, it wasn’t very strong. Since my mid twenties, my hair texture has changed. I no longer have the strong, do anything and I still maintain the curl kind of hair. It had gotten to the point where all I could do was primarily wrap it and hope that by the end of the day it didn’t look like a stringy mess. I don’t know what happened, but I couldn’t hold a curl anymore.

I sought out the help of a stylist and she really helped me in keeping my hair well maintained. Unfortunately, it did nothing for my ability to hold curl. But, my hair was looking the best it had in years and I was thrilled. She was also a very good colorist and I loved, loved, loved the pretty streaks I had below.




By the good times didn’t last. I started traveling more for work and my hair at the crown started to break off. It was a mess. I was still able to style it to be cute, but the possibilities were definitely diminished. My hair could no longer stand up to being relaxed and colored.

So, a year ago I decided not to chemically process my hair anymore. My last perm was in September 2011 and my last color was in November 2011. While I can say I will never perm (relax) again, I am dying to put some color into my hair. Right now, I do a henna treatment every 6 weeks or so and that gives me a nice, deep red with my grays showing up as copper highlights.



I have been trying different products over the last year and I’m just about settled on a core staple of products, but we’ll see. I think you have to be natural for at least two years before you truly know what will work for you. Last winter I was transitioning so I don’t know what products will keep me moisturized and healthy in the cold just yet. And next summer, I will be dealing with longer hair so who knows how the heat will truly affect me then.

I’m taking it day by day and hairstyle by hairstyle, but at the end of the day, I do love my natural hair and I’m so happy I stopped with the chemical straighteners.