My Transition to Natural Hair

Like many African American women I wore my hair relaxed the majority if my life. According to my mother she began taking me to the salon to get relaxers when I was about 6 years old. I did not have much choice in the matter. As a result I learned relaxing my hair was as much apart of life as showering or a trip to the dentist. It was just something that had to be done. As I grew older I became increasingly interested in what my true hair texture looked like. In 2002 without much knowledge of natural hair or how to take care of it I walked into a local beauty college and asked them to cut off all the relaxer. The student looked confused, so I reassured her I knew what i wanted. I walked out feeling powerful and courageous with my newly cropped do. The excitement over my 2 inch TWA soon faded as the shock set in that my hair was gone and I had no idea what to do with my tiny curls. After about 8 months and lots of bad hair days I went back to "the creamy crack" as its called. After more years of growth and breakage I knew I needed to do something different. Then I saw Chris Rock's documentary Good Hair and i knew it was just a matter of time before i was rocking my God given curls again. This time i decided I would be smart. Information is the most powerful tool for a successful transition to natural hair. I immersed myself in books, blogs and YouTube videos all geared toward natural hair. February 2,2011 was my last relaxer. In the beginning not much was different. I continued to do roller sets and flat iron my mid back length hair. In April 2011 I got a mini chop of about 5 inches off the back, but my hair was still resting on my shoulders so there was not too much of a change. By June the two textures were making it increasingly difficult to continue to style my hair I'm the same ways and i went straight to YouTube. I wore transitional hair style throughout the summer and took the chance to really learn my hair. In the beginning I set out to be a long transitioner wanting to do my big chop in Summer 2012. LOL As you can see I did not make it. On Aug 2, 2011 I kept my appointment (after backing out the first time) and got my Big Chop done. I am now coming up on 1 year post relaxer and 6 moths post big chop and I have not regretted a single day. This is an awesome journey of self discovery that I would not change for anything.

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