Just Me: Sharing My Story; The Reason Why I Went Natural

I started wearing my hair natural over 10 years ago.  Now that I think about it, it has actually been about 12 years.  Once I decided to go natural, I have not since looked back, nor do I intend to.

Before I decided to go natural, my hair was relaxed just like every other young black girl that I knew.  I loved my relaxed hair!  If any sign of  "new growth" threatened to reveal itself, I would whip it back into place with one of my home relaxer kits that I kept stocked.  At this point in my life, I can admit that I was ashamed of my hair texture.  After all, it was nappy, kinky, curly, coily and simply not straight.

One day as I was feeling the roots of my hair that were in dire need of a re-touch, instead of being appalled by my hair texture, I was curiously pleased by the soft waves that were forming against my scalp.  As I stroked over my textured tresses, the seed began to plant.  I wondered "what if I just didn't relax my hair any more?"  I say the seed had been planted, because even at this point, I was not ready to give up relaxing my hair because I was too concerned with how I would be viewed.

Now, I can't remember where I was, but I do remember seeing a woman that had the most beautiful long, curly textured hair I'd ever seen up close.  I knew her hair was not relaxed, but for the life of me, I couldn't figure out how she got her unrelaxed hair to wave and curl as it did.  It was at that point that I decided that I too wanted hair like hers and that I would no longer relax my hair.  I was ready to give up the fight so to speak.

My hair was already cut into a short style so I didn't have much transitioning to do.  I just stop relaxing and started wearing lots of braided hairstyles and weaves while my relaxer grew completely out.  At that time there was limited information resources about natural hair, so of course I was doing all of the wrong things and making most of the mistakes you could possibly make.  I over-processed with heat, neglected to moisturize, used all of the wrong products and basically just didn't take care of my hair.  I hadn't yet understood how to take care of my hair or even how to style it.  I was still determined to get those curls and coils I had seen that day on that beautiful young lady.

With years of experimentation and most recently,  an influx of tons of information and products for natural hair, I now understand my hair's needs and how to style it. I am still learning about new products, style techniques and length retention.  I am happy that I began to see wearing my natural hair as an option where before I simply didn't.

This story is not me, standing on a soap box trying to convert the non-naturals to natural,  I'm just sharing my story as to what prompted me to go natural, however,  I am hoping that my story or even my curls might allow me to be "that lady" that inspires and shows someone else, that wearing your natural hair is a beautiful option.