Natural Hair Journey

 Natural Hair Journey

Like many young girls I had thick ponytails that my mother re-braided every morning. She didn’t use any special products or techniques just simply grease and a comb. In fourth grade my mother could no longer deal with my hair and decided to put a relaxer in it. Ever since then my hair has gotten shorter and thinner due to the combination of the relaxer and flat iron. Flash-forward to my senior year of high school- college applications and scholarships+ cheering+ working=stress. This stress impacted me so much that I scratched out the majority of my hair in the back of my head. I hated my hair, it was so thin, uneven, and damaged. My very last relaxer left so many sores and burns I knew I would never get another one.  At the time I unknowingly began to transition.

Fifth grade= Thick Hair

The day of my 18th birthday. You can see the short, damaged hair in the front.

Straightened hair while transitioning. The longest my hair has grown since I was little.

So pretty! Still transitioning...

The day of my Big Chop. I was fed up with my hair!

After three months of transitioning, I stumbled across the natural hair community instantly falling in love with all of the kinks, coils, and curls. Initially, I planned to do a long-term transition with a minimum of a year. The summer soon came to an end and I only had 8 months of new growth. The new growth and relaxed ends hated each other as a comb ran at the sight of my hair. No longer could I manage the two textures and snipped them away. I officially became O’Natural!

The day after my Big Chop. The smile was just masking the my fear.

Only a couple of weeks. Just a simple twist out in a high puff.