Natural Beauty. . .

Embrace beauty by being you and doing it naturally.

Afro puff

It's growing fast, and I'm finally able to do an Afro puff.  How cool is it?!  :)

Simple updo

Twist out! :)

Here's a hair update. I'm surprised and excited on how fast my hair is growing!  This style is a twist out or two strand twist.  I did them much smaller than I normally do.  I wore my hair twisted for about 1 week and today I finally took it out for a fresh, new style, I think!  :)

Hair update!

Natural hair update.  I know I haven't been updating this section much because I haven't been taking any pictures of myself.  hahaha!  Anyway, here's my update.  100% natural.  Today I decided to wear an afro rather than my normal twist out.  My hair is actually longer than it appears in this picture, but I've got a lot of shrinkage on count of it being wet.  :)  I like this style though.

Becoming Natural

I decided to go natural when I was at my rope's end.  There was nothing I could do to my hair and it seemed that the relaxer that I was using was just making it worse.  I went to every salon and stylist I knew to see if they could provide a remedy.  The only thing they would do was cut off my hair and say that it was damaged and give me cheap deep conditioning.  I believed them for a while, but whenever my hair started to grow back after being cut, it was still falling out and brittle.  I literally had a ball spot in the back of my head from, what I know now was, over processing.  It was a drastic experience, but I still did nothing to stop it.  I kept relaxing and hoping for the best, until one day, my mother was honest with me and told me that I desperately needed to let the relaxers go... 

I didn't want to believe her so I kept on and on, until one day, I had had enough!  I was sick of my hair not growing and not doing right.  I was down to my wit's end, so, I went out and got Women's Rogaine and started using it on my bald spot.  How blinded I was! When I think about it, I still laugh.  Hahaha ;)  After a month of using it, I saw that Rogaine didn't work at all.  I just started to grow a lot of body hair - nothing grew in the bald spot, though!  I even had hair growing on my eye lids and my ears.  Pretty soon I had to stop for risk of looking like something out of the "Planet of the Apes."  :)

While nairing my eye lids and ears (hahaha), my sister, like my mother, had a long talk with me.  She also told me to get rid of the "creamy crack." She also insisted that I go to the dermatologist to check on my hair and make sure my scalp wasn't damage after years of harsh chemicals and bad stylist who didn't give my hair the TLC it needed.  I took her advise and I am very glad that I did.  I was tried of using bobby pins to mask my thin hair and comb it a certain way so no one could see that I was balding.  It wasn't worth it!....

I went to see my dermatologist and she checked everything out thoroughly.  The verdict:  YOU NEED TO GET RID OF THE RELAXER.  THERE'S NOTHING WRONG WITH YOUR SCALP.  YOUR HAIR IS GROWING BUT EACH TIME YOU PUT THE RELAXER ON THE AREA THAT'S SHORT AND BALDING, IT BURNS IT OUT.    It took a professional to give me the wake-up that I needed.  That was it.  I knew what I had to do...

After administering loads of steroid shots to the bald part of my head.  She advised me to get my hair cut and start new.  It was a "BIG NEW" start.  After 17 years of relaxing, I had to start over.  I was like a kid again, learning to walk, learning to read, etc. . . .  Only this time, I had to learn to love my hair and care for it the way it was supposed to be, not the way I thought it should be.  My natural hair journey has taught me to love myself and to embrace the way I look and what God has given me to cover my head.  It's a big step, but a great step in the right direction.  I love my hair...and more importantly, I love myself.  ;)

Pictures

 

December 2013 - The bald spot that just wouldn't go away.

 

December 2013 - Thinning and brittle hair

More thin and brittle hair....

January 2014 - The big chop - well, only in the back (after my doctor's appointment).  

I decided to transition.  There's a little relaxer at the top, but none at the bottom.

March 2014 - transitioning style.  

 March 2014 curls coming in.

May 2014 - slowly chopping off the relaxer.

Favorite Products and Style

I've been wearing twist outs ever since I went natural.  It's the only style that I've mastered thus yet.  Plus, I like the way they look, as they allow me to wear my hair down and not look like a wild woman.  I like the curls it provides me as well as the fact that it's a style that can be worn multiple days in a row and still looks great the older it gets.  To master my twist outs, I've been using the following products on my wet/damp hair after washing.  These are my favorite natural hair products thus far, but I'm sure the longer my hair gets the more I'll be experimenting with other products.  I'll keep you posted.