Lick the tip...

Yesterday was my first day out the house with my 'Fro in full force...

Is it just me, or were the ends of my hair frozen? o.O

Literally, I was walking down Broadway in midtown coming from Ricky's NYC and I put my hand in my hair and felt these hard chunks... When I squeezed them, they melted.
WHAT KIND OF SHIT IS THAT?!

Makes me wonder, if someone put their tongue in my hair School Daze style,
would they have gotten stuck...



Old man winter needs to dip the fuck out of here so I can get my natural on...

Decisions, decisions... Nappturality post.

So, the other day, January 5th at approximately 11pm, I started my official natural hair journey.

For those of you that don't know, I finally set a solid plan in motion in August of 2oo9 to end my love/hate relationship with the chemical sodium hydroxide aka NaOH aka lye aka the creamy crack better known as hair relaxer.

Your first question is probably, "Why?!"

Well, there's no simple answer. There are a million reasons that contributed to my decision but the main one would definitely have to be that I was TIRED of hiding my hair in its natural state...

BECAUSE,

I grew sick of the scabs I collected on my tender scalp from the 'gentle formula' relaxers my hairstylist gave me.

BECAUSE,

I was sick of growing 4'' inches of hair and having to have most of it trimmed off due to breakage and split ends...

BECAUSE,

I was through with the fact that my hair had lost its body and movement and I had been often subjected to a limp, stiff mane.

BECAUSE,

I was done with paying the women in the Dominican salon tons of money to burn the fuck out of my ears and scalp with that monstrous death contraption they call a blow dryer...

I had a little love affair with hair bleach in my bangs circa the spring and summer of 'o8 and had an affinity for the 'Farrah Fawcet' bang. Every morning I would grab my flat iron and make the p e r f e c t hair flip on my golden tresses and head out of the door...
Eventually, my chin length bang became a lip length one...

...then a nose length one...

...then an eye length one...

...then all of a sudden I found myself flipping it up into one of those funky hump thingies that had become so popular and to make that look hot, all of a sudden I started donning a
3 foot stripper pony tail ...
I should rent that thing out to the ladies at the
Crazy Horse Cabaret...
Anyway, the day before my 25th birthday, I got my first sew in weave...
Sexy work... Bad idea.

To make a long story short, after another year of using the aforementioned flat iron to blend my new growth with the Remy, Malaysian and Bohemian hair I had gotten used to using, I wound up with broken, dry and uneven edges which didn't match the length and strength of the rest of my hair that had been protected by the cornrows I wore underneath.
It was an abusive cycle and I guess I had enough.

So after a botched touch up attempt on August 20th, 2oo9, I decided enough WAS enough...
That was the start of my transition.

For the next few months, I had become anxious to see just what my natural texture was really like.
There had been a period of time in my early twenties where I began to texlax instead of fully relax my hair and was left with a wavy yet still thick texture of hair. But that was no indicator of what really grew from my scalp... It wasn't really ME.

The last weekend of January, I cornrowed my hair, sewed in a Wet & Wavy weave and put box braids in the front and around the perimeter of my hair...
7 days later, I woke up and wanted it out.
I went to my local BSS [beauty supply store] and purchased a
new set of hair scissors,
some Elasta QP Mango Butter,
a scarf and a new wig...
[you know, in the off chance I wasn't completely ready to rock my natural locs to the club just yet. Besides, I live in NY and its still cold as balls outside lol]

When I came home, I proceeded to cut out the tracks I'd previously laid so cautiously and within 2 hours, I was in the shower, co-washing and snipping off handfuls of long, relaxed ends.
Smiling...
Singing to the musical stylings of my hair idol Erykah Badu...
Excited about being reunited with MY crowning glory... No matter how short it was.

Once the last cut had been made, I stopped looking in the mirror. I deep conditioned, shook my head, added a leave in conditioner shook again and took a look at the final product...
Who knew my hair was that thick and curly? I'm guessing I'm a 3c/4aMiii hair type.
Click here for the hair typing index I used.

Its been 2 days and I still can NOT keep my hands out of my hair!
I simply LOVE it!

Its thick.
Its healthy.
Its soft.
AND I CAN TOUCH MY SCALP!
Ya'll have no clue how long I been dying to just massage my scalp.
Granted... I need to figure out how to wear it.
Break it in if you will...
Learn how to feel pretty in it.
Not that it isn't beautiful, but I need to recondition my mind.
For decades I had been told what to think and how to feel about my hair...
For decades, I couldn't even really tell you what my REAL hair felt or looked like.


My mother saw me today for the first time with my hair in all its picked out afro glory.
Her face softened,
her jaw dropped,
and I'm pretty sure she cooed...
She looked at me like I was a relic from a past she longed to revisit.

That made me feel smug lol

I know any Natural Hairlistas that happen across my page will want to see photos... I can post some if you guys request it. Right down there, in the comments section...
Don't be S H Y.

Stats:
Last relaxer: August, 2oth, 2oo9
Transitioned: 5 months & 2 weeks
Big Chop: January 5th, 2o1o