THIS.IS.ME

Up to this point, I have just taken out my braids and realized that I have about 3inches of natural hair and 7/8 inches of permed, breaking hair. I intend to cut off the permed parts but I'm still trying to figure out how to go about that so for the past two days, I have put a beanie on my head/put my hair in a high bun. Tonight, I decided to try out bantu curls so I googled it, watched a video or two and then got in front of the mirror and tried it out.

In the process, I found out two things;

a) Shea butter works like magic on natural hair: Yes, my Grandma was right. Shea butter is good for your hair. I usually use shea butter on my skin during the fall and winter seasons because it helps keep my skin moisturized and prevents ashiness. My grandmother has always told me that it was good for the hair but I scoffed at the suggestion. Today, I tried it out because I had no hair cream and my hair was extremely dry and hard to comb, I figured using shea butter was better than using nothing. Turns out it was the idea I'd had all day. The application of shea butter, made my roots and hair softer and easier to comb. Definitely a win! 

b) Trying to comb natural roots with a tail comb (fine toothed comb) is a bad idea: This might be obvious to most people but as I said I'm lost when it comes to natural hair but I found out the hard way that fine toothed combs and natural hair do not mix, all you end up doing is causing stress on the scalp and tearing your hair. The bigger the comb, the better but you dont want it too big else you won't get the knots out.

So after battling with my hair since I got to college because I could no longer afford to have other people take care of it for me, I have decided to go natural. Now this decision is not some sort of epiphany or in related to an assertion of some aspect of my identity, there is nothing grand about my change of path. I came to this decision painstakingly, because nothing has else seemed to have worked so I might as well try this one out. 

I am tired of the homemade, trial-and-error retouches, the incessant search of a friend of a friend's sister/aunt/cousin to put in a weave for cheap, the exorbitant salon fees and keeping in braids for such extended periods of time that they become dreadlocks. I am sick of taking care of other people's hair on my head like its my own and despising my own hair because it refuses to do exactly what I want it to do. This is not to say I have anything against weaves, trust me, I am in no way saying I am abandoning that option. All I am saying is that I think I should be able to strut my natural hair as easily as I flaunt my Asian sister's hair which turns curly when wet and cost me an arm, leg and maybe half my bum.

So here I am, an African girl who has had a perm since the seventh grade before which my mother used to comb my hair and put it in a 'pompidou' deciding to experiment with going natural because a)I have not had a retouch since March, b)I've tried everything else and c)I'm a broke college student who cannot afford American salons. Needless to say I am as lost as a Caucasian girl in a weave store but I will survive!

I have decided to document this journey, mainly because I need incentive to not give on those rough days as my hair has a mind of its own and also to serve as some sort of inspiration/lesson/reference point on what not to do, to other girls like me out there, who are struggling with hair issues.