Federal lawsuit targets hair-straightening products l GMA

10 years of Going back Natural

I got my first relaxer when I was 10 years old. It wasn’t because I wanted to have “silky straight” hair, but because I was tired of my mom having to use the “burn comb” to straighten my hair after she washed it. So on one hot summer day in June 1997, she gave my first perm…Motions for adults. My hair turned out great. And every 6-8 weeks, I continued to get Motions or Hawaiian Silky.

By the time I was in high school, I noticed that my hair was thinner than what it was when I was younger. But it was still long, so I wasn’t really worried too much.

My freshman year of college was when my hair took a turn for the worse. I was having trouble finding a hair salon to assist with taking care of my hair, so I decided to try and wash my hair at school. Mind you, Michigan State has well water all over campus, so it was not the best water for anyone’s hair. When I went home for Christmas break, people were asking me “Did you cut your hair?” and I would tell them “No” with a confused look on my face. I was blind to just how damaged my hair was really getting from the brittle ends to breakage in certain spots, yet I still continued to get my relaxers whenever I could

My junior year of college, during spring break 2008, my mom put in Hawaiian silky, and once she was finished blow drying and flat ironing my hair, she said “I think that you need to stop getting perms.” I looked in the mirror and noticed my hair was definitely thinner and shorter than it ever been in my life. I had debated on going natural back in high school, but not too many hair dressers were “pressing”. I decided to give it a try anyways.

For the next 2 years, I was getting braids and sew ins left and right to give my hair a break and a chance to grow. Braids would stay in for about a month, and my sew ins for 3 months. My last sew in during that 2 year span, really showed how much my hair had grown from the last one. My hair was thicker, longer, and healthier. I promised myself that no matter what, I would not put another drop of chemical in my hair.