My Natural Hair Journey: The Beginning

Hello, there beautiful and welcome back…How you doin’? So in 2017 a friend of mine and I kept saying we were going natural, I know to a lot of you that means no relaxer and chemical straightening but for us, that just means no heat.

My hair background

So I have 3b – 3c hair (I think) and I for the life of me cannot figure out my porosity. As a child, my mom refused to cut or treat my hair, but it was down to my bottom by the time I was 11 and is super thick. She never blowdried my hair except for very special occasions like Christmas or weddings, so a few times a year. And then too I always went to a salon. My mom couldn’t deal with my hair lol so on a Sunday morning she would do a roller set, which I would let air dry all day, I even had to sit in the sun to dry it, but no heat was applied, so I had extremely healthy and thick hair, until I turned 13.

So the year before this my mom passed away and I was not equipped to deal with this head of hair. My aunt would send me to the salon once a month and I think they relaxed my hair once, it was way too manageable after that for it not to have been chemically treated, but it didn’t have the strong chemical smell of a relaxer so I really don’t know what they did but it was life-changing.

During this same visit, the stylist showed me how to blow dry my own hair without a roller set, as I said my hair was extremely long and there was no way my short arms would be able to put rollers in. When I got home I asked my dad for a hair dryer, which he got for me but a mini travel size (it was an epic fail).

As I now know, the only ones that can make any kind of difference to my hair, are the ones with the super thin nozzle and nothing under 2000w. I currently have the GHD Air

When I turned 14 I chopped my hair off, shoulder length. It was such a blessing, I no longer had nosebleeds or headaches. Finally, I was free… I got my hair dryer, the right one, and I never looked back again. From then my hair got shorter and shorter. By the time I was in Matric (grade 12) I had a boy cut, so there was no more heat damage but the chemical treatments started. I coloured my hair every colour it would accept, I had super blonde highlights, I had red hair, at some point my hair was even kind of orange, I know!

Then at 20, I become a mommy, and I started to grow my hair again. Don’t think I had long hair I didn’t, I just wanted to look more mature lol, and not like a tween anymore. My current length (on my shoulder blades) is the longest my hair has been since I cut it at the age of 14. About 2-3 years ago I had the asymmetrical pixie so this is where it’s at after 3 years.

Approximately 10 years ago I did a Brazilian blowout and that was officially the last time I chemically straightened my hair. But the colouring and heat haven’t stopped until now. Since around the 05th December 2017, I haven’t applied any heat to my hair.

This is where I am at after 1 month

So you all are officially coming on this entire journey with me…

If there are any naturally curly girls out there please let me know how to make this transition easier, the straight ends are getting on my nerves, and I know it’s not the 10-year-old Brazilian because I cut all of that out of my hair 3 years ago.

Tips, tricks and styles are welcome…Please help!!!!

Have a BE YOU tiful day! You’re worth it!