My Hair Story Part I

For the majority of my childhood I wore my natural hair. Up until around fourth or fifth grade my mother did my hair, usually in three to four "dookey" braids with the colorful hair barrettes and bubbles (lol). She would wash my hair about twice a month with an intense and very painful blow drying session - I was very tender headed and I lost a ton of hair every time. By Junior High School, I got my hair done at salons, and by friends who could corn braid (my mom never learned how) usually with extensions. More and more of my friends were relaxed and I  started to want the long, straight, easy to style hair too!  I also wanted an escape from having to deal with the pain that I thought was inevitable with natural hair. I thought relaxers were the answer- my mom was completely against the idea, mostly because of her own experiences (she has very fine, curly hair that relaxers eat through very easily). She didn't want me to lose my thick head of hair, and I should have listened! Eventually my persistence won, and I got my first relaxer at the age of thirteen for my eight grade prom. I don't remember much of the process, but I do recall having to cut off a significant amount of my hair. Regardless, I was happy because I had the hair that I wanted.

 first perm throwback- eight grade prom



I continued relaxing throughout High School, usually every two months. For the most part I allowed one person to do my hair. The one time that my stylist had someone else relax my hair they didn't wash it out properly and I had a lot of fall out. I always used Motions relaxer, except for a short period when I experimented with Mizani , and I always had major issues with sensitive scalp and burning. I also stuck to wash and sets. The only heat that I used on my hair was the hood dryer because I loved the volume that I got from my wash and sets. My hair grew but I got trims very frequently. I didn't mind because I liked  the fullness and volume that came with a fresh cut.

 high school


When I went away for college I was forced to become more independent with my hair, mainly because I didn't trust anyone else to do it. I started out with kinky twists to make my life easier but that ended with a horror story. I learned how to do my own wash and sets and only got relaxers when I went home for vacations. I also found a new relaxer that was weaker and never burned- Soft and Beautiful. During my junior year I began to get very frustrated with my hair- it wasn't growing! I turned to the internet and started researching solutions online. I found the Youtube healthy hair community and started to try new things like co-washing, humectants and Ayurvedic powders.

                                           kinky twists                                       college length

To Be Continued...

*Nicole*

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