Things are beginning to look a lot clearer...

With all of my experimenting, I saw very little change. After a rough patch during my senior year when I had little time for anything, including my hair, I decided that I was ready for a change.  I wanted to go natural. This of course came after doing a ton a research and watching the videos of the women who were doing their thing with natural hair on Youtube. With all of this positive inspiration I was ready! I got my last relaxer on May 7th, 2010. I planned on doing a long transition (I had no desire to rock a twa), and at the first sight of any difficulty I would  be ready to turn back to my relaxer. During my graduation and other end of the semester senior events I kept my hair in buns. As my roots grew out during the summer I wore high buns with ribbons to mask the difference in textures.

                                                                                     length before transition 

From the beginning of September through the end of December I turned to small box braids with extensions as my main transitioning style. I had them done twice for two months spans with a day and a half break in between. By the end of my second time I could feel the hair weighing down on my edges and I knew it was time for a change before I lost any hair. When I took out my braids I experimented with bantu knot outs for about a week- they created a soft, curly fro look above my thick roots. For what became the final month of my transition I had braided cornrows with extensions that were pulled back into a bun. Throughout my transition I watched more and more videos and became increasingly impatient. I also unleashed my product junky habits and began stocking up on popular natural hair care products from Eco-styler Gel to a blow dryer with a diffuser attachment . Finally, on January 23 (so easy to remember- 1/23 lol) after eight and a half months, I built up enough courage to take the final step in my transitioning journey. I took out my braids, washed my hair & drenched it with conditioner. Using a pair of shears that I picked up a few weeks before I started chopping off the last of my relaxed ends. 

 After about three hours of snipping piece by piece (I'm definitely not a professional) for the most part, my relaxed ends were gone. I had a small fro, just shy of 9 months and it looked absolutely crazy! I tried to do my first twist out and it came out so bad! I had little sharp hairs poking out everywhere. The problem was that I overlooked a lot of relaxed ends- while I was cutting I was a little startled by the shrinkage and in some sections and I left less than an inch of relaxed ends. This ended up doing more harm than good.

As time went on my twist outs got better, and I cut off any relaxed ends that I saw poking out as I went along. My hair has also been growing! I've gone from mid forehead to nose tip length with stretched hair in five months. I love my hair and its many textures, and I especially love the versatility. I've done two and three strand twist outs, coil outs, braid outs and cornbraid styles. I'm currently wearing my first up do using an old cornbraid out and I'm looking forward to trying even more creative stuff with braids. My regimen is far from perfect- I still have a lot to learn, and try out and I can't wait!

 Oh sunny days...

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.