When I was a little girl in the fifth grade, I noticed my friends started to straighten their hair. I was fascinated by it, and I started to feel left out because my mom would put pigtails with barrettes in my hair. I thought the pigtails I wore were starting to become too young for me. I wanted to have straight hair just like my friends and wear older-looking hairstyles because I felt that I was outgrowing the pigtails my mom gave me every day. Because of this, I would beg my mom to let me wear my hair straight at school. My mom eventually gave in and decided to take me to a salon to get a relaxer. This was the start of my hair becoming damaged. From that point on, I would get relaxers off and on from fifth grade all the way up until the summer before high school.
One day I was watching YouTube videos, and I came across a video that caught my eye of this lady with long, thick straightened hair. From over the years of getting relaxers and straightening my hair so often, my hair started to break off and thin out. I wanted my hair to look like the woman in the video I saw. As I was watching the video, I discovered that she was natural. I started researching videos of how to take care of your natural hair. This intrigued me because all of the women in my family that I saw growing up had relaxers. I did not know what it meant to be natural, but I was determined to find out. From that day forward I decided that I was going to go natural to get my healthy hair back. At the time I did not realize how hard and time-consuming this process was going to be to transition from relaxed hair to naturally curly hair. However, I knew that this was something I really wanted to do.
There was a lot of trial and error with learning to love and care for my hair. I watched so many YouTube videos and learned so much about what it means to have naturally curly hair. I realized that I should not be ashamed of the way my hair grows out of my head and that I should embrace it. When entering high school my freshman year, the start of the year was kind of rough for me with my hair. I was still learning what works best for my hair and how to hide the line of demarcation of my new growth and my relaxed ends. After a couple months, I joined the cheer team at my school for the basketball season and it helped me a lot with my hair. My coach was big on natural hair herself and she encouraged us cheerleaders to rock our natural hair during games. Surrounding myself with other girls with curly hair made me appreciate my hair even more. I loved seeing other girls embracing their hair just as I was learning to. My coach talked to us about finding what hairstyle worked for us and that wash and go’s was not the only hairstyle that us girls with curly hair had to do.
I soon learned that braidouts were my go-to style. I would use small rods to hide my relaxed ends and this style helped my hair stay healthy. Trying out different products to see what would help my hair stay moisturized and last long was my goal. I had finally started to really enjoy my hair. I loved looking at videos of other girls with natural hair, and I kept learning more and more and started educating others who may have asked me about my hair. I got many compliments the more I learned and perfected my braidouts. I would look at myself in the mirror some days and just tell myself that I love my hair despite all the hard work it may take. I cut heat from my hair as much as possible. I stopped straightening my hair so much and even used low heat when I would blow out my hair for braids. I wanted to make sure I did not damage my hair any further while I was on my natural hair journey. Once I hit my junior year of high school, I cut a few inches off my hair and that finally took all my relaxed ends off. I felt that I was free from my damaged hair, and I could finally say I was fully natural. It felt like a weight had been lifted off my shoulders.
To all the girls who are struggling to love their natural hair, remember that you are beautiful just the way you are. You do not need to change your hair to feel pretty or to fit in with other girls. Having naturally curly hair is amazing, and you should embrace the way your hair grows from your head. If you are struggling with learning to love and care for your hair, try watching videos on other women who have naturally curly hair. Tell yourself all the time that your hair is beautiful, and it makes you who you are. Learn to romanticize the journey of taking care of your hair like wash and maintenance days. You must be very patient with learning and caring for your hair. Don’t let others make you feel that your hair is ugly or unprofessional. You have your hair type for a reason, and you should love your natural hair.