Growing up, it became a weekend routine: my mom deep conditioning and dressing my hair for Sunday service. This meant me be uncooperative with the hot comb at times, while mom made sure she laid the comb on my roots to ensure my hair was straight to a tee.
As time passed, she (and I) got tired of the hot comb, and moved to getting relaxers. To be honest, I didn’t cooperate with those much either. When she laid the relaxer on my head, it was cool at first. Then five minutes in, I felt my scalp burning. Once she washed it out and styled it, my hair was super straight. I was at school showing all of my friends how perfectly straight and flowy my hair was.
From 4th grade until my sophomore year of college, I kept putting relaxers into my hair. But from what I remember, I’ve always had a sensitive scalp. I had to get the mildest relaxer they had available at the hair store. I got tired of my scalp tingling every time I got a relaxer. I had enough.
My friend suggested that maybe it’s more damaging for my hair to continue to get relaxers, so she thought it would be best to go natural. I thought she was crazy. I didn’t remember what my natural hair looked like, since I’ve been getting relaxers for years.
That night, my sister was washing her hair. She’s never had a relaxer, and I only assumed that since were sisters we would have similar curl patterns. Her hair was so healthy and her coils were absolutely shiny. I decided that night that I would stop getting relaxers, and slowly transition into the natural hair world. I’ve only been transitioning for 8 months, but so far my hair is the healthiest it has ever been.
If you’re indecisive about transitioning to natural hair, don’t be. You don’t have to chop all of your hair right away. It’s all about a journey. Get a chance to hear other people’s stories before you decide and even if you don’t, you can still continue to promote healthy hair. It’s not always easy to stop doing something that you’ve been doing for half of your life. At the end of the day, we all want healthy hair, with or without chemicals. For me, going natural was the best decision I’ve made in 2016, and so far in my life.
HCXO!