My natural hair journey has been a challenge at times, but the one thing that has never stopped, is my desire to improve the way I care for my hair. I’m constantly looking for new ideas, styles and products to improve and maintain the health of my hair.

I honestly cannot remember how it was decided that I would get a perm. I didn’t “need”one, I had manageable textured hair. But somewhere along the line, I ended up getting one. Every summer I would visit my grandmother in Philly, PA. The first summer I visited her with relaxed hair, she refused to perm it in fear that she would ruin my hair. So, when I came back from summer vacation and finally got a touch up, I had serious, serious hair breakage. I ended up getting over 6 inches of my hair cut off. I was devastated. I didn’t even have enough length to pull my hair up into a ponytail!

About a year and a half later, I had breakage again, but this time it was at the crown of my head. I had my to get my hair cut again, but not as drastic (see picture below). I was SO discouraged by the damage my hair had endured that I decided my 10th grade year that I would stop getting perms. I told my mom I didn’t want a perm anymore and that I had made the decision to return natural… And the journey began. My hair was just above shoulder length at that time and I knew nothing about getting the “big chop” (I’m not so sure my mom would have agreed to it, honestly). I got my last perm in September of 1999 and never looked back.

I ran Track in High School and it was very difficult keeping my roots straight. Yes, my mom used to put that hot pressing comb to my roots on a regular, but then I would just sweat it out during track practice (not cute). For me, protective styling became my go-to.  I would wear my hair in corn rows with weave added and wrapped into a top bun (Does anyone remember this style?) Once track season officially started, I wore micro-braids and my hair growth took off.  It took me about a year in a half to completely grow the perm off (talk about patience). Once my hair was chemically free, I wore my own hair in mini braids and I would rock a braid out before it was time to wash and braid it again. I would get my hair straighten once every 6 months to keep my ends trimmed and healthy.

Back then, there weren’t many natural hair care products because there weren’t many women returning natural (Honestly, I didn’t know of any, but I’m sure I wasn’t the only one). To style my hair, I used water and African Pride pomade. I knew nothing about twist outs, bantu knots, goddess braids, etc.  It wasn’t until 2009, that I truly began to explore various styles with my hair. Shea Moisture was the first natural hair care product I used and I was in love. Although I had been natural for 10 years, I still had to learn what products worked best with my hair, not all products are created equal (and we won’t even discuss cost).  I get asked a lot about my hair regimen, in which I will be sharing in upcoming posts.

I hope that my hair journey is an inspiration for anyone out there who is newly natural or debating on returning natural.  It is a process that requires a lot of patience and love for your hair whether you decide to big chop or transition. But, if you’re like me, looking to have healthy chemically free hair, then I suggest you go for it. The worse thing that could happen is that you hate it and you can always go back to the creamy crack (lol)! Seriously, it all depends on what you want for your hair. You can have hair down to your waist but the heart of the matter is… Is YOUR hair healthy?!?! This year will mark 17 years, in October, that I have been natural. I love my hair and I would not trade my journey for anything, it hasn’t been perfect… I’ve experienced heat damage and breakage, but nothing to the extent of when I had a perm. I look forward to sharing more (specifics) of my journey, if you have any questions or topics that you would like for me to address, please feel free to leave me a comment below.

What was/is your natural hair journey like?

P.S. I tried to find pics to show the various stages of my hair journey… Unfortunately, I had cut up many of them to create a collage in my Senior memory book. I didn’t use tape and I would risk the chance of tearing them up if removed. I hope these help!

XOXO

Tamara