Welcome to my journey!

 Welcome to my blog :)! The purpose of this blog is to share my thoughts, feelings, failures and successes during my journey to healthy natural hair. I know that I will need advice and motivation along the way, so please feel free to comment!  For those of you who know me well, going natural was something I never thought I would do. But I finally realized that there is freedom in accepting my natural hair.

My healthy hair journey

As a young girl my mom always told me to keep my hands out of my hair. My hairstyles and other hair decisions were usually made by my mother or my beautician.  My mom relaxed my hair when I was 2 because she couldn't handle my thick hair.This continued throughout high school and well past my college days. I never believed that I could do my own hair or learn how to maintain healthy hair. I was at the hair salon faithfully every two weeks to have my hair shampooed and styled. I relaxed my hair religiously ever 6-8 weeks. That all changed last January a week before my 30th birthday. I decided that it was time I learned how to take care of my hair. I read books, watched YouTube videos, joined hair forums and followed blogs, specifically justgrowalready.com .  I began stretching my relaxers (extending the time I got my hair chemically straightened), trying out hair products and wearing hairstyles that protected my ends.

My go-to protective style

Over the next several months my hair looked and felt healthier. After seeing Chris Rock's Good Hair with my husband, it really made me think about why I continued to relax my hair. I was also curious to see what my natural hair looked like. I relaxed my hair for the last time October 25, 2013. It took another month before I made the decision to go natural. Once I made the decision, I consulted a friend's hairstylist and went from shoulder length to a bob.

going from shoulder length to a bob with layers

Another view

Today and looking ahead

Instead of doing a BC (big chop-process of cutting off all relaxed hair down to the new growth) right away, I chose to transition. My initial goal was to transition for 8 months. Now as I approach my fourth month of transitioning, my goals are more realistic. Transitioning without braids or extensions is hard. There is breakage and shedding. Hairstyles that worked last month no longer work. It is definitely a learning process. So my new goal is to transition for 6 months and BC on April 25, 2014. Will I make it? Time will tell. Some days I feel like I can make it and other days I have to walk away from my husband's razor.

Either way, I'm excited and determined to embrace the journey.

Until next time!