Today is the day! It's been exactly one year since I big chopped all of my relaxed hair and went back to my natural hair state. To say the year has been a learning experience is an understatement. During the past year there have been ups and downs but I'm grateful for everything I learned.
The first few months as a natural were overwhelming. Even with all of the research that I did beforehand, I still felt like I had no idea what I was doing. The day after my big chop I remember thinking, "What do I do now?". There was so much information out there about building a regimen, which products to use, how to grow my hair and how to maintain length, etc. It felt like I had to have everything figured out about my hair. But then one of my friends, a naturalista for 5 years, gave me some really great advice : keep it simple. And, just like that I realized that I was making things harder than they needed to be. Every month I reevaluated my hair regimen and chose one or two ways to tweak it for the health of my hair. Things were going pretty well until I had a bump in the road in September. I went to hair salon looking to trim my ends and ended up losing about 4 inches of hair. This caused a minor setback as far as length goes but I used the experience to start experimenting with products.
I remember watching vloggers on YouTube and not understanding why they constantly tried new products. I soon discovered firsthand that as my hair grew, some of my hair products no longer worked on my hair. Thanks to social media there is always a way to find about new products and natural hair companies. Today my favorite products include SheaMoisture and Tangles and Beyond. For now, I don't intend to switch products because my hair seems to be doing really well.
Looking ahead I'm excited to try new hairstyles and continue my quest for healthy natural hair. At this point in my journey I have no interest in wearing my hair straight. I don't see that changing anytime in the near future. I love my curls and want to continue to learn more about my hair.
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| 1 Year Natural (after taking out my 3 strand twists. No fluffing at all). |
Length Check:
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Want to see more of my hair journey this past year? Check out my monthly check-ins along the way:
1 month natural
2 months natural
3 months natural
4 months natural
5 months natural
6 months natural
7 months natural
8 months natural
9 months natural
10 months natural
11 months natural
In order to celebrate, I'm hosting a giveaway. If you follow me on Instagram then you know that I am in love with Tangles and Beyond products. So, I'm giving away a mini pack of Tangles and Beyond. The pack includes: Deep Moisture Shampoo, bottle of Jia's Caribbean DreamCreme, Deep Moisture Shea Butter Creme, Deep Moisture Conditioner and Argon Oil. The retail value of the set is $15.
Once the winner is chosen (via Random.org) on Wednesday, April 29th , I will send an email to the winner to request shipping information. The prize will be shipped out on Friday, May 1st.
Here are the rules:
- Must be 18 to enter
- Giveaway ends Wednesday, April 29th
a Rafflecopter giveaway
It looks like your hair is making great progress. I have very little hair right now. I had locks, but due to cancer treatment I lost my hair. It just started growing back in January so I'm excited to see how it progresses. I'm going to try to go awhile without locking my hair so we'll see. Thanks for the encouragement! I know it's hard.
ReplyDeleteI did a big chop in 1996 and wore it natural for about six months then I locked. I had those for 11 years and had my daughter pick them out for me. I didn't like my texture or just being "out" natural so I locked again. It had just been about a year that time.
Wish I'd came by sooner for the giveaway!
#blmgirl
Hi Petula
DeleteThanks for stopping by the blog! I hope that are doing well since your cancer treatments. I'm glad that you can start to see some progress with your hair. Getting used to your natural texture can be an adjustment, if you're not used to seeing/dealing with it. But I think with time you will love it! I try to remember that my hair journey is a process and that helps me on the days I feel frustrated or discouraged.
I have a few friends that have locks and they look gorgeous.
The winner never responded to my email, so I still have the prize. If you're interested, let me know and I will send it you!
Thanks again for stopping by and I hope you're doing well.