Once upon a time there was a Nigerian princess with long straight hair that was the envy of all the women in the land. Errrrr scratch that. Well I had good hair by all standards: nice, colored half the time and of moderate length (I never really liked long hair so I cut every chance I get). I had no worries (at least not enough to warrant hair loss), various princes were asking for my hand in marriage….as a fine gal concerned and life was good. Here come the evil stepmothers called stress and challenges and ding my hair literally started to fall of. I did everything possible: trim, cut the colored bits off, had treatments (expensive salon based ones but stylists that know their business), a dreadful Supercuts treatment and cut (well I was getting broke). Nothing seemed to work. Like the musical bye bye birdie……my hair was saying bye. So I spoke to my friend that went natural a year back and I thought well I have nothing more to loose. I spoke to my stylist and we agreed on a date, which meant I could not relax my hair. My friend wanted to come see me cut it. She actually thought I would not stick it through. I called her after it was done and well this princess wasn’t bad looking after the hair was gone.
To be honest I felt free. I could shower without a cap (the things we princesses had to do to protect our mane) and I gained 10mins in my daily routine because I didn’t have hair to worry about. I thought ok well I can do this. Ever the color junkie I booked an appointment to have my hair colored a month after. I did my ‘first’ big chop in June 2012 (Note the inverted commas) several chops would follow suit.
…..the color purple
Note that I didn’t include any tricks of the trade. I didn’t do much research and just went with the flow. I didn’t even know what type of hair I had. All I knew was that the hair at the back was like chicken bum bum compared to the rest of my hair and I really could shower without using a cap. My friend asked me what products I was using and stuff but I really could not be bothered. I bought coconut oil and I had a keracare hair milk/lotion from my straight days so I just used it. I was excited about changing my hair color. I have never really rocked black hair before. Well there is a reason they say black don’t crack and I was about to find out why.
I must admit that’s not the most flattering picture but that’s what I have to show you. I bleached and went bright purple. I said to myself….self you can do whatever to hair and it would still grow…..errr wrong. I rocked the purple for a few weeks and went plum because I felt it was too bright. After a month I noticed some dark bits coming out and I was excited. It meant my hair was growing. I could actually spot the difference and started marking it down. I must also mention I had to cut it even lower after adding the color so this for all intents and purposed was my second chop.
My friend kept hounding me to do some research, you have to take care of color treated hair differently, what oils are you using blah blah blah. I said to myself…..this my friend is an insufferable know it all. I did go to the market to get oils but found lavender and rosemary oils too strong (the ones I need o). Instead I bought aloe vera, tea tree and olive oil. The tea tree I found it too strong so I stopped using it. I still used the products I used when I had relaxed hair….why waste money. But my hair seemed to be fine and I thought why do people make so much noise about hair.
Looking for my inch
Around September I noticed my hair wasting growing like I would expect. I was literally looking for my 0.5 inches of hair growth. I spoke to my friend. She said in a stern voice….do the research. So I did. I knew there was a black hair community but boy was I shocked at how much information was out there. My hair bio-data is a follows: 4c (around the top and middle sections), 4a at the back, loves leaving conditioner and would dry out faster than spit on a cold winters night. I started taking better care of my hair. I stopped washing as frequently as I would normally do (which was everyday…the princess likes water no wonder she has been kissing frogs and no prince yet). I changed my hair products. I started using the full range of curls and the conditioner was magic to my hair. I still didn’t change my oils……really didn’t dig it and my hair started growing again and then it stopped. I really do notice these things. I used to put it cornrows and by December it didn’t change as much. I sat down and asked myself what’s wrong. Why isn’t it growing again? I spoke to my friend over xmas and also complained about my hair being really hard. I would turn up like iron sponge at the end of the day. She suggested I use glycerin and lord it worked like a charm.
By new years I thought maybe I should cut my hair again. This time learn to live with my natural hair color so on the 19th I went all wole Soyinka on my hair and ended up with a fro. I changed my oils this time and my hair is finally saying ..you are now getting it right.
And we lived happily ever after….for now
I love my hair now. My cousin has gone natural as well and I was happy to share trade secrets with her. My 2yr old niece has my hair and I feel like the cool aunty that knows what to do all the time. She hates doing her hair because it hurts all the time and frankly speaking the babe just doesn’t want to sit down and get her hair done. She had a lot of playing to do and beauty isn’t pain to her just yet. I intend to texturize it at some point. I get inspired when I see people with long black hair and I tell myself…self im going to get there one day. I do hate it when I see some people with un kept hair because I feel its fuels the stereotype that black hair is untidy hair. But truth be told, she probably has a bad hair day or hasn’t gotten a hang of managing her hair.
Natural and proud
Aisha
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