I DID THE BIG CHOP!

Yep, I have officially cut off all my relaxed ends! I was planning to long term transition for a year or more, but I didn’t make it lol. I got to about the 10 month mark, and I let myself do what I’ve been dying to do for the longest time. I’ve absolutely hated my transitioning phase, but I was too attached to my long hair to cut it off. One day I realized that it wasn’t worth it. It wasn’t worth struggling to do my hair, and walking around with big roots and straggly ends just to hold onto a little length. It’s just hair, and it’ll grow back. I cut off about 10 inches of relaxed ends and I currently have 4-5 inches of natural hair.

Let me just say the experience was not what I was expecting at all. I had already resigned to the fact that I would hate it, but I told myself I would just get over it. I thought I would cry about losing my long hair and hate my new short hair. But I was sooo wrong. I know it hasn’t been that long, but so far a week has passed and I haven’t had any regrets. I feel like it was the best decision for. I don’t always like seeing short hair on me, but I absolutely LOVE being natural. I love that I can actually run a comb through my hair when I wash it, or twist it and actually have the ends stay twisted instead unraveling. I love that my hair is all the same texture, and I don’t have to fight with it to make try to make the roots match the ends. I love that I’m seeing my natural hair for the first time in 9 years, and I’m actually able to enjoy it.

Everyday won’t be perfect, and I know struggles and bad hair days will come. But I’m willing to accept the bad with the good. Ultimately, I’m happy with my decision, and I can’t wait to see what the future holds for me and my hair. 🙂

 

My First Twistout

That I later pulled into a puff

 

 

The Ultimate Transitioning Style

A flat twist out has been my go to style for a little while now. It takes about an hour and a half to do and usually lasts me the whole week. This is day two hair pictured here. I’m really ready to take a break from wearing my hair out all the time though. It took a month, but my wig has finally been shipped out to me. Hopefully I’ll get it within a week, and I can protective style for the next month.

My First Lace Front Wig

Gahhh I’m so excited. I’ve been contemplating getting a wig forever, because I think they’d be the perfect protective style for me. I would get full coverage of my hair, and it would still be easily accessible if I wanted to wash or moisturize it. Anyway, because of the cost I always admired a lot of wigs, but in the end I would never buy them. I was also worried about it looking too  fake or “wiggy”. Well today I finally took the plunge. I placed my order for a 12 inch Italian yaki lace front wig from aliexpress.com. Both the seller and the unit got very good reviews. I also looked up other Indian yaki texture wigs on YouTube, and every last one of them looked so natural. So now that I’ve placed my order, I have to wait for it to be processed and then shipped. the whole process shouldn’t take more than 2 weeks, but I’m hoping I get it sooner than that. 

I finally broke down and placed my order because the wig I chose seems like it will be so natural on me. From what I’ve seen the texture is really similar to African American hair, and the length is about the length of my hair now. Plus I’ve been itching to straighten my hair, so this should definitely satisfy me. Well, now I’m back off to YouTube to learn as much as I can about making it look natural (and taking care of my hair underneath of course) lol. Until next time, bye guys! 🙂

Quick and Easy

It’s finals week, and I barely have time to sleep much less worry about my hair. I was going to mini twist again so I didn’t have to style it everyday, but time was not on my side! I knew I would have to pull it back, but my hair won’t lay flat in a ponytail unless I’ve just washed it and I brush it back while it’s wet. I’d rather wait until I get home Friday to wash it, because the hard water here leaves my hair dry and tangled. So I went for a cute messy style instead. I threw in some big twists overnight for a little texture. Then I pulled it up (without brushing) for that messy look, and threw on a headband so the front didn’t look quite as puffy. I left a few pieces out near the front, partly to look messy, and partly because it wouldn’t stay back even with the headband lol. Those pieces are actually natural (eep! ^_^) so I just twirled them around my finger to get a curly look. And voila! A quick but cute ponytail.

 

It’s not the best style, but hey, it’s finals week. I deserve some credit for not letting it go wild like it was lol 🙂

My Faux TWA & Things I Learned in Less Than an Hour

As I’ve said many times, I’ve never had short hair. So one of the reasons I’m transitioning is to have a longer length to work with when I’m natural. But of course, I’m also a super anxious person (as my many test patches prove) and I’m just super curious how I would look with short natural hair. I was actually just messing around with my hair today. I pulled it all back and clipped it so I could play with the front, and when I looked in the mirror I realized “Hey, my hair kinda looks like a fro!” So, I put a little headband on just so I could take pictures and get an idea of how I might look when I cut my hair. Obviously it’s not perfectly accurate, but like I said, I just wanted to get an idea.

 

If you see random pieces, those are the test patches I cut..I have about 8 or so now (I know I’m getting too scissor happy lol). So on the bright side, I don’t look as bad as I thought I would with short hair, but if I actually cut my hair, it would take some getting used to.

On another note, I learned some things about my hair today. My hair usually feels rough, dry, and really hard to comb while I’ve been transitioning (when it’s dry, not when it’s wet). But the test patches I cut are sooo soft and easy to manage whether wet or dry. I don’t know if it’s because they are only small patches or if the relaxed hair is making my new growth feel drier than it really is. I’ve also learned that I seem to have thick but fine hair. Thickness refers to the amount of hairs or density, so in other words I have a lot of strands in any given area of my head. Fine (vs coarse) refers to the thickness of single strands of hair. So if you plucked just one strand of hair from your head, you could assess if it is fine or coarse. Because my transitioning hair feels so rough and dry all the time, I just assumed it was thick and coarse. But after cutting it, I realize it is medium-thick and fine.

And the final thing I learned is that I have multi-textured hair. I know this is common in most naturals, but after looking at my hair in sections I see that I have different curl patterns and textures in almost every section. I have textures ranging from fine to coarse (mostly fine) and patterns ranging from 3c-4c. I couldn’t get a really clear picture, but the one I have posted is a the best example I could get. You can see that the short hairs in front of the bow are sort of separated. The bottom part is 3c that curls up into ringlets when wet, and stays that way if I don’t mess with it. The hair right above it, however, seems to be more 4c. It has almost no definition when wet or dry, and would have been much more shrunken if I hadn’t twisted it before I took it a loose. The patches around the rest of my head are all different patterns as well. I’m not sure how this will affect my styling, but I guess I’ll find out.

Well, I’ve learned enough to feel productive for the day, so that’s all for now. Thanks for reading 🙂

Conflict & Test Patches

I have gotten so anxious lately about cutting my hair. These relaxed ends are driving me crazy, and I just want to see my natural hair already. So, while I was prepping my hair for a shampoo, my hands found the scissors on my desk, and I cut a test patch. And then another, and then another. They’re all small, and mostly inconspicuous, but I couldn’t believe I had just done it. It’s such a crazy moment to see those relaxed ends leave, and my natural hair finally curl up on the ends. It was very tempting to keep going….

BUT I’ve only transitioned for 6 months. My hair is only 3 inches stretched, and I’m not sure if I’m mentally prepared to make such a drastic change. My goal is to make it to next May (a year) and have 5 to 6 inches of hair to work with. I’ve never had short hair..EVER, and I’m 95% certain I wouldn’t like short hair on me. My entire life (possibly excluding the baby years lol) I’ve had long hair. I’ve dealt with insecurities my whole life, but one thing I’ve always loved about myself is my hair. So, this is kinda a big deal to me.

I want to be confident, I want to love me for who I am, no matter what my hair looks like. But I’m scared. I’m scared that I won’t like it, and that it will show. I’m scared of others looking at me crazy. I wish I could have that “I don’t care what you think” attitude. Sometimes, I pretend I do, but deep down, I know that I care. So, as much as I’m dying to chop off all of my relaxed hair right now, I just don’t think I’m ready. Who knows, maybe I’ll have a change of heart and cut it tomorrow, or maybe I’ll make it to May after all. Either way, I just want to enjoy my hair journey, and love my hair, whatever point I’m at.

I DON’T CARE ABOUT MY FRIZZY HAIR!

Just finger detangled a braid out, and I couldn’t help but take pictures. It’s all messy & frizzy & poofy but I just love it! Big hair is really addicting lol

It’s Growing :D

My hair is growing! I know, I know, that’s what hair is supposed to do, duh. But my transition has made me extra paranoid about my hair. I feel like months pass by and I don’t see any new growth. It’s there of course, but checking the length every week isn’t going to show me  a noticeable difference. Since I’ve been protective styling with my mini twists, I’ve been able to leave my hair alone, and stop obsessing over it so much. And what do you know, almost 4 weeks later I can actually tell a difference in my hair. Please enjoy these photos of me happily doing an unofficial length check with my webcam lol 🙂

My new growth stretched and unstretched after taking down my twists.

Full Circle

I got my first relaxer roughly 7 years ago; I remember it well. I was so excited to finally have long straight hair, and not have to wear my “little kid styles” anymore. If you had told me I’d ever be going back natural, I would’ve looked at you crazy! Yet here I am 7 years later transitioning. I was looking at old pictures, and I couldn’t help but to laugh at the irony. 

 

After everything I went through, here I am today wearing the exact same style that I deemed childish. Longing to get back to where I was.

 

I’m happy to be on my hair journey, though; happy to be getting to know my natural hair again. I think I’ve learned a lot, especially when it comes to patience. 

Oh, and I almost forgot, my tentative big chop date is May 10, 2014, my one year transitioning anniversary! This date is not set in stone, but I’m definitely leaning more towards it than anything else. I’ve been getting a little more anxious to cut my hair, but I just want a little more growth before I take the plunge. I definitely don’t want to drag this transition out too long either, so one year seems good to me. I should be back home from school by then, and I’ll have the summer to get used to my hair 🙂

That’s all for now, thanks for reading! 

 

Protective Styling

I’ve decided to start protective styling since its getting cold. I’m more into styles that I can do myself, and still take down as often as I want. Two styles I’d like to give a try are going to be two strand twists and wigs. I installed two strand twists on my hair on Friday, after washing it Thursday.

 

 

At first I didn’t like them because they’re so thin, but now I don’t mind. For one, seeing that thin relaxed hair is just giving me more encouragement to continue my transition. I can’t wait for my twists to be nice and thick when I’m natural. Plus, the only way for them to look thicker would have been to add hair, and I don’t really like extensions. I like to be able to get to and feel my real hair. I won’t mind taking these down in two weeks, but it would probably feel like a waste with extensions. So, I’m just going to flexi rod the ends, and put the twists in some nice updos. It’ll help me keep my hands out of my hair, and I won’t have to comb and brush it as much. 

Again, since I don’t like extensions, I’ve decided against weave. But, i really want to try a wig. I can take it off at night to let my hair breathe, and still wash my hair weekly if I want. I’m thinking of a straight bob style wig. I’m not trying to go all out and experiment with colors or long hair. I figure a simple one that just looks like a trimmed my real hair would look nice, and not draw too much attention. I really like this one from aliexpress: http://www.aliexpress.com/item/hot-best-quality-cheap-price-12-1b-remy-indian-virgin-precut-bob-lace-front-glueless-wig/891999362.html . So i may order it soon (after a trip to the bss to check the quality of their wigs).

Can’t wait to go on youtube and check out some more protective styles. Thanks for reading! 🙂