One Year Natural

A year ago today, I stood in front of my bathroom mirror with a pair of scissors and began to cut all my hair off. The goal was to cut off all the chemically relaxed (straightened) hair and begin to embrace my natural hair.
I wasn't quite sure what I was doing at the time and there were a lot of mixed emotions... I was also 6 months pregnant with Baby J so maybe my hormones played a role... Looking back, I am very happy about my decision. I have absolutely no regrets!

I've learned so much about my hair (and still learning). I love being able to take care of it myself. I am also glad I took pictures because now I can look back and see my progress. I am absolutely loving this journey and I'm looking forward to experimenting more with my hair.
In a later post I will share some of the things I've learned so far, and hopefully it will be helpful to anyone out there who might be curious...

The only thing about my hair is... it shrinks like CRAZY. It is so tightly curled that you can't see the true length of it.

Natural Hair Confession

A few weeks ago during the beginning of the internet meme craze, I stumbled upon a Natural Hair meme.

When I first saw this picture I thought that "what we want" and "what we have" don't look very different to me. I would consider both to be legitimate hair styles that took time and effort to achieve.


What really caught my attention though was "what society sees". At first I thought to myself, "yes, that's definitely true". So I decided to post the picture in the Canadian Naturals Facebook group that I created, to see if anyone else saw what I saw.


There were a few comments, but the one that caught my attention was from my dear husband... He wrote:

"I don't see black hair as 'what society sees'. But is it fair to say that if this is generally 'what society sees', it may be a self fulfilled proficiency, caused by black women not embracing the true beauty of their hair?"

I read his comment over and over again and I had nothing to say because... he was right. I didn't know how to respond... So I simply clicked "Like".

Since I began my natural hair journey, I have been lucky enough that I have not experienced any negativity from anyone outside my family about my hair. I do get the occasional question from my mom, "are you going to get your hair done?" (after I've spent 30 minutes doing it...) But otherwise, I can honestly say that once my friends, co-workers, and my husband got over the initial shock of my baldness, the comments have been positive... Unless someone is too scared to say something (which is fine with me too).

But then if that's the case, what would make me automatically think "yes, that's definitely true" about the image of "what society sees". After thinking about it carefully, with the motivation of my husband's comment, I came to the realization that it's because this is how I used to see my own natural hair. I never thought of my natural hair as beautiful... Frankly I never really thought about my natural hair at all except when it was time to get it chemically straightened. Growing up that was just what you did... "getting your hair done" usually meant getting it chemically straightened, then followed with whichever hairstyle you chose, so I never had the chance to really deal with my natural hair until now.

So I guess the picture for "what society sees" is true, but who is the "society" referring to? I believe we are guilty, or at least I can say I was, in that because I thought this of my own natural hair, I thought this must be what others were thinking as well.

TWA in the workplace

So what is a TWA you ask? Teeny Weeny Afro! That is the classification of my hair at the length that it is at right now. Although I think I will be past that stage very soon because I am almost able to put my hair into a ponytail now... MILESTONE!!

Anyway... That's not the point of this post.

A few weeks ago I received a message from a fellow 'Nuturalista' asking me about styling options for her TWA for work. She was bored of wearing her hair in just the Afro and wanted something "more professional".

Around the same time, there was a lot of discussion in the natural hair forums that I frequent, about how much trouble some women were having in the workplace with their natural hair. There were some that even suggested that natural hair is not professional (huh?). Some women said that they wear wigs to work in order to look more presentable.

My take on this? It's not just your hair that makes you look professional or presentable. If you don't look like you put any effort into your entire appearance, it won't matter if your hair is natural, relaxed, twisted, straight, long, short, whatever!

Also, if you don't have confidence within yourself to know that you are beautiful with your hair the way it is, it will show... and this will just open the door for ignorant people to add their unnecessary commentary. But that's just my opinion.

So... I was inspired to go through a week and style my hair the way I would to work (yes I have actually worn ALL these styles to work before). By doing this I hope to inspire those who are either bored with their TWA, or simply just want new styling options.

Video tutorials are also available if you click the captions... Hope you enjoy!

Monday

Tuesday

Wednesday

Thursday

Friday

my earring obsession

Back in March 2011 when I cut my hair and decided I wasn't going to put any more chemical relaxers in my hair, I found a new love for earrings. It started because I was trying to find ways to feel more feminine with my short hair.

Now its not even about my hair anymore... I'm just obsessed with earrings... big, bright, long... I just love them!

I think there are worse things I could be obsessed with so... I don't feel bad :)