Naturally Hooked

Today is my 10 week Nappyversary . I am so excited and still going strong with this transitioning process. I decided to celebrate small accomplishments during this process to help keep me pumped. People have said that this journey is not just physical but emotional as well and i didn't really but into it at first. However, I have seen a change in myself even in this short amount of time.   I am thoroughly enjoying taking care of myself in this way. I think I spend a lot of time taking care of others (its the nature of my profession) and letting myown needs fall at the waist sides. This process has allowed me regular chunks of time to just breathe, to not have to worry about life’s everyday stressors, and to truly take care of me mentally and physically. When I wash or co wash my hair I turn on some music and get in the shower and just enjoy the solitude for as long as I need the break. Additionally, since is have cut my hair and my face is more prominent so I am taking be...

The Bantu Knot out has become one of my staple protective hairstyles. It is a great style for relaxed or natural hair if you are looking to try something new and like curls, but do not want to deal with rods, straw sets, or the hairdryer. This hairstyle works with almost all hair lengths as well. This hairstyle can be done on wet, damp or dry hair. My personal recommendation is to only do this style on dry or damp/almost dry hair. I attempted this style on wet hair and even after a day of hair drying and an hour under the hair dryer it still wasn't dry and the outcome was frizzy and so not cute. I ended up brushing my hair into my trusty bun. Here’s how to create this easy and versatile hairstyle: Step 1: Wash, and dry hair . (I typically air dry to avoid the heat damage). Step 2: Part the hair . Begin to make parts in the hair. (I don’t like to make my parts too defined so that the curls or waves don’t look so manufactured). Use smaller sections for shorter hair (around ½...

This is kind of late, but I wanted to tell the story of what I am calling my medium chop . It’s not technically a big chop since I still have a lot of relaxed ends left, but I cut so much hair off (the shortest I have ever had it) that I felt it deserved some sort of title. You may not know this but since moving to Tennessee 5 years ago I have not been able to find anyone to do my hair on a regular basis and have been doing it myself. This is not really a big deal as I have mostly done my hair myself since leaving M obile with a few trips to salons here and there sprinkled in. Whenever I have needed any professional tips or consults I just called my Aunt-in-law, who is a stylist, or my hairdresser from Mobile. I really did not know of any shops in my area that did African American hair and most of the people I know go somewhere in Nashville or do their own hair like me. When I decided to go natural, I began looking for stylist that worked with natural hair. Since I am so new to this I...

OK so as promised in my last post I am giving you guys a glossary of natural hair jargon. Like I said it’s like a whole new language that you have to learn. I figured this would be helpful for you as you read my blog as well as any other natural hair sites you hopefully visit. This list is definitely not exhaustive just ones I could think of. If you see any abbreviations or phrases that you want to know about just send me a message and let me know. I will keep adding to this post as I see more words, phrases, and abbreviations. 3abc/4a/4b/4c- these are classes of hair types. With 1a being super straight and 4c being a tightly coiled or kinky as you get.   You will often see people refer to themselves by one of these classifications on hair forums. See link here to determine yours: What's my hair type? ALS   – Ammonium Lauryl Sulfate or Ammonium Laureth Sulfate. These are lathering agents in shampoo that can contribute to hair dryness, damage and hair loss. BAA -Big Ass ...

The Transition The first two weeks of this transition has been intense. It has involved a lot of reading, shopping for products and a new haircut (shorter than I have ever had). First of all there is so much to read and know if you plan on joining the online natural community. It is like speaking a whole new language. I think I will do a post later with all of the lingo, which I must say cracks me up. So, before you decide to go natural you have to decide “how” you want to go natural. Since there are no creams, pills, or shampoos that can reverse or remove a relaxer, you have only two choices… Transitioning- Growing the relaxer out, which means you live for months or years with the two textures and find interesting ways to manage them both, or The Big Chop- which means you cut off all of the relaxed hair immediately, usually leaving you with what is known as the TWA (Teeny Weeny Afro). I have of course decided to be a transitioner. Under this heading there are two different subtypes:...

Being a psychologist I will look at this whole process from a psychological perspective. I was thinking about how relaxing your hair is a lot like being addicted to a drug. Its something that once started is extremely hard to stop. You even have to go through the The Stages of Change that all addicts go through when deciding to kick the “creamy crack habit”. I’ll tell you a little more about that.  For most people, sobriety happens gradually, moving from being uninterested, unaware or unwilling to make a change (precontemplation phase), to considering a change (contemplation phase), to deciding and preparing to make a change. Genuine, determined action is then taken and the person attempts to maintain the new behavior (action phase). And finally, relapses are almost inevitable and become part of the process. This is exactly how my decision came to be. I went through the precontemplation phase for many years not even considering another option besides relaxing my hair. The next ph...

If these strands could talk, boy would they have some stories to tell. I’m sure they’d speak of the adventures they experienced since my childhood: the signature four plaits my mother gave me for most of my childhood (three on picture day at school); the kitchen perms that had to be done by two people (because my hair was so thick it was the only way to get through with it before my head caught on fire); the two times I lost hair from burns (once by my hand with a  blow dryer and once by a “professional hairdresser” and a crimping iron ); finally finding a good hairdresser that made my tresses healthy and  luxurious; then off to college I went, sans my trusty hairdresser,  trying new things and new styles and not really knowing how to take good care of my hair (i.e. more hair loss); and the hair color, Oh the hair color! I really do love the hair color (it was my real addiction). It was easy to keep offending my hair because, each time I did horrible things to take it out...