And Now for Something Completely Unrelated…My Journey Back to Natural

So, I’ve wanted to expand the subject matter of this blog to cover various aspects of my life because…well, life is what inspires my art. My life, the lives of others. I’m on so many incredible journeys right now, and I want to share them because you’ll see the influences in my artwork. So with that said, I have a confession to make.

I’m not natural.

And NO, it’s not what you’re thinking, haha.

I’m currently transitioning from relaxed hair to natural hair. I started the journey for the second time around my birthday last year in October, and so far, I’ve enjoying the process. Well, sorta.

Let me give a brief explanation of what going “natural” means. Simply put, I’m no longer using relaxers to make my naturally thick and curly hair bone straight. The motivation for it was out of the desire of convenience. I was working out at the gym three times a week, getting all sweaty, and in turn my hair would start to get all wavy and kinky. I’d then have to wash it again, take yet another hour to blow it out straight, and then style it. And let me tell you, this was TORTURE to someone who hated holding a blow dryer to her scalp once a week, let alone three or more. I figured if I went natural, I could just do the wash and go thing.  But eventually, embracing my natural started to become less about maintenance, and more about embracing myself and what God gave me. My hair was always long and thick, from the time I was a child:

NOTE: please excuse the quality of the pic, it’s a picture of a picture. Also please excuse my dorky pigtails . Anyway, when I was around ten, I begged my mother to let me get a relaxer. It was around the age most of my African American girl friends were getting them, if not had already had them for years. I loved how bouncy and shiny and long and straight their hair was, and I wanted the same. My mom refused for a long time before she finally gave in, and I got my first relaxer. And let me tell you, the experience was AWFUL. I still wince at the memory of the searing pain on my scalp as the stylist spread the cream onto my head. But after about two hours of the smell of chemicals, shampoos, hooded dryers and hot combs, I walked out of the salon with long bouncy shiny hair. And that’s how I wore it for most of my life.

 My hair’s been through so many different stages. It’s been dyed and fried, cut above my shoulders and hanging down my back. I’ve had bangs and braids and flat twists, trying to find a style that suited me, but I could never find exactly what I wanted. Nothing ever seened to say “me.” Plus over the years, my hair started to get more and more unhealthy. There was a point where chunks of it was coming out, and I lost massive amounts of it by simply combing it. And let’s not even talk about the sheer torture of just getting the relaxer every three months. I hated that smell, that burn, the whole process, and asked myself WHY I was doing this. Oh  yeah, that pesky New Grow! Can’t let what’s naturally growing out of my scalp show, right? So. Over. It.

So, I’m currently in the “transitioning” stage, which basically means I’ve stopped relaxing my hair, and the relaxed part of my hair is growing out. Contrary to popular belief, you CANNOT wash out a relaxer. The chemicals permanently break the hair shaft that makes it curly or kinky, and it stays that way. The only way to go truly natural is to cut it all off. Now, though I admire the women that can confidently sport a TWA(Teeny Weeny Afro), I am just not one of them. The idea of only having 3 inches of hair on my head freaks me out. So I’ve found ways to work the two textures into one, so it looks like they are similar. One of my favorites is using soft rollers in my hair, wrapping my damp and deep conditioned hair in them, covering them with satin cap, and unraveling them in the morning:

But recently, I’ve discovered that my hair absolutely loves extra virgin olive oil, and just a few spritzes of my homemade setting concoction of water, my usual conditioner, and some EVOO in a spray bottle will make my hair curl and wave onto itself and be all pretty and shiny and curly:

It’s a mystery to me as to why this happens, seeing how I have yet to cut the relaxed ends off of my hair, and won’t be for awhile. My plan is to just clip off inches as it grows, until it’s at a length I’m comfy with, or all the relaxed ends are gone, whichever comes first. There are a few straight parts here in there in my hair, but for the most part my hair curls just fine on its own with just a few scrunches while its damp. I consider myself lucky for that, because then I don’t have to mess with too many DIY transitioning styles like straw sets and roller sets and all that. I suck at that type of stuff. Simple and easy is the way I like to do things.  Maybe it’s my hair’s way of telling me that I should’ve taken this path to begin with.

There have been a lot of ups and downs with this natural journey. I get a lot of compliments on my curly hair. I mean A LOT.  Even from random strangers. I remember when I used to work at a paint-your-own-pottery studio, I was leaning over filling up paint for a little girl, when she shyly said to me, “I like your hair, it’s really pretty.” Heart melting. People tell me it suits my face and makes me look younger and brighter, and one of my coworkers would call me “pretty island girl.” And people seem to be the most amazed when they actually touch my hair, raving about how unbelievably soft it is. It makes me proud and confident that I made the right decision by doing this. Going natural has also encouraged me to be more conscious about what goes into my body and how I take care of it. I’ve started eating more organic foods, using natural products, becoming more athletic, drinking more water, and generally taking better care of myself. And going natural has inspired me artistically. The first painting of the “Black Beauty” series that I’m working on, “Hair” was inspired by the beautiful versatility of African American hair:

  But it’s also been a challenging journey. This is actually the second time I’ve attempted going natural; the first time I ended up relaxing it because I just didn’t know how to deal with it. When you’re so used to styling and dealing with a certain way, it’s hard to completely switch it up. I think that’s what scares most Black women about going natural. But I’m determined to stick to this, and be completely natural by the time I’m 30. And seeing how I’m going to be 29 on my next birthday, it was high time to get started.

So that’s the what-what on my personal natural hair journey. This is by no means going to turn into that type of blog. There are plenty of others out there that focus more on product reviews, styling tips, the stigma of kinky-curly hair in both White and Black society. and the like. I’m not interested in going down that road, at least not all of the time. I just wanted to share yet another path that I’m on that inspires me and enlightens me creatively and otherwise. So as always, thanks for coming along for the ride.

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