No judgements allowed. This is me without make-up. No contact lenses. Nada

A little diary entry about the annoying black woman chip (on her shoulder); My hair. I tell you some tips on how to stay sane on your first “natural”, “Relaxer free”, “rebonding free” year…

Learning to embrace all things natural, should not be revolutionary, it should be natural. Right? Well, not so much for me… Re-learning to love what comes out of my scalp, un-chemically treated has been so challenging. I pretty much have only 2 hairstyles in my repetoire, and I’m trying to find more, but besides an afro, I have nothing to work with.

I have been natural, no relaxer for about a year now, and it’s been one existential crisis after another. At one point I toyed with the idea of going bald (With my head shape? Hell no!), or rebonding the lot. My sister (who’s been natural for two years), just told me to stay strong, and go easy on it. Those could not have been wiser words…

My tips on surviving the first year, and the “awkard”, “I’m so ugly” phase?

1. Don’t compare your curls to other girls.
2. Don’t compare your length to other girls who are natural.
3. BC (Big Chop) is not a neccesity, I didn’t do it, because I knew it would be too traumatic for me to go from mid back length hair, to a 5cm afro.
4. Research and find someone with a similar hair texture to you, who is where you want to be lengthwise (on Youtube), and look at their hair care tutorials.
5. Smile. Every day is a learning experience, since there’s no guide-book on the journey that you are undertaking.