Why I went Natural

Why I went Natural

Dear Diary,

I wish I could say that I stopped straightening my hair after a bad experience with a relaxer or that I needed to after some profound spiritual journey.

The truth is…I had never seen my real hair texture.  When I tell people why I went natural I always get that sideways head nod and a “for real, never?”

This is how I got to thirty-seven without seeing my real kinks and curls:

I don’t remember being two and natural.

At three I got a “press” in the back of a fat ladies kitchen (it’s possible she wasn’t fat but I was tiny and she seemed huge standing over me with that hot comb).

Four still pressed.

When I was five I got a Jerry Curl. Yes, a Jerry curl…and I rocked it.

(Did I mention that my mom was a cosmetologist and had NO problems putting chemicals in my hair?)

So from seven to thirty-seven I had a relaxer. While my hair was relaxed I had: ponytails, fake ponytails, a pineapple, weaves, sister curls, braids, a Rio-the Brazilian relaxer crème that made all those ladies bald in the early 90’s, and lots of flat ironing.

I was trying to convince my 4/a daughter not to relax her hair when she asked, “What does your hair looks like without a relaxer?”   I thought for a second a bit frazzled, then I said, “It’s like an afro (that’s all I could think of) it’s very thick and I NEED a relaxer. It doesn’t matter, because you’ll never see it anyway.” At that moment I realized I had never seen it.

What did my hair look like without a relaxer?

Could I be the example my daughter needed to see?

With that question weighing on my mind, I realized my new weave stylist hadn’t been relaxing my hair between installations. Well, here’s my chance to see my real hair.  So after three installs I removed my weave, cut off seven inches of hair and met my new fro.  It was two inches tall, thick and in need of serious moisture. I couldn’t stop petting it.

My stylist’s other client said, “You act like you’ve never seen your real hair before.”

“I haven’t,” I replied.