Going Natural (MY NATURAL HAIR JOURNEY) part 1

        "show me a man who's in love with your naturals and I will tell you how much of a keeper he is..."
                                                    Ndifreke Bassey

           Hey ya, Thanks for stopping by. This is my first post and am pretty excited. It took me a whole lot to finally decide and to put everything in place. But finally, here I am. It's fun and stressful but I have to keep going. It's the best thing that happened since sliced bread!!!.
          Today, it's all about going Natural. Many years ago, every lady carried a natural hair. They enjoyed grooming the afro. It was fun because they knew nothing about adding chemicals or anything to the hair until technology creped in. Research has it that they carried the most healthy hair.
            This post is all about my experiences while going natural. From Day one till date...
First things first, I want you to know that pretty is beauty. Natural or not... Your beautiful the way you are. Going natural is not all about staying off weaves or attachment as people sometimes perceive it to be. It is letting your relaxed hair grow out... It's so beautiful because it helps you feel your real hair texture as it grows. Just because your natural doesn't mean you ain't fashionable or that your anti social. It's just your way of showing how much you appreciate the natural beauty. Okay??? And please, please and please let's stop associating a lady going natural to a particular religion. No religion created the idea. Our fore father's (mothers) did.
           Why did I decide to go natural?  What motivated me? This is one decision that kept going on in my mind for too long. I never really liked the idea of a natural hair because I actually thought it wasn't that easy to be maintained (in a way, that's true). In 2014,i went BC (big chop), my intention wasn't to go natural. I just wanted to be on a constant low cut. After three months of regret, I decided to let it grow naturally. Once in a while, I had a protective cover but I had no idea how to care for it... MIND YOU BACK THEN, I WASN'T DOING IT FOR THE LOVE OF NATURALS, I JUST HATED THE FEEL OF RELAXERS ON MY HAIR...

             2016!!! I decided to transition... I cried. It was a painful decision, one that cost me a lot but my mind was already made up. I needed a healthy hair.

MARCH 2016 : my hair wasn't healthy or so I thought. That's the more reason I transitioned. I asked questions, went online, digged deep, interviewed beauticians... They were all talking about BC or transitioning. Big chop? No way. That send chills down my spine. I figured out I wasn't ready to take out all the hair off my head. Sounded weird and definitely would look weird... So, Transition it was. I trimmed one quarter of the hair around March and I got stuck. Didn't know what to do with it after that and I trimmed it quite low and they didn't seem to be equal. The front seamed to be longer and fuller than the back hair. (I trimmed it myself tho). I was now on a low cut but a Lil bit fuller than the big chop... Now, the only thing I knew at that level was to comb my hair with a moisturizer (moisturizer is water and not chemicals)  every morning. I couldn't think of any special treatment to add or neither did I have any idea on what protective style to rock. I just carried the hair that way, combed it with water (sometimes).. Like I said, I had no idea on what to do after transitioning.... Was this what it was all about??? I guess not.

APRIL 2016: I did something very funny. I was worried sick about my hair. I looked more like a high school girl on my low cut. Since I knew nothing, I did what I thought was the right thing. I applied activator ( a gel like moisture to make the hair curl) to my hair every morning. I killed it. All my wasted efforts gone. I had to trim again. 

I decided to change my shampoo, conditioner etc. That's when l heard about dudu osun. I had heard it was very nutritive considering the fact that it contains natural ingredients (pure honey). That became my shampoo... #IKR.
I usually left it in a Jar with some water, I didn't just apply the bar to my hair... Pls, don't do that. As for conditioning, I used the normal ones from the market. Wasn't sure what's best. I then discovered a method of oiling my hair every morning with olive oil aka anointing oil. Mind you, there are many other hair oils in the market like the Jamaican castor oil, avocado oil, jojoba oil etc... Olive oil was the cheapest during this time. I was totally inexperienced.
At this point, I still didn't know that I wasn't necessarily expected to carry my low cut around except I wanted to. You could either get a wig or get your braids done. I seriously thought I wasn't expected to even do anything with the hair apart from changing the procedures of washing it... How did I expect it to grow? It's a natural hair right? So, let it grow naturally. So, I thought. I got tired. Wake up...apply water...Comb, every blessed day. It's annoying (it was). And I had a serious problem, really really serious. Whenever I woke up, the back of my hair was always flat. It was really bad because I had a hard time combing it out in the morning. It was always so hard, sometimes even applying water didn't help. And I had no idea the kind of suitable head covering to use at night.... I decided to know what to do and what to avoid
N/B: if you need help, never hesitate to ask for help, share your problems and experiences. Don't die in silence.

MAY 2016: I upgraded. On a few things tho. I started using protective covers..

I started washing the hair every two weeks. I drafted a plan for that. I discovered healthy protein treatment for my hair using natural ingredients like raw eggs. (will create a post on that).
I still had a problem with how to sleep at night without waking with a flat hair. But I made it easier using a scarf wrapped round the hair. I don't recommend using hair net at night. Either hair bonnet or a scarf tied round the hair from the back is cool. I was now satisfied. Not only was it perfect (partially), it was equally soft. I enjoyed running my hand through the hair feeling the texture... Just when I thought I had reached my bus stop, I discovered perm rods. Am so in love with the transformation it gives to the hair...

Am a very curious person, I won't stop till my hunger on how to move my hair to the next level is satisfied... This journey is just beginning. Feel free to comment, contribute and ask questions.

                                                         With love.

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