BYE PERM, HELLO NATURAL

Growing up, I remember getting my hair done was the worst. I had thick hair and was extremely tender headed. It was always a struggle when it was time for me to get my hair done. I hated it. 

One summer, while I was spending time with my grandma, my aunt took me to a hair salon and I received my first perm. I remember that day like it was yesterday. I remember sitting in the chair with white stuff in my hair and my scalp burning like crazy! I didn’t enjoy the burning, but the results after the perm was something I had never experienced before. My hair was so long and easy to comb—it was the best day ever.

Fast forward a couple of years and my hair wasn’t as long as it was when I first got a perm and it wasn’t as thick either. Going natural was something that seemed like a lot of work and for me, having straight hair was beautiful. I didn’t grow up around ladies who had curly hair like mine. I didn’t think having curly hair was going to be beautiful because curly hair was considered nappy, and I didn’t want to have nappy hair. 

In 2010, my sister went natural and it was weird seeing her roots really puffy and her ends super straight. She didn’t let that stop her journey. She kept on growing her hair out and it was so beautiful. She encouraged me to finally go natural and I did in 2011. It wasn’t easy. 

At first, when my hair started growing out, I would go to the salon and get it straightened. I did this for the first couple of months of me being natural. But over time I realized how damaging that was for my hair and stopped going to the salon. 

Today my hair is healthy and has grown so much since I first went natural. This natural hair journey has shown me that care, time and love will help anything flourish.  I’ve not only learned how to care for my hair, but I’ve also learned how to style my hair. I try to only straighten my hair twice in a year, and in between I focus on doing protective styling and some of my favorite natural styles. My favorite protective style to do at the moment are knotless braids and my favorite natural style to do is a curly braid-out. I hope you enjoyed my natural hair story and it encourages you to either start or keep pushing in yours. 

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Aly J