KEEP IT CURLY, CURLY QUEENS

Hi! My name is Erica! I’m 20 years old! 

& my hair, ah, where do I begin? Let’s go back to the beginning...

I was born with a head full of hair. It was very silky when I was child but as I grew, it grew. A lot! To the point where it was all the way down my back when stretched out. & very thick. A LOT OF WORK. For my mother. Up until I was ten, we had fought & wrestled with each other over doing my hair, trying to find the right products for my hair, managing my hair. & it was just frustrating! I wanted to be able to do my own & I tried for like two weeks. It got super tangled, haha, because I did not know what I was doing. My mom has a relaxer & she suggested I try that. At that point, I was just ready to be done with sitting on the floor for an hour for her to brush & braid my hair up. I dreamed of wearing my hair in a ponytail but I always thought my hair was too thick. So I agreed. I went & got a relaxer & for a while I was happy. I could finally wear my hair out. & finally wear it in a pony tail. Everything was good, right?! Until I started noticing the breakage. My waist length hair had found its way to just past my shoulders. 

What happened?! A mistake! A mess! I became very upset & I knew I didn’t want to relax my hair anymore. I started doing A LOT of research about going natural & taking care of naturally curly hair. I was reading a lot about the infamous “big chop” but we, as Apostolics, don’t cut our hair. So that was our hmm, was there a way I could get my curly hair back without cutting all the relaxed hair off? I found this blog by this Apostolic lady who had a relaxer & successfully grown it out without cutting it. & her hair was beautiful! I decided that I was to grow out my relaxer. I read her blog ALL THE TIME. I followed all her tips & tricks. I became a huge product junkie (lol) and I was going to find what worked for my hair. & it was a tedious process, let me tell you! It definitely made me put my confidence in God & who I am and not my hair, because my head was a HOT MESS. It got to the point where half of it was curly & half of it was straight & it was so annoying & ugly & I was so frustrated. But I kept at it. Moisturizing & putting it up in a bun on repeat, day in & day out.

Fast forward 3 & 1/2 years later, I had completely grown out all the relaxed hair & my natural curls were doing oh so lovely. My hair grew back much thinner than before, which I was a little upset about at first, but I was also just glad to have a head full of completed curls again with no stringy ends.

For a long time, I wore my hair in a bun all the time. I didn’t know how to wear it down. I didn’t think it looked very good down. I didn’t know what products were good to help with the “puffiness.” & then one day I decided to start embracing it! After all, this is what I had worked so hard for, for the last few years. At last, I had the perfect products for my hair, the perfect routine, everything was great! My hair was great! So another couple years ago back, to last year, & I got lazy haha. I wasn’t deep conditioning as often. I wasn’t moisturizing or protecting my hair as I was before. I had gotten to a comfortable place in my hair journey; I started slacking & boy that caught up with me. I noticed a difference in the health of my hair & curls, so at the beginning of this year, 2020, I decided I was going to get my hair back together. I was going to start back at my roots with the moisturizing, oiling my scalp, & wearing it in a bun during the week and down or in a ponytail just when I went to church or out with friends. I mean after all, I work with kids all day long, so I really don’t need my hair down. It can stay protected in a bun during the day. So this past week, I wore it down to church & it was the absolutely best hair day I’ve had in a long time. 

My hair is beginning to flourish again! I’m back on a good moisture/condition routine & I am definitely seeing a good difference. So that’s my hair up to today. I’m just going to keep this up. & maybe one day my hair will be back to the way it was way back when, before I got a relaxer. It’s probably my biggest regret haha but we live & learn. Our hair is a journey just like anything else. We have setbacks. & we keep going. Drink your water! Take your multivitamins. Oil that scalp & moisturize those ends. & keep it curly, curly queens!