No Worries For Tomorrow

“T​ake therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.” Matthew 6:34

At the tender age of 16 years old, I had made the decision to avoid putting heat and chemicals in my hair to start the journey of being natural. During this time, I had been getting relaxers every 6 months for at least 10 years. I was inspired by the natural hair movement that had started in 2013 and I was also inspired by my best friend at the time.

During this time of my life, like every other rookie in the natural hair community, I did a lot of experimentation and research on almost anything related to natural hair. My mother, aunts, or grandmothers didn’t have any knowledge about being natural or avoiding heat. So I embraced this new journey on my own. I remember typing “ How To Maintain A Twist Out” in Youtube’s search box with coconut oil and Cantu’s Curling Cream residue on my fingers. I also remember seeing the natural hair chart, that listed pictures and facts about all the hair types from 2a to 4c. I recall hoping and praying that my hair would grow out to be 3b or 3c because it was “prettier” in my eyes and “easier” to maintain. I had been taught to believe that hair in the “3” category was the “best” hair to have. I constantly worried about what hair type my curls would resemble after I would finally decide to big chop.

Fast forwarding into my freshman year of college at the age of 18 years old, my hair was brittle, dry, and damaged from a relaxer that I had gotten for my senior prom. I was in the middle of transitioning for about a year and had decided to get a relaxer so I would be able to wear a sew-in for prom and graduation. On December 7th, 2017, I was in my bathroom and had recorded a video of myself saying “ This is what my hair looks like right now.. I’m going to go this whole entire winter without using heat, not even blow drying!” When I started my real natural hair journey, I was no longer worried about what my curls would look like or if it was “good hair,” I was more concerned about health and getting rid of my relaxed ends. As the months went by, I did protective styles, protein treatments, and learned how to create a solid hair regimen. Then in May of 2018, I finally decided to trim my relaxed ends, which led to an unplanned big chop. Being embarrassed of the T.W.A (​Teeny Weeny Afro) I had, I learned how to do box braids and installed them myself. Later came August, and I decided to take down my braids. After washing my hair and applying a deep conditioner, I had finally seen my curls in it’s true form, and I was ecstatic! While looking at my curls I wasn’t worried about the type or length I was just filled with joy to see that they were healthy and all my hard work paid off!

I say all this to say don’t worry about what your life looks like compared to others and don’t allow anyone to tell you what your future is going to look like! God has a plan for every single one of us and all of our journeys are going to be different. Regardless of what your journey may look like, God doesn’t want you to worry about tomorrow, he wants you to focus on him and the present moment that you have today.

Stay rad curly queens and Stay blessed!

- Jasmine Charee (@jasmine.charee)