For the most part of my life until recently, I resented my hair. It may come as a shock for people who know me really well. My close friends will tell you, I love, love hair, if not obsessed. But, it wasn't always the case. You see, my genes didn't do me justice. I swear if there was a way, I could rewrite my genes, trust me I would. Of course, with biology and genetic engineering, this is possible. Ok, I am not here to talk about genetics, that would be an exciting topic to discuss doh. Until I learnt to appreciate my hair and learn more about it in detail. I was always disappointed by how it just never grew the way I wanted it to.
I remember one time in fourth grade my hair attempted to be overgrowing. Then I had it relaxed. It made me proud because I was tired of envying my friends' hair growing. Then the winter season happened, and everything went left. "Oh my baby, your hair has always been a problem," my mother said as she braided it. I wanted to scream my lungs out, "Why is life so unfair!!!" Like, I had two brothers who inherited my mother's beautiful hair that grew really well. Here I was, my mother's only daughter struggling with my hair. It just never wanted to cooperate. I always complained the boys didn't need hair that grew that rapidly, they still will cut it after all. So yes, I grew up really annoyed at my hair. Name any product, I have tried on my hair. From Easy waves, Sofn'free, Dark & Lovely to Restore relaxers and hair products, I have tried. Don't get me wrong, for other people it works wonders for them. These are incredible hair products, but they were not for my hair. Of course, it may have been the way I applied them and more. I may have been impatient, but still, I was going through a dilemma that broke my little heart.
Moreover, I have delicate scalp which was never cooperative with relaxers. As soon as a relaxer was applied on my hair, my scalp would itch and next thing it is burning. I think the longest I have stayed with a relaxer was probably 25 minutes, which was a bad idea because my scalp was heavily damaged after that application. Starting to think about it, most often, my scalp would end up having wounds every time my hair was relaxed. On the rare cases, I escaped and jumped from the seat and have the relaxer washed off. My hair's growth came out looking at me straight in the eye. Personally, I will never tear down a woman for whatever hair type she chooses to adopt. That is her choice and if it makes her happy, so be it. Whether relaxed, natural, permed or dreadlocks, all hair is beautiful. So after a long time battling with maintaining my relaxed hair, I finally cut it off during my last year in high school.
Transitioning to natural hair was a bit scary at the beginning. I missed having longer hair than my then brush cut. I missed having to braid different hairstyles and sometimes cut it in a bob. Listen, my hair journey has been a frenzy. However, I don't regret anything at all about it. It taught me a lot about hair, and in the process, I learned to love my hair and henceforth, I sing along to Kelly Rowland's song "Crown".
It doesn't matter how I wear it.
It's beautiful in every colour.
Long, short, straight or curly
I love what I see in the mirror, yeah, yeah
My hair is definitely my crown. When my natural crown started taking shape. I was more than excited, ecstatic maybe. I remember seeing my curls popping immediately after I applied hair gel on my hair. That day I spent the longest time marveling at my hair. It is an unexplainable feeling, saying I was touched is to understate my emotions. To think nothing else would top that feeling, I dyed my hair maroon. This was the second time after 5 years. The first time I dyed my hair was when I cut it in a bob. Maroon is one of my favourite colours, you can imagine I was walking on cloud nine. My hair was growing impressively well as natural hair, which pleased me a lot. I wondered why I never transitioned sooner. After a year on natural, I don't know why I thought it would be an excellent idea for me to blow it out. Bad idea, I know. You would have thought I learned my lesson. My hair soon began to do what it does best, it broke too often, shrunk and stopped growing. Again, I was faced with making a tough decision, what do I do now? Do I cut my hair the second time? I was home for the Festive holidays from University. My mom had been growing her dreadlocks for the longest time, it had been years. Hair locs were so long, they reached her waist. Mind you, my mom is a tall woman, you understand then, they were very long. She had been lying on the sofa and her dreadlocks were stretched over the sofa arm and beautifully showing off their length.
"Mommy, can I have your dreadlocks," I asked. To my surprise, she agreed, and when I returned back to school in January 2019, I had now transitioned to dreadlocks. It was unexpected and the best decision ever. I fell madly in love with my beautiful locks. I couldn't wait to style them any way I felt. My mother had always styled hers really well, I guess you can say I inherited my love for hair from my mom. I have seen hair pictures growing up, and in her early twenties, she always experimented with different hairstyles. You can say I am that bold with my hair. Being a lover of hair, whenever I saw a hairstyle I loved, I was committed to doing it, no matter what. Along the lines, I began to style my friends' hair too in the process. I would fix my mom and sister's hair once in a while back home, but now I had made it my mission to make my friend's hair look beautiful. My dreadlocks have been growing ever since I had them installed, which screamed, my hair just loved being natural. I guess some people's hair is like that, it wants to be nurtured in its natural state.
Fast forward to this very moment I am writing this article since the lock down had begun. I had been contemplating a new hair journey for a while. I saw a lot of women in rocking short hair, and I wondered how I would look in short hair hairstyles. I began making a Pinterest board on styles I would like to try out. Hahaha, once again, a year later, I cut off my dreadlocks, and I am back to natural hair. Only this time, I don't want an Afro, I am letting it grow out so I can cut it and begin my next hair journey of styling short natural hair. I have always been bold about my hair, once I have convinced myself on a specific hairstyle, rest assured I will do it. I have come a long way with my hair, but one thing I can tell you. After having dried out different hairstyles and looks, I learned a lot about taking care and nourishing hair in those different looks and styles.
I love hair, I probably will return to my dreadlocks soon, I don't know. But at the end of the day, do what you want to do. If there is anything, COVID 19 has taught us, life is too short for procrastinating and postponing your thoughts, ideas and next move. Live in the moment and do it now.
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