Saturday, January 28, 2012
Some Average Black Girl: Things I Find Exponentially Overrated and Annoying...
Some Average Black Girl: Things I Find Exponentially Overrated and Annoying...: As I've mentioned before, I go on rants... A lot. MAC Cosmetics The MAC craze has been going on for about 2 or maybe 3 years now and quit...
My 2nd "Big Chop"
So in the beginning of this month (Jan. 2012) I decided to go to a professional to have my hair cut. For two years I hadn't been to a salon and this was major. This hair cut meant a lot to me, it will be the first time that I would be COMPLETELY natural with no premanent color on my strands. I knew that I was going to get my hair cut for months, I just had to prepare my myself mentally (lol) since I was attached to the length of my hair and prepare my hair.
When I say "prepare my hair" a lot was involved. Since May 2011 I have been weening myself from the flat iron (this has been hard) because for years I had been straightening my hair and I was ADDICTED smh. For healthier hair I wanted to reduce the amount of breakage so that when I got my 2nd big chop it would be too much. The stylist cut 3 inches away from my hair which was a little past my shoulder blade and at first I was hurting! I happened so fast smh. But over the weeks I have grown to love my new cut. I have been looking for new ways to wear my hair without heat or with little heat and I have been having fun. I have also noticed that my hair is growing back fast. My advice: Let go... of the flat iron, and look forward... to go getting healthier hair.
When I say "prepare my hair" a lot was involved. Since May 2011 I have been weening myself from the flat iron (this has been hard) because for years I had been straightening my hair and I was ADDICTED smh. For healthier hair I wanted to reduce the amount of breakage so that when I got my 2nd big chop it would be too much. The stylist cut 3 inches away from my hair which was a little past my shoulder blade and at first I was hurting! I happened so fast smh. But over the weeks I have grown to love my new cut. I have been looking for new ways to wear my hair without heat or with little heat and I have been having fun. I have also noticed that my hair is growing back fast. My advice: Let go... of the flat iron, and look forward... to go getting healthier hair.
How I accidently transitioned into the "Natural" world....
Back in the summer of 2005, I was about to turn 16 years old and my mother agreed to letting me permanently color my hair for the first time, I was ecstatic. I remember walking into the salon and smiling the whole time. I couldn't stop thinking about showing my friends my newly colored hair. Unfortunately I had a "rinse" applied maybe 6 months before, and the color didn't take like it should have. That bursted my bubble but I knew I was going to fix that eventually (boy was I wrong).
Three weeks before school started I realized that not only did I need a relaxer touch up but that my color was fading. I refused to go back to school without a refresh so I pressured my mom into letting me get my hair relaxed and colored. My mother had never colored her hair and she was 37 years old at the time, she also didn't need a relaxer because she has that "Spanish wavy" hair (lol). My mother eventually agreed to let me have the "three week atomic bomb" put on my hair. You might wonder why I call it that so listen up.
First she let me color my hair with the dark auburn that I was obsessed with and my hair did fine. Two weeks later she let me relax my hair and things went down hill from there. Immediately after relaxing my hair, I noticed something terribly wrong. While the relaxer was getting washed out of my hair, CHUNKS of hair were falling out. I have thick hair so I thought I would be ok, but nope. When I dried my hair more fell out and that's when I knew I had made a terrible mistake. In the months following there was more and more breakage and I stopped getting relaxers, but one thing I noticed has my original hair texture which was new to me since I had been getting relaxers since I was 8 years old. The constant breakage made me have a BIG CHOP done in December of 2005, and my hair that was once a little below my shoulder was now a Pixie cut. That style worked at the time since my ends were relaxed and the stylist relaxed my new growth, but I couldn't stop thinking about my original hair texture.
After debating the thought for three months, I told myself to stop getting relaxers and it was the best decision for my hair that I have ever made. I noticed that my hair didn't even need a relaxer to stay straight. Over the last 5 years I have colored my hair 4-5 times and have worn either a wash and go or straightened my hair. Not until the middle of 2011 I decided to inch more towards being natural which to me means, to stop permanently coloring my hair and to stop straightening it. This decision was influenced by the "natural hair" styling videos I have seen on YouTube like the ones by Taren(taren916) and Whitney (Naptural85). Another influence was from the "natural hair" blog sites like curlynikki.com and acurlsbf.com.
The natural hair community was been continuously growing over the years and I am so proud to be a part of it. Not only am I embracing my natural texture even more, but I find myself doing more styles. Another thing I have noticed is that I have been holding conversations with people that are new naturals, with people that are planning on going natural and with people who are just curious about this movement. Just the other day I fist bumped a stranger because she was a fellow natural. Its funny how an accident has become so positive in my life.
Three weeks before school started I realized that not only did I need a relaxer touch up but that my color was fading. I refused to go back to school without a refresh so I pressured my mom into letting me get my hair relaxed and colored. My mother had never colored her hair and she was 37 years old at the time, she also didn't need a relaxer because she has that "Spanish wavy" hair (lol). My mother eventually agreed to let me have the "three week atomic bomb" put on my hair. You might wonder why I call it that so listen up.
First she let me color my hair with the dark auburn that I was obsessed with and my hair did fine. Two weeks later she let me relax my hair and things went down hill from there. Immediately after relaxing my hair, I noticed something terribly wrong. While the relaxer was getting washed out of my hair, CHUNKS of hair were falling out. I have thick hair so I thought I would be ok, but nope. When I dried my hair more fell out and that's when I knew I had made a terrible mistake. In the months following there was more and more breakage and I stopped getting relaxers, but one thing I noticed has my original hair texture which was new to me since I had been getting relaxers since I was 8 years old. The constant breakage made me have a BIG CHOP done in December of 2005, and my hair that was once a little below my shoulder was now a Pixie cut. That style worked at the time since my ends were relaxed and the stylist relaxed my new growth, but I couldn't stop thinking about my original hair texture.
After debating the thought for three months, I told myself to stop getting relaxers and it was the best decision for my hair that I have ever made. I noticed that my hair didn't even need a relaxer to stay straight. Over the last 5 years I have colored my hair 4-5 times and have worn either a wash and go or straightened my hair. Not until the middle of 2011 I decided to inch more towards being natural which to me means, to stop permanently coloring my hair and to stop straightening it. This decision was influenced by the "natural hair" styling videos I have seen on YouTube like the ones by Taren(taren916) and Whitney (Naptural85). Another influence was from the "natural hair" blog sites like curlynikki.com and acurlsbf.com.
The natural hair community was been continuously growing over the years and I am so proud to be a part of it. Not only am I embracing my natural texture even more, but I find myself doing more styles. Another thing I have noticed is that I have been holding conversations with people that are new naturals, with people that are planning on going natural and with people who are just curious about this movement. Just the other day I fist bumped a stranger because she was a fellow natural. Its funny how an accident has become so positive in my life.
Starting fresh....
My name is Tiffany a: Panamanian American, senior at ODU, Photographer, lefty, Leo, natural and this is the rebirth of my blog :)
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