Sat in the chair of the hairdressers yesterday, getting my hair washed and pressed and was thinking about how far I’ve come in these two short years since I made the decision to go natural.

My natural hair journey began in 2013, March of that year I had my last ever relaxer it was the best decision I made for me personally. I was tired of the regime of relaxing your hair where you had to make sure you didn’t scratch your scalp and the breakage that happened between relaxers. So I said that’s it I’m giving up I’m going to rock my natural hair, even if it doesn’t go well at first I’m not going back to the relaxers ever

One thing I had to do was re-learn everything about my hair treat it far differently to how I would when it was relaxed. I wouldn’t say it was unmanageable but sometimes I wanted to scream at the top of my lungs when it refuses to do what I wanted. All the tender loving care in the world does not help when your hair refuses access to your feelings and denies the comb.

Youtube was my saviour, learnt so many useful tricks and hairstyles I could do from watching YouTube vloggers but also had to learn which people to avoid nothing personal just different hair textures. What works for them won’t work on my glorious head of curls. I quickly learnt the art of twist outs and Bantu knots, twist outs being my favourite go to hairstyle but now I much prefer a puff which takes five minutes then it’s done. Who really wants to sit down for 2-4hrs doing twist outs at nighttime not me!!

After a year or so of being natural I started being more comfortable in my own skin rocking an Afro out and about and feeling no way. My hair became a part of my identity it’s who I am I’m natural no ifs no buts no maybes, the relaxed hair me seems so far in the past I can’t remember much about it apart from old photos and the burns those were the worst, and how it would strip your hair out. It’s only now that I’ve stopped relaxing my hair that my edges have started to flourish and show life.

August 2014 when I made the decision to go for the big chop, I was transitioning my hair previously and after 18months I got it cut in a tapered hairstyle plus with some red highlights. I felt liberated and free who says a girl needs hair to look good not I. I have to say making that move to cut my hair worked out well, my hair grew faster then when it was transitioning. Free to grow and free of all those pesky knots that made detangling a nightmare.

So in reflection as I’m about to enter my third year of being natural in 2016, I’ve realised it was the best decision I could ever have made for the health of my hair body and mind. Learning to ignore the naysayers and do me because at the end of the day it’s my hair I take care of it, not you so I let my hair continue to grow like the roots of a tree, it’s an extension of my   spirituality, my antennas to the universe