Oops, I Did It Again!

Yes it’s true. I cut my hair. I simply felt it was necessary. I’m starting from scratch…again!

My hair lost it’s natural kink. J Can you believe it? I bet you haven’t heard that one before. A woman cutting her hair off, near bald, because it’s not kinky enough. The last time I cut my hair this low, was in December 2009. Crazy right? Who cuts their hair that low at the beginning of winter? Only me.

I was very frustrated with the condition of my hair in the relaxed form. Like so many other women, I received my first relaxer when I was 14-years old. After so many years of relaxing, whenever I tried to “grow-out” my hair, I would always get this “weak spot” in the back of my head, where it would stop growing. It looked like my hair was breaking off in that one spot, which forced me to cut my hair shorter. My stylist at the time would always suggest that it was probably a “stress spot” and it would always do that.

If you recall, Chris Rock’s documentary “Good Hair” came out that year. The one thing that stuck with me was the scene where the scientist soaks the soda cans in the same chemical that hair relaxers are made with. I was shocked that the cans were dissolving. I was like, OMG!

So with that scene in mind along with my daily frustration of knowing my hair was not in it’s healthiest state, I cut it. Simple as that. I went to the barbershop after work where I take my boys and I sat in the chair and I told the guy to cut it. He was like “Are you sure?” I said, “Absolutely.” About 15 minutes later, I was nearly bald and I was happy. It was a fresh start for me.

The best part about my natural hair experience was that my hair never once had a “stress spot.”

Now almost 2 years later, I started trying the Dominican style “blow-outs”, which is straightening the hair with high-powered blow dryers, followed by flat-ironing. Well I only did it 2-3 times this year and it completely killed my natural curl pattern. Sadly I lost the “kinkiness” in my hair. My curls were gone. I was shocked, because I always thought that, as soon as water hit it, it would always snap right back into it’s natural curly state. Obviously, I was wrong.

So here I am, back to square one. Singing India.Arie’s song, “I Am Not My Hair.”

Ciao Bellas!