marcysuburbs: Here's my story

I think I’ve finally set a date for my BC, or big chop (for those not familiar with hair lingo)

Drumroll please: MAY!!!! Not too sure when in May but May is set in stone (kinda)

I’m sick of dealing with two textures of hair although I guess I’m not really dealing with them since my hair is currently in kinky twists. I wanna know what I would like with my nappy hair. There’s this fear I have of looking like a boy but I’ve gotten to a point where ehhh I just don’t care anymore.

Maybe I should back track for those that don’t know. I am currently transitioning from relaxed to natural hair. I don’t quite remember when I started toying with the idea but I started getting more serious about it in March/April/May 2009. My web surfing (do people say surfing anymore, wow I just sounded real ancient) consisted of blogs and YouTube videos that focused on natural hair. I spent hours reading about the transitioning frustration, the HG (Holy Grail) products, and the different styles/textures. I loved seeing all these beautiful women with these curls and kinks and I WANTED THEM! Obviously I wouldn’t just wake up the next morning and have a head full of them so I decided to begin my journey and stop getting relaxers. No more chemicals, no more burns, no more patting my head because I wanted to scratch but couldn’t.

The first 3-4 months weren’t too bad. I kept going to my Dominican hairdresser faithfully but ignored her every time she told me it was time for a touch-up. I did make sure that she blew my roots out REAL well because I wanted the roots to blend in. That is, until I read about how heat can damage a curl pattern. UGH!! So I needed another alternative and quick. Back in college, I had braids and kinky twists because out in State College, PA there was no one to really do my hair and I wanted to avoid damage. I figured why not do the kinky twists again. But instead of spending $120 to get them done, I was gonna learn how to do it myself. Here’s where YouTube came in handy (you can learn anything there) So in late August I gave it a try. Now they weren’t perfect but not too shabby if I do say so myself. From August to December, I rocked the twists. I did leave my hair out every so often to wash my hair well and install another set. Around the Christmas2009/New Years2010 holiday I decided to try something else and got a weave cap. I did love it but the only problem is that it itched like hell and cut off my circulation for a little (definitely made me dizzy and nauseous til I found a way to fix it) As soon as I took it out, I went back to my tried and true twists. This brings us to now. I’m gonna keep the twists until May and work with what I have then. There have been days where I just wanna give up but there’s some bit of determination inside me that’s not letting me give in. I know I’m not gonna have flowing cascading curls but I have seen some amazing 4a/b naturals that I can’t wait to emulate.