So I'm finally back to do my next post. Umm I don't really know what I want to write about in specific, but I'm just gonna type away...
So I think it started when I was 12 or 13 when I noticed my hair was "different". I was the little girl in 6th grade still getting my hair washed and straightened with a hotcomb weekly. It was then that I was made to feel bad about not having a perm. The other girls in class teased me because my hair was nappy. I thought the hotcomb was something every girl went through and was still going through at that stage in life. I finally gave in to the pressure. Not just the peer pressure, but the societal pressures that say straight hair is "good" hair. I was made to feel that my nappy hair was a bad thing. I would go home crying from the hurt I felt from the other girls. I remember BEGGING my mother for a perm. It was then that I became a victim to the "creamy crack". But I was "happy" because I finally fit in. The teasing stopped because my hair was finally less than what it was meant to be. I never thought twice about my hair being nappy. I was happy.
Ever since then, I haven't been able to get off the perm. I've always felt like I would just feel better, feel free, if my hair was natural. I've tried many times to transition to natural, but part of me can't let go of this relaxed mess I call hair. My mom has been natural multiple times so I know it's in me to do the same without being scared. I don't know what it is that can't let it go. I feel like going natural would definitely be a process of not only transitioning, but of self rediscovery. I'm definitely ready to discover new things about myself and my hair.
Right now I'm rocking a short haircut. I would say it's a bit 90's-Halle-ish, but I've worked it for my style and it works for me. Everytime I get it cut, I go shorter and shorter, and feel better about going natural. One day I'm just gonna cut it all off and be done with it!
I know that so many other women can relate. So here's to beginning anew and discovering who we are! (Someday) I'll be Happily Nappy!
~LaDai