Natural Hair| My Journey

The beginning.

August 2016.  I decided I was going to cut all of my hair off. I went in the bathroom, and started with the front so I wouldn’t change my mind. As I started to cut, so many thoughts raged in my mind. “Girl what are you doing?” “You’re crazy” “WTF”.  I stopped. 

With a butchered patch on the side of my head, I had a family dinner to go to later that night. It was cool, I could wear a headband until that patch grew back. No big deal.

My decision to cut my hair came shortly after my Mom decided to cut off her dreads after about 10 years. I saw her uncertainty about starting over, and figured we could embark on the journey to healthy hair, together. Besides, it’s just hair.

For most of my life I’ve had long hair. But I can’t necessarily say healthy. I was flat ironing almost everyday,  occasionally perming , and dying it without a care in the world. You couldn’t escape the smell of burnt hair all throughout the house once I got in the bathroom for my daily sizzle session.  In 2010, when the “Rihanna pixie cut” was poppin, I wanted in! This was the shortest I’d ever cut my hair at that time. I was convinced by my stylist that I’d need to keep perming my hair to maintain such a short style. And two weeks later she talked me into color.  Red. Blonde. Shit, even Orange. That lasted for a while until I realized that healthy hair wasn’t her goal.  $100 a pop every two weeks was her goal. So she could come to work to do my hair in her Louie V fanny pack LOL!

I couldn’t afford short hair. So after about a year I let it grow back. Spending about the same amount on fake hair extensions because I couldn’t stand that “in between” stage. And when it finally got to the length I desired, it was back to perming, coloring, and daily flat ironing.

• • •

That night after dinner with my family, I went back to the bathroom. I had to finish what I started. I watched a couple of YouTube tutorials on the “big chop”, and got to work.

After about 2 hours of watching my hair fall in the sink, I looked up in the mirror and was so overwhelmed with emotion that I couldn’t do anything but laugh. I don’t think I realized how big my head was LOL. I needed that hair lmao. Damn, how can I put this back in?

The Aftermath.

When it was all said and done, it actually began to grow on me. In the beginning stages it was very low maintenance. Literally: Wash, brush, and go. Protective styles, and YouTube of course, became my best friend! The months went quickly, and as this beautiful hair continued to grow from my scalp I knew I made the right decision.

   “The only regret I have with going natural is that I didn’t do it sooner.”

March 2018.

Follow me on IG: @naturallyjassyk for daily updates.

And as always.. Stay Beautiful Xoxo 💋