My hair journey was one filled with many transitions. As a natural hair wearer of 14 years plus I’ve long come to love my beautiful natural God given hair. As a child my natural hair was braided, plaited, straightened with a hot comb and sometimes curled with curlers hot from the kitchen stove. The press and curl didn’t last very long due to the humidity and high temperatures where I resided. I transitioned from the press and curl to the perm, the perm provided me with bouncy straight hair, I just hated how my scalp would burn if I perspired or scratched my scalp before getting my bouncy straight hair. With the perm my hair would break at the point of demarcation if I failed to get my touch ups on time. I wore the perm for years even with the burning and breaking…go figure. After tiring of the straight look I wore a Jeri curl for many years, Because my hair was moisturized daily with the curl my dense type 4b/c hair responded very well, I had the biggest curl fro ever! I loved the curl but didn’t like the products that I had to use to keep my hair from drying out. It wasn’t long before I tired of the Jeri Curl and went back to the straight perm. Over time my hair started to thin in the top. I decided to give my hair a rest and wear individual braids and extensions. These braids and extensions gave me the length I desired and gave my hair a much-needed break. The only problem with the braids and extensions was every six to eight weeks they had to be taken down and done all over again. The growth my hair experienced while in the braids was short-lived when the braids were removed. It was a vicious cycle, my hair would grow, break, grow… I was desperate to find a style that would allow me to embrace my natural hair without the breakage. I almost forgot!!! I also wore the Afro during the 70’s, … During that time natural hair blogs, tutorials and product lines especially formulated for our hair type were not available as they are now, so keeping my Afro nice was a work always in progress. My break came when i read an article in the Monitor… a local community newspaper. The article featured the Sisterlocks TM approach to natural hair. Dr. JoAnne Cornwell who patented this approach was interviewed and the rest for me was history. Sisterlocks has enabled me to wear my hair in its natural state, it allows my hair to do what it naturally does…coil and curl without the aide of synthetic hair, gels, stylers, lotions or anything to alter my hair texture. The Sisterlocks lifestyle for me has been so incredibly liberating. Bad hair days are a thing of the past. Feel free to share your natural hair journey in the comment section below…it’s amazing how the paths of our natural hair journey intersect. Can I get a witness??
Locs of Luv 
I too now wear my hair natural. I was very tender haired as a child so I had a boyish hair cut growing up so I won’t have to do much to it! I am from Nigeria and have a very difficult hair texture to manage. It was almost impossible to manage. When I got into my teenage years i began to get my hair braided. I would cry every time my hair was getting braided and it took too long and was too painful. At around 15 I was allowed to perm my hair but my hair began to thin out fast, burn and break. I hated it! I finally went back to braids and did it for many years. Braiding would also break my hair especially in the front. I hated it too! About 4 years ago, I decided to not do braids any more though I miss the convenience of not doing anything to my hair for 3-4 months. It is a catch 22! 3 years ago I found a product line that helped me to manage my hair better. It changed my hair texture to where I am no longer tender headed! This is God sent and a dream!! I had been looking for a product line like this for over 20 years! I am so in love with these products because they allow me to do my own hair in a very short amt of time. I have only been to a salon once in the past 3 years for a hair cut. I love the money I am saving by doing my own hair! I love wearing twist now!
Thanks Margaret for sharing your personal hair journey, it’s amazing as to how many directions we head towards in an effort to find a solution for our hair care needs. Please share this blog page with others and together we can encourage one another to embrace our natural hair. By the way what products did you finally end up using?
It is called Sei Bella:-)
I transitioned into natural about 2013. I wanted to go natural because my hair was thinning, wouldn’t grow, and always very dry. I noticed when I came out of braids, my unrelaxed hair was much softer, silker, and the curl pattern was defined. I was curious to see what my natural hair looked like. I had been perming my hair since age 7 (Just for Me) and then on to Dark and Lovely. In between that getting my hair hot combed, permed then braided or permed then weaved. The chemicals, heat, and tension from the braids thinned my edges and damaged my hair. I thought for years ” my hair just won’t grow” and that’s all a myth. Anything that is not nourished won’t grow. I started to self educate (Education is key!) myself on the proper way to maintain natural healthy hair. I grew a passion for it! I even started to do hair at home to promote natural and healthy hair regimens. Going natural was probably one of the most freeing and uplifting decisions I have made. I choose to love me and so will the world!
Thanks Sharnay for sharing your hair journey with Locs of Luv! Your story is such a testimony to the plight of so many in such of the “Right Do” It’s amazing to see the similarities in our quest to have healthy hair. Thanks for sharing!
OMG! Literally the story of my life minus the Jeri curls since I’m younger. Hated hot combs and I thought perms were good until I had to start doing my own hair. I HATE doing hair. Once I got to college all my friends were natural and kept pushing me to do so as well. After fighting my family, always hearing about natural hair being nappy and looking ridiculous, I finally did and fell in love, But, I still had to do hair, uuughh, so braiding it up was my go to. Then I realized my hair was always in braids so why not loc up! I thought it for about two years, and after some research and speaking to people I finally decided September of this year to actually do it. So I just started my journey and I literally can no stop talking about locs lol. I’m so glad I could follow your page to get some ideas and tips for locs.
Hi Destiny,
So glad that you’re a follower and that you’ve found the page to be beneficial. Are you on FB? If so, I have a page there where I post as well. It’s called Locs ofLuv ~ Locs by Cathy. Welcome home!
Okay thank you