Hi ladies,
How are you feeling today? (write the answer to this question in the comment box… lol). If you have not read my first few posts here, here and here please do and don’t forget to drop a comment, cause that’s what keeps me going. Today I'd be talking about my natural hair journey, my setbacks, breakthroughs and my staple natural hair products.
Actually, I've been natural allllllllllllll my life (emphasis on the all, lol) and I've spent twenty something years on earth already, that’s huge right? I am sure someone is wondering how I coped through the years, don’t worry I'd tell you. I never relaxed my hair because my mum didn’t relax any of her daughter's hair when we were kids and when I became of age I realised I didn’t need relaxers so I stayed natural. My mum cut my hair when I was about 6 or 7 years because my hair was so thick, coarse, tough, very difficult to manage and quite full, plus I was always crying whenever I had to visit the hairdresser. So my lovely mum helped me end my pains and headache by cutting it. Then I attended a miliitary secondary or high school where girls were not permitted to make their hair, so I was on low cut or tweeny weeny afro as its called today for about 10 years. I graduated from high school in 2009 and that was when my real hair journey started. Then, there was little or no interest for natural hair, every girl relaxed her hair,it was quite abnormal and strange to have natural hair, even babies that were not up to 5 years old had their hair relaxed, twas that bad. Each time I went to the salon I was reminded that my hair was trouble to them, the hairdressers kept advicing me to relax my hair. I had a funny friend in the university that said she would buy the relaxer for me if that was the problem, but I told her I wasn’t interested, then she threatened to to buy the relaxer and relax my hair when I was sleeping, lol, she was obviously joking but the struggle then was hard. There were no good hair products, no proper knowledge on how to care for my hair and unfriendly stylist that would almost pull out my head from my neck when combing the hair and if I complain they would tell me to relax my hair. Suprisingly, my hair was able to thrive in those harsh conditions as you can see here.

My hair was  2 years and some months here

In 2013, my hair stopped growing or it was growing and breaking due to use of hair products that had sulphates, silicones, petroleum and other harmul stuff,  improper hair care and exposure to heat from continous use of hair straightners. My hair was heat damaged, lifeless, breaking and getting scanty as seen below.

Heat damaged hair

I eventually stumbled on some hair care materials and started taking proper care of my hair but the damage had already been done. Normally when I straighten my hair, it reverts back to its natural, shrunken form before the next 24 hours or immediately water touches it, but at this point it was so damaged that it refused to revert. I continued managing the hair till November 2014 when I decided to have a big chop after trimming it once.

Big chop, November 2014

I was in my final semester in the university then and had lot of things on my mind, my hair was the least in my priority list so that was the best time to cut it. I had the knowledge of how to take care of my hair but the natural products available were expensive and as a student I didn’t have much to spend on hair products. Fortunately, a friend rescued me by introducing me to a natural hair page on Facebook Natural hair babe's (you should check them out). They share procedure and recipes used to make natural hair products,  so I followed their steps and started producing my own shampoo, deep conditioners and hair cream. My hair is 9 months old now, and its been really growing though I'm experiencing some setbacks at the moment. My major aim is to retain length, reduce breakage and shedding to the minimal and keep my hair moisturized always.

Length check. April 2015.

So that is all about my hair jouirney, its been a long journey indeed but it is really fun when you understand your hair. In my next hair post, I'd be sharing recipes and procedures for making natural hair products yourself. Stay tuned, don’t touch that dail (lol, I know it's not a radio station). Thanks for reading and keep living virtuously.