On Wading Through the Ocean that is Natural Hair

Red carpet at the BAKE Kenyan Blog Awards in May

After a (long) year of transitioning (which I talked about in this post), I finally went completely natural. I woke up at the end of April and cut off the rest of my relaxed hair. I had my sister do it and as I watched three inches of my hair fall to the floor, I felt a great sense of peace. Honestly, I thought I would cry a river when the hair finally fell off. I was surprised I didn’t but in hindsight, I think I felt that I was getting rid of the old me and granting myself the gift of a new start. The journey the last two months has been wonderful. I feel like a kid in a candy store, discovering all these new tastes and smells.

I’ve had relaxed hair since I was nine years old and so it has been a core part of my identity. I could hardly remember what my natural hair even looked like. I have unpleasant memories of my hair as a child. My hair was coarse and painful to comb so it was almost always braided. My hair relaxed was soft and pretty strong. I’ve always had long silky hair and it was something definitive about me. So yes, changing my hair was an incredibly difficult decision (as I’m sure so many women face) to make. It’s the fear of the unknown, I suppose. My sister and mom had already gone natural and so I sort of had a preview of what to expect. Both of them have 4c hair and so I assumed that was what I was heading into and prepared myself by learning their hair routines and reading extensively.

The hair fell to my feet and I felt free, brave and incredibly confident. I had already decided that I was going to keep my hair free of any heat and had armed myself with tonnes of coconut oil and shea butter. When I looked into the mirror, I wasn’t sure what I was looking at. My hair was less kink and more tight curls. And it was soft like a cushion. It was really confusing especially because I had a distinct memory of my coarse hair. I figured that perhaps years of relaxer changed my hair’s texture? Anyway, so I had to throw away all the knowledge and planning that I’d been doing expecting 4c hair and start over. I now had 4a hair and it came with its own temperament.

I’m still figuring out products (that is another post) and a hair routine that works with my busy schedule but so far so good. Staying heat free means that I need to plan my washes at a time my hair can conveniently air dry. The experimenting is a lot of fun though as I learn how to do bantu knots (still working on it) and try twist outs and rollers. My hair is healthy and I’ve never felt better. Can’t wait to see how it looks in a couple of months. I’m excited and I’m glad I took the leap. Big hair don’t care!