My hair history

What can be said about my hair history, it’s been a haze and for the most part confusing. I’ve changed it up like I have multiple personalities - granted that may be slightly true. It’s been fun and I’ve always loved that about it. I do what I want with it and still keep in the spirit of being carefree. Once it starts being strained, I’ll have to start reconsidering my favorite past time. So without further adieu my hair through the years.

This was me back in pre-school. I had a cute little afro going for me, let’s try not gush over how cute I am.

Here I was just shy of 18 and damn, my afro was the bomb dot com. I remember how effortless my routine was and I blew caution to the wind. I remember that on this day I did a quick wash and go. I also remember my aunt chastising me for not combing my hair

My love for blonde hair (peroxide and all the fixings) began with my matric dance in November 2011. I just went for it and frankly I loved every second of. Eventually it was known as my signature look. Even when I let my hair grow out into naturally around June 2012 I still packed on the blonde.
             


After my mohawk which was bleached I did two big mistakes. I dyed
my hair back to black and then I relaxed it. Enter crunchy, dry, brittle hair. So logic told me to shave it off and in November 2012 I had a chiskop. Scary, but my CONFIDENCE grew by 3000%.












            After cutting my hair my main                 focus was just letting it grow                   out. I did box braids. I hated                 the weight but I kept them for 2             months because of pure                         aesthetics. I really liked how                   chilled I was about my hair in                                                                  2013.

I think relaxing my hair was a weird decision. I just did it because honestly I grew tired of natural hair. I had it all throughout high school and I just wondered what my hair would be like if I just committed to keeping it relaxed. So far it’s been goods. It not been without its setbacks but I have grown because of it.

February hair goals

The month of February is a month of celebration. There is love in the air and cupid is throwing his arrows to the lovers out there. As much as I would love to celebrate my hair in all its glory and show off its length, unfortunately I can’t do that. After the fun summer days of straight hair in December and the twist disaster of January, this month calls for more sensible decisions. For this month I want to focus on protective styling exclusively (I literally don’t want to see my ends what so ever). This will also help concentrate my efforts into other aspects of my hair journey.
 As of late it has come to my attention that I have been negligent of my hair. I’ve thrown caution to the wind and have been so lazed. I have to say that at times I was oblivious to the fact that this is a hair journey and not a destination. For the month of February there are three goals that I want to achieve for my hair.
Firstly, I want go back to sealing my hair every night (-_- I know neglecting this was a cardinal sin).  I want start steaming my hair again and I also want to recommit myself to the inversion method combined with the greenhouse method. When I was more committed to these hair practices my hair flourished and it was my crown and glory.
The beauty about a hair journey is that making a couple mistakes aren’t the end all for your hair. There is still plenty of time for recovery and there is leeway to learn from the errors that were made, it’s actually a lot like love.

About me

The first and most important thing to remember with African hair is that it is just the same as any other hair, in that it grows like any other hair and it too can reach amazing lengths. Quite often with a hair journey there are moments where you feel frustrated and at your wits end. In my own experience 

I have looked at the scissors as the solution to all my problems.

The only thing with our hair texture is our approach in handling. The term your hair is your crown really does apply in this case. Hair adorns our head and should be treated like a Hermès scarf. The more love you show it, the more love it gives back the more you will be treated and rewarded. This circle of life is what will give beautiful, strong and rich hair that you've always envisioned for yourself.

I remember when I started with my own hair journey I had no idea what to do and what to expect. Hair had never been a struggle because I used to have this beautiful afro, but as beautiful as it was stunted in its growth and it perpetually remained at one constant length. Yet it was still gorgeous and strong. Eventually I grew tired of my afro and decided to go for a short hair cut and for most of 2011 I had a cute little Bob.

My first year of varsity was an education and it was filled with a cacophony of hairstyles. I had many hair firsts. My first weave, my first micro braids as well as my first fresh cut which was blonde and for the first month it had pink tips. Through all those hairstyles I eventually decided to cut it all off and go bald.

Refreshing is the one word that I can resonate with being bald. You have nowhere to hide and it’s just you as you are. Sometimes I fell into the trap of overcompensating with jewellery and make-up, but that passes fast; the moment I embraced it for what it was, was the moment I felt free to be who I am.

2013 was my mediocre year in hair. All I focused my spirits on was just getting the god damn hair to grow, and flourish it did. I did some research on to healthy hair journeys but it was superficial and I just focused on the basics of it. Protective style was the theme of the year and by December I had relaxed hair that I had put into micro braid twists which looked beautiful but were not without their setbacks.

2014 I was bushy tailed, eager and decided to start with a real hair journey. I recovered my dearly departed hairline after the curse of the twists. And my hair just looked so pretty. I did a lot, actually extensive, no wait borderline stalker research on healthy hair practices. I had two setbacks though. The first was protein overload after my relaxer, but after going through a tub of deep conditioner all was well. The second was that after my first home relaxer in June I decided to jump ship to texlaxed hair. Even now I have relaxed hair I bleached and coloured hanging on, and in time they will meet the wrath of my shears.

Going forward I have a lot of hopes for my hair, a course I want the whole waist length hair shindig, but more than anything I want to retain the health and structure of my hair, I want to embrace it for everything it is.