Natural Hair Goals for the New Year! 2015

Hiya, curly mamas! I want to do a post today about my hair goals for the upcoming year, and because I am a homeschooling SAHM and don't have a lot of free time at the moment, I will be as straightforward as possible. ;-)

My goals for this year are to:

1. Experiment with heat more. Since I am seasoned in my 'naturalness', I am no longer afraid of putting heat on my hair. Just not a lot, of course. Remember, everything in moderation... always.

2. Try a new color! Right now, the ends of my hair and my bangs are reddish, but I originally wanted a much lighter color than that. So, you might see me with a golden brown/blondish color soon. ;)

3. Reach full waist length! My hair right now is actually almost at waist length, the middle of my hair is. I've had a few setbacks, but my hair is still growing profusely. It won't be FULL waist length just yet unless I have some super growth next year or something, but I have about 6 inches left to grow before I can comfortably pull a section of my hair to my waist. :O

4. Go back to the basics and enjoy my hair! This year, I got a little caught up in some 'hair hype', like boycotting certain ingredients, but I'm at the point where if it works for me, I'm going to use it regardless of whether or not it has the 'curly girl' staple ingredients. Sue me, but I'm tired of being a little strict about my hair regimen. It's not going to kill me to use something with mineral oil in it.  >_>

My last relaxer was April 2009. I transitioned for two years, then chopped off my relaxed hair in March 2011. In March 2015 (also my birthday, yay!), I will have been fully natural for FOUR years! It's time to break out of the 'natural Nazi' box and enjoy my hair. After all, it is just hair. If it gets very damaged, I can always chop it off and grow it right back... and with all the knowledge that I've gained over the years, that shouldn't be too hard at all. ;-)

~Epic Realist~

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Transitioning Styles and Tips (2009-2011)

Hiya, curlies! I wanted to post some pics here of how my hair looked when I was transitioning. I didn't have any natural products then because I couldn't afford them, so I stuck with pink lotion, very cheap leave ins (African Pride Olive Miracle) and Pantene shampoos and conditioners even though I was beginning to realize that those things were bad for my hair. But I used what I could! :-)

 

 
 

I was home most of the time, so I kept my hair twisted up a LOT. I remember how my twist outs looked, mostly stringy at the bottom and nice and fluffy at the top. I transitioned for two years because my relaxed hair was already about 16 or 17 inches long and I didn't want to lose all of my length that quickly. I don't remember getting a lot of breakage with my line of demarcation because I was very gentle with my hair then. Eventually, when I got tired of the two textures (and needed a change in life), I did my own big chop and cut my hair a little past ear length.

See my whole hair journey here! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8y9UEDQV8D4

I was never very fond of or good at updos; I love having my hair down. That's always been my signature thing. Occasionally, I'd wear a ponytail or two, but nowadays, It's rare that you'll catch me wearing a ponytail or a bun unless it's inside the house. I'm quite sure that I'd still look nice in updos, though, especially since most people say that I look Indian based on the way my head is shaped when you look at me sideways. LOL! (random)

Transitioning Tips:

1. STAY AWAY from combs! Try to do as least combing as possible to avoid breakage at the oh so fragile line of demarcation.

2. Finger detangling is always best. Don't worry; you CAN do it! If you have stubborn type 4 hair, make sure that your hair is wet and saturated with conditioner or a silky leave in before attempting to finger detangle.

3. Deep condition weekly. This was one thing that I couldn't afford to do back then, but I wish that I had been able to. My hair would have been a lot stronger, and I would have probably avoided seeing a ton of hair come out in the shower. :-/

4. Protect the ends! Yes, they are the relaxed, already damaged portion of your hair that'll eventually get whacked off, but trust me, you don't want dry, raggedy looking ends when you're trying to blend your two textures. Been there, done that. Pay more attention to those ends than anything else; seal them like you'd seal your bank account.

That's all for now, folks. Peace out!

~Epic Realist~

Personal blog link: http://epicrealist.blogspot.com/

WARNING: If you are easily offended by religious debates/statements, DO NOT even attempt to read this blog.

Hair and... Politics!?

I do not view going natural as a political statement, because frankly, I do not care about politics. I believe that politics are fake, and that they only portray into the media what they want the masses to believe.

I went natural for two reasons. For one, I was sick and tired of society's view on bashing black women who did not keep their hair straight and 'manageable', and secondly, I already had a passion for 'naturalness' my whole life but I didn't really know it yet.

I got tired of buying lotions and hair creams that 'didn't work' for my hair and skin because they were full of chemicals. I would complain to my sister about commercial lotions that we'd buy and use, and the next day, we were so ashy, it was as if we put nothing on at all. 

I would get utterly frustrated when I got a cream for my hair, lather my hair in it, twist or braid it up, and the next day, it would be as dry as the Sahara Desert. When I did get perms, I only got them every 4-6 months, so I was pretty much wearing my hair natural and curly, anyway. I went to college with my hair still wet a lot, and people called me 'white girl' because my hair was long and wet, and still looking good, even though it was damaged. So 'big chopping' after transitioning for two years wasn't hard for me and it wasn't a hassle. 

I did, however, have to learn how to really take care of it, and that's what I continuously do today.

The rise of natural hair products has definitely made me feel better as a black woman, knowing that we no longer have to succumb to buying crap in the stores because that's all there is. We can wear our natural hair as we have been so afraid to do for years and not have it break off due to overuse of parabens, sulfates, and petroleum.

Going natural is like going on a choosing a healthier diet; you cut out a lot of the bad things, but you have to learn what healthy things you should substitute for and put into your body as well as how to care for your body. You can't just say, I want to eat healthier but I'm not going to research how to do it, so you continue to eat the same way and not exercise. Sorry, not going to work. You won't get anywhere anytime soon with that kind of mentality. 

It may seem that going natural is harder than being relaxed, because in a way, it is. Everything that we are supposed to be doing right is automatically going to be harder. That's just life. We were born natural, so taking care of our curls is what we were born to do. Growing your own food will automatically be harder than just going to the supermarket and picking up any type of food you want with no hassle, because that's the way the world was originally supposed to work. We've just gotten lazy over the centuries, and we don't want to do any more work then what we are allotted to do. Constantly spritzing, detangling, moisturizing, twisting, parting, and styling seems to be harder than just going to the salon for a relaxer every six weeks or so, but that route has it's share of hard work as well. 

Technically, your hair may require more care with a relaxer than our natural curls, only because the chemicals wear our hair down, but hey. Either way you rock your hair is still work to look nice and be as healthy as we can.

Natural hair maintenance can be super hard work, but it's worth it, ladies! Peace out till later, curly mamas! https://www.facebook.com/pages/Curls-of-Innocence/256662627753918

~Epic Realist~