Do You Know What Today Is?

january 2011                     june 2011

Sept 2010                                August 2011

It's my nappiversary!  To those who do not know, my nappiversary is the day I became natural.  At the risk of sounding redundant, last August I made the conscious decision to stop relaxing my hair and to wear it in it's natural, kinky state.

On that date, I went into my hairdresser to get my hair done, and when she pulled out the tub of relaxer, I not only said "no thank you maam", I also said "please get out the clippers and shave my hair off".  Now, I know your mouth may be gaping due to the latter comment, but close it.  She refused to shave my head.  But, she cut my already short hair to about an inch on top and cut the sides close.  I wore my hair like that for a couple days before I took scissors to it and chopped off more.

Being natural has been an interesting experience.  It has made me love my hair more.  Now, I loved, no, absolutely adored my hair when it was relaxed.  It was long, thick, and very healthy.  My only bane was the chemical burns that I, like many of my other relaxed sisters suffered from on touchup day.  This went hand in hand with my constantly dry, itchy scalp, which I scratched nonstop, which would in turn cause the burns to my scalp.  It was a vicious cycle.

Having natural hair appeals to my nerdy and creative sides.  It was constantly an experiment intially to figure out what combination of products produced the best results.  And I love twisting it, curling it and configuring it into interesting styles. When I was relaxed, I never did my own hair.  I went to the hairdresser weekly to get my do done.  I've been to the hairdresser once this year to get color added to the front, and I will probably go in for a trim in the next couple months.  But I don't predict anymore hairdresser trips in the near future.

Now that my hair is like this, I plan to grow it out, for the next 5 years anyway.  I think I will celebrate my 40th birthday by really shaving it off.  I always wanted to see what I would look like with a low, brush cut.  I should have done it in college when the urge hit me.  It's growing nicely and by the time I'm 40 it will probably be down my back.  Right now I have just under six inches of hair, so I'm fairly on schedule with the average 1/2 inch per month growth pattern.

If anyone is considering going natural, I say do it!  It's work for sure (unless your blessed with enough money to let someone take care of your hair for you, but there is absolutely NO fun in that) but nothing worth it is ever easy.  Having curls and kinks is great because if you want your hair straight, just straighten it.  You can go back to your kinks and curls whenever you want.  I personally believe we should all spend a little time with who we really are at least once in our lives.  You never know, you may fall head over heels in love with the person you see.

I'm going to have some cake now.  Hey, what anniversary would be complete without cake?  And honestly do I need a reason to have cake?