I say to the women thinking of going back to natural, "Take a minute to think about what it means to return to natural, then forget about it and just do it!" the more you take the time to think about how to go natural, or how everyone will receive it, then the more you will not take that needed leap. My natural hair story, that I will go into detail later posts, took me three years to realize because I did those exact things. It was not until an unfortunate accident that I got the courage to just chop off all of my permed hair. Once those permed tresses left, I felt liberated. I delved head on into the beginning of my natural hair journey. In my opinion, there are three steps one must take in order to begin the process. Don't get it twisted (yes a pun); however, doing the big chop only begins the journey. Also, I assure you missteps will occur that, but those missteps help you learn and don't worry because a natural hair community exists to guide you in loving the hair God gave you!
Do you remember when your mother first let you style your own hair? Also, do you remember when the responsibility of taking care of your hair became yours? Well, think of going back to natural as the rebirth of those childhood moments. You have to re-learn how to care for your hair. It took time back then, so why not give yourself a break and be patient enough to learn again. Think of going of natural as the beginning of a sweet love affair. It is exciting, a little scary, and a huge deal in the beginning because it is a first time, but in no time you will be a master of your own God given hair.
Certainly, there are questions you have that I wish I pondered when I first went natural because they haunted me later on in my journey (I will surely share more as we progress in our dialogue). There are so many things to ponder like what can I do with my hair since it is not straight anymore, how will my friends and family respond, how will this affect me in the workplace, what is my hair type, texture, and density and more. However, I say to you only concentrate on Identity.
How do you perceive yourself and why? Do you love yourself, I mean really love yourself? Too heavy for you, then let me explain. I went natural in college, but I was still suffering from the I gotta ask my mother for permission syndrome before I go changing my hair. This prevented me from going back to natural earlier. Consider this, I had just left from under my parents wing at 17 years old, so I had barely been independent. I had just began my the formation of my adulthood identity, me. So, consider where you are in your life and give yourself a break in the deeper questions because you will learn the answer in time. Sometimes you have to just go in at once knowing you are well able to handle it (I am picking up inspiration from Caleb from the Bible)!
Peace ladies!
