First Month 100% Natural, In Words & Pictures

Has it been a month already? Wow!!

So far, so good! I've been getting a lot of positive feedback about the new look, and the supposed "guts" that it took to go natural. (More on that later) My biggest critics have been my parents (big surprise there), but even they have had to admit that they like some of the styles. The chunky twist out is a hit with them. I guess with that they can see that I didn't cut that much of my hair. (Side note: When my dad noticed that I cut my hair--a full WEEK after the BC--he said I looked like a boy. Ironically, the day after I did it, he was talking about how cute my hair was. *insert major side-eye here* ) My aunt/former stylist saw it and said it looked pretty good. And I've gotten comments from friends, coworkers and strangers on how cute it is and they could never do that. Usually I'm good at restraining myself from commenting. Inside I want to go into a diatribe about "You can do it if you want to. This is the hair God gave you! It's not that hard, just requires patience... yadda yadda yadda" but usually I just act like I don't hear it.

Anyway, on to the pictures! Surprisingly, I haven't taken that many pictures since cutting it. That's mainly because most of my previous pictures were taken at work. Now that I'm in a new area with horrible lighting and a lot more work to do, I don't get to pose for the camera as often. But I do have a few I haven't shared! Y'all already saw the slightly rough picture from the cruise, when I still had a little bit of permed ends. I've trimmed those (still need a professional trim though) and have pretty much perfected my wash & go.

 

after i picked out my fro. didn't realize it would be as big as it was!

 

Today, 30 days in!

note: there were more pix, but some got lost in the move from Blogger & I can't remember which ones they were! Sorry!

So here are the things I'm dealing with now:

1. I still need a stylist. I know I've been doing this for a few months now, but it would be such a relief to have someone who has been taught about hair taking care of it.


2. Dryness. I'm searching for something that will help my hair retain moisture & a bit of shine without it being greasy. Because greasy is not cute at all.


3. more style options. I know I've talked about this previously, but now that my hair is even shorter, I'm at even more of a loss as to what to do with it.


4. Tangling & shedding (all the more reason for me to have a professional natural hair stylist)

There you have it! My first month au naturale!

The BC Story

Saturday, May 15 was my birthday and the day I'd planned on doing the big chop. I was a little hype (or trying to be), but mostly I was nervous. I still wasn't sure how I'd look with the super short hair and I wasn't excited and ready like I thought I should be. I read all these stories about people just being too frustrated to deal with two textures or feeling like it was just time. "You'll know" they say. Well I didn't know it that day so I didn't do it. "F it," I thought, "I'll stick with these twists & twist outs for a couple more months and decide what I'm gonna do once it's been a full year."

Well, I did not make it to July. I barely made it to June. On June 1 I woke up and my hair looked like absolute crap to me. Granted, it didn't look much different than it had the day before, but I was sick of it. The ends were just hanging there, all lifeless and boring. I decided that morning that I was not gonna deal with it another day. That kinda threw a little wrench in my plans, considering that I didn't want to cut my hair myself. Me + scissors + hair = bad business. (Or at least it seemed like it would. I've never before attempted to cut hair.) But I spent the day online looking at BC videos and searching forums to see how others had done it.

When I finally got home that night, I was a little buzzed but I was determined to go ahead as planned. (BTW, I would not recommend anyone try that!) After I washed my hair, I took the scissors & went to work! I'm mad cuz I ended up chopping off some of the new growth in the back :( Shoot, I couldn't see it! And there ended up being more permed ends left up front than I realized. I was in shock for a little while, and a few tears did drop. My hair had never been that short!

 

fresh off the chopping block. in shock & still a bit tipsy...

But anyway, I twisted it & then took it down the next morning....

AND I LOVED IT!!

 

I didn't have any idea that those kinda curls were hiding under there! I could not keep my hands out of my hair (and still have problems w/ that now). I didn't care for the pix I took from the front that day, as something about them seemed a little off... But here's a pic from a few days later and another from today!

I'll try to do a length check soon. I want to look into different heat protectants before I flat iron my hair to do it. But just from doing a little pulling, I think it's just a little above my shoulders. Not bad huh?

So now I'm trying to find another style I can do besides my little fro (woohoo that it's no longer a "faux-fro!"). Or at least some accessories!

Anyway, whaddaya think?

The Current Look

So I did the curls....

My hair didn't quite turn out like I wanted, but I was able to do something like a rocker-esque look with it and it came out pretty cute. Better than I expected. See for yourself...

Freshly done 

 


A little sweated out 


Last night

What do you think? I may keep this style for a while, considering I really don't have to do anything to my hair. I'm sure this probably isn't considered a "protective style" but for now I think it'll do. 

Oh yeah, a few growth pix as well (from about two weeks ago):

I'm going to try something different...

Next Saturday I'm going to this big Christmas extravaganza that one of my organizations puts on every year. It's a rare time when I get all jazzy and whatnot, and this year is no exception. I'm gonna abandon my signature straight hair and go for something a little lot more curly. Everyone who knows me knows that in the past I have despised curls... but I think its just because they never come out how I expect them to. Hopefully that will not be the case this time. (Oh, this could be the Christmas miracle to transform me from the Grinch to... ummmm, whatever the opposite of the Grinch is... Santa?)

 

 

Aaaaanyway, here is the look I'll be going for. This is absolutely gorgeous on her! If I can get something similar to happen, I'll post a pic... If not, we'll act like this whole post never happened...  

Transition Styles

Even though I just started on my journey to napturality (eight weeks on Friday) I know that eventually I will get to the point where I find it difficult to manage having both natural and permed hair. Even though most people do the Big Chop, I'm not that bold; instead I'll probably just do little trims along the way. But I've started looking for styles that would work for me while transitioning. Any suggestions or comments would be appreciated!
I've always wanted straw curls, and now that I have short hair, it may be an option for me. This model's hair is gorgeous!
According to the poster from Hairmilk.com (where I sto- um, borrowed this pic from) this pic shows a flat twist. I am not familiar with this, but I want to give it a try! She gives a how-to in the post "Hair Care Diary: Headscarves, Solange, and Twistouts."

I've really liked Senegalese twists ever since I firs saw them (although I just learned their real name today!). I want to try these, but I know I wouldn't want to sit there for the amount of time it takes to get it done! I'm antsy enough after 2.5 hours at the salon. Don't braids/twists usually take forever?

I may just go to my old standby method: washing my hair, braiding it in cornrows, then taking it down after it dries... I liked that look when my hair was long, so it may be cute short too...

What other transition styles would you suggest? Are there any sites you frequent or YouTube channels you subscribe to with styling tips and how-to vids?