The Journey to Loving My Hair

There's a journey that every woman (and some men) take. I'm talking about the journey you take that leads you to loving your hair. Sometimes, that journey is long and arduous; sometimes, it's simple, easy and straight forward. Whatever the journey and wherever it takes you, the goal is to end up loving your hair. This blog is about how I arrived at "Loving My Hair".

My journey actually began more than 20 years ago. For the first 14 years, I was satisfied. But it didn't last long enough because I began searching for another way to wear my hair. I had worn a perm for most of my adult life but had grown tired of it. Don't get me wrong, my hair always looked nice but getting it that way was the issue for me. It meant hanging out in my wonderful friend's salon (longer than I wanted to) and because of my DNA, it meant doing it every 10 to 14 days...that is as long as I wasn't wearing it really short, in which case that meant hanging out in the salon every week (I had to keep it 'tight').

Like many women, I tried different styling techniques. As a girl who grew up in the 60's, I had only one option--a press and curl! My mom wouldn't have it any other way. Well, if I'd listened to my mom in the first place, this journey could've been a lot shorter and more straightforward. So much for that theory, though. After the press and curl days, I went away to college and got my 1st Perm! OMG, was I excited! Little did I know that I was creating a monster!!!

I wore that perm from the age of 18 to 30 something. It was in my 30's that I began to grow tired of my permed hair and look for "something" else. What was that something else? In my 20s I wore the peculiar style invented by Jheri Redding...the Jheri Curl. For me, it lasted 2 years too long. But I then went back to the perm and stayed there until my 40s when I started experimenting again with my hair. I wore weaves and braids but my hair still didn't feel free.

I met a woman whose hair was beautiful. It was beautifully styled... it was neat... and most of all it was NATURAL! I was curious, "what is that...in your hair", I asked. She replied...Sisterlocks. I asked questions and she gave answers. I did my research and was so excited to find out what I would be able to do with my hair wearing Sisterlocks. I had a rush and the more I learned, the more excited I became. I made up in my mind that I was going to get Sisterlocks. It took almost a year to grow my perm out but I was going to do this and there was no doubt in my mind. More later...