[::DanceOnTheSkylines::]

Hi, my name is Rebecca. I'm 16 years old, and I have been natural since Spring of 2008 . Growing up, I always thought that straight hair was best. I hated my poofy twists with the big bobbles that my grandmother always gave me in the morning before school, I wanted to have straight-relaxed hair like many of my friends. Of course, my story might sound familiar, but I believe most of us Mixed/Black females share similarities when it comes to our hair.

I used to get my hair permed at a Dominican salon in Jamaica, Queens, near my neighborhood. The first day, it would be straight and silky, the next day, it would be sticking out on the sides of my head because no one warned me about keeping it wrapped up. When I was around seven, I heard that white girls washed their hair everyday, and so, thinking there was something wrong with me if I didn't, I did the same. Soon my mother discovered this and scolded me, telling me that my hair was different from Caucasian hair, but never really giving me an in-depth explanation.

I disliked my natural hair, because it was hard for me to style, and my mother didn't have time to do much for me in the morning. I began to put heat on it everyday, still as a little girl, to keep it looking nice. My mother, upon seeing this, also chastened me for putting so much heat on my hair, but never really warned me of how fragile and delicate my hair was. After a while, my mother got one of our neighbors to braid my hair, and it was one less thing to worry about in the morning.

Soon, my mother (through a friend) came across a good hair braider who had my hair growing and neat throughout Jr. High, and by 7th grade I thought my hair was long enough for another perm, and that I'd learned from my past mistakes. I wrapped my hair at night, tried to use heating products sparingly, and washed it every two weeks. Soon, I could see my hair becoming damaged. I went to the same Dominican salon I went to when I was younger, and saw that they weren't keeping up on which level and what strength of perm was being used on my hair. At this point, my hair was seriously damaged, and I decided to recover it by going back to braids, and got my first micro braid.

Little did I know, you ARE NOT supposed to braid your hair when it is SERIOUSLY DAMAGED, especially micro-braids. When I took my hair out of the braids, I noticed my own hair coming out from the roots. I could see the little white follicle at the end of the hair strands. I didn't know what to do with myself. One day, my mother let me borrow her copy of Hair story: untangling the roots of Black hair in America. After reading it, I began to realize, for myself, why I so badly wanted my hair straightened. It wasn't because of me, it was because of others. I wanted to make the people around me happy and like me, but I was never happy with myself. After some self-convincing, I decided that I would get starter locks with my new-growth and wear them to make my hair grow fast, then unravel them before they could fully lock.

My mother had worn locks for a long time, so she knew the right place to go. But when she told me that I would have to cut all the perm off, I was beginning to rethink what I was about to do. She took me to the same barber shop that my brothers always went to, and the man took those clippers and cut that perm right off! to make matters worse, he gave me a very manly hairline. I was mortified!!!

So, not long after that I had to go back to school, and boy did people have something to say. "Omg, why'd yo cut your hair!?!" "It looked better long!" "Why did you do that?" "You look so different..."
It was bad enough I was emotionally sensitive due to my unexpected BC, but my friends were NOT the mos supportive in the world. I was beginning to doubt myself, and feel naked and unloved. But my hair was growing, and healthy. I wish I had a picture to show you, but I deleted them all off photobucket a long time ago :/.

Anyway, my hair beginning to lock fats-REAL fast. I didn't want to wear locks forever, just to make my hair grow, so I got them taken out, which my mom did not like. "If you were just going to take them out, we could've just gone and got it twisted." she told me, on more than one occasion. She even joked with the hairdresser about it. "At this point I felt really bad, all my friends and family kept telling me what to do with my hair. I hated it, I didn't feel like I had any decision over my own hair, like I was being ruled by everyone else. So I did something a little wild...

I wanted to be bald. Not a Caesar, or pixie, straight up bald. I hated my hair that much, at this point. I resented the control it had over my life. So I took a scissor, went into the bathroom, and cut a big chunk real close to my scalp, so that if I changed my mind the next day it would look too stupid for me to not cut the rest off. Then I cut another chunk off. The next day I told my mom I wanted to be bald, and that I'd already cut some of my hair so that there was no turning back. She, seeing that I was serious, helped me snip the rest really low, then used the clippers she kept under the bathroom sink. It made me feel strange, to see myself like that. She said I looked good bald, and I (personally) thought so too. I didn't look like a boy, my face was too feminine, and I had the shape of my dad's head (who is bald as well).

Not too long after that, I felt quite ashamed for what I had done. Within the week, I quit my first job, dumped my boyfriend/bestfriend, and cried a lot. I was still bound by my desire to make people around me happy, and it took Jesus Christ to deliver me from this. Before that was able to happen, I wore du-rags, scarves, hats, and wigs while the hair under my head grew. I was determined to keep it short so the wigs would look nice. I was still sick of my hair, and wanted nothing to do with it. I was trying to punish it by keeping it cut while I wore wigs. When I came down south to live with my dad and stepmother, they banned me from wearing it, by this time my hair had been about 1/2-1 inch long. They told me that I had did that to myself, and I was going to have to live up to it. So I sucked up my pride and wore my hair short to my new school.

Now I'm attending an art school for theater, and have learned so much about my natural hair. It has grown to about 3 inches over the summer while I wore some wet-n-wavy medium sized braids. I've read so much online about natural African-American hair and have learned how to treat my hair, my God, and myself with respect. I haven't cut my hair since I came down here, and am quite happy with it. It's rebellious, true, but it's my God given hair, and He made it that way for a reason. My hair has character, a mix of 3c & 4a. now that I'm learning how to braid and twist it myself, I can change it up as much as I want. I'm someone who doesn't like wearing the same style for too long.

I'm sorry for this being such a long post, but I've come a long way with my hair, and even this isn't the whole story. I'm currently wearing my hair in box-brads and I'm doing my best to keep it healthy from the inside out. I hope to see you around and also to read about your hair journeys.


Love,
-DanceOnTheSkylines

@DanceOnTheSkylines- congrats to you for accepting your God given hair! Welcome to South Carolina.

@NylaCoils - Thanks so much, God bless!


12/11/09 - Day #1

Okay, so, I started off the day removing my silk bonnet, I wear Triple-Gro Satin bonnet in Large, and it has been mostly faithful. I tend to move around in my sleep, so having a bonnet that is snug but not too tight helps. Also, I had noticed an increase in my hair growth whilst using this, of course the recent growth could be due to any number of things.



I had to re-braid 3 of my box-braids because they had slipped off (I just learned how to box braid over the thanksgiving holiday so it's not exactly...professional ), then I sectioned off my hair and braided it in 5 big braids. After clipping the ends, I took some boiling hot water and dipped them each in individually for 12 secs. Then I dry them with a towel and un-braid them all. I finish off by scrunching in some Proclaim Crystal Ice Protein Styling Gel & spritzing in some African Pride Braid Sheen Spray.


MORE PICS SOON

I didn't have much time for styling, so all I did was rock a side ponytail with a purple flower-clip in it.
I was disappointing, because in the morning I usually massage my scalp with Profectiv Mega-Growth Oil, but I had just ran out and haven't gone to get a new bottle. hopefully I'll get to do that Saturday-till next time curlies!

Love,
-DanceOnTheSkylines

Wow, Bravo for you. You have such a strong personality. Continue to embrace your natural beauty. You've come so far already .

HumanNature wrote:Wow, Bravo for you. You have such a strong personality. Continue to embrace your natural beauty. You've come so far already .

Thanks so much for your support! ^^

ChrsLvsBks wrote:Your hairstory should be shared with other young ladies (and older ladies) regardless of race. You have learned a lot about others, relationship with God, others and your hair. I hope you will submit your story to curlynikki. I think others could learn a lot about themselves in doing so.

Be blessed and continue to believe in God, you and your hair!

Thank you Chris, that's real kind of you to say .
And thank you for encouraging me in my walk with the Lord, God bless you!~

Forget the uneveness...ROCK THAT AFRO-PUFF GIRL!

---Reese

Thanks Reese!~

12/16/09 - Day #4


I let my TWA be a little frizzy today, I feel a little more bold about wearing it knowing that I'm beginning to fall in love with the real me, not the chemically altered or hiding-behind-wigs me. The kids in my school are so taken by my instant hairstyle changes, short one day, long another, I think I've told you guys before that I DEFINITELY don't like to keep one hairstyle too long. I want to learn how to microbraid so I can experiment with colors during the new year.


This night I went on a pixie knot hunt, and there were some SRSLY small ones. I could feel them better than I could see them . Not much else to say, I have big plans for what I want to do, but I'm not exactly organized yet. Stay tuned!

-Love
DanceOnTheSkylines

I'm trying to get my regimen together...I'm lacking in the organization department as well!

-Reese

Lol, I can't wait till vacation starts on saturday! Hopefully I can use this time to get organized .

12/17/09 - Day #5


Gosh, I sooo wanted to do a Twist-out yesterday, so that my hair would be nice and moisturized in the morning without any extra oil, but I started too late and just didn't have the time, so I untwisted all the 2-strand twists I had already done and combed out the curls.

My stepmom's asking me about whether or not I'm going to try this new straightening treatment she gets that involves no chemicals but relaxes the natural curl pattern a bit to make it easier to straighten, I'm not sure I want to try that right now, maybe when my hair is 8in? I've noticed that my hair always grows better either braided or twisted because it's more protected from the elements that way, so that's why I'm trying my own hand at different braiding styles. I pray to God that He blesses my hands to be able to braid better, though I am getting better at box braids.

I should probably go study for my English 4 quiz tomorrow . Wish me luck guys!

-Love
DanceOnTheSkylines

pics of your beautiful self please

I don't have anything recent, because my camera's been acting up, so none of the pics I've taken have transferred onto my memory card . My dad even bought a new memory card, to see if that was the problem, but the camera stills acts as though I need to either buy a USB, or a whole new camera! I have a Kodak EasyShare CD33.

Buuut, I do have my school picture for this year. My hair is a little shorter here, though.

ur so beautiful!!!

Hehe, thank you dajewel! My hair wasn't exactly cooperating with me that day either, but I'm glad you like it

12/18/09 - Day #6


It's officially December the 18th, and do YOU know what THAT means...?
That's right...WINTER VACATION!!!!!!!!!! As much as I love education, the constant drama, back biting, havoc, and sillyness in my school can be somewhat...exhausting. But now it's time to relax...or...more like rest up for one day and get right back to studying, I've got final exams RIGHT after Christmas break *sigh*

But I shall not be discouraged! I've come this far by faith, and God hasn't let me down yet. So, what's the game plan? I noticed some of us have been making our 2010 hair-revolution. It always seems like I make these big 'goals' in the beginning of the year, but quickly go astray and loose sight of the big picture. I want to be athletic again! I like sports-maybe not watching them, but playing them, and I know getting involved in them on a regular basis will improve the health of my heart, mind, body, and hair.

I'm torn between kinky-twists and micro braids as my new protective style. I feel like kinky-twists are a lot easier and take less time, but micro braids can be worn for a few months without me having to play in my hair a lot. I practice as much as I can on my mannequin-head before I tackle my own hair (so I don't end up...err-pulling my hair out), but it probably would be safer to do kinky-twists since you REALLY need to know what your doing when you do micros, otherwise it goes all wrong. Anywho, sorry to be the one who had to sneak in her daily post right before 12:00 a.m. . Nighty-night to all who sleep.

-Love
DanceOnTheSkylines

Pretty girl, now get the camera situation worked out for christmas. We want to see holiday hair!!!!

Lol, thanks, I'll try my best .

So, today I just bought the new Garnier Fructis Fortifying Cream Conditioner (the Triple Nutrition brand), and next week I'm going to do a review on it. Right now I'm doing Two-strand twists all around and will hopefully wear that for church, and if not then, then Christmas. I'm going to use it for co-washing, I'll also be using Doo Gro Stimulating Growth Oil when I micro-braid, I've heard and seen some good results from it, from other people. I'm hoping to an have equally as promising outcome. Keep you posted.

To help your twist out from puffing, retwisting at night may help. Add moisture each day and night to reduce puffiness. Even a conditioner with water mix can give you the moisture your hair needs. If there is a particular area that poofs more, try smaller twists. From what I have read the smaller the twists the better.

Do you twist on wet or dry hair?

I usually twist on dry hair, because when my hair is wet, it is incredibly fragile, so I'm scared to manipulate it too much. Though, the twists usually start out fine, it's just when I sleep (even with a bonnet or scarf) my hair gets matted and tangled, especially if I'm wearing a 'fro. It's so tedious to DT on dry hair :/

And thanks for the advice Chris! Though I loathe the idea of retwisting my hair every night...maybe every other night, I could probably manage that better . I did retwist some of the ones in the front that looked kind of...meh, this afternoon. I'll try to do the whole head tomorrow, I'll have time since I'm staying home to study for finals (unless my parents whisk me away to work with them).

Thnx Chris! ^_^

12/22/09 - Day #8


Ughh...I hope getting here at 12:00a.m. still counts for the daily challenge >_o

Aaaaanywho, today I was finally able to co-wash with my new Garnier Fructis Triple Nutrition Fortifying Cream Conditioner. I whisked together some conditioner, some honey, an egg white, and some of my Softsheen Carson Optimum Oil therapy and left it in the fridge for 2 days. Then I whisked it again until it was smooth and used it all over my wet hair. My mom had to help me wash it all out, it made my hair feel really soft!

After that, I sealed my ends with Doo Gro Stimulating Growth Oil and sectioned off a row of hair at the nape of my neck. I never realized how far down on my neck my hair line was, it looks awkward to me. But that's another problem for another day. I decided to do some finger coils, which is what I'm working on now. Then, when I'm done coiling my whole head I'll used my blow dryer to harden them a little. Coils are going to take a lot of maintenance, but at least now I can wear a du-rag instead of a bonnet and it wont be messy in the morning.

Not sure how long I'm going to wear it like this, I have a play coming up in January and I have to be the "Pretty mean girl" so I might have to take them out, or wear a wig, or something. I don't imagine your average Victorian Londoner wearing locs (one can only dream!), we'll see what my theater teacher has to say...'till next time?

-Love
DanceOnTheSkylines