Janique W.

It all begins when I got my relaxer at the age of five. My mom was pressured by friends to give me a relaxer because they kept saying "girl when you gonna stop dealin' with all that nappy hair on that girl." Thus began the chemical process. I remember watching those "Just For Me" commercials. "Just For Me!" (Janique sings in high pitched voice LOL). But anyway, I never thought much about my hair. My mom did it for me and it was thick. I was always told I had good hair. It remained thick, even though it was relaxed....that is until I moved to Florida when I was 13. For some reason, my mom didn't want to do my hair anymore, so I was left to fend for myself. My past shoulder length hair shriveled up to my neck. My family came to visit me and said what happened to your hair?

This started me on my journey to help my hair get back into shape. I wasn't thinking about going natural at that point. During my teens, I suffered from seborrheic dermatitis, and this just made me feel worse about my hair. Fast-forward to 2008. I was still trying to figure out how to get my hair longer. It was getting better because I had stopped using a flat iron which thinned my hair significantly. August 2008, I got a relaxer. Everything was ok at first, a little burning, but nothing I wasn't used to. A month later, it seemed as if my whole scalp was scabbing up. It was horrible, like I had an allergic reaction to the relaxer. From that point on, I vowed never to let a relaxer touch my scalp again.

That brings me to my transition (Sorry for the long winded story!!!). So far, I've been transitioning for 18 months and I'm learning to love my hair more and more each day. I don't know when I'll finally let go of the relaxed edges but I'm anxious to finally be totally natural. Whew! Finally I'm done.

Welcome!!!!

Thanks! I joined in December but this is my first time putting my story up!

Summer 09' Kinky Twist Transition Style

Welcome to the challenge!

welcome!!

Hello and welcome...

Welcome and have fun here

The other day I used Silicon Mix Conditioner and leave in. My hair is feeling super soft right now but I'm worried about the mineral oil in the conditioner and all the silicons.

Welcome to the challenge! Happy transitioning!

Hello Janique-

Welcome to the challenge!! You will enjoy this journey!!

Hey Janique! Welcome to the challenge!! I just recently started a few days ago as well and I LOVE IT! And your kinky twists are lovely

Welcome!

Young and relaxed (A throwback pic of my cuzins and I)

^^^ throwback indeed!!! LOL!

and YAY!!! Glad you started a BnB thread!

I know it was about time I did one! I just need to learn how to do some styles, because the bun and a hump thing is getting so old!

Janique wrote:The other day I used Silicon Mix Conditioner and leave in. My hair is feeling super soft right now but I'm worried about the mineral oil in the conditioner and all the silicons.

Hey be careful with that silicon mix condish and leave in! It has alot of not so good things in there for your hair. You don't want to damage your natural hair. Try to stick with natural ingredients if you can. At least for your transition. What would be the point of using all that and damaging your natural hair to end up cutting it off after transitioning for so long?

Silicones should really only be used if you are using heat because it will protect the hair. But overuse is not healthy.

Thanks...I will have to be careful with that...I surely don't want to backtrack on my progress...

Hey, welcome to the challenge!

Just put some Jamila henna in my hair....gonna wait 6 hours before I rinse it out...this is my fourth time using henna and I love it!