A-Felice: Today's Celebration.... succesful wash and goes!

Alost ten months ago I made the decision to stop relaxing my hair. It was gradual. I didn’t wake up one day and say goodbye relaxer! Rather I had been unwittingly marinating on the idea for months. I had my first relaxer at twelve years old after years of begging my mother to straighten it. She’d tried pressing it once, and after almost four hours with the hot comb my hair was curly again within fifteen minutes! So finally she gave in and relaxed my hair. At first it was this awful, cottony texture, but then when I was about 14, we found my hairstylist (my hair mum), Zorina (the best
stylist in Trinidad!) who nursed my hair to health, shine and beauty for years. My hair was always long, and I was always proud of it.

When I was 18 I left Trinidad and came to college in Tampa FL, leaving my beloved hairstylist behind. This is when my hair troubles began. See, I was so attached to my stylist back home, I would trust absolutely no one in the US with my hair. I would go for months without a professional relaxer and soon began doing it myself at home. I remember once crying in the shower, washing my relaxer out of my hair while it felt like my scalp was on fire. My hair started to get brittle and dry. Every Christmas and summer break it would earn a reprieve because I’d be back home with Zorina again, and she’d nurse my tresses back to health. But then came the times when I was back at college and I truly began to get tired of my hair. One day, to Zorina’s shock, I told her I wanted it cut off. I cut it to chin length and I loved it.

I didn’t realise then that it wasn’t my hair I was fed up with, it was the never ending relaxer process. The never ending struggle with what to do with my hair, and all the consequences that came with having chemically processed hair. Soon after my hair cut I began to find that my scalp was beginning to get very sensitive to relaxers. Barely a minute into the relaxer process and I would complain of it burning. Most of the times it wasn’t processed yet and I would have to suffer while my hair got straight. Once, while I was at school in Tampa, I relaxed my hair myself, and it burned so badly in the back that I lost a bit of hair in one spot, and to this day that area of my scalp is rough to the touch. That was the last time I attempted a relaxer for myself, and in August 2009 I told Zorina, that I wanted to go natural. She supported me, and I asked her advice. She told me to put the two- strand twist braids in my hair and let it rest for a while, while giving my hair deep conditioners and regular washes while still in the twists. Good advice. My hair had grown a good three and half inches in the braids.

I was obsessed with finding conditioner treatments and curly hair products while I transitioned. My biggest challenge has been patience. I want to have a full head of long natural hair now!! But I know that I have to wait and in the mean time I can experiment with TWA hairstyles and I can research curly hair products. YouTube has been a staple source for me. Users like Kabrina and Taren have been such inspirations, and every day I find more. The naturally curly board really educated me on the curly girl regimen, but I have to say I feel a
lot more supported over here at CurlyNikki! I have a mix of 3b/3c curls, and
I’m still trying to find my staple products..... (GOD help me find a deep
conditioner w/o cones that loves me!). In the mean time I’m rockin’ my TWA with confidence.

Yipee! We've got another one. Welcome! You are gorgeous!

Juices-n-Berries wrote:Yipee! We've got another one. Welcome! You are gorgeous!

Thank you! What a lovely thing to say That really made my day.. it wasn't going so great.

Welcome!

Welcome to the Curl Street journal!!!

Hi neighbor!!! *waving* Welcome to Curl Street!

Welcome to the neighbourhood!

its about time , lol. u look gorgeous and i love ur twa!! so glad u came on over and i cant wait to watch u grow!!

Thank you all for the wonderful warm welcome! I'm really excited to keep updating my journal..

Todays frustration is my straight ends. I swear I keep finding them! Argh. I know its because I big chopped myself, so I missed a bit and gradually I've been getting them clipped...but just when I think I've gotten them all...new ones pop up! It is sooo frustating

On a happier note.. I'm graduating on Saturday!! It's official. I've passed all my classes so I've succeded in getiting my BA in Writing and a minor in music. I was a music major but I switched over in my junoir year.. so I had a lot of catching up to do. It's such a relief to be graduating!!

Today I put my hair into a semi-puff thing. I really hate puffs but I'm getting tired of trying to style my TWA. I know it's kind of early for me to be getting fed up of short hair already, I've only been natural for a month (would you believe I forgot my own anniversary on Saturday?! Finals lol) but I totally am. I feel like all i can do is wear a fro everyday.... I want to be able to put my hair in a pony on the days I don't feel like styling it. Sigh. Ok rant over.

I really do love my hair...just sometimes its frustrating.

Also I'm moving to New York on Sunday.. so any NY ladies Holla!

Bye guys... and thanks for reading

Aww how exciting! CONGRATS on graduating!! I'm graduating in June so I am super excited right along with you! Real world here we come

I loved reading your story and I agree with everyone, you are beautiful!!!! I love your TWA and can't wait to watch you grow grow grow

bholmes87 wrote:Aww how exciting! CONGRATS on graduating!! I'm graduating in June so I am super excited right along with you! Real world here we come

I loved reading your story and I agree with everyone, you are beautiful!!!! I love your TWA and can't wait to watch you grow grow grow

Thank you I'm excited/terrified about graduating, lol. I cant wait to get growing

Congratulations on your graduation. Your hair is beautiful

Congratulations on graduating!!!!

Be patience with your hair. Enjoy your TWA days because they will be over before you know it.

congrats on the graduation!!!!

Thank you all for the congratulations

I'm now going through the trials of moving and so have been ingnoring my hair needs. Now it's SUPER DRY. I just got back from sephora. I bought the Carol's daughter Tui Hair Smoothie on a whim, so I'll let you guys know how that works out. The smell is interesting but I think perhaps after a while it will become quite cloying. I'm already gettting tired of it. My mum purchased the hair milk, I was going to buy it as well, but it smells awful. I couldn't have that in my hair the whole time. Gag.

I'm still in the phase of being tired of my hair. I'm trying to have patience. I think it's because I'm stressed out about moving that I'm just frustrated in general and my hair seems to be the one thing I can take it out on. Sigh.

There is also this patch of hair in the middle of my hair that really pisses me off. I'm not to sure it's a different texture, but it's definitely different from the rest of my hair...now I could accept that if it didn't frizz so damn much! I swear... there's absolutely no definition whatsoever...just a poof of weirdness. As my hair gets longer the patch gets more and more annoying.

Also, I had been trying rinsing out my hair with cold H2O to reduce frizz.... all that did was make my hair super dry... anyone else have these results??

Thanks for reading

Instant update: I hate the Tui Hair Smothie...

I will add more on that later.

Welcome to Curl Street. So happy you have joined us!

awwww felice! u have the blues 4 real. oh wait...CONGRATS!!! on the graduation

and dont go talkin bad about my tui smoothie now, give it another try and if u still dont like it...IM HERE!!! i understand about that patch that gets on ur nerves cuz mine would be...THE FRONT!! go figure. of all the places on my head its always the front left side that doesnt like to coordinate with the rest. i mainly do cold rinses after i do the works (poo, dc, cond) and MAYBE if i do wash n go's. i havent experienced dryness tho', i always leave a little condish in, so i dont disturb my curls when applyin a leave-in.

Welcome!

Your avatar makes me smile.

My husband's family is from Trinidad. I hope to visit there and Tobago soon. Sooner than later!

I've taken so long to update because, well, I graduated yesterday...YAY. on another note, I did end up taking back the smoothie to sephora because I was so dissapointed. It made my hair feel like straw!!I had frizz before I even stepped out of the shower. Sorry guys. I really hated it. On a happier note though, my hair isn't dry anymore. I removed cone build up with tresseme naturals low sulfate shampoo conditioned with their cone free conditioner, then I deep conditioned with aubrey organics honeysuckle rose conditioner. After I used kbb hair nectar and jane carter leave in spray, and sealed with her hair cream. The result.....super duper moisterised hair. Yay! I'm in best buy right now, but I'll add more when i get home. Thanks for reading.

So. I've done it. I've moved to New York. Now I just need to find my own place. Anyone with suggestions pleas pm me. I'm looking for a place in brooklyn.
Hair update .....my hair is still supper moisterised, and I tried a new product. Herbal essenses totally twisted hair mousse. It works ok...its great for a quick fix, which is exactly what I needed the last couple of days. It gives me the same definition as kccc, but it dries faster, however it does dry my hair put a little bt, so its not something I would use everday.
I've also noticed that my hair really has grown a lot, but its hard to notice with the level of shrinkage I have. Argh. That's where most of my frustration is coming from I think. Also, I think its because I'm used to long hair. Amy other ladies who have had long hair most of thir lives feel really frustrated/depressed about their hair length/growth? inspire me! Lol.

Thanks for reading.

P.S. why can't I edit the title of my cj???? I've fries 10 times!

Figured it out..

Hey A-Felice congratulations on your graduation! I also had long hair most of my life. I can't say that I've felt depressed but more impatient to see my hair grow. It has grown a lot since my bc but when you are used to a certain length it just seems like it is taking Forever to grow back.

Are you doing mostly wash n gos or stretched hair styles? With a wash n go my hair shrinks back up to almost nothing.

Mainly wash and goes... which is why I get so much shrinkage. I've tried twist out's before. I hate them and they hate me... lol. Maybe when my hair is longer it'll look good, but for now... its a no no.

I can;t think of any other stretched styles... ?