Janet36603--Why I've been MIA and lots of pics!

Hello ladies! I've been lurking on the site for a few months and have been posting a little recently. I figured since my BC is coming up in about a month, this would be a good time to start a curl street journal (as well as jlowman1 suggesting I do so lol).

So here's my story...bear with me it's a little long...

First off, I'll give a little back story. I'm Janet, 24 years old and I live in Montgomery, AL where I'm getting my Master's in Psychology at Auburn University Montgomery (AUM). Before that I went to the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) for my bachelors in Psychology and I'm originally from Mobile, AL. I travel visit my boyfriend and his son (3) on the weekends in Birmingham.

Now on to the hair:
I've been getting perms and presses for as long as I can remember. Just about all of the pictures I have of me as a child show me with pressed or permed hair. I contently got perms every other month or so...be it box perms from my mom or when I started regularly going to the salon in middle/high school. My freshman year of high school I took a break from the perms and had braids for a year. I wish I had decided to transition then, but I went back to perms. My hair has never grown past my shoulders and I used to cringe whenever my hairdresser would give it a "trim".

Fast forward to the summer of this past year, where I decided to "try something different" and I got micro braids for the first time. I liked them but when I took them out my hair was a mess. I kept them in about 3 months and went RUNNING to my old hairdresser in Birmingham to get a perm. Now I wish I had skipped that one too.

My boyfriend decided he wanted to grow dreads and wanted ME to maintain them. I have no idea how to do hair...like at all so I searched on the internet for what information I could (which lead me to another popular natural hair site) where I soaked up everything. Through trial and error we had his hair looking pretty nice and it was growing. Then I decided I wanted sisterlocks since you could start them with permed hair. I started growing my hair out while I did more research on them and saving up the money...but as time went on I decided I may regret locking my hair without getting to know my true texture. Plus I was falling in love with the little spiral curls I saw popping up everywhere.

So officially started transitioning but didn't want to BC. I was just going to trim as I went along...until my hair started shedding horribly. My permed ends weren't even thick enough to cover the sock buns I was doing for a while so I knew I had to do something else...

Next came kinky twists which I've been doing for the past 3 months or so. As I type this I need to be taking down my current set and washing my hair so I can put in another one . I finally got the courage to want to BC but I still wanted more length and I didn't want to BC while it was still cold...so I resolved to BC the day before my 25th birthday so I could start out the next 25 years of my life (and beyond) natural.

So that's my (long) story. I'm at about 8 1/2 months with a little over a month to go before the BC. I'm learning more every day and I'm SO glad I found this site. Everyone is so friendly here and I feel like I've found a good home!

Sorry for the extra long post I will try to keep the next ones short. By the way, I also have a blog where I've been updating some of my hair journey along with random life tidbits. The link is in my siggy!

Welcome to Curl Street!

FINALLY!
Welcome to Curl Street!

Welcome!

Welcome!!

@sweetdk1, Juices-n-Berries, and SheeTacular_Napps-- Thanks ladies!

@jlowman1-- You are well on your way to becoming my little big sister ma'am lol

Welcome to the neighborhood!!

@Lynnieluve thanks! You and MahoganyCurls are my hair idols!

Aww I'm blushing.....I am happy when I can inspire others.

WELCOME!!!!!!!!!!!! let's see some pics before you put in your next set of kinkys!!

@mrsmackey-- Will do! I JUST started taking them out. It feels so good to play in the curlies! lol

Congrats and welcome!

Hey Janet and welcome! I'm originally from Montgomery also!

Hi Janet!! Welcome to the block!

@crvng4mr, krazy coils, and CurlsGalore-- Thanks ladies! This is what I love about this forum. Everyone is so friendly! (and it's genuine lol)

Welcome to the neighborhood. You friendly Curl Street Journal.. LMAO! post pictures please...

Hi and welcome Janet! Glad you're not lurking any more. I did that for a long time before finally jumping aboard too. But once I joined in I began to learn SO much. So much that I kicked my hair dresser to the curb and started doing my own thing and what's best for my hair. This group of ladies is phenomenal in helping along with that journey and soon you too will be paying it forward!

@ktoliver5303--Thanks and pictures will be coming soon. I'm actually almost done with my deep condition (under the dryer as I type lol) and once I get done cowashing and detangling I'll post a recap

@poeticlyspkng--I kicked my hairdresser to the curb as soon as I decided to go natural. Even my boyfriend thinks I should go back to let him(my hairdresser is a him lol) do my BC or find another hairdresser but I'm saying NO! I've made it 8 months without them and I can cut my hair myself. Besides, if I really don't like the shape THEN I'll go let somebody try to fix it for me lol

Hey Janet! Loved reading your story!! I look forward to seeing your BC when it comes up

@bholmes87--Thanks! I'm soooo excited about the BC. I almost did it today after playing in my curls but I'm going to be a good girl and wait. I did chop off about 2 inches of permed ends while my hair was in 4 braids after deep conditioning. I guess you could call it "dusting" lol

hahahaha I would do the same thing! I was sooooo anxious to see my real hair that I couldn't wait!! I was really scissor happy

Hello again ladies! I've just about completed my wash day post kinky twists and I'm sitting under the dryer to speed things along (on LOW of course lol). Below are a few pictures I took. I don't have a digital camera yet, so I usually just take pics with my phone. For some reason when I do this in my boyfriend's bathroom, it makes everything have a yellow tint so bear with me with the sub-par pictures lol.

I took out most of the twists yesterday but had a little section left that I finished this morning. As I took them out I gently finger combed and separated the hair that was in the twist. I learned the hard way that if I don't do thing I wind up with tons of knots and tangles.

So here's me this morning after all of the twists were out and I decided to pretend like I had a fro lol. (By the way I always tag my pictures)


Then I wet my hair in the sink (I did all of this while watching my boyfriend's son Chase by the way lol) and slathered on some conditioner. I'm running low on my beloved HEHH so I used Lustrasilk's shea butter cholesterol as my deep conditioner. I also ran out of shower caps so I used a grocery bag instead lol. I sat with it on my head for about 20 min under the dryer.

My hair loaded up with conditioner


Checking out some of the curly babies


Naked hair after washing out DC. This curly bunch caught my eye


Next came cowashing and detangling with my trusty HEHH (with a little water added because I had less than I thought). I braided my hair in 4 braids and chopped off about 2-3 inches since I didn't want the permed ends getting snagged too much as I detangled. I've been chopping off an inch or two here and there when I wash for the past few months. I used my shower comb first and then my modified denman brush (which I LOVE after I modified it and tried it with my detangle session last month post kinky twists) on each section

Then I hopped in the shower and rinsed and really quick while Chase ate his PJ&J sandwiches for lunch and watched cartoons. I moisturized/sealed with my homemade spritz with extra olive oil added to it and then hopped under the dryer so I would be able to start putting the twists in today.

So that's it lovelies! For the next 2 or so days I'll be breaking my back trying to put these twists back in. I forgot to mention that I did a ACV rinse on the marley braid hair yesterday and let it dry. It cuts down on itching a LOT!

The scissors are calling me! I'll try to resist as much as I can

Welcome!

How long do you wear your twist before you put a new set in? I guess this set will be until your BC, right?

@npmoore04 thanks!

@Lynnieluve The last 2 times I made sure to keep them in a month or as close to it as I could stand (the permed ends started poking out about then and made the whole thing look a little frizzy). The first time I don't remember how long I kept them in...probably about a month as well...maybe a little less because some of those started slipping out lol

And correct, this set will be until the BC. I may take them out a few days before to wash and attempt a style or two but I'm not sure. My permed ends are looking pretty thin at this point but the new growth is so curly and thick.