TamTam7: Length Check W/ Pics

Well, after being on this forum for a year I finally decided to start a Curl Street Journal. At first I didn't know what it was, but once I figured it out I thought it was a good way to chronicle my hair journey.

I have been wearing my hair natural for 11 years now. I decided to begin this journey because I recognized that I had issues with loving and accepting my natural hair texture. I, like many black people, accepted a Eurocentric aesthetic for beauty and thought my hair was ugly. I was told that while I had a "good grade" of hair I needed a perm to make my hair beautiful. I was even told by one black girl that with a perm I have "white people's hair" and that was supposed to be a compliment??? Meanwhile my hair was damaged beyond belief. My hair was so damaged at one point that I literally had a bald spot. I wore a "comb over" for a while until I finally decided to just cut it all off and wore the "Halle Berry" look.

After the comment was made to me that I had white people's hair I decided to really examine my hair and how I felt about it. Was she giving me a compliment? Is the goal to have hair like white people? I reflected on all of my insecurities growing up about my hair and came to the conclusion that I needed to confront this hair thing head on and decided to cut my hair off to see if I considered myself to be beautiful with a natural. I wore my hair in braids for a short while and tried to transition that way. After a while I got tired of the braids and just decided to cut my hair off completely and rock a TWA. I was so nervous. I went to a hair salon in Orlando, FL and the stylist asked me repeatedly, "are you sure you want to do this?" I thought to myself, if this woman don't cut my hair already I'm going to snatch the scissors out of her hands and cut it myself. LOL I went to my cousin's apartment later on that evening and she was very supportive and seemed to like my hair and helped me put single twist coils in my hair.

This was the summer of 1999 and I was getting ready to begin law school. I was so worried about how I would be perceived. Was my hair not professional or academic looking (whatever that is, LOL)? Will these white folks think I'm going to start a revolt? LOL. But nonetheless I wore my new look with pride and was surprised at how well it was received. I experimented with double strand twists, single coils, flat twists and wash-n-go styles. I was amazed at how fast my hair grew! I realized that if I wore my hair with confidence people had no choice but to love it, and if they didn't I didn't care anyways....I was fly! LOL!

I recognized that my natural hair texture is beautiful and I learned to embrace it. The great thing about natural hair is how versatile it is. I experiment with curly and straight styles and my hair is healthier than it ever was with a relaxer. No more comb overs!! LOL! Whether I decide to wear my hair curly or straight it's beautiful and I don't have to look outside of myself or look for acceptance and confusing "compliments" from others to realize that.

I will post pictures once I figure out why I'm having technical difficulties so stay tuned.

Hey Tamtam and Welcome to Curl Street! I've seen your avi around and your hair is gorgeous, can't wait to see the rest of your pics!

I am so happy you are here on Curl Street..I am going to get the link on how to post pics for you...brb

http://www.curlynikki.forumotion.com/t310-how-to-post-a-picture

That will tell you how to post a pic! I can't wait to see pics! I enjoyed your story! That's right you are fly! Tell em!

Welcome TamTam!!! I feel you on the versatility, sometimes I just sit back in amazement at OUR hair......I'm glad more ladies are coming around and embracing their natural hair.

Thanks ladies! Sweetdrk1 I will check out the link.

Tam tam....Welcome to the Street..And I enjoyed your story..I will look forward to seeing pics of that gorgeous hair. Blessings

So, here are some pics of my hairstyles. I wish I took pictures of more styles but I just wasn't thinking. I'm getting a flat twist out in a couple of weeks so I'll be sure to take pics and post.




This is the way I am currently wearing my hair. In this picture my hair is almost two weeks old. I straighten it when I get my ends trimmed. I used shea butter to protect my hair from the heat before touching it up with the flat iron but that shea butter is some heavy stuff. I only used a little but it took a little bit of the fluff and life out of my hair.




Ok, for this one I think I blow dried my hair and did kinda like a dry twist out...no, this is a dry braid out. This is kind of an old picture so I really don't remember.




This was my first attempt at a twist and curl. I was so proud of the outcome.




This is how I wore my hair for my wedding. I had many different hair trials and opted to straighten my hair and do these little pin curl thingees with a bun. I ran across a ton of cute natural hairstyles later and wished I had found them earlier, but I am still happy with my choice.

Here are some hairstyles I would like to try in the near future:



I did a mini double strand twist style similar minus the flat twists in the front because I don't know how to do that. I wish I would have taken a pic. It turned out nice. I'll take a pic next time. That's pretty much my go to style for the winter.




I'm dying to try the bantu knot out. I tried it once but was unsuccessful because it wasn't completely dry. I'm going to try it again but I'll have my hairstylist do it next time. I like this style as well as ChrslvsBlks bantu knot out.

Ok, I think I have the hang of this journal thing. I was having technical difficulties (i.e. I am not very tech savvy LOL).

Tomorrow I am going to Raleigh to purchase My Honey Child Olive You. I'm super excited about trying the product because I have heard great things about it. I'll let you all know how it goes. Check out pics of my natural hair journey. Unfortunately I don't have hairstyles from the very beginning of my journey but these are just a few styles that I've been wearing in the last couple of years or so.

i want try the DC sooo bad..please give a review..and your twist and curl was cute too

Great pictures TamTam! And your wedding picture was lovely! I enjoyed reading about your journey! 11 years huh? Well, you do have a beautiful head of hair- straight or curly!

@rayray, I will be sure to let you know what I think of the conditioner. I'm getting ready to go in just a bit. Thanks for the compliment on the twist and curl.

@poeticlyspkng thanks for the compliments. I can hardly believe that I have been natural for 11 years. I had some moments when I thought I was going to go back to getting a perm but when I thought back on all of my experiences I quickly changed my mind back. LOL

So, I went to Raleigh today to purchase the My Honey Child Olive You Deep Conditioner. I haven't tried it yet but I just wanted to let y'all know that the owner/creator is so nice and her hair is gorgeous. If that is any indication as to what her products can do then I'm sold already. I asked her if she plans on going more mainstream with her products and selling them at various retailers across the state and country to make them more accessible to folks and she said that she hasn't received any interest here in NC. So, I asked for her card and told her that I was going to ask a local vendor that sells natural hair care products in my area to see if she would be interested. I don't know much about this process and if there is enough interest in my area but I figured I'd give it a shot because I do not like ordering online and I don't intend to go back to Raleigh in the near future. Stay tuned for my review of the product.

Hi Tamtam, your pics are pretty! I've been interested in MHC products as well so I look forward to your review. Have a happy new year!!

I would love to buy MHC locally ...

lol I thought all those pics were of you.
Your hair is still very very pretty!

@blondebydesire, she said that there is a vendor in Charlotte that has contacted her recently about purchasing her products but she said that she called her back but haven't heard from her yet. I'm going to try to give her card to this retailer here in Greensboro and just see what she says. The owner of the store is not that polite so I'm nervous about her being a jerk about it, but I'll give it a shot nonetheless. I hate purchasing products from her store because her customer service really, really sucks, but she is the only one that sells the natural hair products that I like so I kinda have to suck it up, I guess.

Hello lovely curlies!
Well, since the weather is rainy and icky here in NC I decided to work with the frizz and not fight with my hair to try to keep it straight. I decided to coil up my 3 week old straightened hair. I used Miss Jessie's Curly Meringue and sectioned my hair in four parts. I secured each coiled section with hair pins and wrapped my hair in a satin scarf and then a satin bonnet (I sleep wild!). Below are pics.

For some reason the topic didn't change so let's try this again.

very nice!

Thanks Sweet! You're always so supportive.

So, on the "general" forum, MelMelBee posted a thread asking the names of everyone's hair. I have always admired everyone on Curly Nikki that had names for their hair but I just couldn't think of one for my hair. So as I was responding to the post I realized the perfect name for my hair...Sybil

My hair has multiple personalities just like the character that Sally Fields plays in the movie. I have a billion different textures throughout my hair...the back is really tightly coiled, the front has a looser curl pattern and the middle is a combination of the two. The slightest bit of moisture makes it frizz up. Sometimes I experiment with different styles and sometimes the style works and other times it doesn't...it just depends on the mood Sybil is in, but I love her just the same. All of her crazy mood swings makes her who she is and I love her no matter what.

I love the new name!!!

Thanks Sweetdrk1. I was just going to change it to Tara (because of the show United States of Tara) because I thought maybe I should go with something more modern, people may not know who Sybil is! LOL!

LOL, Sybil fits then Sybil it is!