Why Go Natural?

         
          "Ugh! I'm so tired of this!" was the statement leading to my decision to make better choices for my hair. Two years ago, after washing my hair in the shower, I experienced a hair breakage episode. I swear it looked like that scene from The Craft where home chick's hair started falling out everywhere. My once beautiful hair texture became non-existent as a result of that good ol' hot comb, flat iron, and boxes of permanent hair dye. Heat protectant, co-washing, the LOC method, etc... were not apart of my vocabulary yet. Heck, I didn't even know what "going natural" meant. All I knew was I needed a change from my routine of going from healthy hair to horrendous hair, and back again.    

         And so my transitioning journey began! I started with deep conditioning and hot oil treatments. My go-to hairstyles were braid-outs and ponytails. Every other month I would chop an inch of my damaged ends off as my natural texture grew in, which kept my hair the same darn length for almost 2 years! 

          There were many a day during this transition when I felt like giving up. Actually caring for my strands was a foreign concept, not to mention dealing with two completely opposite hair textures. So I got help from an unlikely source: Instagram. I honestly believe social media saved my natural hair's life! I began following numerous natural hair pages for motivation, support, and advice. The end result was my timeline being flooded with constant fabulous natural women who were confident, sexy, and stylish. 

           All that visual encouragement gave me a much needed self esteem boost. Now I'm so used to my natural hair that I feel somewhat incomplete without big or curly hair. Choosing to be natural brings a sense of pride with the decision. Society's norms of beauty no longer influence my hairstyles. My journey to natural truly was a freeing experience. It taught me how closely related body health is to hair growth, so my mission is to share my experiences in the hope that it positively affects others. 

Please share your reasons for going or wanting to go natural! Let's encourage one another!