Approximately a year and a half ago I was in the process of removing braids from my hair. I stood in the mirror in awe at the cuteness of my ‘naps’, and decided that I wouldn’t perm my hair any more. I have a BIG head and knew that I would NEVER ‘big chop’, so I decided to transition the perm out.

Anyway, I’ve kept my hair ‘hidden’ for a year and a half. Every time I went in for a hair appointment I had some permed hair cut off. I never saw my hair so I had no clue what was going on. About six months ago, I shared a picture of my natural hair on my blog, but I wasn’t comfortable wearing my ‘naps’ yet, so I got another sew in! After I had that sew in removed, I got another one.

Fast forward to yesterday…I was at home bored and decided that I wanted to rock my ‘naps’, so I carefully removed my tracks (I cut a little bit of my hair in the back, I couldn’t see what I was doing!) and was surprised at how long my hair had gotten. My bestie is natural and recommended that I do a [bentonite clay/apple cider vinegar/honey] mask on my hair, and I did, I even put it on my face and everywhere else (I made a MESS!).

I did not realize that tending to natural hair took so much work. The detangling process was NUTS, and my hair is super curly. The shrinkage is unbelievable, when my hair was wet, it was bouncing on and past my shoulders, when it dried, it was tickling my ears. I am going to try to wear it ‘out’ until the new year, I may even save myself a few lumps of money and rock my hair a while longer.

This process also revealed just how ‘low maintenance’ I am, because I looked under the sink for products to put in my hair and all I had was a can of oil sheen and a bottle of thermal styling spray. If anyone reading this can recommend ANY products to moisturize  my hair, or anything else that I must have, please share them in the comments. Thank you.

Here are some pictures of Flawda Evins [my hair] & I!

Me with my hair straightened. My friend, Patricia, says that I look like the little girl from ‘The Ring’ in this picture.

No more straight hair.

This is the mess that I made with the bentonite clay concoction. Flawda is 100% perm free, she needs a trim!

Under the dryer!

All dry and ‘nappy’, well curly!

Just a random shot.

Better view of the final ‘product’.