I Relaxed My Hair After A Decade And Thought The Ancestors Punished Me
I loved my natural hair when I first did the big chop
It was around this time last year that I got a relaxer for the first time in a decade. It was July 12, 2021, to be exact. I know this because I am scrolling through my iPhone now looking at the photo of me that day.
I strolled into the mall salon (that should have been my first clue that things would not go well) feeling that I would leave with a weight lifted off my shoulders. I was tired of my natural hair!
Done!!!!
Through!!!!
And, yes, it was starting to feel physically heavy! Especially when I was left with no choice but to gather my kinks at the top of my head into a tight puff, sometimes wrapping a beautiful and vibrant headscarf around. While this go-to style was cute, it had destroyed my edges over the years, and constantly left me with headaches. Sometimes I’d spend hours on washing, conditioning, and twisting my hair — making sure not to un-twist my plaits for at least 36 hours — only to have my hair look like I hadn’t done anything to it the next day. Out of frustration, I would sometimes opt for a wig. Wigs did the same thing — destroyed my edges and left me with a literal and physical headache. There’s nothing wrong with a…
