My Journey to Curly Hair

 

Growing up I’ve always had the thickest hair known to man, with a little squiggle-shaped curl, tons of waves and endless body. I once went to a Brazilian stylist that was blow drying my hair and exclaimed “Honey! With all this hair, you will never go bald!” But thing is, I just never knew what to do with it. My mother always blow dried and straightened hers, every week in and out, so I in turn, blow dried mine – week in and week out. And in the process, my unruly locks have snapped, broken brushes, squeezed through hundreds of bottles of unhealthy hair products and gone through the mega wattage of heat from over two dozen hair dryers and flat irons over the years.

Yet, that didn’t stop me and I hardly was concerned with all the damage I had been putting my strands through. My main concern was that my big hair with a little kink and a lot of personality was managed to look as close as it could to my Irish and Italian American friends growing up in middle school and high school. I would be mortified those spring school mornings when the morning dew created a humidity havoc on my just blown out hair – revealing that my hair was indeed unlike my friends and classmates. I was the only Puerto Rican girl in my class and at that time all I wanted to do was blend in like the chameleon I was. And this grooming ritual of blowing drying my curly hair and flat ironing every single day carried on until January of last year.

I had been going through this very intense search of self and wanted to rid myself of the chains of everything I inherently was not. I was searching for my truest self and on New Years Eve going into 2012, I wore my hair natural and curly and wild. It was a huge deal because NYE was a day to look your most glamorous and I had been conditioned to believe that my naturally curly hair was unattractive and totally not glamorous. But something shifted that night and I haven’t stopped since. I’ve probably blow dried my hair straight three times and every time I do, I’m like why did I do this again? But this acceptance of my hair texture and curl pattern did not happen immediately and took hours on end looking at YouTube videos, tumblrs, tutorials and forums from the natural/curly hair community to understand how to appreciate, style and care for all this luscious hair.

The biggest influence for me came from HeyFranHey, a natural hair vlogger, by way of a recommendation from a fellow curly girl, Bruja. By just watching her videos religiously, I learned what it would take to care for my hair with all natural products – no chemicals, sulfates or parabens. And I commited to understanding, caring for and loving my hair. Now nearly a year in, with using virtually no heat (except when I periodically diffuse) and using all natural hair products – I’ve seen my hair grow, change texture and I’ve learned to have fun with my hair just the way it grows out of my head. It’s become my most prized accessory.

Now, I’ve reached a new plateau on my hair journey to curly – I’ve tried all the recommendations from all the natural hair vloggers and bloggers that have led the way and I’m finding that it’s important to know what works for me and my hair. And I’ve also found that my hair has specific needs as it is getting super long and I prefer an particular look to my hair, especially because its become an intregal part of my outfits/looks. So I’ve been trying out new techniques, styles, products and regimens to understand what my hair is telling me it wants. I would love it if you checked back periodically as I post my personal rituals and hair habits on my journey to curly.

And after we all goob on all these products, try all these DIY treatments, listen to all the best gurus – and after all this time and all these hair follicles, it’s just really about learning to appreciate yourself. And that’s all. Nothing more sappy, nothing less. Thanks so much for reading, y’all.