My Hair Journey

Greetings Southernistas! Today I am taking a break from fashion to talk about my greatest frustration….my hair. I’ve had a love/hair relationship with my hair for most of my life. I wish I could say my hair journey has been a joy but it has only been the last five years or so that my hair and I have finally bonded and formed a healthy relationship and I have my amazing hair stylist Angelia to thank for this transformation.

My hair is the one the thing I hate! It is naturally short and course instead of it being long, flowing and not course like my mom, sister, brother, and a cousin who all have the hair I’ve always wanted. As I was growing up I was bullied all through school and even at the church I grew up in and besides my looks my hair came in second. I was called bald headed and that was the nicest thing that was said about my hair. My grandmother, who also had naturally long hair, did the best she could but it was never long enough for her to put in ponytails and it could just (just) be plaited because it wasn’t long enough for braids.

In the eighties I rocked a jeri curl and my hair grew and because it was a curl it was easy to take care of but the hair products caused a severe reaction but it caused my hair to grow so I dealt with the reaction. Eventually it was decided that I would no longer have them so then came the hot comb but I sweated so badly it never stayed straight for long. When I was in fifth grade my scalp broke out in these huge smelly sores that had to be treated medically and I had to get permission to wear hats to school until that…