Embracing My Natural

Behind the scenes of my type 4 hair :)

[nmillerblogs-blog]

08.12.2019

After months and months of protective styling, my hair finally fit into a pony tail! Although this wasn’t a wet ponytail (so I knew it would shrink with water), I was so proud of this moment! I knew that my hair was growing but this just made me even more excited about the growth! 

I admit that this is not the neatest pony tail, and I honestly didn’t even try! I just was so happy that it fit! 

[nmillerblogs-blog]

03.23.2019

Isn’t my TWA so cute? If you didn’t know, TWA stands for “teeny weeny afro” and it’s usually used to refer to natural hair during the first stages after the big chop. I started to learn my hair. I learned what it felt like, what type of curls I had (type 4), how it responded during my wash day and what cute styles I could try. 

When it came to styling my hair, I didn’t play around with styles too much because I honestly rarely wore my hair out. This photo was taken after I had taken my braids out to wash my hair. However, it wasn’t long before I put braids back in, so I didn’t get to experiment with many hair styles. 

[nmillerblogs-blog]

03.03.2019

The day it all changed! On a trip back home to The Bahamas my friend and I spontaneously decided to cut my hair! First it started with me just wanting to cut a small piece out of curiosity of what my hair may look like. Then it turned into, “okay just another piece”. Within minutes I started having a burst of excitement, shock and fear all combined! I decided to cut it all off! 

I’m glad I made this decision this day. At that time, it felt like my hair would take forever to grow back. I'm glad I had protective styles to rely on, they have definitely made this journey easier. After cutting my hair, I didn’t see it very often. I usually had some type of braids or weave in my hair and I think that definitely helped it to grow. 

[nmillerblogs-blog]

01.17.2019

As time passed by and my hair grew, I started to see my natural curls! This was my first time since I was a kid letting my hair grow out this much to the point where I could actually see my natural curl pattern. Usually, as soon as my natural hair started to grow I went to get a perm because “my roots were showing”. 

Thinking about it now, it’s kind of heartbreaking that I felt the need to “fix” my roots. I felt like my roots should never be shown and I spent countless of money each year trying to hide them. I was never raised to embrace my hair for what it was, instead I was trained to hide behind chemically processed straight hair that “looked better” and “made life easier”. How sad. I can’t even blame my parents, it was a societal problem. 

But, I remember being so happy taking these photos. I felt like a little kid being given candy for the first time. I always saw it, but never had it. And now, to see curls growing out of my roots? It was the start of something new. 

#thejourneygotexciting #mynaturalhairstory

[nmillerblogs-blog]

07.27.2018

Not everyone understands why a lot of black girls use the term “natural hair” to refer to their hair type. Some may question, “Isn’t all hair that grows out of your scalp natural?” And while that is true, not everyone’s hair is in its natural condition. Most black girls don’t have naturally straight hair, it’s more common for our hair to have some type of wave pattern, whether that be a large curl or a tiny coil (I'll explain hair types further in another post). 

Ever since I was in primary school (elementary) my hair had been straight, but that wasn’t because it grew that way, it was chemically processed to be straight. For most of my life, monthly visits to the hair salon to get a relaxer was tradition. Growing up, I lost memory of what my natural hair looks like and I had no clue what it would be like to be “natural”. 

On this day in July, I took this photo after leaving the hair salon. I had my last relaxer (perm) on this day. This would be the last time my hair could be permanently straight without needing to apply heat. I decided that I no longer wanted to have straight hair. It was time for me to start embracing the natural hair God gave me.