NO, I DO NOT HAVE GOOD HAIR

Recently, I came across a Natural who I had met during one of our meet ups. My hair was up in a bun and she was excited to finally see it loose. (I'm almost always in loose twists or braids with my ends tucked in)
As she came closer, she noticed my thin hair line and I could see the confusion on her face.
 "You too?" she said and I smiled.
 "Yes o, haven't you seen my improved iya iyabo on my blog?" I asked. And she replied with a "NO''. Lol... I took down my hair band and she saw that there was a huge difference between what grows in front and the rest of them.
After giving her a brief history of my hair, she was shocked to hear that my hair line was much thinner some years ago.

Going through my blog I see that I never fully discussed my hair and its short comings. So if you are a  reader and you have not noticed what I call my improved-iya-iyabo hair line here's what it looks like.

A Little History
 For the most part of my life, I have been natural. Mom, my precious Aunty E, and a few other ladies (I cant remember all of them now) took care of my hair until I got into secondary school. My first year in boarding house saw me taking care of my hair myself because I had not yet found a plaiting patner. In JSS3 (Junior Secondary School) I permed my hair and almost everything in front fell off. In SS1 (Senior Secondary School) I transitioned and by SS2 second term I had my hair back. After graduation, I decided I was going to relax my hair just to show that 'me sef, don age"  and by my 4th year in University, I was back to where I started from but with a difference...
  Ms Natural Hair with no edges.
2009-2011
By the time I started growing my Natural hair again, I noticed that my edges were nearly gone. I worried about it for a while but then I started ignoring it. Every now and then a natural would tell me what remedy she found,I would salute her but never follow up on her advice. I might start applying whatever oil she asked me to use but after a week I would get bored and stop.
Hair Blogs,my favourite places to be when I started my journey, sort of encouraged me to take care of it but then I found that if I left it alone, it 'seemed' to get better.

During my NYSC it improved but then I passed out and life happened.
     
The picture to the left was taken during my NYSC...look at my hair line can you see the difference?

2012/2013
Last year was a transition period for me. Fresh out of NYSC I started to see that life after school was more adventurous than I expected. Finding myself in the midst of all the well meaning advice I was getting plus all that I wanted to do was not easy. Juggling a job and my many other interests left me exhausted with little time to care for me as a person not to talk of my hair. There was a month when I could not get myself to eat even when I thought I was hungry. The crashing point was when I had to close my nose to force food down my throat. But before it  got to my stomach, I was running to bring it back out. With goose bumps all over my skin I fell down sobbing. I knew then and there that some things had to give.

2014
I am still learning to find balance and I'm getting better at saying N-O. Farida of Lumo Naturals has also been very supportive. I have added and deleted some steps in my regimen as my hair is sort of longer and my ends tend to get dry very fast.
My poor diet and neglect caused me some breakage early this year but fingers crossed, things would get better. 12 months is how long I have given myself to see if I can solve the problem that 4 years of relaxing and tight braiding has caused me. If my edges get fuller, fine, if not...we continue as we began-with scanty edges :)
All in all, I am very grateful to God, that I did not end up bald after all the damage that relaxers caused me... but now you know, I don't have a perfect head of hair.

 
 2009
2013...shrinkage is your friend :)

 

                        Style name: My hair must pack :)

       
                                                 Hair pins save the day

13 comments:

  1. You have a beautiful head of hair. Can you give me the names of people with a "perfect" head of hair? I think everybody -- and I mean everybody -- has something about their hair with which they are displeased. Our jobs as naturals is to care for our hair as best we can, fully expecting the occasional mishaps and the need to nurse our hair back to health. Between products, hardness or softness of water, techniques, diet, weather, hormone shifts, illnesses, etc . . . we can't expect to never have an issue. *sigh* Anyway, thank you for sharing your story . . . it will help others for sure. And just my two cents . . . I think you should change the title of this post to "I Have Great Hair . . . It is Just Not Perfect."

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    1. Aww...thank you JazzWife!! I agree with you on all points. Thanks for sharing and thanks for taking us through your own journey. Reading those posts encouraged me to stay patient...maybe one day I would have my full head of hair back:)
      *I know I sound greedy but who doesn't want it all :)

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  2. after all these years of effort , it's really we can see the final output, its really appreciated continuously to monitor about the things happening across all over these years.

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  3. Babe! I dey jealous you!! All of that hair and you are complaining about hairline? lol...I know how it feels but relax girl, you are blessed! My hair is very thick too...tho not as long...but my hair line is not as packed....I took after my mom in that area - fine soft baby hair that prefers to stay close to scalp...lol

    I wish my hair would "pack" like yours RIGHT NOW! lol...but im getting there. Keep loving you and do what you do. You are already perfect as you are bo! :D :D

    "im still waiting for my tutorial o!" *winks*

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    1. Hi Lolu!! Thanks for the words of encouragement. My wahala is that I know what my hairline used to be like. But we thank God sha, I have come a long way.
      Lol @ you wish your hair would pack right now! My sister, enjoy each phase of your journey. This would help you know more about your hair when it grows. I've seen ladies who have length but don't know what to do with it? Ask and you'll find that most with this problem were always steps ahead of themselves.
      Erm...please remind me o...which tutorial again?

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    2. You are absolutely right! With each product and passing day, I'm actually learning what my hair likes and don't, what breaks it, what moisturizes it and what does not...etc, infact, this past two weeks I learnt about what causes frizz for my hair! It's amazing!!
      It's just one wants to make shakara sometimes you know...And hair is not long enough...lol

      The tutorial is on the updo you gave your little sister no 3 in this post http://deepbrownkinks.blogspot.com/2014/01/harmattan-hair-care-ii.html?m=1

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    3. Eiya....not to worry, with healthy hair comes length so keep learning and keep working what you've got now with pride:)
      Thanks for reminding will get it up as soon as possible.
      P.s Can you please share your findings on frizz? Thanks

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    4. Yes I will! Thanks for the encouragement.

      By the way, have you heard about Castor Oil? I think you need to try using it on your edges. It might work wonders for you in a matter of weeks! Dont take my word for it, try it! :D

      Secondly, can you share with us on where to find natural hair products in Abuja minus Casabella? any natural hair meetups?
      I will share my frizz story with you soon...lol

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  4. Yes, you have good hair. Scanty edges and all.

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  5. LOL @ "My hair must pack"
    I understand where this post and its title is coming from, but your hair is GOOD!
    x

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  6. today I came to terms that my very thick hair was beginning to thin out especially at the 'ogo' because of my previous detangling method. My hair is the curliest there and shrinks the most. I told you about my detangling woes right? apparently my hair prefers finger detangling on dry hair...no respect at all! anyway, 1st thought that came to mind was to do a (3rd) big chop and start again, but this is what i always do when i am not satisfied with my hair, i take the easy way out. However, I am determined to nurse my hair back to good health again. let me handle the situation before it gets out of hand. People think I have perfect hair, I don't. The thing get e own wahala, I still love am sha.

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  7. wow..four years and u didnt give up. i cut ma perm ends off just dis january and being massing castor oil on my edges religiously...seems to be growing small. i feel so shy wearn ma hair out cos of ma edges...i guess i have to get over it


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