My Hairstory: The decision to go natural, 2009, and the future of my hair

After 9 months of transitioning, I did the big chop (BC) on December 27th, 2008. It was a very liberating experience for me. I finally let go of the permed ends that I had been rocking for almost my entire life ( I had absolutely no memory of my hair not being permed. I actually think I might have gotten a perm as early as 2 or 3 smh....i will touch on this topic some other time). My decision to go natural was mainly based on that fact. How can you go your entire life not knowing how the hair that grows out of your head looks?? How can something that is part of you be so taboo? As I saw the beautiful gorgeous heads of natural hair online and around me, I decided that I was done with relaxers. It was as simple as that. I had become interested in hair care and became a DIYer (do it yourself-er) for my relaxed hair for about 2 years,during which I gained renewed health, length, and strength to my hair. But, I wanted to get to know my true texture and not the artificial one that I was creating with each perm. So, I decided that I was no longer going to apply relaxers to my head in March of 2008. OMG. You would have thought that I had committed the ultimate sin by making this decision. The negativity that came with that decision from friends, family, family friends. It was insane. "Whhhhhy in the world would you do that?" "Natural hair is so hard to take care of." "That's crazy!!" "Mmm....Good luck with that!". Someone even had the nerve to imply to me that I wouldn't meet a man with natural hair. You're kidding right??
The mindset that we as black people have taken on about natural hair is.....well....sad to say the least. There is NO reason why people should have so much disdain for something that is a part of us. Anyway, I didn't let the comments bother me at all. In fact, it only increased my determination to go natural. The transitioning process is not only a time to transition physically from relaxed to natural, but also a time to transition mentally. By the time 9 months came, I was over my relaxed ends and snipped my hair off with a big smile on my face. That night I rocked my new fro with pride.
The first year is often an adjustment period to learn about your particular head of hair's needs. Here is what I've learned about mine.
I now know that my texture is 4a/b (mainly very tightly coiled 4a). I have a dense head of hair but with fine strands. Seeing the amount of hair I have, people can often mistake my hair for being coarse and able to deal with a lot of stress. But because my individual strands are so fine, I have to be careful with manipulation especially because one false move will quickly lead to breakage.
My tightly coiled strands tend to wrap around itself (and everything else) to create knots. Therefore, I must keep my hair stretched via braids, twists, bantu knots, etc, to minimize super long detangling sessions and unnecessary breakage. It took me awhile to realize that wash and gos are not my friend for this very reason.
My hair is protein sensitive, becoming dry and brittle at the touch of protein, yet needs occasional light protein because of the delicate nature of my strands. I'm still on a search to find a nice balance for this.
Moisture, moisture, moisture is my friend. Weekly deep conditioning treatments w/ heat and daily moisturizing kept my hair moist. However, I now know that I have to be careful with cones, as my hair doesn't respond well to them. I used to think that my hair didn't like shea butter (a natural girl's supposed best friend), but I've since realized that I can only use it on damp hair and in little amounts for my hair to thrive.Also, multilayered moisturizing helps hair to retain moisture longer.
My hair does best when it is left alone. The less I manipulate it, the better. For this reason, I kept my hair in a lot of protective styles (mainly twists) throughout the year.
I can not rake through my hair (combs or fingers) to detangle. It only creates knots. Therefore, i've learned to separate my hair and pull individual strands up and out of knots, to detangle. After doing this, only then can I use a comb, fingers, or denman as a final detangling step.
Despite a few setbacks that I encountered, mostly due to knots I was able to retain a good amount of my length. I am currently full shoulder length right now. My goal for the end of 2010 is to be full armpit length, inching towards brastrap. This requires me to maintain proper haircare practices and minimize unnecessary breakage and damage. So here is the plan for the year:
1) Continue to do protective styles throughout the majority of the year(twists, braids, buns (hopefully I can do this by the end of this year:), etc.) . Keep hair protected for at least 3 weeks out of each month.
2) Continue weekly deep conditioning treatments w/ heat.
3) Biweekly shampooing w/ ACV rinse every other week. Clarify as needed.
4) Find a good protein conditioner that works for my hair and incorporate into my regimen as needed.
5) Find a great moisturizer. My current products are good but could be better.
6) Continue minimizing heat usage. I went the whole year without using heat except for one time with a blow drying. I'd like to continue to use minimal heat. However, I would like to straighten my hair for the first time this year.
7) Trim off single stranded knots as needed, but most of all, prevent them from arising by keeping my ends tucked and moisturized.
8) Finally, I want to keep it simple. Less is more.

I truly love my natural hair. I don't regret the decision to go natural and truly, don't anticipate being relaxed again. I look forward to my 2010 hairstory.

~Bee