Malorie- A Story of Transition

CN: Were you a long term and short term transitioner? Why?
I was pretty short term. My last perm was in November of 2008, and I BC’ed in March of 2009. The time between those two events equates to about three solid months. The anticipation of wanting to see my natural growth just came to be too much lol.

CN: When was your BC? What was your initial reaction to your hair?
March 8, 2009! I was so pissed off that day (about many other things in life), and I happened to take a look at my hair in the mirror, and I said, “I’m cutting this sh*t today.” I went to Walgreens, bought some hair scissors, and stood in the mirror and cut it all off myself. I was possessed, lol. Initially, I thought my newly short hair made me look so badass, but I was still very wary of what everyone would say, once I realized that after I stepped out my bathroom, everyone would see it, lol. I LOVED the way it looked while wet, but I would grow frustrated once my hair dried and it didn’t have that wet, curly look. As I experimented with products, the frustration started to wane. Despite the slight apprehension, I rocked my short do and defended it to anyone who had something to say!

CN: What was your transition routine? Staple Hair Styles?
Well, I wasn’t intentionally transitioning at first. I was lazy and didn’t want to pay for a perm, nor ask my mother to do it, nor do it myself. So, I just stopped perming. And then my former desire to attempt natural life started to resurface… my staple hair style was half combing/brushing my hair and pushing it up in various humps/bun things and placing hair pins in it. This grew tiring (and my hair grew too nappy lol), so then I had kinky twists for about a month before I BC’ed.

CN: How did you moisturize your hair to prevent breakage at the new growth line?
*Prepares to be hit* lol. I wasn’t very good with moisture. I was used to the relaxed hair lifestyle, when I barely moisturized at all (I had to have my tresses light and able to move with the breeze!). All I can remember doing is washing, conditioning, and that’s it. After my kinky twists, my hair broke very badly in the back of my head, thanks to my combing fiercely at the line of demarcation and probably thanks to all that time without any moisture. I’m surprised the little coils I had back there hung on… lol.

CN: Why did you choose to go natural? Are you happy with your decision?
I had been tempted by the natural lifestyle since about two or three years prior to my decision to do it. (I initially wanted to loc my hair.) I finally chose to do it because: a) I was attaching my beauty to my relaxed hair (i.e. thinking about how romantic interests would react to my hair; thinking I wouldn’t be pretty without a shiny bob, etc.), and I knew I had to challenge that foolish notion to prove to myself that I was wrong, b) I started reading blogs like yours (thank you so much!! you have no idea how your blog has changed my life!) and feeling empowered by all the women and all the various textures of beautiful, healthy natural hair!, and c) I get these waves (often) of wanting to do something different… everyone’s got piercings, I wasn’t in the market to get another tattoo (not at that time ;), and not only was chopping all my hair off something I started to want to do (per the empowerment from the blogs!), but it was like the most badass thing (I just knew it was going to rile some people up… not only was I cutting it off, but I was letting it go to its natural state… what?!) 🙂 I am very pleased with my decision, down to the timing and everything else. It has changed my life, and impacted some others (I have a friend who BC’ed after she saw my blog and pictures 🙂

The third pic is a collage of my natural hair images 🙂 Top left and middle bottom pics are just showing my texture after showers, bottom left pic is the day I BC’ed after I showered and conditioned my natural hair for the first time :), top right pic is me at a springs near Daytona Beach, and bottom right is me on South Beach in Miami 🙂

The fourth picture is of me this month, just hanging out at a local springs 🙂 The natural gal in nature!