When I was born I had super thick, long, black hair, that eventually turned into curly Q’s when I was a baby. When I was four my brother got gum in my hair and my mother took me to have it cut out and basically my brother and I rocked the same hair cut for a while. My hair eventually grew back, not to the soft curly Q’s they were before, but into thick, black frizz. When I was six, my Filipino mother took me to get my first relaxer. This would be the beginning to end of my healthy hair. Throughout my childhood I continued to have my hair relaxed or straightened when I got to middle school I learned how to straighten my hair and I did almost every single day. By the time I was in eighth grade my hair stopped growing and was so damaged and fried it started turning crunchy and blonde from split ends. I was a hot tool addict. My hair was barely at my armpit, I had no curls whatsoever, and when I didn’t straighten my air it was just straight and poufy when air dried. I didn’t even believe I had curls.
me at three growing my hair back
freshman year with gross fried hair
I loved all their products but this was my favorite, good on straight and curly/natural hair
available at beauty supply stores for under $10
Summer 2010, the summer before my freshman year of high school, my step-mom decided it was time for an intervention. She took away all access from any hot tools. I had to stick it out the whole summer. During this time I started taking biotin pills which did make my hair and nails grow, but it made hair everywhere on my body grow fast and thick, which wasn’t a good thing for me. By the time my freshman year began I decided I wanted to take better care of my hair. I started using African Pride hair products which is made specifically for ethnic hair. I also started using hair protein called HAIR by Nutress Hair Company. This helped restore strength and moisture to my damaged hair. I also made sure to deep condition my hair on weekends and use hot oil treatments about once a month. Eventually my hair got softer and stronger and slowly, it started growing after years of stunt.
By my sophomore year I found a curl at the nape of my neck and I was so excited I ran and showed my dad. I couldn’t remember a time where I saw my hair curl. My hair grew about mid chest length but still too short for me, I started wearing 18” extensions to pacify my frustration with my snail speed hair growth. I continued to wear extensions throughout the rest of my sophomore year.
As my hair grew out my new growth, roots, grew very curly, but the majority of my hair was still straight. My junior year was the year I went through the Ugly Transition Stage. That disgusting in between stage where your hair is kind of half and half and doesn’t know what it wants to be. At this point you have two options: 1) the big chop or 2) deal with it. Since I was NOT okay with chopping my hair off I had to suffer and deal with it. I started using actual curl enhancing shampoo and conditioner from Tresseme to promote curls and braiding my hair every night. My hair became more wavy than curly and a lot of it was still straight at the bottom. As always, I was impatient, and decided to start curling the straight pieced with a spiral curling wand. This, of course was counterproductive to promoting healthy hair.
flawless, yet damaging, wand curls
expensive ($32) but AMAZING! A little goes a long way.
December 2013, I had four inches cut off my hair, resulting in much deeper waves and even some curls. By spring 2014 I stopped using shampoo completely and switched to cleansing conditioners, like wen instead. I deep conditioned my hair every 1-2 weeks or whenever my hair felt dry. I soon had full on curls developing and my hair was much fuller and thicker. I also started using flexirods opposed to the wand to blend in the straight pieces. This is a good heatless alternative.
December 2013
March 2014, deep waves
May 2014, real loose curls!
Summer 2014, I hopped on the coconut oil bandwagon and for good reason too. I braided my hair with it, massaged my scalp with it, and deep conditioned with it too. It definitely was a key contributor to massive hair growth and curl formation. My hair continued to flourish and glow with health, growing longer and curlier. By fall it was a good six inches from my butt in the back and almost waist length in the front (I had long layers).
you can buy this at Walmart for $6 in the food isle
June 2014
November 2014
December 2014
In November, ready to chop off the damaged hair, once and for all, I had four inches cut off my hair. From then on my hair grew like wild fire. The healthier it got the curlier it became. Although my hair grew longer, I started to experience shrinkage, because it started curling so much!
It was definitely a long and vexing journey, but was totally worth all the effort. I’ve tried every quick fix I could image (and afford) and found that there are no short cuts to growing long healthy hair. The ultimate key to hair growth is tender loving care and a lot, I mean a lot, of patience.
May 2015, all natural curls
clayel smiles 