Meet My Natural Hair | Keyda Update

I cannot believe it has been this long since I have posted! It has been so much going on that sometimes I'm not sure if I have time to just BE! I am sure ALL of you know where I am coming from! #queenin #blackgirlmagic So, many hats, so many super women!

Well, I have realized that I have not received a touch-up since July 2014!!!!!! And it was a journey through a long year. In fact, prior to my wedding day, I had a ...

BIG CHOP! Yes, this is not a typo! I cut off the rest of my relaxed ends and am officially all natural! It has been AMAZING! I LOVE MY CURLS and have grown to love my "fro". Honestly, I was very timid about wearing my curls out as I have not seen my hair in curls since middle school. Of course, I  make that face the moment someone goes for my hair (you know which one!) and try to bite my tongue when asked how does my hair curl (normal response.."wash it"). *le sigh* I have learned to own it and walk confidently in my natural hair, so who knows when, if ever, I will get another perm. I still love a good blow out! Although, my last one was for my wedding!

Positives:

• My hair is manageable.. surprisingly.. like really. While the tangles are not always fun, I am definitely more pleased taking them out compared to before. 
• My scalp can breath! It has not been as itchy or irritated in-between my washes. 
• I can literally just ... GO! Like, it's amazing that I can simply fluff and go! :) 
• Confidence. This is not something about my "hair" but what has grown in me since going natural. I have always been a fierce one hehe but now I just feel so much more confident in any style I wear and feel no judgement. 

Negatives:

• Laziness due to the fluffiness. Honestly, I have difficulty changing up my styles and remembering to wash at least 2 times a week. I hope to co-wash more often in-between my full-on wash days. (I need to do better)
• Trimming. I really need to find a method so I will definitely be exploring some of the ways KLP was discussing here. 

I have grown to have a few "go-to" styles that are easy and manageable with my hair. However, as my hair grows, I try to mix it up and I definitely plan on trying Curlformers that KLP raves about! I cannot wait to give them a try! :)

Let me know what you think and how your journey is going!

xoxo
Keyda

2 Years Post Relaxer | The #WashDayExperience

So...I ran off to Florida for a few weeks and totally didn't tell you guys! My bad! But I'm back and excited to celebrate 2 years post relaxer!

AND this chica is BEYOND siced!

I guess that I should finally tell you why I big chopped:

You see, I've been natural before---many many times---most of them accidentally natural---but natural nonetheless. My mother only relaxed my hair for special occasions (think twice maybe 3 times a year). When I started college---I completely stopped relaxing my hair when my room mate introduced me to the flat iron! My mind was completely blown because I had no clue that you could straighten your hair WITHOUT a relaxer and I was hooked instantly! Fast forward two years, my relaxed ends completely broke off and my shoulder length natural hair was disgustingly heat damaged. But, girls,  I was oblivious. I never ever ever wore my hair curly. I'd crank my flat iron up as high as it could go slather some blue magic on my scalp and take 20 passes on each section of hair to get it bone straight. Every. Single. Day.

Everyone in my dorm knew when I was straightening my hair. It smelled like burnt hair for days...

*hangs head*

Feel free to judge me. Shoot...I'm judging me! I started relaxing again because even my heat damaged hair wasn't straight enough for me once humidity hit it. I figured that a relaxer + flat iron would keep my hair LAID!

*hangs head lower*

But my perspective on my curls today is totally different.

I'm dangerously in love with these thangs!

Like, I really really really love them. Like, I don't feel like myself without them. My curls are my boos, baes, and cuddle buddies. Y'all just don't understand. I'm utterly flabbergasted at how long it took me to get to this point!

The best part of it all---basically NOTHING has changed in my #washdayexperience, my regimen, or my styling routine. All of my relaxed/texlax fave products still do the trick (honestly---some work better now!) and I can still rock my fave protective styles.

Will I ever relax/texlax my hair again? Probably not.

Do I have anything against relaxed hair? Absolutely not.

Relaxed hair is/was just a hairstyle to me. When I relaxed my hair---my goal was only to be able to straighten my hair easier. But as I learned other ways to stretch my hair without heat and as I stretched my relaxers 4-6 months, I really questioned---what was the point of relaxing my hair to begin with.

My answer came last year on the eve of my big chop:

I was just USED to doing it. There was no purpose anymore. I didn't even like the tedious process. I was simply accustomed to going through the motions.

So there you have it. My boring, uninteresting truth. Ladies chop off their relaxed hair for dozens of intensely powerful sentimental reasons. Reasons that include the love of their children, support for friends, respect of family, bold political statements, or beautiful spiritual revelations.

I'm just not one of them. I kinda wish that there was more to the story. Maybe I should make up something...

*kanye shrug* That's too much work!

I hope that you guys still love me!

Happy #WashDayExperience Wednesday!

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