It was June 2011, 6^th form was done, summer had just begun and I was sitting on the floor of my room speaking to my cousin about her natural hair journey. After that conversation and a binge of youtube videos later, I decided to go natural

Looking back now, it was probably easy to make that decision because I had been ‘natural’ before although not on purpose and it wasn’t called ‘being natural’. In Ghana, it was just hair. From what I can remember I had relaxed hair till certain age (6 to 9 i think) got it cut by accident because I went with my brothers for their haircut and I sat in the swingy chair because I wanted to play with it lol but the barber thought I wanted my hair cut too lool. From then till 13, I had natural hair, but the big move back to the UK came so it was relaxers again from 2006 to 2011.

My relaxed hair was shoulder length, thin and brittle. I had what they called ‘tough hair’ (hindsight it was just 4c hair) so I needed extra strength relaxers and longer processing times yet I would still have some puffy bits (sigh) so after the talk with cousin Jenny, and seeing Naptural 85’s videos, I decided to go natural in June 2011. I mean no more scalp sores and super thin flat hair? Yes!

Let’s speed this up! I transitioned for 8 months, big chopped Dec 2011. Been natural ever since

I’ve gone through several phases in my hair journey.

The product junkie phase– I started my blog to document my natural hair journey. At the very start of it, I was a product junkie(I mean I still am lol just more intentional). It was the start of my journey and I had to switch all my hair products so I had to find what worked lol. I went through a lot of products and brands, looking for the perfect shampoo, conditioner etc

The trendy phase– I actually enjoyed this phase, prepooing? Yes, finger detangling only? No devil heat? Of course! Wash & go’s? ACV rinses, COWASHING? Henna, bentonite clay washes? I tried a lot of trends in the natural hair community and this discovering phase also allowed me to learn a lot about my hair texture and techniques too.

Back to basics & lazy phase– after all them trends lol, I realised my wash days were becoming too long and complicated so I just decided to stick with the basics: wash, condition or deep condition with detangling, leave in conditioner, air dry. This was good. It was great until I became complacent and lazy. Sticking to basics, I was able to get my wash days down to 30 mins but laziness started to kick in and I began to skip a lot of essential steps, which lead to a lot of the damage I’m discovering now.

Rediscovering phase – in March 2023, I decided to cut my hair into a TWA. My hair then was long but very dry, brittle and I had lots of shedding and breakage even after protein treatments, deep conditioning etc. Up till that point, I was telling myself, its just 4c hair been 4c hair. The short hair did help with the shedding and breaking. In May 2023, I noticed my hair wasnt growing as quickly as its done in the past,(hindsight again so my hair was growing but any growth would break off) so I started using Olapex because as my hair grew back the shedding, breaking and dryness returned so I used Olapex to help manage this.

Then finally in Dec 2023, it clicked, as I was preparing for 2024, I wanted something different for my hair. I reflected on my hair journey and realised my hair wasn’t as healthy as I thought.

In my trendy phase, I ditched heat because heat was the devil lol. Everything I learnt about heat back then was mostly wrong. Because heat was so frowned upon in the natural hair community, I hardly used it and when I did use it, it was prep for braids.  Because I am a strong advocate for heat protection, I knew I did not have heat damage so, I thought my hair would automatically be ‘healthy’ totally forgetting there are other forms of damage!

Secondly, I noticed I pretty much ditched a proper moisture routine. In my back-to-basics phase, I got my wash days to 30 mins because I was skipping steps. Washing, conditioning, and detangling were 30 mins but where was the moisture routine afterwards? It was non-existent!  After wash days, I would let my hair airdry and forget to use leave ins till the next day. Moisturising my hair in between wash days were also pretty non-existent too, it would be leave in mist and go (sigh) and for my 4c hair it meant my hair was always dry and for hair that’s ALREADY PRONE TO DRYNESS, well you can guess the rest

Then (oh yes it gets worst lol), allowing my hair to airdry in larger sections meant I had shrinkage pretty much all the time, and shrinkage for 4c hair increases single strand knots, tangles etc so more breakage and matting. I never stretched my hair properly. I would do my wig cornrows with shrunken hair, sometimes when wet. smh

So all this was happening and tbh I cant really remember when I started the lazy phase and lost motivation to do my hair properly (life just gets to you really), I just know by March 2023 I had enough of my hair and coupled with personal stuff at the time, I cut all that off! I had good products, but good products need good techniques too

In this rediscovering phase, I’m learning a lot about heat (its not the devil we think it is) learning more about new hair products, better formulas and wanting to try new stuff with my hair. I’m so tired of braids and wigs  and I really want to enjoy my natural hair just been out!

For 2024, my hair goal is healthy hair whether long or short.

I’m making the transition to becoming a straight natural meaning my hair will be straight 90% of the time. To aid with this I’m using Olapex to mitigate heat damage and switching my products to salon grade products. I will be smart about heat of course, I will probably start with blowdrying my hair 2x a month and use African threading to stretch my hair at other times. I will only do silk presses (1st time this year!) in a salon- NEVER at home. I want to also try a texture release- I’m so excited for this. I realise my hair isnt in the best state now so I’m giving myself from now till my birthday (April) to get my hair in a good state for it. Trimming will be a must for me from now onwards.

My challenge this year too is to wean off braids/wigs and it just so happens my braider is on mat leave lool and I’m not looking for a new one. I do however want to find a good natural hair salon/stylist I can go to for advice and haircare. Looking back now I think not been able to find a good natural hair stylist may have contributed to losing motivation for my hair. Sometimes you just need a break from doing your own hair tbh. I hear there are a few good natural hair salons now. I would like to try them out this year.. I have my 1st app in Feb- I AM SO EXCITED FOR THIS LOL

This post is really a love letter to my hair journey, there’s been a lot of ups and downs but I want to start building a good relationship with my hair again and fall in love with it (not me romanticising my hair lol). I’m hoping I can do that in 2024. I will also do regular check ins to keep progress. At the moment, I have box braids in, I have a solid moisture routine for it but I’m just counting down the days to taking them out and starting my journey for real

Im encouraging everyone to reflect on their hair journey too especially if you are starting to feel frustrated by it. Honestly we’ve come a long way! and seeing a lot of videos on YT, of others sharing their hair journey too gives me hope, if you’re feeling this way- you’re not alone and its never too late!

Catch you laterrr