Welcome!

Hi!

I'm so excited that I am actually following through for once. I have been meaning to do something like this for a while and by while I mean years. lol. I am a chronic procrastinator and my main new years resolution for 2010 was to minimize it ( I thought cutting it out entirely might be overly ambitious). I have been natural all my life and change my hairstyle very regularly (white ppl especially are really confused. LMAO). I have always received compliments as well as lots of questions as to what I do to get this head of hair looking so good/ different. For a vast portion of my life, the answer would have to be "nothing special". In Trinidad, lots of ppl have natural hair so I didn't really realize what the big deal was when I got to the US and everybody was acting like there was something way different. However it wasn't really until I started grad school that I stumbled across the nebulous world of Black Natural Hair Care. That was when I started paying attention to what I was putting on my hair and looking at how I handled my hair. I stuck with it for a while but stick-to-it-iveness is not really my forte. I'm hoping to turn that around this year. lol.

For a long time my hair regimen consisted of once or twice a month wash and condition and combing with some "grease". Usually some bergamot or something similar. Growing up my hair was so thick my momma sent me to my Aunty Diana to comb it. She would hook me up real nice, usually some corn rows. When i went to high school sometimes she would even press me out. She would put the  hot comb on the stove (yeah a cooking stove) to heat up. Temperature control consisted of blowing on the comb and hoping that was good enough. There was no heat protectant, only some grease slathered so that when the hair is pressed u can smell the burning. At the end of the process though my hair was straight and shiny black. Back then my hair was about mid back length. In high school i started doing my own hair too, doing some flat twists sometimes, two strand twists etc. always changing it up.

In college, I did braids and weaves alot, mainly because my hair was so thick and I was so busy and being in Maine, there wasn't exactly a plethora of ppl who would know what to do with my hair. One time I left my braids in so long the damn thing turned to dreads. LMAO. I embraced it and locked my hair and rocked that for almost a year until one day in South Africa I chopped them all off and rocked a fro for the first time since baby. omg I loved it! I kept that for a while and then decided to grow it back out and now its been 2.5 years since that.

In grad school I discovered the wonders of natural hair blogs and all these different regimens. I think it started when I joined a Natual Hair group on facebook http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/group.php?gid=2205218963&ref=ts. It introduced me to a world I didnt even know existed! Twas and BCs and cowashes. lol. wth?! Discussions about hair as a political statement, a choice, a paradigm shift. It was crazy and wonderful. Just for the record, I don't personally have a problem with ppl rocking chemically treated hair or weaves or any style for that matter. To me hair is just hair and u should rock whatever makes u feel good about urself and should also be healthy. For about a year I actually took care of my hair, deep conditioning, protein treatments, no 'cones, minimal manipulation. My hair grew so much it was amazing. Then late 2008 rolled around and I got lazy. 2009 I REALLY didn't take care of my hair. Actually from April I probably pressed my hair once every month and trimmed about 2 inches each time.

My new year resolution is to take care of my hair again and refrain from heat/ braids/ weaves for awhile. I figured it would be good to share/document my experience, don't know with whom yet. At least by writing about it I might stay committed. lol. I'll try to document my hair routines, do some product reviews, talk about styles I rock, post some resources I've come across that are interesting and also provide a forum for others to share their experiences, ask questions, have communion.

Let's hope I stick to my resolutions! lol.