Hair We Go!

Right from the time I was a little girl, I'd always wanted long beautiful hair - the kind I saw in Indian movies and the glossy magazines my mum brought home; but no matter how hard I wished or how deeply I yearned, it just didn't seem to want to happen.

I distinctly remember an incident from when I was about 6 or 7 years old which was so heart breaking for me then but which is so rib crackingly funny to me today. My mum came home with a jar of  Dax pomade which had a picture of a lady with long hair parted down the side - one half of her hair was past her shoulders while the other was just by her ear; the unspoken selling point being that with Dax your hair could grow from ear length to past shoulder length.

I didn't need telling twice! Immediately, I slathered pomade over my entire scalp, coated my strands with the thick pomade, went to bed and could barely sleep from the excitement that was buzzing in my head. I woke up after a restless night and ran to the mirror to examine the long tresses I surely most have sprouted overnight - imagine my shock, disappointment and anger when all that stared back at me was a greasy, disheveled mop, the same length as I'd gone to bed with - oh the betrayal!

And so the seed of  doubt that there was something wrong with my hair and it would probably never be long and beautiful, was sown. Fast forward a few decades later of over lapping relaxers, frequent coloring, back to back weaves, tight braids, taking out braids, 'retouching' and fixing weaves all on the same day, and I was no closer to getting the hair of my dreams. My hair in fact was now a stringy mess, never really growing past neck length and constantly breaking - negating any progress I'd struggled to make.

Thankfully, my dream of having beautiful hair was still burning brightly in my heart so something surely had to give and one day in 2011 it did.

While browsing weight loss videos on YouTube (don't ask) I stumbled upon an inspiring lady called Hairlicious  and that set me on the path of rediscovery, a healthy hair journey and more importantly, a re - orientation of my mind to  grasp the fact that my hair could actually thrive and retain length if only I ditched my bad hair habits and incorporated good ones.

Now even though I started out trying to grow my hair while it was relaxed, somewhere along the line  it kinda turned into a Natural Hair Journey - and that peeps, is a story for another day! :)