The Bible says that wise people learn from others' mistakes. So I'm going to do a series of posts about hair mistakes I've made, and hopefully you'll learn from them and not do the same.
#1-Do Not Use Excessive Heat
Back in 2005 when I was preparing to get married, I had only been natural for a little less than a year. I had no idea how to style my own hair, and I didn't know of anyone who did natural hair. Most of the people I talked to would say, "I know how to straighten it," but I didn't want to wear it straight.
At any rate, I had tried several natural styles, which I didn't like. So I decided to let this lady who had tried the natural styles with me, straighten it with a hot comb. She styled it, and it looked very nice (my hair was way longer than I had thought!). I didn't have a lot of time to be picky. It was the middle of September, I didn't have a hairstyle, and I was getting married on October 1st.
I let the straightened style stay for about a week. Roughly two weeks later was my wedding and I had my hair straightened again. I liked it and was very pleased, until I got back from my honeymoon.
I washed my hair and noticed that over half of my head was still straight. I figured that it might take a few washes to get all of my hair to revert back. Here comes December and the back of my head was nappy and the front half was bone straight. I went back to the hair dresser and she was dumbfounded. She said laughingly, "I've never seen anything like this before!" First of all, I needed her to not be laughing because I was extremely mad, but I didn't carry out any of those violent thoughts I was having in my head.
Well January rolled around and my hair was still a mess. It was depressing. I already didn't know how to do natural hair, and I really didn't know how to do this half straight half natural stuff. My hair looked like it was having an external conflict, and I was the one losing.
I slowly came to the realization that I had to cut all of my hair off again! I had only had one hair cut in my entire life, and it was the big chop. Now, a year and a half later, I was going to have to do it all over again. I washed my hair, and went to the bathroom and just started cutting it off myself. I didn't trust anybody else to touch my hair. Once it was all over, I looked in the mirror and felt a lot better. There are worse things in life than having to cut off your hair. So I got over myself, but I learned a very important lesson: Ronda's hair + excessive heat= a hot mess.
Now, I'm not sure if it was the hot comb, the heat, the oil, or a combo of all of them that damaged my hair; I just know that till this day, I have never used a hot comb nor a flat iron, and I probably never will.
Unfortunately, that happens to many people with natural hair who straighten it. Excessive heat, as well as chemicals (like in relaxers) can denature proteins, causing them to lose their shape permanently. This means if too much heat is used on your hair, your hair will not return to its original coil pattern. And it really depends on the texture of your hair to begin with (how tightly coiled it is naturally) and how much heat is used on your hair (either the amount of heat, how high the temperature is, or a combination of both). Sorry you had to do a second BC, but your hair looks beautiful and healthy now!
ReplyDelete