Just in case you haven’t been reading tha ish religiously (*shame on you! LOL), I’ve gone on a 21 day challenge to live without my extensions, aka “fake hair”.
I’ve been natural for almost 10 years, but I’ve rarely worn my own hair. I did a couple of times (when money was tight), but for the most part, I’ve worn extensions and ponytails. (I haven’t done a full on weave, but I am actually quite curious about it...)
Over the past 3 weeks, I’ve gone through a million emotions. At the beginning of the journey, I felt daring and confident when I showed off my big ass afro. Then, my confidence took a beating and I felt a lot of frustration, anger, and feeling very unpretty.
My frustration came from not looking like my old self and not feeling attractive. To combat this feeling, I basically banished myself from the world over for my 3 week experiment (I only went to work, the grocery store, and I did a little bit of shopping). Yep, I’m serious. I tried to come off as confident and owning my look, but I’m not that good of an actress.
Believe it or not, I looooove natural hair. It is gorgeous and sexy when you have the skillz to style it. Unfortunately, my skillz aren’t on point, so I was pretty much irritated and frustrated for most of my challenge. My hair never looked good (or so I thought), so I never felt good.
I know a lot of people didn’t like my choice of hairstyles—I was actually told that to my face, (people can be soooo rude!), but I am glad that I challenged myself.
Well, I am getting ready to wash my hair. I have a hair appointment tomorrow morning and I’m getting my hair twisted. Yeah, I’m getting my extensions back. I honestly feel like those hair obsessed women in Chris Rock’s film, Good Hair : )
As much as I love my extensions I am glad that I was able to go outside my comfort zone and expose the real me to the world and myself. Naps and all!
Thanks for reading!
xxxoo
I must apologize to my mom, my sister, my friends, my co-workers and anyone else who has had to listen to me dwell on the trials and tribulations of my hair. Sorry, y’all. Just think, there are only 5 more days to my self imposed 21 day extension-free challenge!!
As much as I irritated everyone who has come in my path, I am soooo glad that I did this challenge. I’m glad that I got to be natural and love (not all the time) every inch of me. But I will save that speech for my last hair entry.
BTW, today was a relatively good hair day. I rocked a cute side afro puff that is braided in the front. Sounds funky, but it came out pretty nice. I’ll try to post a pic soon.
anyways, time for bed. Good night!
The uncomfortable feeling that I had on Monday pretty much spilled over the entire week. I had major hair issues. I wasn’t really feeling the style I was sporting, (sorry ma—my mom twisted my hair for me), but I had to keep it because I had no time (or skillz) to do anything else, and I also thought my frustration was part of the process of understanding my natural hair. My hair won’t look the way I want it to all the time, and that’s something that gets a little frustrating. At least I know which styles I like and suit me, and which styles I plan on never wearing again!!
I came thisclose to getting my hair flat ironed, but I didn’t want to give in and punk out. I need to embrace my nappy hair!
I did get lots of encouragement from a friend who is also a natural girl. She gave me a daily dose of support and tons of product knowledge on the various products out there for black hair. Thanks OQ!
I plan on rocking my fro for the last week of my challenge. (psst ....my 21 day challenge of being extension free officially ends on August 29th, 2010. I miss my old style (I wear my hair in twists with the aid of extensions), but I like wearing my own hair. I like the way it feels, the way it smells. Even though it drives me crazy when it does the things it does (FYI black hair is probably the only hair that shrinks!!!! ), I definitely love my hair.
