I thought the only way to look beautiful was by straightening my hair since that’s how I grew up. Every week I would go to the salon to “maintain” my straight hair and sometimes I’d even go two times a week if I had a special occasion coming up. My mentality resulted from my environment considering I grew up in a Dominican household where curly hair = “pelo malo” (bad hair).
-Ashley
April 30, 2024
How it all started
“Tu tienes pelo malo” (you have bad hair). I hear this sentiment far too often from my Dominican family and family friends to the point where I started to believe them. How could I go natural if curly hair was considered ugly and unprofessional?
In high school, I always loved the idea of having curly hair, but I never had the confidence or education to fully commit to it. while some of my friends did go natural in high school, I still felt like I couldn’t do it myself despite how beautiful their hair was. I was afraid of being in the transitioning stage because I felt as if my hair would define me and if my hair looked damaged and poofy, then that’d mean I wouldn’t look good. My friends, who were already in their natural hair journey, and my boyfriend would tell me to just go natural and embrace my curls but I would always say “never.” In 2020 COVID took over and everything was locked down, including the salons. This meant I either had to learn to straighten my own hair or finally commit to my natural hair journey. I chose to commit to bringing back my curls and it is by far the best decision I’ve ever made.
I give thanks to both my best friend and my boyfriend for contributing to the first set of products I used when I started my natural hair journey. My best friend contributed by explaining, in detail, all of the products she used and how they helped her hair. My boyfriend contributed by actually buying the products since I didn’t have a job and my mom didn’t believe in the natural hair journey.
Here are some of the things I did to officially go natural:
- I completely cut out heat
- I cut off a lot of my hair
- I did protective hairstyles
- I started sleeping with a satin bonnet on
The products I started with
These products helped me transition during the early stages of my journey.
The best thing I ever did was go natural! I used to believe my straight hair was the only thing that could give me confidence, but I was wrong. I am a lot more confident with my curls
-Jaylene
April 30, 2024
My Journey
As a little girl, I was surrounded by family members who always had their hair straightened. for special occasions. My mom, aunt, and older cousins would always say how they needed to go to the salon as if that was the only way to look presentable. I grew up only seeing straightened hair and hearing how much people would praise straight hair.
By the age of 5, I was going to the salon every Saturday with my mom, which became a weekly routine. As I became older I would try my best to preserve my straight hair from getting puffy by wearing hoodies during the summer so the humidity wouldn’t ruin my hair. Once my straight hair was puffy I would feel insecure because I didn’t want my classmates to ask questions about why my hair looked the way it did. After all, it was just something I couldn’t control unless I went to the salon. The first time I heard my sister saying that she wanted to go natural was when I was in the 7th grade. My sister would say that I should go natural as well, but I would always say no because I believed that my hair wasn’t capable of being curly. However, during COVID-19, my sister was able to convince me to go natural because I tried to straighten my hair myself since everything was shut down, but I failed. I was on the urge of crying because straightening my hair was all I knew. Transitioning from being in the salon every 1-2 weeks to completely cutting out heat was extremely hard. Once I started it was tempting to give up because the beginning wasn’t pretty, my hair was severely damaged so I did not feel comfortable wearing my hair fully out. Braidouts helped me tremendously in the beginning, I would always have braids in my hair and when I had some type of event coming up I would take them out.
This natural hair journey was rough but all I thought about was the outcome, the thought of healthy curls and embracing what I was born with was what kept me motivated the whole journey.
Here are some takeaways:
- Don’t listen to anyone’s unsolicited opinion
- Doing braidouts is a lifesaver during the beginning stage
- This journey is hard, but if you keep the end result in mind, you’ll get through this.