Welcome, curlies, coilies and wavies to a new series of discussions involving the perspectives of four different women of different hair textures and types, of varying ages who are in different stages in life. Four women with different backgrounds and preferences and therefore varying perspectives on their hair and other related topics. The fabulous four are none other than Tracey Wallace, Cassidy Blackwell, Quinn Smith and Suzanne Schroeder.
We invite you to meet them over the next two days and in the following months, to join in the discussion and interact with these ladies and the rest of the NaturallyCurly community, sharing your own opinions and perspectives by commenting.
So without any further ado, it is our pleasure to introduce to you one of the the four perspectives, Tracey Wallace.
Tracey Wallace: 2B
NaturallyCurly: Please, introduce yourself! Where are you from? Where do you live?
Tracey Wallace: I’m Tracey, content editor at NaturallyCurly. I’m a recent NYC transplant all the way from Austin, TX, though originally from southeast Texas. You might know my hometown if you have ever driven between Houston and New Orleans. Most people tell me they have stopped there to use the bathroom on their way to Mardi Gras. I guess it is better to be remembered for something rather than not at all. Right?
NC: What’s your curl story? Have you always loved your hair? Did you just start embracing your curls? Why?
TW: My curl story truly began back in 7th grade when I first “noticed” that my hair wasn’t straight when I towel dried it like many of my other straight haired friends. This was a revelation, and an exciting one at that: I had wavy hair!
I started wearing my waves the only way I knew how — by adding so much mousse that my final look was identical to my wet hair look, and super crunchy. I even carried my mousse to school with me in case my waves stopped being so crunchy. I had no idea what wavy hair was supposed to look like, especially what mine were supposed to look like. My mom wasn’t even wholly convinced that my hair was wavy. To her, what I saw as texture was just something that needed to be brushed out. For years, she would call my wavy hairstyle a “rat’s nest,” insinuating that it needed to be tamed (aka straightened”>.
It wasn’t until my junior year of high school that I decided to completely give up and put the straightener down. I stopped caring at that point about what the Debutante committee said was proper for a young, Southern woman, though my mother would remind me for years that my choice to go wavy could have had me expelled from the program. Of course, it didn’t, though I was required to straighten it for the actual event. #smh
NC: What’s your approach to curly hair?
TW: Here’s the deal: I kind of went natural because I was too lazy to keep up with the straightening. My approach to my waves is the simpler, the better and always keep doing what works. Don’t change what is working for your hair just because a new product comes out. I’ve dried out my hair more times than I can count and have gone crazy in the meantime by tossing out beloved products for newer, better marketed ones. Don’t do it. Trust your hair.
