Now moving along to college!  True freedom!  My hair is still toe up from the flow up, but I get by! LOL!  I’m still addicted to the crack but when you are in college, funds are slim and midway through my freshman year; I couldn’t even afford to get my hair done professionally or even go buy a relaxer myself!  April 2002, I began to just let my hair grow out and I would either wear it gelled back in a bun or I would wash and flat iron it myself.  Keep in mind my hair was still relaxed on the edges, but I had about 1 inch of new growth.  I was really digging the new texture of my hair; it would wave up at the roots when I would put gel on it, so my hair looked really nice when I wore my buns.  Every now and then, I would go to the beauty college or my childhood hair dresser and get a wash and press.  Side note, beauty schools need to step their game up with pressing for real!  Ok, moving on, but I would rock the “grandma” style.  Ya’ll know, the tight roller sets, the “Grandma”.  I would flat iron my hair and roll it and rocked that for a few days.  Over time, my hair was looking luxurious, long and fantastic!  But the woes of having to fight through almost 4 inches of new growth got old fast with me.  Having to wash my hair every morning just to gel it back in a ball was getting old fast!  February 14, 2003, during my sophomore year, I walked into a salon here in the boro and rekindled my addiction with the “Creamy Hair Crack”.  We stayed connected for a year and a half until I decided to go natural all over again.

I began my journey into nappyness all over again with my gel, wide tooth brush, and my bun.  I did this for another year and a half until I graduated from college, December 2005.  Momma was not about to have her baby girl looking a HOT MESS during graduation!  That was a big NO NO!   I succumbed once again to the crack and stayed strung out until the fall of 2006.  Once again, I began my journey with my gel, hair brush and bun.  This time, I was head strong and steadfast.  I would press my hair maybe twice a month and it had grown to the length it was when I was a little girl before I met my demise (creamy hair crack).  People would see me and thin I had tracks!  I was appreciative of the assumption, but it was all NATURAL!  I did introduce my hair weave again, but I would have it sewn in instead of glued in and my hair just kept growing and growing.

June 26, 2008, I made the final leap and cut off all the relaxer that was left on the ends of my hair.  I went from past the shoulder length hair when straightened, to a mini 3 inch tight, tight, tight curly fro.  My mother was speechless!  I knew my father would have not spoken to me if he was alive.  In just one day, I cut it all off.  I almost had to do a Bernie from waiting to exhale.  My hair stylist was complaining and trying to convince me not to cut it off.  But she did it and a year and 5 months later, I am rocking a lovely head of healthy hair that has now chemicals consuming it and when it’s straightened, it’s down to my shoulders!  GO ME, GO ME, GO ME!!  I’M LOVING THE JOURNEY AND I FEEL SO FREE!

On the last post, I stopped at the end of middle school.  Now we venture into my high school hair woes.  This was the era where my hair probably wanted to run away from me.  I used to dye it with kool-aid, don't act like you ain't do it!  Can you believe I did all of this still rocking the break off asymmetrical hair length?  Sure did. By the time I graduated, my hair was in such bad shape, I had to beg my father to let me cut it to get it even.  He was not having it!  I took me almost a year to convince my dad to let me cut my hair.  You would have thought I was going to get a Caesar from the way my dad was acting!  He eventually gave in and let me cut it.  I got a cute little bob with a close cut in the back.  My hair began to grow evenly but I was still addicted to the “Creamy Hair Crack”. 

It was growing too slow for me so I did the natural thing…………….added weave! LOL!  I was rocking the tracks hard!  I would have the house smelling like burnt hair every other night!  My momma would be soooooo frustrated with me.  I can only laugh now and hope my off-spring don’t do this to me! LOL!  Ya’ll know you used to get your straight tracks and fold them over twice and get your setting lotion (lotta body LOL) and those plastic rollers that had the clip on part to keep the hair rolled up.  You would be in your room listening to the radio or on the phone rolling that hair up.  Then once you finished, you would get one of your mommas old towels, or a new one if she wasn’t home and you couldn’t find the old ones, and place it in the microwave, spritz and oil sheen down your hair, place it on that towel and put that baby on 45 seconds.  You had to stand there and watch it because if you didn’t, honey………you would have had a fire in that microwave!  Sounds like I did that a few times. J  But if all went well, you would get your “fix”, gel and spritz your hair up into a high ponytail at the top of your head, while trying not to cry from the burning the spritz produced, sit under the dryer and once you were dry, wrap that hair round up there and you were a instant DIVA! 

Once the ponytails became too mundane, I began gluing tracks in.  That all together is just a pure HOT MESS!  Relaxing your hair to turn around and torture yourself with the glue and the spritz!  I want to cry now just remembering it! 

On the last post, I stopped at the end of middle school.  Now we venture into my high school hair woes.  This was the era where my hair probably wanted to run away from me.  I used to dye it with kool-aid, don't act like you ain't do it!  Can you believe I did all of this still rocking the break off asymmetrical hair length?  Sure did. By the time I graduated, my hair was in such bad shape, I had to beg my father to let me cut it to get it even.  He was not having it!  I took me almost a year to convince my dad to let me cut my hair.  You would have thought I was going to get a Caesar from the way my dad was acting!  He eventually gave in and let me cut it.  I got a cute little bob with a close cut in the back.  My hair began to grow evenly but I was still addicted to the “Creamy Hair Crack”. 

It was growing too slow for me so I did the natural thing…………….added weave! LOL!  I was rocking the tracks hard!  I would have the house smelling like burnt hair every other night!  My momma would be soooooo frustrated with me.  I can only laugh now and hope my off-spring don’t do this to me! LOL!  Ya’ll know you used to get your straight tracks and fold them over twice and get your setting lotion (lotta body LOL) and those plastic rollers that had the clip on part to keep the hair rolled up.  You would be in your room listening to the radio or on the phone rolling that hair up.  Then once you finished, you would get one of your mommas old towels, or a new one if she wasn’t home and you couldn’t find the old ones, and place it in the microwave, spritz and oil sheen down your hair, place it on that towel and put that baby on 45 seconds.  You had to stand there and watch it because if you didn’t, honey………you would have had a fire in that microwave!  Sounds like I did that a few times. J  But if all went well, you would get your “fix”, gel and spritz your hair up into a high ponytail at the top of your head, while trying not to cry from the burning the spritz produced, sit under the dryer and once you were dry, wrap that hair round up there and you were a instant DIVA! 

Once the ponytails became too mundane, I began gluing tracks in.  That all together is just a pure HOT MESS!  Relaxing your hair to turn around and torture yourself with the glue and the spritz!  I want to cry now just remembering it!