My-Cherie

My-Cherie

Now that I have straight hair, my sister in-law has traded places with me and opted for the au natural mane. It’s kinda funny to me because she’s not the au natural type of girl, or at least that’s what I thought. I remember when my hair was natural. Chrissy was always very curious about my hair, but never gave me any indication that she was thinking about trying it. Last week I gave her a jingle, because now I was curious about how it felt to be on the other side of the fence.

Chrissy is a professor at the University of Houston and must maintain a certain polished look. Growing your hair out while teaching at a university is not exactly fun or easy. She told me she’s been wearing it pulled back in a pony for about a year now, but wants to try something different. When I teased her about cutting her hair off and wearing a short fro, she promptly responded with, “never the low fro.” That’s too bad, because Chrissy could rock a low fro.

Chrissy’s inspiration to grow her hair out didn’t come from me, it came from her sister who has been natural for three years. The first couple of years Chrissy was really skeptical about her sister’s hair, because she felt it didn’t quite look right. Now after the third year of growing it out, it looks great, so Chrissy decided to try it herself.

My-Cherie

Now she’s loving it. Chrissy says, “I love my little waves!” She’s happy to be natural and says that now her hair has texture and volume, which is something she missed when her hair was relaxed. She also doesn’t have to worry about a curling iron or a blow dryer. She can just condition, pull it back and go.

I must admit, as I was listening to Chrissy go on and on about how much she loved being natural, I was a little jealous — in a good way, though. I thought to myself, “Ah man, I miss my fro.” I mean, I’m pretty happy with my hair being straight and I enjoy having the luxury of combing through it, but still nothing trumps the joy of seeing my thick and well-rounded afro in the mirror. It is such an empowering feeling.

Chrissy has been maintaining her waves with Wen Cleansing Conditioner. She says, “If you are natural, it’s the best product in the world.” That’s cool to know, although Chrissy did make that statement before she had a chance to check out the thousands of products at NaturallyCurly.com. I also recommended Mixed Chicks leave-in conditioner, since it worked so well for my man’s mane and they have similar hair textures.

We ended our conversation on a positive note, with Chrissy’s curl-power words, “There’s no turning back. I have to see this thing through.” Wow! I still can’t believe we’ve traded places. Who knows what’s next? Maybe I’ll convince her to wear a low fro and maybe she’ll inspire me to go back natural.


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