Journey

By Valerie

Natural Essence, Natural Beauty, Naturally Nappy … pick one! It doesn’t matter what you pick the common denominator is ME!!!

Hello World of TyteCurl Sistas… Here is my story…

November 16^th 2006 I went to my local beauty supply to pick up a box of cream crack (a*k*a: box of perm) and it was just the worst experience one could have at the beauty supply. There was some confused brotha in the store that felt the need to steal two packages of hair & cream for razor bumps. How do I know what he stole you asked, I am NOSY plus he got caught from some old man running out of the back room of the store. So Kim Lee calls the police and locks the door from behind her counter (we went from beauty supply to lock down in a BANK in 5 seconds!) and we are all now held hostage in the store until the police come to get our confused brotha that had to steal a package of weave (times must be hard). As I was held up inside the store I had a revelation; this is my LAST time going to a beauty supply owned by Kim Li, Li Ming or Wang Ming.

Decision to transition…

I had flirted with the idea of going natural years ago. When I was younger I had the hair to envy with just a pressing comb and blue magic but I had become so depended upon chemicals that I did not know how to return to my glory. Clearly the chemicals are what rob us of the glory that we ALL possess, and the stronghold of outside images keeps us in a self created life sentence chained to perms forever.

I digress, where was I? I finally made it home from being held up at the beauty supply and I began to mix together my chemicals, ready to kill the new tytecurls that had emerged from my scalp. I was gonna be cute!! WRONG!!! I applied all of the chemicals to my head and I began to comb & smooth through my hair (ya know, to make sure NO NAPS were left behind) and a section that I smoothed over COMPLETELY just melted RIGHT off into the comb and into my hands! I PANICKED; I SCREAMED; I CRIED! I felt like Malcolm X running through the house looking for water, when his hair was chemically straightened for the last time. Immediately I washed all of the poison from scalp for the last time in my life; the decision had been made. At that moment I knew I was making a mad dash for freedom from the prison made of chemical bars, my life sentence of chemical bondage had been overturned and I haven’t looked back since!

My Experience My Evolution My Existence …

My Experience … was traumatic yet defining. For so long I boasted no one dictates who I am. WRONG again! As a child I related to being like Barbie (see my blog on Barbies if ya get time http://natural-lily.blogspot.com/). As teen I tried to relate to characters from saved by the bell. As an adult I tried to relate with images I cut out of magazine taken to a beautician with me pleading, “Make my hair look like hers pleeeeaazzee!” No matter how good of a beautician she was, my hair would never look like the magazine cut out; simply because I was different.  

My Evolution … was liberating! It wasn’t easy but the road to get there had benefits waiting for me around the corner. The day I just grabbed a pair scissors on a whim and cut off all the remaining straight ends of my hair gave me a FINALLY its ALL ME feeling!!! I got ALL of my glory back & I embraced it.  No longer was I bound by something that permanently alters the way I looked. No longer would I blend in. And NO longer would you catch me in Kim Li’s spot either! I have had people tell me “oh this natural thing is just a phase”, they couldn’t be more wrong. It makes me sad when hear of a sister that has the desire to let go of what binds her because “her man won’t like it”. In the next breath, I get so much joy when I run across a sister with her glory on display for the world to see and it gives me hope, I am not in the journey alone. Sisters every where are showing off the beautiful mane that is different and divine. The bonds that are free within our “tytecurls” create bonds within each other as women. I recently had a 30 minute conversation with a sister at the mall about what products she used. That never happened when I lived and died by chemicals. The Bottom line… I luuuuuv my HAIR!!!

My Existence … Now I am the ONLY Author of the dictionary that defines me now, Totally Free Indeed…

Natural Essence, Natural Beauty, Naturally Nappy … pick one! It doesn’t matter what you pick the common denominator is ALWAYS ME!!!