The One Thing I Wished I Would Have Known Before Going "Natural"

I wish someone would have told me that the hair doesn't make the girl. Furthermore, I wished I would have come to that conclusion myself many moons ago. I spent many days during the beginning of my hair journey hating my appearance, hiding from men, and trying to keep my hair as "neat" as possible to appear more "professional". I never wanted to go out because I felt that people looked at me differently, and I cringed when people referred to me as Afrocentric. <---It was reactions like this that prompted me to take a deeper look at myself. Did reactions like that suggest I had issues with appearing too ethnic? Honestly, at the time I did.


One of my favorite quotes is by Elanor Roosevelt, and she states; No one can make you feel inferior without your consent. Had I had more of a stronghold on who I was, I would have never felt insecure about my looks. Going natural is more than just transitioning out of a relaxer, going natural starts with reflecting on what led you to the relax your hair in the first place, and the views you have about yourself. You need to really wrap your brain around the "I am not my hair concept", and realize that there is more to you than a just hairstyle.


My advice to anyone who is going natural is to first transition out of your current frame of mind, and then transition out of your relaxer. It makes dealing with your change in appearance easier, and it even puts you in a position to laugh off ignorant comments, versus trying to find the validity in them [I think it is safe to say that at least 75% percent of people who have taken the plunge to go natural has experienced at least ONE completely ignorant comment], it also makes dealing with those bad hair days easier as well.

To all my sisters out there who went natural, what is the best piece of advice you can give to anyone out there that is toying with the idea of going natural? 

And here are some of my fav pics...just because I haven't posted curlspiration pics in quite some time.

All pics courtesy of Nappy Like Yo Pappy