I had to lose my hair before I appreciated it. I permed every month and braided it relentlessly without proper care. So nature in its profound wisdom took what was hers. My hair fell, my temple areas literally vanished and I was devastated. I couldn’t perm it to fix it…. well there was no hair to perm. So I went natural. I let my hair grow and just washed and conditioned and moisturized. And guess what…it grew. It grew thick and soft and I loved it. I had my hair back and was thrilled. However, my joy was to be short lived. On my first natural journey I faced objection from everyone. There were two reactions.... complete shock...yes there was staring and the other which was even more annoying...the patronisers. These are some of the comments i got from colleagues
Ouch...you cut your hair, why?
Is this the new trend...interesting
Why did you cut your hair?…(with a look of are you mad)
I didn't know your hair was curly
Your straight hair made you look cute you know (while lookking at me straight in the eye)
Girl, you need to fix that hair.... (this one was the black folks favorite)
What did i do?.... i ignored them. In fact i kept it short and rocked my fro. I adored it with hairpins, flower broaches, even buttons from old shirts. I did not care what Jo bloggs thought i should look like. Who the hell is Jo bloggs....pleeseeeee. Now that was the easy bit.
The hard part of being and staying natural was my family and friends reactions. These people got to me because i cared about what they thought. My then boyfriend was the worst....he hounded and critisised my hair, he was a black man who loved straight hair and the guy was relentless. Some of my family members even offered to pay to "sort out" my hair. I fought them but alas...i lost. After eight months of fighting the battle i got a perm and regretted it immediately. I missed my curls. So i started all over again. I shaved my head...not in protest but it was a new beginning for me and i was armed. Yes I was angry with me but mostly at them. I told all my friend and family that they can critise all the wanted but if i was pressured anymore sh*t was going down. Yes, i was pissed and i was a woman shaven lol!!!! I had lost my hair but i was determined to get it all back. I found what frustrated me then was that i was using the same products i had when i was permed and my afro was a diva herself. She protested when I glazed it with pink oil, she screamed and became greasy molly every time I brought hair grease near her and the dry weather just made her brittle and frizzy. I was determined not to lose this time round. Luckily for me, my best friend decided to share the journey with me. We sprang into action, concoctions were made with scientific specification...we became obsessed with catering for our hair. we tackled each problem head on. If it was dry we mixed something to add moisture. If it was weighed down which it often did due to our constant experimenting we clarified and we never ever used the same old products we did in the good old permed days. We had found a way to nourish our hair without any chemicals in sight. Chichi and Jarrai was born.
Check out our website at http://www.chichiandjarrai.com/ We have something for everyone....
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