A little over a month ago, I decided I wasn’t straightening my hair anymore. If you know me, you probably think this is slightly odd. I’m that girl who has always said that I prefer my hair straight. While I liked the natural look on other women, I didn’t like it on myself and I tried treatment after treatment, flat iron after flat iron, and product after product to try to achieve and maintain sleek, straight hair. Gradually, over the course of this summer, I began getting more and more attached to my curls. I think it’s largely due to the fact that my husband has told me time and time again that he loves my hair curly and I also think it has a lot to do with the fact that my hair blew up multiple times this summer due to the humidity. While I can’t ignore those two aspects, I also can’t ignore the fact that my newfound love for my hair in its natural state also coincides with my journey towards being closer to God and becoming more spiritually active. It felt like overnight, I just loved myself more. I didn’t feel the need to manipulate what God gave me so much and I all of a sudden not only accepted my curly hair more, but also wanted to embrace it.
What followed that natural hair awakening, if you will, was a month of not putting heat on my hair. A month turned into two and two turned into vowing not to flat iron my hair until after the new year. Now that I am well on my way to that goal, I really don’t have any desire to straighten my hair at all. My natural curly hair has more versatility than I ever imagined and I love wearing what my husband likes to call a “fineapple” (i.e. pulling my hair in a high curly puff on the top of my head).
After a few months, I reached a place where I felt like it was necessary to cut my hair into a more curl-friendly style. While I was enjoying the journey, I’d be lying if I said that I didn’t completely freak out at the thought of cutting my hair. I did tons of research and, at the recommendation of friends and family, discovered Southern Curl, a salon that specializes in taking care of curly hair. They provide curl discovery sessions to help curly girls perfect their haircare regimens, curl by curl cuts, and a variety of other services. As I prepared for my appointment, fear set in. What if I don’t like the haircut? What if it’s too short? What if it turns me off to wearing my hair curly and makes me want to go back to straightening? As these questions played out over and over in my head, I realized how much what I was going through with my changing my hair paralleled changing my life.
Treatment
The first thing that I did was go into the salon for a Olaplex Treatment. Olaplex Treatments are all the rage in the natural hair community right now as the treatment is supposed to reverse chemical, color, and heat damage to rebuild your hair from the inside out. Curly girls with damage literally walk out of the salon with a brand-new head of hair. It was my hope that after the treatment, I wouldn’t have to get so much of my hair cut. Isn’t it funny that we do the same thing in other areas of our lives? When we have bad habits and unhealthy relationships, we try to hold on for dear life. We try our hardest to fix what’s broken
when, the truth is, somethings just need to be let go.
Cutting Off
While the Olaplex Treatment did make a HUGE difference for my curls, a haircut was still inevitable. My hair needed to be shaped differently for my curls to flourish and Patience over at Southern Girl did a magnificent job bringing my vision to life. Now that I’ve gotten my hair cut, I love my curls so much more than I did before because they really show. Sometimes in life, we have to make cuts in order to reshape our lives. We have no choice but to cut toxic people out of our lives and eliminate bad habits in order to continue on our personal journeys to be the best we possibly can. This is something that I’ve experienced first-hand on my journey towards physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual wellness. There are things that we need to let go of in order to grow – whether it be people, unhealthy habits, or straight ends.
Growth
While my haircut is new, I know that my hair will grow back healthier because I got it. I can’t wait to look back a year or two from now and see just how much my hair has grown. Similarly, I can’t wait to look back a year or two from now and see just how much I have grown spiritually, mentally, and emotionally. While letting go of the things that hold us back can be difficult, honestly, I’ve found what the “new growth” is always better than the old. We form healthier habits, make better friends, and end up being happy that we let go of what was preventing us from flourishing.
The truth is, change is usually scary. Very few people walk into change and have absolutely no doubts and fears. What I’ve found is that even when we’re reluctant, it’s almost always worth it, so cut off the dead ends, get rid of the toxic people, and ditch the bad habits. Your future self will thank you for it and the new people and things that will enter your life as a result will be better than you ever could have imagined.
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