Why I dared to go where few black woman have ever gone before ……… O’ Natural :)

Unlike many African American women today my reasons for dropping my creamy crack addiction cold turkey was not to be different or for the obvious hair health reasons. Although I wish I was that bold and brazen back then like so many of you are today.

In early 2005 my mother was diagnosed with breast cancer (the devil is a liar :). And all I could think was “God why me, why my mother”.  Stuff like this doesn’t happen to me.  As I look back now I know that this was a truly selfish thought with all the I’s, me’s and my’s as if my mother and the rest of the family wasn’t going thru it too. After I got over my self I was able to be there for her and for my younger sisters and brother. She underwent chemotherapy and as an expected side effect my mother lost all of her dark and lovely hair. Now to fully understand the shock of this you have to understand that my mother has always had a head of thick, yet manageable, past shoulder length hair. It was like her crown of glory, and to me it was a part of who she was. Now don’t get me wrong she drastically cut her hair once when I started high school but other than that she kept it just below the shoulder.  She wore wigs and scarf’s for a while but being the strong, confident, God fearing woman that she is she knew that the state of her hair did not define her as a person. She than began to lose the wigs and scarves and reveled the truth. The truth was that she was in the middle of fighting a battle with cancer that she had already won. Her hair, nail color, numbness in her feet, nausea and fatigue were all casualties of war. In 2006 those malignant cancerous cells raised a white flag but she took no mercy on them and the chemo slaughter continued until every single cell was dead. Glory to God in the highest!!!!!

Dana (one of my 3 little sisters), Mom and I

After she was done with the chemotherapy slowly but surely her hair began to grow back, and she was able to see her natural hair texture in its purest state. It was beautiful!!! Dark, soft and curly! She absolutely loved it and also loved the fact that she didn’t have to go to the hairdresser twice a month to sit and wait for 4 hours before she even got her hair washed let alone styled. After having 4 girls she was elated to eliminate a head of hair to comb. Can you imagine what it was like to go to the hair dresser with 4 girls??? It was like we lived there! Her “I’m much more than my hair” attitude, those luscious curls and my attempt to not let her go thru this thing alone prompted me to stop getting relaxers. So as of April 2007 I said good bye to the creamy crack and hello to my curls. After a few months of transitioning I could see the texture and shine of my natural hair and I became even more anxious to go ahead with the big chop. I waited 7 months before I decided to cut my premed processed hair off mostly because I was ready for a change. I started to get a little impatient and tired of dealing with two totally different textures of hair in my head. It wasn’t unmanageable but it felt so unnecessary. Needless to say November 2008 I had my big chop and I’ve been natural ever since.

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