In 2012, I decided to make a change to my hair. I no longer wanted to deal with the scalp burns and lifeless hair from the relaxer I used to receive so I decided to go natural!
I didn’t do the big chop but I did transition and grew my hair to at least a decent fro to my liking, than that’s when I decided to cut off my relaxed hair. At this point in time I was so clueless on how to care for my hair as I had little to no education when it came down to being natural. Everyone I knew had a perm, I was in a situation where I just had to go through trial and error all alone. At this stage I wasn’t comfortable wearing my hair out so that’s when I introduced weave and wigs back into my life, it was kind of like a “fake it till you make it” thing for me. As my hair grew longer I decided to wear my hair out on the regular. I would use conditioners to do a wash and go! My curls were popping but my hair would feel extremely dry. I didn’t understand why it was feeling this way until than I decided to watch tutorials on YouTube to learn how to properly care for my hair. I realized when watching the videos that I was doing everything wrong when it came down to properly conditioning and moisturizing, and that’s when I introduced deep conditioning into my life. Deep conditioning my hair literally made a dramatic change to how my hair felt and also looked. I would deep condition once a week.
Fast forward to 2014 I decided to straighten my hair, and voila!
I was so amazed at the overall health and growth! This was the healthiest my hair has ever been as an adult. My hair surpassed the length I had when I had a perm in my hair and it was so much fuller. It took 2 years to learn about my hair and to gain the proper knowledge on how to care for it. I was so excited that my hair was finally flourishing! From that year on I’ve became more confident than I ever been! At the end of 2017, I decided I wanted to show people my natural hair journey; and that’s when I became a natural hair influencer. I started creating YouTube videos to show the different styles I’d create and also how to care for your hair (and I even showed my failed styles).
I just wanted to show people my overall journey, good and bad, to help those who didn’t understand how to care for their hair or what styles to wear. When I first became natural I didn’t have that knowledge, so it felt good to be able to show my audience the true definition of being natural. As the years went by my hair continued to flourish. I can finally say I’m my own hair goals!
xoxo
Harris Janae
