Interview With An "Ex-Hair DreadLocker"

I recently learnt that a friend of mine cut off her dreadlocks . I wrote about her in one of my older posts. I knew her from when she started this dreadlocks journey which is about six years ago - 2014. Now I am seeing her at the end of the journey onto a new journey. Of course I am very interested in why she took this drastic step because I know this is not something that you will get up one day and decide to cut of our dreadlocks. It would have taken some time to make the decision. So I asked for an interview and here is how it went:

Question: What made made you decide to cut your dreadlocks?

Answer: I fought with the decision to cut the dreads for about 6 to 8 months. The feeling was up and down. I have been experiencing neck and back pain for over a year and after going to the chiropractor, massage therapist and physical therapist on different occasions, I had to make a decision. I have been spending alot of money at the doctor to get medications and to calm down and relax the muscles. So after much thought, I felt I had to cut the hair in order to get some relief.

I was told to cut off some but I think it would be a huge disrespect to the dreads to cut off some so I decided it is all or nothing! My head sure feels light and free. I miss the dreads ever so often but I am at peace with my decision.

I am now able to sleep comfortably and wake up with no pain. I can go to the beach and get all into the water without having to worry about the hair and the trouble of drying it after.

Question: What are your plans now that you have cut off your locks aka dreads?

Answer: I plan to keep it low for a while since I am swamped for time and this new style is soooo easy to maintain. Eventually I may decide to grow it some more but I will never put any chemicals into it. 

End Of Interview

This is the second person I spoke to about cutting their hair and apparently the locks can be very heavy (when it has grown to lengths like these) and can cause headache, back problems for some people. Who would have thought? Well I wish my friend alot of peaceful nights, and pain free days and of course no comb, no maintenance hair days! She looks absolutely fabulous with any hairstyle!

Wait I am done yet!!! In addition to a change in hairstyle, my friend (who I will call 'K') has decided to donate her locks/dreads to cancer patients. What a humble gesture! I am so proud of her! I want to take this opportunity to thank for the allow me the opportunity to interview her. Thank you 'K'!

I just thought that I should mention that this post is not to detour anyone from making the decision to 'lock' their hair. Everyone will have a different experience. So do give it a try if you are thinking about going on this journey!

Dreadlocks Stocking Cap

For Successful Natural Hair Growth, Moisturize, Moisturize, Moisturize Daily!

Natural Hair in two vertical corn rows

Today I was speaking to a girlfriend of mine who is on a natural hair journey.  the first thing she said to me was "your hair is growing".  She then commented that her hair is not growing.  So I had to ask her what did she mean by that statement.  Her hair is growing but apparently she is experiencing alot of breakage.  I told her that she needs to moisturize her hair on a regular basis.  Moisturize with water, hair lotions, hair grease.

Our type of hair is very dry and needs alot of water/moisture otherwise there will be alot of breakage. Another thing, I meet two other ladies who started their natural hair journey or should I say, made an attempt to start their journey but complained that their hair is very hard. I told them that the simple task of wetting their will soften the hair and make it more manageable.  It was as if a light bulb went off in their heads!  I will be doing a follow up with these ladies and maybe even get some photos.

As for me, as you can see in the photos below, I am totally natural.  I put my hair in two corn rows after applying some moisturizer to my hair.  I recently started using this product Shea Butter for Natural Hair Hair Lotion my hair feels so soft to the touch, I like that alot.

TIP:  For the ladies who choose to do the protective styles like hair braiding, you can keep a spray bottle with a combination of olive oil and water.  At nights you can then spray your hair with this mixture and then tye our head.  This step will help the natural hair moist and when you remove hair scarf, your hair will be nice and neat!

Blog Name Changed to Beautiful Natural Hair

Hey Everyone,

It really was not my intention to continue with this blog but after reviewing my Google Adsense reports, I have been getting views and making a little money.  So I am going all the way.

So as of today this blog is officially known as Beautiful Natural Hair previously known as Black Woman Have Beautiful Hair.  url, www.beautifulnaturalhair.info.  I was able to link my blog (Blogger) to the domain name (Godaddy) following the instructions on this YouTube video .  I purchase all my domain names from Godaddy, it is easy to do and the last few domain names I purchased I got them for $2.99.  I like to purchase domains with either a .COM, .NET  or .INFO extensions and I always excited when I learn that the domains names that I search for are available!

With this set up, when my visitors insert the domain name above, they will be redirected to my blogger blog.  If the blogger address in used, my visitors will be re directed to my new domain name. The new domain name will be seen in the address bar of the browser.  For each post of the blog, the new domain name will be seen with the name of the post.  Fabulous!!!  Just what I wanted to achieve!!!

I am very thank to the YouTuber for doing the tutorial video.  It was very easy to understand.

Its Official I have Started My Relaxed to Natural Hair Transition Journey

Okay I was just reviewing my last few post and the last time that my hair was relaxed was for my birthday in February 25.  So that was five months ago.

I would like to say that I am officially on my transition from relaxed hair to natural hair journey! 

APPLAUSE!!!

THANK YOU, THANK YOU!!  LOL!!

 

As you know in quite a few of my posts I spoke about my intention of going this route but eventually I just ending up relaxing my hair.  Even though I admire people with their loced hair I really do not want to go down that road.  I want to be able to manipulate (wash, comb) my hair when ever I please.  I notice I would often touch the roots (new growth) of my hair and am actually enjoying the wave patters!  Normally I will feel the new roots and say 'hey it is time to go to the hairdresser!'

 

Youtube videos, on this topic, have given me a lot of inspiration.  There are many women on this journey of transition from relaxed hair to their natural hair.  Many are doing it because they have been having a lot of hair problems like hair loss due to the relaxers!

 

Some people do a 'Big Chop' that is cutting off all the relaxed hairand leaving only the new growth.  I do not intent to do this.  I will just continue to do protective styles (e.g. Bantu Knots, braiding my hair) in my hair.

 

I have even started a Youtube Channel just for this topic.

 

 

 

As Black Women, Why Do We Think We Need Weaves To Be Beautiful?

I have been watching a lot of  Bad Girls Club episodes on Oxygen Channel and I think I am hocked.  Most of these girls have installed weaves in their hair which in my opinion make then look totally fake but that does not seem to bother them.  

And lets not talk about the cost of these weaves!!!  There is one girl in particular that attracted my attention - her name is Nancy - she did not have any weave in her hair, if it was not flat ironed it would be wavy - I liked that look.  I will continue my discussion about Nancy's hair in another post.

I want to divert my attention to Caribbean Next Top Model.  Caribbean Next Top Model is a franchise of the American show - Next Top Model (hosted by Tyra Banks) - and it is hosted by Wendy Fitzwilliam -1998 Miss Universe.  I saw the first episode and thought that she could have had her hair styled more elegantly than she did on that day.  It was pulled back in one with a stick in pony tail.

Yesterday (May 8, 2013) I saw another episode and I was pleasantly surprised.  Her relaxed hair (shoulder length) was opened out.  It was a refreshing change to see someone of her stature to have her natural, even though it is relaxed.  In that same episodes the girls had make overs where some of them had their hair cut which was devastating to some of them but they went along with it and adjusted to their new look (actually they did not have much of a choice).  

One model, that I could remember had a black weave installed (with bangs) that fell to the middle of her back.  She was super happy with her new look.  When she walked down the mini run way to the judges, for the elimination session for the week, right away they saw a positive difference attitude and her walk!  Her new found confidence was very obvious.  

It concerns me that installing artificial hair would make an already beautiful woman more confident.  Why couldn't she have that confidence with her natural hair.  She said that she felt like the next Naomi Campbell.

Speaking of Naomi Campbell, I read an article about the receding of her hairline due to the constant installation of weaves and braids in her hair.

There is another aspect to this debate, I am learning that Asian women are growing their hair to extra ordinary lengths so it can be sold.  This is big business and guess who is the largest buyers of this natural Asian hair?  Black woman!!!!

I love this photo of Wendy, if she has any additions to her hair, it looks totally natural.  Wendy Fitzwilliam won Miss Trinidad and Tobago Universe in 1998 and became the second Miss Universe in history from Trinidad and Tobago and was the fourth woman of African heritage to capture the Miss Universe crown.