by Terisa Thurman
@SfTerisa
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| Internet Model |
I've been natural for about a year and a half and I'm still trying to find my way through this journey. The journey seems to be tricky because my hair is growing and styling is an adventure day after day.
For the most part I've been taking my time to stretch my hair. I don't use any heat styling so stretching and styling is a process that happens overnight while it dries. One morning I woke up and found myself in need of a wash. Work had been particularly busy and I had been ignoring my hair as it takes so much time. I thought why does it take so much time? In the past I've taken up to four hours to wash my hair section by section so that it stays stretched and tangle-free.
In this moment when I was rushing to get to work, I thought I'm going to wash without stretching.
The Wash
I started by detangling as usual. This is usually where I am very cautious as the shed hairs are still trapped and usually entangled around the surrounding hair. Conditioner makes the hair super slippery making it easier to free those hairs without pulling out other strands. Usually I do this with my fingers, this time I grabbed a wide tooth comb. I was in no mood to play. I carefully combed through a section and felt when it was tangle-free. I may have pulled some extra hair that wasn't ready but all in all there was not a lot of hair on my comb. My hair is pretty thick and I'm not in danger of thinning so I felt very comfortable with the comb.I proceeded to wash my hair loose, which usually causes tangles but I think combing it made a big difference. After shampooing, I conditioned again, finger detangled and rinsed it out. The entire process took 40 minutes. A new record!
I still had about 30 minutes before I had to walk out the door to make it to work. I had a sopping wet, shrunken afro. Not quite a TWA, not quite big and bushy, kind of a in-between awkward phase fro. I'm talking 4C micro-coiled, super kinky texture.
At first I was afraid, I was petrified:
What if it didn't make me feel pretty?How would the people at work react?
Why the hell didn't I do my hair the night before?
Not going to work didn't cross my mind. I was determined to wear my actual God given texture. It's not right to be afraid of it. I left it alone while I got dressed. It had some time to dry. And then it was time to face the mirror.
Styling the Fro
Somewhere between the morning rush and my determined attitude, I set aside the strong ideals of what I wish I looked like and styled what I saw in the mirror. It turned into a hairstyle I could wear out in the world. It was definitely a throwback. I put a hair comb in it making it asymmetrical like most of the 80s hairstyles. It kind of reminded me of a style that I remembered seeing Lisa Lisa (& the Cult Jam fame) wear, just drastically shorter. The thought made me laugh and then it was time to go. |
| Lisa Lisa in the "Head to Toe" music video |
Resolution
The hairstyle felt unlike me although it was me. I kept an eye on it throughout the day and it held up well. I couldn't complain. I started to feel somewhat comfortable and a little bad-ass around my co-workers.This was definitely a landmark in the journey and I'm glad I was able to have that experience in a society that has ridiculed my inherited African features.
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| My Afro |
