January 10, 2009 was my last perm. I never thought about going natural, it never crossed my mind at the time before I decided to not put anymore perms in my hair. One of the reasons that I started to grow out my perm was because of the money. I used to have my mom put perms in my hair sometime or I would normally do it. I only got perms at a hair salon if it was a special occassion and that was rare. Well, when February came around for another perm, I didn't have the money for it. Between getting the bills situated, gas money, groceries, etc, I skipped the perms and started to look online on ways to stretch it out some, which led me to Youtube. That is where I started doing a little more digging on what going natural is about and thought that this would be best for me to do especially since my hair always had split ends, I really hated to put perms in my hair, I always had breakage and it would only grow to a certain length before it would break off again. I hated running my fingers through my hair or even come it and it would be loads of hair in my comb or in my hand, just strands and strands of it.

So as I found this new way (to me of course) I began to go through by going through transition. I would do twist outs, braid outs, did my own kinky twist a couple of times. Majority of the time, I would just do braid outs and push my hair back with a scarf or headband which worked for me better. I was setting a date of possibly doing a big chop as I was not sure at the time, but as I looked at more women on Youtube rocking their little afros and styling them up, I knew that I could do it. My hair was already at a short length, ear length, and I have had my hair only about 2 inches long at one time, so I set my date for sometime in August. That would give me at least 7 months transition and some length too. Well after my new growth started to come in, I was loving the feel and texture of it. It felt so curly and soft even and I couldn't keep my hands out of my hair.

Well, at the end of April I was begin to doubt that I would make it to August, but was trying to keep until that month, but I was so eager to see what I was growing underneath. So the following week I had that itch and started to cut and cut and cut. I was just in awe, some nervousness and some excitment of what I was doing, what I was going to look like afterwards. From February to May, I had about 2 inches of new growth after cutting my perm out and I had some curls and then some spots where it felt like a cotton ball. I loved it! It felt so, so soft I couldn't believe it.

So far now, I think my hair has grown about an inch since I cut it. It is growing fast in my opinion and since that I see it every day :) I don't really have a hair care regimen other than at night I used VO5 hair milk conditioner while in the shower, I will wash my hair once a week with with Suave Shampoo Clarifier (I think that's the name), put some Cantu Shea Butter Leave-in conditioner, put my silk bonnet on. Then in the morning, I would damp my hair a little, put in my activator cream for moisture and then scrunch in some activator curl gel. So far since my hair is still short, it works for me. I am now trying to use clips or other accessories in my hair to take a break from my headbands that I use. The most that I have notice to is the nape of my neck where the hair would always break off and be really, really short is now growing and I am so surprised at that because I didn't think that would happen. I can't wait to see how my hair will be in the next few months and what all I can do with it then.