Why, When and How?

My natural hair journey began shortly after my son was teased by his classmates while at daycare for having "ugly, curly, poofy" hair. The daycare personnel called to inform us of what had happened that day and that our son was very upset and crying profusely.  When my DH arrived at the daycare to pick up our son, he noticed several patches of cut hair from our son's head. Because our son's fellow classmates made fun of his hair, in response he took a pair of scissors and attempted to "remove" his "ugly" hair.

When my husband and our son arrived home from daycare, my heart dropped when I saw my son's hair. When our son explained to us how hurt he was to have such "bad" hair and wanted know why couldn't his hair be straight, we knew we had to share with him the beauty of how he was "fearfully and wonderfully made" (Psalms 139:14). It is truly amazing how God's Word of Truth brings about comfort, peace and safety. It also has a way of bringing about conviction.  How could I tell my son how to be proud of his hair and to be confident in wearing his "curly, poofy" hair when I wasn't proud nor confident in displaying my own natural hair?

At the time this event had occurred I was natural, but I was wearing wigs (straight hair) everyday to work, to the mall and other public places. When I would return home, I would take the wig off and wear my natural hair out in the comfort and "safety" of my home. Only my immediate family (husband and son) saw the real me.   Readers, I must confess that the image of me below was taken after coming to grips with who and how God made "me".  There was no way I could say to my son the above yet I still hide behind the wigs, thus I had to help my son understand the importance of what his Dad and I shared with him by becoming a living example.  I stopped wearing the wigs and began to embrace my natural tresses.

Was it easy to go natural? No it wasn't.  You will never hear me say to anyone that my decision to go natural was easy.  As a matter of fact, wearing my natural hair out was probably the most frightening decision I have ever made in my life!  I kept thinking, what are people going to say?  How will they treat me?  How will my wearing my hair this way affect my job (promotions, raises, etc...)?  I was scared.

My first time wearing my natural hair out (about a 1/2" of growth) was to my job.  I arrived at my office and took my seat.  I had several co-workers stop by to ask if everything was okay?  I had questions asked referring to a possible illness.  I even had people comment on what would make me do such a thing if I wasn't sick?  Hearing these comments, among many others, was tough and trying to answer these questions even harder especially when trying to explain it to people who just didn't get it.  However, I learned over time that what doesn't break you only makes you stronger!  Eventually, I did become stronger and more confident in wearing my hair out and didn't feel the need to answer any questions or provide any explanations for my decision to wear my hair in its natural glory. What a great feeling!  Although scary, this decision was the BEST one made and I haven't looked back!  This past summer has marked 15 years of being natural.  Wow, time truly does fly

The picture above is the only picture I could find at this time, but I will look for others.  I didn't take a lot of pictures during my early natural days (not even of my shaven head).  I regret not having done this because there are times when I want to remember what my TWA looked like and I don't have many images.  Also, I still at times can't believe I actually shaved my head, not once but twice and I didn't take a picture of THAT!  What was I thinking! LOL!

Peace and Blessings

P.S.

Here's a picture of my son's hair today!