Sporting the All Natural

I did it. I am chemical free (sort of). I took my braids out on Sunday evening and then colored it with, what I thought would be a bronzey red (see box). I guess I forgot I was "all natural" because the color didn't take. I mean, it really didn't take at all. My hair is so thick and so non-porous that it sort of winked at the color and said, "So, you're trying to color me? Good one." Despite this, I cut off the remaining relaxed ends (about four inches...painful) and wrapped it up in a scarf.

I wanted my hair brighter and happier for spring and summer. I really liked the highlights and tones that my braids had and I was eager to have that over my dusty black hair. So Monday, I was on the hunt for African-American hair coloring (something I swore I'd never use again).But, the difference is that there's no relaxer in my hair. No further damage to add to already damaged hair...just healthy, virgin hair for the color to absorb in. In fact, the color I chose states that it only be used on natural hair. An indication that this color had a lot of umph to it. I was game.

So, I colored my hair with Dark and Lovely's, Light Golden Blonde. Well, not exactly. It turned out very bronzey red. I like it, but it will look much better after a couple of washes. I plaited up the parts I could catch up, wrapped it in a scarf and prayed I'd adjust to the change.

Today, I've received nothing but compliment after compliment. Everyone loves it and the biggest compliment of all came from my coworker, who (like me) decided to stop railing against nature. Of course, she made her decision a few years ago but, nonetheless. She's Caucasian with naturally straight hair. She used to perm the hell out of it and tried wearing it long, which her hair didn't seem to respond to. So, now she's short, sassy and straight. "It's much easier to deal with and I know, yours is easy now, too." She's right! It was just unbraid and moisturize this morning. Braids are even easier of course, but in terms of what I do when it's relaxed? No more curling irons, rollers, wrapping lotion, wrapping papers, spritzers, and sprays. I'm actually looking forward to when it has a bit of length and I can work some puffs. Wow! To be brave!