Black history month of 2012.
You see, my Pastor, is an unusual pastor in the Delta but I LOVE his teachings. He usually brings them very much down to Earth and they (his teachings) are extremely enlightening. So when I saw that he was actually teaching black history during black history month, I became excited. However-- as expected-- it wasn't the usual Rosa Parks, MLK, Jr. teachings that I've heard YEAR after YEAR.
No, he brought this thing home to "Black Presence in the Bible." I rarely miss Sundays but I DEFINITELY didn't miss any this month. I learned ALOT about my history and why I look the way I look; that I'm not black, yet Hebrew but the MOST influential was the very LAST Sunday-- February 26, 2012--when I made my decision to stop using relaxers.
The message was on characteristics of black people and how can you recognize them by their presence. (I think this was a 2 Sunday message.). One of the characteristics was, you guessed it, HAIR!
THEN, he hit me with the science of black hair!!! Remember, I'm a science person, so when he started talking science I leaned forward and was EXTRA attentive. He went on to explain that our hair grows kinky and coily and is strong. So imagine what a chemical, or how harsh a chemical had to be, had to do to break that bond to straighten our hair. He said the magic words, "relaxers kill the protein in your hair to make it straight" and I went WEIRD SCIENCE. In my mind, I thought, "BUT i thought, DNA WAS MADE UP OF PROTEINS. If that's the case, it's killing my hair." I wrote the notes and continued listening.
Then he hit us with, "...at least if you don't go natural look for products with less chemicals in it."
And he moved on to something else. That was it. Honestly, I don't know what he moved on to. But from that moment, life as I knew it was about to change. All that night I was researching natural hair, products, etc. I went into information overload! How could I, of all people, have NOT known this! I was a lover of SCIENCE!
After researching, I decided no more heat for Pooh because I found out I'd damaged her hair. I also decided that I was going to slowly cut my relaxed ends off and simply flat iron my own hair once a month. I was good and excited. We created a regimen and the first time I DC'd her hair, so much GUNK was on her scalp it LITERALLY scared me!!!! She had had really HORRIBLE dandruff and goodness.........WHEW! SMH...but GUESS WHAT...almost a year later and she is completely DANDRUFF FREE!!!!! :)
There was only ONE downfall; my last relaxer was Dec 22, 2011. In January, since I didn't have a lot of new growth, I decided to get color. 2 weeks after that...I decided to go natural. My hair was already thin and balding in the middle so the color made it weaker and my edges began to thin BADLY! So...almost 2 months into transitioning I did my BC. (Big chop)
I haven't looked back since. I LOVE my hair; it's healthier, stronger, and has created a bolder brand new kind of me!! :)
That's my story...the black history month I will never forget! My Pastor is THE GREATEST EVER!
No comments:
Post a Comment