My HAIR Story: A Little Snipet Of My Long Hair Journey (Pt 1)

"I've recently been working on pulling together my Hair Story.  I have almost finished it, just needs tweaking a bit, followed by a good old rummage through the photo album.   I thought I could add a little snippet to the blog before I put the actual My Hair Story page up when it's all done."

0-2 Years

I was born with a full head of hair! Like most newborns, my hair was fine in texture.  Even still, way back then I think I had a lovely curl pattern going on, even if I do say so myself (“,)

2 months old

 

1 year old

3-10 Years 

Most of my early childhood years were spent in braids ‘protective styles’ i.e. cornrows and various other variations of said style. Boy oh boy did my mum love braiding my hair into a pineapple. She always said it made me looked pretty and she still says the same to this very day....

3 years old in the trusty pineapple

My mum was and still is the resident family hair stylist. She has learned all she knows by watching others. She is very good and I have always said to her that she could make a living out of what she can do – but it never was a real passion for her. She often referred to it as ‘brekin-up-mi-fingers in peoples head!’.


Nuff said!!!

Anyway, when I was a child my hair was always on point. My mum took pride in making sure my hair never looked pickie or a hot mess! I can’t remember how often my hair would get braided but I think it was probably every week or every other week. Having my hair out rarely happened except for during detangling sessions in before re-braiding!

5 years old just about to get my hair braided

I always experienced serious shrinkage on wash days. I remember having my hair washed with Voseene medicated shampoo, Head & Shoulders or Timotei shampoos (I don't even know if they did they sold shampoo specifically for afro hair back then...in the late 70's early 80's...if they did my mum wasn't using it on my hair!).  I actually remember having my hair washed with Fairy Liquid once when we had run out of shampoo!!!  Luckily that only happened the once!

Approximately 7 years old rocking a 'fro

I rarely wore bunches in my hair – although I did have braided bunches on quite a number of occasions, but the trusty pineapple was the mainstay in my mothers arsenal of styles she had instore for me.  I don't even think I really wore hair bobbles or barrettes in my hair.

I probably had my first set of extensions when I was around 7 years old.  I was my mothers guinea pig and quite enjoyed it as it meant that I got to try out lots of different styles - which is probably where my hair boredom stems from. For my first install of extensions my mum sent me to her friends house – a lady who used to ‘Do hair’.  Whilst this lady installed my braids she didn’t realise she was being watched – hard! My mum was picking up everything she needed to know about how to install extensions. When the time came around for my next set, it was my mum who installed them and has done ever since.  I have only ever had extensions installed by three different people my whole life, once by the first braiding lady, once in an African Salon where technically three people braided my hair at the same time (and I had to pay - I wasn't used to having to do that!).  All other times my hair was done by my mum. People always used love my hairstyles, and were always touching it and marveling at the braids and beads my mum used to painstakingly put in. I remember how when the ends of the braids were burned back then, how they used to tear up my clothes.  I would always end up with bits of fluff all over the bottom of the braids! That was not such a good look, but I used to enjoy chewing on the ends of the hair for some reason!  Yes, I must have been a bit of a wierdo.

During these years of my hair life, I was introduced to our friend and enemy the hot comb. I remember having to hold my ears down whilst my mum passed that searing hot comb that had been resting on the rings of the hot stove – through my delicate strands of hair. I think if I listened hard enough I think I could have heard my strands screaming from the heat – oh, no sorry, that wasn’t screams that was the crackle and pop from the hair grease cooking in my hair.

More to come later............................

Ciao 4 Now