Natural & All Feature: Shana

Hello my name is Shana and I am in love with my natural hair!

My natural hair journey began a little something like this….

In February, about 8 months after first cutting my hair, I got frustrated with trying to maintain a perm as it grew out and decided to just cut the perm out and start fresh short with natural hair. About 6 months after that cut, I decided to start fresh and cut all my hair off again. I did an awful job and had a few patches so I had to go to the barber shop and told the barber to give me a fade.

I decided to go natural because I was tired of my hair.  I had long hair before getting it cut initially and although many believed I wasn’t, I was a perm head. My hair was getting dry and brittle from a lot of coloring, perming and cutting. I never seemed to be satisfied with how my hair looked, long or not. I had been researching going natural for months before cutting my hair but I was not sure if it was something I really wanted to do. I was scared of the stigma that may come with being natural and feeling unattractive. When I first cut the perm out, I received a lot of smart comments because I would pluck it out like an afro. People would walk pass me and put their fist up, LOL. When I cut it the second time, people really were surprised.

                                          

My friends and family were shocked but supportive of my decision to go natural and as a result I felt even more comfortable with myself and my decision. I think overall, they just want me to have my long hair again LOL.

The goal for my hair is just to continue to grow it out. I miss my long hair but I just do not miss having perms. Since going natural, I have learned that I have a pretty nice grain of hair. My hair gets real curly when I wet it and I never realized I had curly hair. The one thing I do not like is that my hair gets frizzy! I have found some good products that help me maintain that and basically on rainy days I just do not try. Even with that, to me, my natural curls are golden.

If I were stranded on an island the products I just couldn’t live without are coconut oil and Cantu Leave- in Conditioner because they make my hair soft and my natural pretty curls can form.

Throughout this journey I’ve learned confidence is important.  I have learned since being natural that natural is for everyone but not everyone is meant to be natural. You have to have patience and a real desire to want to learn about your hair. It does not make you any more or any less of a person. Just do you!