It’s been exactly 366 days since my last relaxer.

I’m thrilled that I made it an entire year (cause I had some near breakdowns where I almost got it fried), so I decided to share the news.

I told my mother, aunt, and two best friends that I’m going natural and may consider getting dreads.

My mother and one of my besties (who happens to be of another race) were like “ok, cool.”

My other friend (who is a sista) looked like she would cry. Our convo went something like:

Her: OMG Lia! Why would you want to lose all your pretty hair? How long is it now?
Me:  It’s halfway down my back when I straighten it.
Her: OMG! How much of that is the nappy stuff? 
Me:  You mean NATURAL? About five inches.
Her: You’ll regret this when the only guys who will want to date you are rasta-wannabe potheads. 
Me:  WTF did you just say?!
Her: I’m just trying to look out for you sweetie, your hair is your best asset.
Me: Wow, and all this time I thought it was my personality…

My aunt, (who didn’t get to hear about the dread part) went ballistic on me. She used words like “beautiful”, “crowning glory”, “pretty”, and “gorgeous” to describe my hair in the past and words like “hideous”, “ugly”, “messy”, and “foolish” to describe what I’m in the process of doing to my hair. She went on to state that she’d suggest to her daughter that she not have me in her wedding this September because the pictures wouldn’t come out right. I got a speech about “how far we’ve come” (as a people) and how I’m setting us back because I’m too cheap and lazy to spend time in the salon taking care of my hair.

I’m glad my self-esteem is in a good place or I probably would have dropped $80 at the salon frying my hair today.


… oh, and please believe, I set the two of them straight (pun not intended)