My Hair Obsession: The Humble Beginnings

As long as I can remember, I have always had a fascination with all things hair. It all started when I was a young lad, my earliest hair related memory is one that I actually don't remember. My mom tells of a time when I was merely a toddler just embarking on that time in my life when most youngin's start to explore. For me exploring would lead me to my first true love, my hair.
According to my mom, she was busy tending to the household when she finally realized that she hadn't heard the normal rumblings of a child playing nearby. That is when she decided to investigate and find out just what I was doing. It wasn't until later that she found her child, in a room by herself, with a nearly empty container of hair grease. The contents of the container were spread all over my hair, my clothes, and other unfortunate places in that room. Thus it began..........

My personal memories start to solidify at around 7 years of age. My mother, wanting to make her child happy, would buy me these dolls that stood almost as tall as I was. The purpose of the doll was for a child like me to take my new play friend by the hand and walk side by side. I, on the other hand, saw much greater purposes from my new possession. I devised clever schemes of how I could somehow transplant the doll's long, luscious hair to mine. One day my mom came home from her long day at work and asked my brother and I if we wanted to visit our local park. I told her I needed a few minutes to get ready and proceeded to create my own version of fusion weave by taking a portion of my doll's hair and somehow attaching it to the end of my braid with the help of a little aluminum foil. The end result was a poorly constructed braid consisting of type 4 hair on the top half and silky doll hair on the bottom half.

Though my attempts at creating lengthy hair was extremely lacking, I still felt like a million bucks because I was able to gain several inches of length overnight. I still remember getting a second look from a cute boy at the park that day though I can't quite decipher if the look was one of admiration or mere curiosity.

Fast forward a couple of years when I would ride the school bus to receive my public education. Being one of only a hand full of minorities, I often stood out in the crowd as different from most others. I remember riding home on the bus and staring at the girls as they brushed their hair from their faces as the wind from the open bus window swept their hair in every direction. That was the moment when I had decided that I had outgrown my ponytails.

At around 10 years of age, my aunt came to town and asked my mom if she could take me to the fair. In preparation for the event, my aunt asked my mother if I could wear my hair down. I begged and pleaded for the opportunity to allow my hair to flow (relatively speaking) freely on this very special day. My mother, being the traditionalist that she was, agreed to allow the back half of my hair down only if the top half was placed into some sort of ponytail.

That half up, half down, hair do was the beginning of what would become my hair emancipation. For it was after that occasion that I had to have the dreaded conversation with my mother relinquishing her from her responsibilities of doing my hair. Much to my surprise, she had grown tired of messing with it and happily stepped down from her role as my personal hair stylist.

It was then that I began a long and arduous hair journey that created some frustration over the years. As a teenager, I was too often swayed by what others saw as suitable ways to treat their hair. As a result, the physical state of my hair fell short of my expectation time and time again. It was only after I began to search the farthest reaches of the internet for any and all available information that I began to witness any notable change.

Today, my hair journey has evolved to the creation of this blog. Is this blog here because I know everything there is to know about relaxed hair? On the contrary, this blog exists because of my desire to gain as much knowledge on how to perfect my hair as possible. My journey is no where near over but I am pleased to say that I am relishing every single step of the way.