Hi guys!

So my initial plan was to post monthly pictures to show any progress or new growth that I was experiencing and so far I have only done it for the first month after my big chop (whoops).  Granted, I’m only two months out, so it’s not like my plan is completely foiled but now it’s protective style season so my hair isn’t really out as often to take pictures.  I think what I’m going to do is take pictures after I get my braids out in a week, which will then be almost 3 months post B.C., and then maybe do an odd number series like 5 months out, 7 months out, etc. I also need to be more consistent with how I’m taking the pictures, so I’m going to work on doing that for you guys.  SO WITHOUT FURTHER ADO..

So for those of you who missed it, or maybe just forgot, you can see what my hair looked like immediately after I took my tracks out as well as immediately after my big chop here.  It might be hard for y’all to tell, but I already had a lot of growth after only one month.  The sides of my hair had already filled in a lot and the top had grown a bit as well.  I plan on eventually writing a post about the big chop experience, but for now I’ll just say that it’s super difficult but so worth it.  My hair felt so much better immediately after and it just looked a million times healthier.  It’s like I could hear it cheering “hooray!” and thanking me for getting rid of all the dead stuff that had been holding it back.  The big chop was the step I needed to take to prepare my hair for all the amazing, new TLC that was coming its way, and it really responded as a result.

The first month was also like a trial period for me to see if I enjoyed the products that I was using and if I thought the regimen I had created was working. I can now say that for the most part, I only made a couple of changes (It’s in my nature to be a product junkie, but I’m too scared that I’m going to mess up my hard work to play around too much yet!!) and I really found something that worked for me! That regimen and the products I used in the first month are explained here.

I must also say that I had a couple of rough patches, where I would have moments of insecurity or doubt in what I was doing or feelings of being unattractive or boyish.  I found though, that after reminding myself that society’s view of what’s “beautiful” is not necessarily true and that I had my own different, original kind of beauty, my negative feelings would subside a little.  I also really relied heavily on the support of my loved ones and the fact that the people who really cared about me would support me and treat me the same, no matter what my hair looked like.  I feel like all of these things I’m saying are so cliché, but it’s so easy to forget them.  Just saying these statements to myself out loud was a good and necessary reminder that I was on a beautiful journey of self-discovery and I wasn’t alone!

Overall, the first month was incredibly exciting for me and I was embracing all of the new challenges and experiences that accompanied being natural for the first time in a really long time.  It was crazy to see how much had changed since I was last natural (which was years ago, when I was like..12) and see all of the new developments and cool, yummy smelling products!  It was also amazing to really delve into the natural community that I had no idea existed and find solidarity in beautiful women going through exactly what I was going through.

What were some of your biggest struggles in your first month? How did you over come these struggles?  Comment below, I’d love to hear about it!