Two Months Since the B.C. and Counting

I B.C'ed (Big Chopped) my hair on July 22, 2010 and it's been an fascinating journey so far. I decided to do the B.C., mainly because I was getting tired of relaxing my hair. It had become more expensive and I noticed hair-loss at my temples. I started to wonder if the chemicals in the relaxer was causing my hair loss? What is in the relaxer? What did my natural hair look like? How would I get my hair relaxed in China? Why am I relaxing my hair in the first place? I had no answers to any of the questions, so I decided to do some research on natural hair. And the rest as they say was history.

The best thing about having natural hair is the freedom. I "listen" to what my hair wants and learn more about it each day. The thing that really surprises me, is how soft and tightly coiled it is. I had my hair straightened for so long that I never imagined that it could be so curly. I'm re-learning everything, which is/can be annoying at times, but necessary to having healthy hair. My relaxed hair was extremely dry and flaky. It's hard to be confident and carefree with itchy scalp. Now, I'm reading shampoo and conditioner labels throughly and asking questions, something I would've never done before.

The biggest difference from two months ago and now is my attitude. Doing my hair before was a chore and now it's just a blessing to have healthy hair.

My Hair Journey in China...

I haven't posted in quite a while, but I'm back and I will try to post once a week!

Everyone has asked about my hair and China, so here it goes. Once I settled into my new apartment, I realized that I needed to get back to co-washing my hair every two days and shampooing twice a week because of the heat in Nanchang. We've had humid high 90 (almost 100) degree weather since I've been here. With all the running around we've been doing (residency permits, photos, getting to know you dinners, etc.) my hair was tired, dry, and flaky. Once I started my regimen again, my hair started to look like its normal happy "self". I haven't been putting too much gel in my hair, partly because I don't want to waste it. China is a wonderful country but you won't find any black haircare products. If you did find something, you wouldn't know what's in it, unless you can read Chinese characters (which I can't). I brought enough of everything, but I just want to make sure that I'm not using too much of one thing, before I can have more items shipped from the States.

No one has said anything negative or positive about my hair. A lot of the women that I've seen so far have all different types of hairstyles( I'll take pictures to show everyone). I'm learning to "listen to what my hair wants". If it's itchy is time for a "poo", if it's dry time for a deep conditioning treatment, etc. All-in-all, I think I'll be fine as long as I have good products and a good regimen to see myself through.