So, here is the first batch of “Now and Then” pictures and stories!! Enjoy (I know that I did:))!!

C h a r e l l e

      

Here are my pics! The first was taken when I was in Kindergarten (age 5) and the second was taken a few weeks ago (age 24). My mom always put my hair in clips and barrettes and also never left it out (that was too grown)! Those were the days … :). I don’t think the texture has changed too much and it has always been thick, big and hard to comb. I got my first relaxer at age 11 (because I begged) and a botched relaxer made all my hair literally fall out 6 months later. After it grew back, I kept my hair natural until two months before my 18th birthday, because I thought relaxed hair would be easier to handle in college. Two months after my college graduation, I relaxed for the last time, that was two years ago, and I haven’t looked back ever since. Natural is here to stay!

T i f f a n y

   

I always had a lot of hair. My mom mostly kept it in braids. I remember when my mom rolled our hair with paper bags to go to a wedding. Needless to say, it came out a mess. I got my first perm at age 12. It was a “just for me no lye relaxer” (but that was a lie. lol.).

M i c h e ' a l

   

Looking at my baby picture your can see that my mom did put a roller in front to form a bang. My mother, you see, is Puerto Rican and had the most gorgeous hair. She married my father, who is African-American, and they had me, and only me. Now my mother had no clue what to do with my hair and, sad but true, she put a relaxer in my hair at the age of 5 :(. From that age on she kept putting one in my hair to maintain it. She knew a lot about hair, so it was healthy and long. However, when I got to the age of doing my own hair it all went downhill. When my mother died, I was 13 years old and started to do my own hair. From relaxers to bad dye jobs, I struggled to make my hair work. It wasn’t until 12 years ago that I couldn’t take it anymore and started on my natural hair journey. The rest is history. Thanks to blogs like hairscapades, CN, youtube and various other sites, I have had help on this natural quest.

(p.s. I am not photogenic, so excuse the look on my NOW face.)

K a y l a

This is Kayla (KurlyGirl85) from the GOC 6th Wave. This is such a fun idea. I keep my school picture from kindergarten (different picture) out on my desk to remember how my hair used to be. This is me now at 26 and then at 6.  I don’t even remember my hair being that long :).

V a l e n c i a

   

I was 5 in this picture! That was a LOT of hair to deal with on a 5 year old and there was another twist in the back. Man, I don’t know if I’d want those days back. lol

Rece

   

via A Hair Story

When I look at pics of how my hair was when I was younger, I realize that it’s not like that now. People say that once you relax your hair, it’ll never be the same. I don’t really believe that. I think it’s probably moreso due to the fact that hair changes in texture about every 7 years. Most people relax their hair for longer than that, so by the time you see your natural hair again, you’ve either forgotten how it used to be, or your texture has undergone its normal changes.

My hair appeared to be much straighter when I was younger. When I smoothed my hair back, I didn’t have as many deep waves as I do now. My mother REALLY took good care of our hair. Why did she even let us start doing our own hair?! LOL.

I have no memories of what my hair was like when it was wet, which is crazy because I used to wash my hair myself for years before I relaxed it.

My goal is to get my hair back to how it was… this time with a little more length.

I had to dig in the crates for these!

**************************************************************************************************************

To give credit where credit is due, Rece’s post is what finally motivated me to get this idea off of the ground :).

Send your Now and Then pictures and stories to  hairscapades@gmail.com to be featured in a future post!