I was hoping to get a few more of these Now and Then pics, so that I could do a batch of five. But, it’s been awhile, so didn’t want to wait any longer to share these great flashbacks with all of you! Maybe it’ll prompt some more of you to submit your pics:)!!

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K e n d a l l

D r .  B .  N a t u r a l

THEN: I was near kindergarten age. My hair wasn’t considered thick, but has always been at least shoulder length (unfortunately, not always by choice). My mom always kept my hair ‘laid’. In fact, it wasn’t until age 11 that I received my first relaxer. I didn’t have to beg for it, but was elated to have that long flowing hair that I saw on television. No longer would I have to wrap a pillowcase or towel around my head to pretend I had luxurious Egyptian/European type tresses. Up until my first or second year in high school, I could depend on my mom to care for my hair and recreate the styles most girls my age had to go to the salon to achieve. Unfortunately, I was never taught how to care for my own hair. I was left only to unsuccessfully mimick what I thought was appropriate. Thus, after years of thinning, growing and breaking, going natural was my last option.

NOW: (As in January!? lol) I have a full head of AfroMerican locks. In this pic, only the front middle section of my hair is colored (faded actually, from a deeper copper-auburn color). Still in the early stages of my hair journey, I did not know how to treat colored hair. Therefore, the thinning process began again. Since then, I have grown at least five or six inches of thick black hair, while the color treated keeps getting thinner, weaker, and less manageable. Hence, I had to cut away all the color. Can you image how that looks? Not so hot!!

M a r s h a

Hairology

I was recently checking out some old pictures of my pre-relaxer days and I found the least embarrassing ones to share. The first was actually  a passport picture taken years ago when I was probably 5, I think. Clarification needed from Mommy of course. I was clearly wearing a protective hairstyle with added hair accessory for pizazz, lol. Who would have known that I would have begged my mom to relax my hair, after seeing the sleekness and bounce that was worn by other teenagers at my church and school back then?

So, Mom gave in when I was 13 years old and welcomed the idea of the relaxer, then later stating that I wasn’t allowed to get another. Yes, I was traumatized because I was brainwashed to believe that my hair would  break off if it wasn’t relaxed again and it did. I later ended up getting a curly/jheri curl after going to the hairdresser who cut off (BC’d) the rest of my relaxer. I wore my hair in a curly perm until I was tired of  it. Well the style was fading out in the early ’90′ too. I then got another relaxer. The picture below was taken a few months after i got my curly/jheri curl. Can you say drip drip drip?

So the years went by and my hair grew, and broke, and grew, and broke  some more. Fast forward … I did another BC years later. At this point I was fed up with breakage from a bad relaxer and a botched dye job. Okay, so my hair grew back again and yes, I didn’t learn my lesson, I relaxed again and yes put more color.

Missed the first round of Flashback photos and stories? Check them out here! And, let’s keep the fun going! Send your Now and Then pictures and stories to  hairscapades@gmail.com to be featured in a future post!