Restarting My Healthy Natural Hair Journey
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As of July 2024, I have restarted my healthy natural hair journey once more [cue sigh]. As a backdrop, I first started my hair journey in April 2012, when I made the decision to grow out and care for my hair in its natural texture. Between April 2012 and December 2015, a period of about 3 years and 8 months, I was able to grow my hair from a very short cut to about waist length.
Since then, my hair care (and subsequently, hair health) has had so many ups and downs which led to me chopping off my locks in 2017, 2020, and most recently July 31, 2024.
Hair shortly after chop - August 1, 2024
Life changes (such as moving, marriage, motherhood, and postpartum hormonal fluctuations) and other issues such as hard water, inadequate nutrition, etc. are a few of the reasons that the health of my hair suffered. To be clear, moving, marriage, and motherhood affected my hair health insofar as adjusting to them led to a lack of focus on my hair and inconsistency with my routine. On the other hand, hard water and inadequate nutrition impacted the quality of my hair more directly, leading to dryness, breakage, and stunted growth to name a few. And postpartum hormonal fluctuations, well, led to a LOT of hair loss; and given that I am still nursing my second baby, my hormones are not yet back to my pre-pregnancy state, so my hair loss is still a bit more than normal. Applying my Organic PUMPKIN SEED + BLACK TEA Reverse Hair Loss Serum to my edges is helping a lot to nourish my new baby hairs and encourage more regrowth!
All that said, I am gradually finding my groove and beginning to enjoy the process of taking care of my hair again. While setbacks are saddening—I can only imagine how long and healthy my hair would be right now without them [sigh]—I have learned so much through them and, at this point, have a new wave of excitement to see what lies ahead of my journey.
Hair progress picture - November 11, 2024
Hair progress picture - January 25, 2025
One thing I am practicing this time around, that I didn’t do before, is keeping a hair journal where I write down observations I am making about my hair (progress, challenges, etc.), changes I am making to my nutrition and hair care routine, what is working and what is not, and new practices I’d like to think more about and possibly implement in the near future.
I am also trying to be consistent with taking pictures periodically (about every 2-3 months) to capture my journey and see the progress I am making towards my goal of long, healthy hair! Lord willing, this will be a fruitful journey!
Expect posts about my hair journey progress, hair care routine, nutrition, and more in the coming weeks and months!
Cheers,
Felicia
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