Ginny's Natural Hair Journey

Hi, my name is Ginny and I am going to tell you a little about my “Natural Journey”.  As a young child my mom always braided our hair.  As we got older she pressed and curled our hair or sent us to a beautician that did the same thing.  Back then I had a head full of hair, and a few burns on my neck! Straightening as it was called, looked great, but it was hard to keep up.  Your hair had to be rolled or pin curled every night. It had to have hair grease applied to your scalp to keep the hair from drying out….and don’t get caught in the rain! 
The early 60’s was the first time I had a perm in my hair. I had it done in Germany where my dad was stationed.  The beauty parlor on base put it in, but it was a red liquid and it did not stink. It came out so nice and I have never seen that kind of perm in the United States.  Of course, you still had to apply hair grease and roll your hair up every night.  I wore a perm for many years, getting it over processed again and again.  The cream stunk and it burned like crazy if the beautician did not know what they were doing.
In the late 60’s I sported an afro.  It was the thing of the times.  I would braid and oil my scalp every night.  In the morning I would pick it out with an “afro pick”.  It was natural and very nice.  It didn’t matter if you got caught in the rain because it was already natural.  The only negative I had back then is if I was too sleepy to braid and oil it at night it looked pretty rough the next day.
In 1975 while living in South Carolina I got my first Leisure Curl.  Now, this was a style I liked and it looked so good and was easy to take care of.  I saw a lot of people with curls that always seemed to have dripping wet hair.  I refused to have that, so I found a product call Sho-Nuff and it was terrific.  My hair always looked great.  My hair grew so fast and got real thick.  People thought I had a weave because my hair was so long and pretty. The only drawback with the curl was when you washed it, you had to use so much activator to get it where you wanted it to be.  They did come out with something called “snap back” which helped, but it was still aggravating.
When the “Rio” came out it looked like an answer to prayer.  NOT!!!  I was going to put it in my hair and my two daughters hair, but I decided that I had better experience on my own first.  It looked good for about three days and then my hair got so dry and started falling out by the hand full.  I actually had to do the “comb over” to cover up the ever increasing bald spots.  So, I cut my hair and had a TWA “teeny weenie afro” for about a year.
Once my hair started growing back I put the curl back in my hair and switched between the curl and the perm for a while.  I saw the film called “Good Hair” and everything changed.  I no longer wanted chemicals in my hair. My daughter Shanay started two strand twisting her hair and I liked it so much I had her do mine.   I am now able to do my own and I LOVE IT!!  I wear the two strand, the coil and I use the Eco Gel to wear a curly afro.  I am completely natural now and have no desire to wear my hair any other way.  God blessed me with the hair that I have and I am proud of it.  I figure if He wanted me to have straight hair I would.  Thank you for listening to my story and I hope you enjoy it.

Positive message for new naturals

Take the time to enjoy going natural. It might be a challenge at first, but with some time and patience you will find that it is one of the best "hair" decisions you will ever make. There are a lot of good products out there, read up on them and experiment. Use wisdom and really research before using. When you find what works for you, go with it. Enjoy!!!


Interested in sharing your natural hair journey. Contact me: naturalqueen86@yahoo.com for more information.  In the subject line: natural hair journey.