My "Hair Journey" (So Far)

Hello! Welcome to Carefree Curls. :)

I'd like to share a bit about my hair and how it's changed throughout my life.

When I was very young, I had loose curls. I lost those curls as I got older (probably because I was brushing them out every day!), but I still had a slight wave to my hair. For a long time, I never blow-dried my hair; I was too impatient to spend time doing that lol. I just let it air-dry and do its own thing. This is what it looked like for awhile. (I had bangs back then..)

It was always pretty frizzy, and I never really did anything to it as far as styling goes. Anyway, eventually, we moved to another state in 2011. I think I was 13 at the time, and I decided to grow out my bangs after we moved. Once they grew out (took a year or two!), I began to blow-dry my hair to make it look more straight, and I was pretty satisfied with my hair for awhile. However, it still had that poofy frizzy look, and it never looked like other people's smooth, straight hair (at least, not to me). Here's what it usually looked like..

I was fine with that for the rest of the time that we lived in that state. I was blissfully unaware of the harmful effects blow-drying and using regular sulfate- and silicone-filled products would have on my hair. At least I never straightened it!

In late 2014, we moved back to the state we previously lived in. This is when my hair really began to bug me.. It had gotten a lot frizzier and more unmanageable! My guess is that it was because the water here is hard, and the water in our previous area was extremely soft. That's the only thing I can think of. But anyway, here's what it was looking like.

It had gotten wavier, poofier, & frizzier despite the fact that I was doing the same stuff and using the same products as usual. This is when I started doing research & discovered the curly girl method. I began to fall in love with curly hair and I was curious about how curly my hair could get, if it could even be curly at all. You see, I always just thought of my hair as slightly wavy. I knew my hair had some spunk in it (I always had a little curl where I parted my hair), so in the summer of 2015 (June 14th, to be more specific), I decided to go for it and try the curly girl method. To start it all off, I got a haircut. Just a trim, really, to rid myself of any split ends. Unfortunately, when the lady cut my hair, she did this thing where she slid the scissors down a section of my hair to "thin it out" or something so it wasn't so heavy.. I immensely regret letting her do that; this caused SO MUCH FRIZZ!!! All of those little hairs that are shorter than the rest now stick out everywhere. I have a feeling that once all of those shorter hairs have grown out, my hair will be a lot less frizzy.. But until then, I'll just have to deal with lots of frizz. Oh well. Here's what it looked like right after my haircut (I asked her to style it like curly hair). You can see the frizz..

Anyway, when I started the CG method, I was immediately happier with my hair (aside from the frizz because of the way the lady cut my hair); I was pleasantly surprised as loose curls began to slowly form in place of the slight waves that I was so used to having. After just one month of the CG method, this is what my hair looked like:

In my opinion, that's a major improvement. :)

It's been so exhilarating & freeing to embrace my curly hair; I absolutely love it, and I've learned so much in such a short time. I am amazed at how well my hair has reacted. It feels so much happier & healthier (and shinier!), and it's almost as if I'm letting it breathe for the first time in forever!! Allowing my hair to do what it does naturally has given me a new, refreshing confidence; I'm completely in love with my hair, and to be honest, that's something I've never really been able to say until I embraced my hair and let it go natural. I'm so glad I started the CG method, and I'm NEVER turning back. <3

Hopefully you've enjoyed reading about my "hair journey" (so far). :) Feel free to post about your own hair in the comments!!

-CK