Hair Story?

Natural Hair- This term can go from having curly, kinky or wavy hair.  Basically it's the hair you were born with, self-explanatory.




THE BEGINNING

Sunny days in Arizona with my sister (6 or 7)

I never had natural hair all of my life, I had a relaxer once in my life (A relaxer is a process that involves putting chemicals in your hair to get a straighter look).  This happened around the time that I was 11, until then I was sporting what I would like to call "Dookie Twists".  I hated having natural hair so much.  At the time that my hair was natural I was living in Arizona and I went to a predominately caucasian school.  It didn't bother me all that much, until some of my friends would ask me "Cheyenne, will you take out a braid, I want to see it down".  In my mind I thought that this simple act would not cause a lot of trouble, until I thought about all the work my mom had to go through just to do my hair.  I would automatically respond with a calm and silent "no".  I hated the fact that all of my friends had silky, long, and straight hair, while I had this coily stuff that shrunk if one raindrop hit it; it sucked so much.  Of course, I prevailed because I had no choice, but I hated every moment of it.


THE RELAXER

7th Grade 

I got my first relaxer in middle school (I think I was in 7th grade), 6th grade was horrible, because I was still the only girl sporting "dookie twists" while all of my other friends had relaxers or had their hair straightened with a hot comb.  By this time my mom had moved my sister and I to South Carolina where most of my family lives.  It was something new, but I don't think it changed me too much.  This relaxer gave me more confidence then I ever had and I felt complete for time being.

HIGH SCHOOL

9th Grade

One of my Best Friend's, Delaysha & I

Around this time I was more conscious of things.  My confidence level had gone down by 80%; why?  I was never sure, but I think it had something to do with my weight gain.  I didn't have the natural hair anymore, but I was fat instead of phat.  I don't think I was enormously big, but in my mind I wasn't looking so good.  My hair still remained the same and I loved getting relaxers.  I was wearing box braids more often then having my hair straight.  I never realized this fact, but when I had my hair in braids it gave my hair more time to relax and grow instead of being hurt by chemicals.

10th Grade

A beanie on my head, but my hair was straight

Looking back on 10th Grade that's when I can see that I really went through a change.  I became a different person and I finally felt like myself.  I lost weight and that's when I thought about going natural.  It was all because my best friend was natural, her hair had grown a lot, my hair was breaking and I thought that maybe we'd have the same hair texture; I was wrong.  I wore hats/beanies alot and never wore my hair in it's natural state, because I was unsure of it and I knew a lot of people would judge me.  Whenever I told my friends about trying to go natural they would laugh at me and play around saying "Oh, you wouldn't last", "Cheyenne your hair is going to be nappy", "You'll be running back to the creamy crack".  At first I believed them and was going to give up, but for some reason I never felt like going back to the salon and I loved my hair texture.  It was something new and I was excited for every day that there would be more growth.

One of my Best friend's, Jasmine & I (She has natural hair)

11th Grade

The Lord knows that I was not ready for 11th Grade.  This is when I moved to Virginia and I had to leave all my friends of 6 years behind and try to move on.  I've always hated goodbye's and this one was slightly hard.  I was excited because it was a new start, but I wasn't sure if I wanted to meet anyone new.  I was content with South Carolina, palm trees and a cool breeze; that was all I ever wanted.  Two days before 11th grade started I finally got my hair cut, otherwise known as the Big Chop (Big Chop- Getting the relaxer cut out of your hair).  I was content with my hair and proud of myself for finally giving in and cutting my hair, but I was unsure of how people would take it and if I would still like it in the next couple of days.  By this time I had grown my hair for almost a year (Oct. 2010- Sept 2011) and it was still short.  I was still trying to learn my hair when I moved, so it was a lot of trial and error days. I can actually remember one day when I straightened my hair for the first time since I went natural and I was made fun of; my hair looked horrible.  The only reason why I remember that day so vividly was because two people made comments in regards to how I reminded them of Florida Evans off of the 1970s sitcom "Good Times" (If you don't know who she is, google it); Also, it was picture day.

Day Before Big-Chop

Day of Big-Chop

12th Grade

My sister & I; circa 2012

I can't believe I'm a Senior.  I knew this year was coming, but it was almost unreal.  My hair has grown, I've tried new styles and learned many things.  I'm still learning at the moment and hoping to evolve into more than what I am at the moment.  There have been multiple times when I had "Bad Hair Days" or people had something to say about my hair, but I kept moving.  My natural hair isn't a big factor into how I act or my personality, but it is a part of my whole being in a sense.

Excuse the face, I was at Night School & I was tired

Sorry for this long story, but hope y'all enjoyed!

Change of Topic: Natural Hair

Goodmorning!  So I was thinking about some things this weekend and my thoughts wandered to my blog.  I felt like it was "dry" and I wasn't writing about anything that can switch gears at any time and keep interest.  So in favor of talking about something that I know more about, I decided to change the topic of my blog.  I'm hoping that I don't keep changing the topics, but I'm sure that with this topic I will have alot to say.  The topic of this blog will be about natural hair.  I feel like not too many know about it and a lot of people are trying to go natural, but just don't have the background information or know how to start; that's where I come in.  I don't have all the facts, tips and skills down to the "t", but I'm still learning and I feel that I can help out some people as well.  I am very ecstatic about natural hair for some odd reason and I want to share this weird love with everyone, so stay tuned!

Middle Of The Week Post

So today is Monday, Hallelujah!!! (#StuffThatNoOneSays)  As I'm sitting here in the Law Firm, supposedly "working", all I can think about is the auditions for the Spring Musical later today in the afternoon; I'm so excited!!!!  I missed out on doing show choir this year because I wanted to go to Tech Center and I didn't have enough room on my schedule.  Along with having no room I had to take night school as well; I hated it. I've been in chorus since I was in kindergarten so missing out on chorus in my Senior year was a difficult decision for me to bear.  Coming to chorus class and singing whatever my heart desired (or whatever song we were rehearsing) made my day.  I'll confess, I would love to walk around the hallways singing whatever song came to my mind as loud as I can, but I know if I did that the reactions would follow with "What?", "Eh, shut that up!", or some form of very vulgar language, which many find entertaining.  That's why coming to chorus class was always my outlet, I could do whatever I wanted with my voice and no one would reprimand me for it.  I guess the whole point of this post was to just get some excitement out since I usually keep it all in for the sake of others.  This post really didn't have too much to do with what the purpose of this blog was, but again this is my blog and since I'm a random person a lot of randomness from time to time will be ensued.  

My "Classics"

Hola Y'all.  Feeling a little Handy-Dandy right now.  Just got off of work, I think I got an incorrect meal (my caesar salad) and I still have to wake up around 6:30 a.m. tomorrow just to get my hair done; I'll survive.  While driving around Chesterfield earlier today and listening to the radio, they were playing a lot of old school songs that I liked.  They spanned from the years of the 90's-early 00s'.  These songs are usually my favorite because they bring out old memories and I feel like this was when people actually "made" songs.  Don't get me wrong, some of the songs now are delicately constructed, but some are just everywhere.  I thought that it'd be cool just to make a list of songs that I felt bring up good memories or so.  Not sure if some of you may know these songs, but don't be afraid to look them up, you may end up liking them.


1. I'm So Into You- SWV
2. Kiss Me- Sixpence None The Richer
3. Bittersweet Symphony- The Verve
4. Roses, Hey Ya!, & Mrs. Jackson- Outkast
5. Independent Women Part 1 & 2- Destiny's Child
6. Any Beyonce Song!!!- Beyonce
7. This Love- Maroon 5
8. Doo Wop That Thing- Lauryn Hill
9. Hollaback Girl- Gwen Stefani
10. Feel Good Inc. & Dare- Gorillaz
11. Take Me Out- Franz Ferdinand
12. Mambo No. 5- Lou Bega
13. Toxic- Britney Spears
14. Why Don't We Fall In Love & 1 Thing- Amerie
15. You Don't Know My Name- Alicia Keys
16. Are You That Somebody- Aaliyah
17. 99 Problems- Jay-Z (Would not recommend anyone to listen to this because of the lyrics)
18. Someday- Sugar Ray
19. Hypnotize- Notorious B.I.G. (Would not recommend anyone to listen to this because of the lyrics)
20. Milkshake- Kelis (Some lyrics aren't the best, but still a great song anyways)

Introductory & Aaliyah

Hola y'all!  I'm not the best at introducing myself because I make every single thing awkward, as in the moment right now.  To start off this blog with the purpose behind it I'll introduce an artist who I kind of stumbled upon tonight (particularly while listening to Pandora).

Artist: Aaliyah Dana Haughton

I remember listening to her music when I was younger, in the late 90s and early 00s.  She was a soul like no other, a rhythmic beauty building her empire on her own; thinking back to it now, maybe she wasn't trying to build an empire.  When people made music back then it wasn't always about the profit and trying to get ahead of other artists; people made music for the pure joy of it.  It never mattered how awkward or weird it sounded, it was coming from the heart and that is all that mattered.  Artists like her are found now-a-days but it's slightly rare.  She had a voice that was a light soprano and would change into a heavy alto when needed.  Sadly her life ended tragically when she died in a plane accident August 25, 2001.  I remember that day because I was in the car and right when they were announcing her death on the radio I saw a plane flying over the car; I think that might've been the day that I despised planes.  Nonetheless, she'll always be in the hearts and minds of everyone that listened to her music.

Trying to make this thing a little interesting I've decided that I'll pick out three songs that are my favorite and one (or more) music videos.  I'll try to post them, so if anyone wants to they could listen to it or just go on youtube and search it up.

Songs
1. Try Again
2. It's Whatever
3. Are You That Somebody

Music Video
1. Rock The Boat

Before I end this I do want to make a statement on one thing.  I love the music video to Rock the Boat, but it was always kind of eerie watching it.  At the end of the video when she is in the ocean she starts to swim up to the surface of the water.  While she is swimming to the top, there is this beam of light that is shined on her making her look like an angel.  For some odd reason I've always loved that part, because she looks so beautiful and peaceful being in the sea.  Also, the video was shot a few days before she passed away.