AmyRose92
Well-Known Member
Hi everyone! I've been lurking this forum for about two months now and I finally subscribed today! I've been looking through a lot of threads and I feel inspired by the amazing growth. But I always wonder if I'll ever be able to achieve any of the lengths that I thought were just reserved for those who are a mixed race.
My story's pretty long but I feel the need to let it all out in writing so I can finally move on. I'm a 17 year old, Haitian American girl living in Miami, FL. All my life my mom is the one who's been doing my hair. It might be shocking to know, but I have no clue about how to take care of my own hair. Just recently I decided to be an independent and finally break away from my mom (when it comes to hair of course
) Just two days ago, I shampooed my hair and put leave-in conditioner by myself. After airdrying, I was so scared to do anything to my hair because it was the first time I had handled my hair by myself.
The reason I wanted to decide for myself how to handle my hair is because of all of this hair drama going on in my Haitian community. The length most people consider as "long hair" is full SL and maybe even half-way towards APL. Longer than that would be considered AMAZING. I know very few girls at school with APL hair (maybe ten at the most out of 2,000 students?). My mom used to have full length SL and I think it was longer than that (but not APL). Now she has very thin NL hair and she grieves over her loss of hair EVERY SINGLE DAY.
Over the months of looking through this forum and other hair forums, I've come to the realization that I've been letting others decide what's good for my hair and my mom has been blindly following whatever any hair "professional" she has gone says. She's had so many hair salon horror stories, I can't even say them all. All of those relaxers, putting color, overheating and overprocessing her hair has destroyed most of it.
I think I could have grown my hair to its fullest potential if she had known what to do with my hair. At the age of six, she relaxed my hair and it was downhill from there. Since then, I've been fighting with growths and setbacks, but it was only until high school I had understood what was going on. When I was 14, I started braiding my hair a lot (box plaits only) and I stretched my relaxer over a year (I didn't even know it was called transitioning at the time
erplexed). The growth was coming in nicely. Then I had a mishap one summer and my hair broke off substantially. I relaxed it and I was visibly disappointed. I didn't even know that I had a HUGE bald spot (that is still there to this day) on the right side of my head, caused by braiding cornrows way too tight. I kept relaxing two to three times a year while braiding in between until I was 16. Then I started using sow-ins as well, which was really good for my hair because it grew. Then I switched to another hair stylist last year (October 2008) and she braided my hair SUPER TIGHT for a sow-in. After two months, I took it out and relaxed my hair (my display picture). I stretched that relaxer for four months before getting a touch-up. I would go see her once a week for a treatment, blow dry, and flat iron, and every time I went to see her, she said my hair was getting worse. All the while, I'm not DCing for weeks at a time and poorly taking care of my hair. In the end, the hair on the left side of my head broke off exponentially, and I noticed that my hair was thinning on the left side of my head, most likely caused by hair being braided too tight for that last sow-in). My last touch-up was in April, and that was the last time I set foot in a hair salon. Now I've been transitioning by doing box plaits and I vow NEVER to put relaxer in my hair, at least until I reach like, BSL or MBL. A lot of people are pushing me to relax my hair again but I know it won't help my hair at all right now. I actually wanted to BC but my mom would just die if she knew that.
Right now, my hair is looking healthier (and poofier than ever!), but it grows in layers so I'm not fully satisfied with it. I'm hoping that I can make some good progress after joining LHCF.
The thumbnails at the bottom are pics from earlier this year and late last year. The first and the last pictures show the bald spot I got from braiding cornrows too tightly about two years ago and still hasn't fully grown back yet. The second picture is the bald spot on my left head, most likely from the tight braiding from the last sow-in I had in December 2008. I think the condition is called traction alopecia (?)
My story's pretty long but I feel the need to let it all out in writing so I can finally move on. I'm a 17 year old, Haitian American girl living in Miami, FL. All my life my mom is the one who's been doing my hair. It might be shocking to know, but I have no clue about how to take care of my own hair. Just recently I decided to be an independent and finally break away from my mom (when it comes to hair of course
) Just two days ago, I shampooed my hair and put leave-in conditioner by myself. After airdrying, I was so scared to do anything to my hair because it was the first time I had handled my hair by myself.The reason I wanted to decide for myself how to handle my hair is because of all of this hair drama going on in my Haitian community. The length most people consider as "long hair" is full SL and maybe even half-way towards APL. Longer than that would be considered AMAZING. I know very few girls at school with APL hair (maybe ten at the most out of 2,000 students?). My mom used to have full length SL and I think it was longer than that (but not APL). Now she has very thin NL hair and she grieves over her loss of hair EVERY SINGLE DAY.
Over the months of looking through this forum and other hair forums, I've come to the realization that I've been letting others decide what's good for my hair and my mom has been blindly following whatever any hair "professional" she has gone says. She's had so many hair salon horror stories, I can't even say them all. All of those relaxers, putting color, overheating and overprocessing her hair has destroyed most of it.
I think I could have grown my hair to its fullest potential if she had known what to do with my hair. At the age of six, she relaxed my hair and it was downhill from there. Since then, I've been fighting with growths and setbacks, but it was only until high school I had understood what was going on. When I was 14, I started braiding my hair a lot (box plaits only) and I stretched my relaxer over a year (I didn't even know it was called transitioning at the time
erplexed). The growth was coming in nicely. Then I had a mishap one summer and my hair broke off substantially. I relaxed it and I was visibly disappointed. I didn't even know that I had a HUGE bald spot (that is still there to this day) on the right side of my head, caused by braiding cornrows way too tight. I kept relaxing two to three times a year while braiding in between until I was 16. Then I started using sow-ins as well, which was really good for my hair because it grew. Then I switched to another hair stylist last year (October 2008) and she braided my hair SUPER TIGHT for a sow-in. After two months, I took it out and relaxed my hair (my display picture). I stretched that relaxer for four months before getting a touch-up. I would go see her once a week for a treatment, blow dry, and flat iron, and every time I went to see her, she said my hair was getting worse. All the while, I'm not DCing for weeks at a time and poorly taking care of my hair. In the end, the hair on the left side of my head broke off exponentially, and I noticed that my hair was thinning on the left side of my head, most likely caused by hair being braided too tight for that last sow-in). My last touch-up was in April, and that was the last time I set foot in a hair salon. Now I've been transitioning by doing box plaits and I vow NEVER to put relaxer in my hair, at least until I reach like, BSL or MBL. A lot of people are pushing me to relax my hair again but I know it won't help my hair at all right now. I actually wanted to BC but my mom would just die if she knew that.Right now, my hair is looking healthier (and poofier than ever!), but it grows in layers so I'm not fully satisfied with it. I'm hoping that I can make some good progress after joining LHCF.
The thumbnails at the bottom are pics from earlier this year and late last year. The first and the last pictures show the bald spot I got from braiding cornrows too tightly about two years ago and still hasn't fully grown back yet. The second picture is the bald spot on my left head, most likely from the tight braiding from the last sow-in I had in December 2008. I think the condition is called traction alopecia (?)
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& thanks for sharing your hairstory. I don't have any advice for the alopecia, but if you do a search, I know there are a few threads about it & some growth successes. Good luck on your hair growth journey.
You may want to read and subscribe to all of the transitioning threads. There is a lot of great information in these threads. Also, since you're transitioning with braids, you may want to try the Crown and Glory method. You can find information on this at: 
Happy Hair Growing!
happy Hair Growing! (HHG)
Welcome & HHG!
