bhndbrwneyes
Well-Known Member
I’m no HHJ expert by any means but I’ve learned from a lot of counterproductive behavior I used to do or negative thoughts I used to have and I look back on them and just laugh (and feel slightly embarrassed!). I thought I’d share them. Feel free to join me with your pre- or early-HHJ habits or thoughts. NO JUDGEMENT!
“I can’t believe I used to…”
…crimp my relaxed hair with a crimp iron because I wanted wavy tresses when my hair is type 3 naturally (see pic below)
…ask for bone straight relaxers
…allow a hair stylist to put relaxer over my entire strands from root to end
…try WNGs for weeks at a time without using conditioner (basically just wetting hair) and without detangling…led to a huge matted mess
…think girls with beautifully curly hair must be biracial
…think NG was the devil
…fear sweat, precipitation, humidity, water, etc like the fear of God
…go 3-4 passes over my strands with a flat iron on the highest setting without using heat protectant every 1-2 days
…think as long as my hair was shiny it was healthy and moisturized…my hair stayed soaked in olive oil and pink lotion
…think it was normal or that I made good detangling “progress” when my brush or comb was covered with 1 million hairs….sometimes it took 30 minutes just to clean my brush/comb off.
...go so long in between cleaning my brush/comb that you could no longer see the bristles/teeth (hence the 30 minute cleaning time)
...think the more bubbly the shampoo the better
...play school/club volleyball 5 nights/week but only wash my hair once every 3 weeks cuz I didn't want to mess up my relaxer...gross
...wash my hair in circles trying to look like I was in a commercial for Herbal Essences.
...waste an entire Saturday in the salon and then give my stylist the best tip of her life. Relaxer came out being like $100 each time and for what? To have my hair damaged that's what.
...try to explain to my white friends why black girls only had to wash their hair 1-3 times/month, now I sometime do it twice a day
...think that if my hair was sizzling and I could smell it burning theN the flat/curling/crimp iron was definitely working and I was gonna look GOOD
...never wash the burnt hair/dirt off my flat/curling/crimp iron
...lie about my relaxer not burning when it had already been burning for a good 30 minutes just so it could "work better" aka overprocess. I'd be sweating, clenching the chair and grinding my teeth but wouldn't admit I was on fire!
...shaved my widow's peak cuz none of my white friends had one (I was in middle school and I only did it once. Incredibly stupid but trust me I learned my lesson. It was so itchy growing back and imagined what it looked like when it started to grow back lol.)
...think that picking broken hairs off my shirt everyday in the middle of class was normal. Like hundreds!
I know, these are pretty bad. I don't know how I stayed at APL
“I can’t believe I used to…”
…crimp my relaxed hair with a crimp iron because I wanted wavy tresses when my hair is type 3 naturally (see pic below)
…ask for bone straight relaxers
…allow a hair stylist to put relaxer over my entire strands from root to end
…try WNGs for weeks at a time without using conditioner (basically just wetting hair) and without detangling…led to a huge matted mess
…think girls with beautifully curly hair must be biracial
…think NG was the devil
…fear sweat, precipitation, humidity, water, etc like the fear of God
…go 3-4 passes over my strands with a flat iron on the highest setting without using heat protectant every 1-2 days
…think as long as my hair was shiny it was healthy and moisturized…my hair stayed soaked in olive oil and pink lotion
…think it was normal or that I made good detangling “progress” when my brush or comb was covered with 1 million hairs….sometimes it took 30 minutes just to clean my brush/comb off.
...go so long in between cleaning my brush/comb that you could no longer see the bristles/teeth (hence the 30 minute cleaning time)
...think the more bubbly the shampoo the better
...play school/club volleyball 5 nights/week but only wash my hair once every 3 weeks cuz I didn't want to mess up my relaxer...gross
...wash my hair in circles trying to look like I was in a commercial for Herbal Essences.
...waste an entire Saturday in the salon and then give my stylist the best tip of her life. Relaxer came out being like $100 each time and for what? To have my hair damaged that's what.
...try to explain to my white friends why black girls only had to wash their hair 1-3 times/month, now I sometime do it twice a day
...think that if my hair was sizzling and I could smell it burning theN the flat/curling/crimp iron was definitely working and I was gonna look GOOD
...never wash the burnt hair/dirt off my flat/curling/crimp iron
...lie about my relaxer not burning when it had already been burning for a good 30 minutes just so it could "work better" aka overprocess. I'd be sweating, clenching the chair and grinding my teeth but wouldn't admit I was on fire!
...shaved my widow's peak cuz none of my white friends had one (I was in middle school and I only did it once. Incredibly stupid but trust me I learned my lesson. It was so itchy growing back and imagined what it looked like when it started to grow back lol.)
...think that picking broken hairs off my shirt everyday in the middle of class was normal. Like hundreds!
I know, these are pretty bad. I don't know how I stayed at APL
Last edited:
erplexed
Now I know that even though I no longer use heat my fine strands NEED to keep most of their texture to thrive. SO, I'm back above my shoulders with a lesson learned.
