Have you ever ripped, snapped, snagged and pulled out your hair? Well, I have! I even got yelled at by my beautician because I just could not hang this summer. I guess you can say this summer I went natural, and when talking to a girl that has had a relaxer (a chemical that is used to straighten tight curls), since she was 12, you can say this summer was a struggle.

So let’s start from the beginning. I typically get a relaxer every time I go back to Texas, which is about every two months because not everyone can be trusted with putting a chemical that can burn through aluminum if left on long enough. So when I went home in May for summer break, I had every intention to get my hair back to the silkiness that I have become accustomed to. Only to be told that because I was now a newly instated summer counselor and would be swimming once a week maybe even twice a week I would not be able to get my locks tamed. Mind you, I had not gotten a relaxer since March, so you can only imagine the amount of new growth I was working with. And now I had to wait three more months. When I was informed of my only option for the summer, I laughed to keep from crying and quickly turned to YouTube to learn every trick to the faithful twist outs, braids, and Bantu knots. Even with the videos, I still managed to fail. My beautician said that I managed to rip my hair out-- I can only assume when I had to comb through the kinks. And get this, I learned that I am probably the only African American girl whose hair does not take well to coconut oil. Isn’t that insane? So this whole summer, I was basically dealing with nappy and dry hair and now I have uneven hair from the damage. I guess it was a good call to get my hair layered a year ago because now you won’t be able to tell the chaos I put my hair through this summer.

It is now the end of summer and summer camp has come to an end. Guess where I found myself a day after summer camp was over? I am sure you guessed it, THE HAIR SALON. I was really emotional when I was able to run a comb through my locks with no pull or tug. Now looking back at this summer, I think the most interesting part about this whole hair debacle is that I found myself getting tips from my younger sister who has found a way to become the hair queen.

All in all, this hair journey taught me to accept myself more. I learned that having the “perfect” hair is not going to make or break you. It’s also helped me to appreciate the art of hair. There are so many different styles that one can do with natural hair it is ridiculous. Even through my struggle this summer, I would say that I have gotten a lot better. I am still not the best, and my stylist kindly lets me know that when I get older I need to prepare myself to spend some Benjamins to get my hair done. Wish me luck because I won’t be getting my next relaxer until November.