Love Thyself #2

Today as Poppy was napping and Pickle was at preschool, I was going through some blogs. I stumbled upon one through a Facebook blogging group. Nia Simone wrote about accepting your physical self, including your natural hair.

Ever since I was little, I have had thick and curly hair. At some point, my mom had started perming my hair. The only thing I really remember is the rotten egg smell from the chemicals. Eventually she stopped perming my hair, but the curls never went away (it is genetics).

I was bullied a lot for having the type of hair that I do. I was called Medusa many times in school.

The only style I could really do was put it in a pony tail. Even straightening it was a 2 day process with a curling iron. Not to mention, the humidity where I live, making it a waste of time to straighten.

I don’t mean to get all racial, but apparently society doesn’t think (or didn’t think) white girls, or women, should have curly, frizzy, thick, wild hair. Well I am here to report, we totally do!

In my senior year of high school, I really started to care less about how people viewed me. I started dressing the way I wanted to, without worrying about the remarks I was getting. Sometimes, that included my hair.

After graduating, I finally started figuring out how to style and manage my hair. I was embracing my curls like I never had before.

This photo was taken in 2009 (I was 19). I didn’t have any product in my hair and it was like a whole new me had emerged. One who wasn’t afraid to give the middle finger to those who had something nasty to say.

Before this, I had never really shown my natural hair to my partners.(I had 2 long term relationships before my husband). I guess I just thought they would think it was wild and ugly, like a lion’s mane.

I have always been sort of quirky. Some people might have considered my style funky. I finally started to figure out how to do different things with my hair that catered to my “funkiness”.

Now that I am not afraid to be true to myself, having curly hair isn’t the worse thing in the world. Though, waking up like this makes for a fun look in the mirror.

Don’t be afraid to be who you are. People either love you or don’t and those that don’t, don’t matter anyway. Embrace your quirks because that’s what makes us unique. Don’t let society dictate your happiness. Love yourself always!