On Black Hair: Whether You Are Relaxed Or Natural You Must Pick Your Poison.

I was 12 years old when my mom took me to her hair stylist to get my first relaxer. I was super excited, as I begged my mother for semi-permanent straight tresses for years before she finally gave in.

As a child I watched in fascination as she carefully placed large plastic hair rollers in her waist-length hair each night before bed. Yes, she slept on those hard multicolored cylinders nightly and woke up to bouncy curls the next morning. And I wanted the same results for my hair.

Only my strands were naturally curly. And I was sick of sitting between my mother’s legs to get my hair done for school every Sunday. I wanted long, sleek, shiny, straight hair like hers, and not from a silk press, either. I wanted the real thing. My curls made me look very childlike and I wanted to appear and feel grown.

On a Thursday evening I held my mom’s hand as we crossed the street and walked into the salon she frequented. Her stylist smiled as she sat me down in her chair and prepped my virgin hair to be slathered with the creamy white concoction known as the relaxer.

I smiled as Julie began to apply the chemicals to my hair. I was finally going to have beautiful, straight locks!