Hair Love Letters: Ashelee

Ashelee writes:

Prior to really and seriously going natural during college, I may have "unknowingly gone natural" for a couple of years in high school when I wore my hair braided (I was an athlete). I never knew anything about "black hair" other than it was different from "white hair" and I just assumed that every black woman permed her hair because every black woman in my life had permed hair. I was always permed up, I had my first Just For Me when I was 5 and up until I was about 16 all I did was get perms, and my hair has always been close to shoulder length. I was well aware that my hair was "different' because I attended predominately white schools until I got to Howard.

My decision to go natural was just that one day I sat down and asked myself "What's the point of a perm?", that and all of the other women with natural hair just looked so cute. Perms stink, and they are also expensive, so being on a college budget, I figured that would definitely be worth giving up. It took me longer to transition than I thought, and the process was certainly not what I expected. I wore my hair in some old lady pin-up do for a little over 9 months before I fully grew and cut the permed hair out. But now, every time I see my hair in it's true natural state I cannot for the life of me figure out why some women continue to rely on perms to make themselves look beautiful. Natural hair is wonderful to see on anybody! Afros or loose bouncy curls; it's gorgeous and I wish everybody could see that. Even though I wear my hair straight a lot of the time, I definitely love the fact that I can do a natural look and a straight look whenever I choose, and my curls will definitely be out for the majority of the summer.

What's really keeping me from perming my hair is everything I have learned about hair during this process: good healthy products for my hair, how to get it to grow and look healthy, and how much work I put into growing out the perm and retaining length. My sisters use perms religiously, their hair looks nice, but I definitely catch a lot of slack for wearing my hair natural, but I will certainly say that I am learning a lot about myself physically, mentally and emotionally during this and I couldn't be any more grateful!