I can’t say my experience has been great so far, because it hasn’t. I’ve watched so much of my hair fall out since I’ve began the process of growing my hair out. I’ve even cried, thinking I would end up bald because of all of the hair I saw coming out.

I tried a few natural styles, which worked out great back when I was only 2 months in. I’ve read about “The Mat” which is the place where the new growth and chemical hair meet and it gets really matted up. I’ve experienced “The Mat.” I never thought I would have the problem of breakage at that area, but that was part of the reason why my hair was breaking so much. I had no clue how fragile that area is. When I look at my hair now, I can see the short strands of new growth standing up, which tells me that the permed part has broken off.

I decided to give the natural styles a break for a while and I went back to my old routine of roller setting it. I almost died when I took the rollers out the first time. My hair had grown a lot, but it was sooooo thin. That was the first and last time I’ve roller set my hair since I’ve started this process. Even if it is thin, I don’t want to see how thin it is.

I’ve been letting my hair air dry (with leave-in conditioner) and then quickly blow drying it just to straighten it a bit. I know heat isn’t the best, but it’s enough to get me through this period of the growing out process. I imagine it’ll take me like 2 years to fully grow it out because of how long my hair is.

I wonder if I’ll get impatient. Honestly, I do miss my hair being straight sometimes.

I am officially growing my perm out. There… I said it!

In the past, I would never say that because I didn’t want to say it and change my mind and have to go back on my words. I would say “I’m taking a break from perming my hair.”

My first perm was when I was in the 7th grade. No, I didn’t neeeeed to perm my hair, I just did it because perming was the only way to keep it from getting frizzy when I wear it out. I had to beg and plead my father to let me perm my hair. Finally one day, he gave in.

I’ve always loved to wear my hair straight. Prior to perming when I was much younger, I would always beg my mother to blowdry my hair straight. She hated that request because my hair was so long, but she did it anyway.

My last perm was in March. You want an exact date? March 11, 2010. I didn’t even know it would be my last perm. I was never one of those people who had to perm every 6 weeks. I just permed my hair when I felt like it. Sometimes 3 months, sometimes 5 months, but towards the end it was getting closer and closer together. After like 2 months my hair would start shedding, so I permed it to make the shedding stop.

One of the reasons why I finally decided to stop perming was because my hair was getting too thin for my liking. My scalp wasn’t even in good condition. Not to mention, almost everyone I know has stopped perming their hair and their hair looks so healthy. More of a reason to test it out.