The first time I really fell in love with my waves was around mid March 2011. I was getting ready to wash my hair and I happened to part it on the side. To my surprise, all I saw were beautiful waves. This was motivation to keep going.

I had just passed my 1 year mark and I expected my hair to be at least 1/2 natural, but I was only about 1/4 natural and maybe 1/3 natural in some areas. I was extremely discouraged. I expected it to take about two full years to grow out my perm, but having only 1/3 new growth at most at the 1 yr mark made me realize it would take much longer. The waves gave me a second wind.

Let me take you back to September 2009. This was probably the longest my hair has ever been. It was also on it’s way to being very thin.

September 14, 2009. My hair began shedding a lot, so I started perming it more often to prevent the shedding. My ends were damaged and I eventually trimmed it a bit.

This was September 15, 2009… after the trim.

I’m not sure if I thought long and thin hair was cute, but this was (April 2010) a month after my very last perm. Gross!

More to come…