I know! It's a big deal right? Deciding to embrace your natural curls. But why? Society has us feeling uncomfortable in our own skin, worst yet, our own God given hair. Geesh, as if life isn't hard enough! Why not pick one less battle to fight? Embracing your curls will probably be the most liberating choice you'll make. What's better than learning to look in the mirror and accept how you were beautifully and perfectly created. In your own image! This is what embracing your curly hair is all about.
Which brings me to my first step:
1. Acceptance - so often in life we fight against reality, rather than accept the truth about ourselves, or simply acknowledging the fact that our curls are perfect because they are uniquely ours.
2. Decision - next is making a decision to be natural, on our own, in our own time, when it feels right to us.
3. Choice - you will need to remember this is a personal choice. Anything you decide to embrace in life is of your own choosing, included making a decision to commit to your curls, and choosing to embrace the journey.
4. Professional help - do not try to go at this alone and don't solely rely on everything you see on social media or YouTube University. Some of what you may learn will be beneficial and applicable to you, a lot of it will not. Remember your curls are uniquely yours and have their own story. Having a professional curl specialist assess your curls and make professional, personalized recommendations will be the key to your success along this journey.
5. Patience - You may not start off exactly where you want, but sticking to a routine, regular shaping and treatments, and following the advice of your stylist, you will see your curls flourish and transform into something beautiful. Most of the time exceeding your expectations!
6. Be Confident and Committed- Now, I don't want to stir the pot too much, but while you're adjusting to embracing your curls others close to you will be adjusting too. Keep your head up, rock your curls with confidence, frizz and all, and don't be afraid to say, in the words of my girl India Arie "I am not my hair". Let's face it, you are not your hair, you are so much more, and true beauty lies within! Stick with it and let others learn to love you for who you really are!
So true, Justice! I appreciate your saying that not every day will be a good curl day. There are so many factors involved, especially with the weather. I’ll take the curling iron to mine to fix it up for an important event, but for the most part I plop the product and forget it. The more I worry over it in the mirror, the fussier it gets from being touched. I can be having what I think is the worse curl day then a stranger says, “I love your curls!”. It’s important to remember that others aren’t looking as closely as we are.
How true and we all have been there! The beauty of having curly hair is real journey of self and hair.