Straightening My Hair For The First Time In 7 Years

If you follow me on YouTube you may have seen a recent video about straightening my hair for the first time in 7 years. It was a little experiment that I did to change things up and see how I felt about straight hair after all these years. I talked briefly about how weird it felt to do this and my initial hesitations, but I wanted to share a bit more today and have a little chat about my hair plans going forward.

My Natural Hair Journey

So I don’t want to go into too much detail because I feel like this could be a whole other blog post in itself but basically I wore my hair straight every day from the time I was in elementary school until my freshman year of college. Then I decided to finally start rocking my natural curls, after my friends talked me into it, and that required re-learning everything I knew about taking care of and styling my locks. Fast forward to 7 years later and I’m still very much learning how to best care for my curls as we speak. But I was also feeling a bit over having the same hairstyle for the past 7 years and decided to make a temporary change to mix things up. That lead us to last weekend when I impulsively bought the first straightening iron I could find and went for it.

Time for a Change

I’ve been thinking about changing my hairstyle for a few months now and I think I’m finally going for a different approach. I was overwhelmed by the positive messages and comments I’ve received from my straight hair “debut” as well as the shared sentiment that there can be some guilt surrounding hair straightening in the natural hair community.

I’ve come to the conclusion that straightening your hair is not the cardinal sin of the curly hair community that I had imagined it to be. In fact, many women who champion their natural hair also like to mix things up and wear it straight from time to time and that is perfectly alright. Not to mention, it does make managing natural textures sooo much easier some days, which was my main motivation to begin with.

My Next Look

After straightening my hair, the first thing that became immediately apparent is that I am well overdue for a trim. I was so focused on adding length to my curls that I embarrassingly didn’t consider cutting it, which is really important to maintaining healthy hair. So I’m currently looking for a stylist who can give me a cut that will look great when worn curly or straight when the mood strikes me. I’m also planning for a short look that can still be tied back when needed, possibly a long bob.

I can’t imagine a better way to start off a new year, and decade, than with a new cut. And while this straight hair has been fun (I can wear HATS!!!) I already find myself missing my curls some days. So I’d love to know your thoughts. If you’re naturally curly do you find yourself wondering how to change up your look some days? And what is your experience with hair straightening? Let me know in the comments. Thanks for reading! xx Jessica

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