How I got here. Part One.

(First two pictures are at the beginning of my personal “Curly Journey” November 2018. Third picture is May 2020.)

It’s taken work…so much work. And time. Oh, and stress.

I have been cutting and styling curly hair for years, but every time I tried to wear my own hair natural, I would give up after a few months. It was never the results I was hoping for. The same things I was preaching to my curly clients about, (loving their hair for what it is and embracing frizz), I wasn’t practicing in my own life. I felt like a fraud.

I found out I was hyperthyroid a week before I found out I was pregnant with our son, Otis. Cue the most stressful year and a half of my life. Due to the toxic nodule growing in my left thyroid lobe and my uncontrolled thyroid levels, my pregnancy was deemed as high risk. I was told to take a drug, that was classified as a “D” to try to get my levels somewhat normal and then IF I didn’t miscarry before my 2nd trimester, I was to switch to another class “D” drug and do it all over again. The medicine made me so sick and my outrageous thyroid levels while carrying a baby, made me feel even worse.

My hair had become extremely brittle a couple months before I had gotten my diagnosis. Now, if you don’t know me, I have a TON of hair. These locks can handle a lot. We’re talking I have bleached my entire head TWICE in one day, didn’t have to cut any length and had minimal damage. So it was quite a shock when I lightened my hair a bit that Fall and had major breakage. Whole chunks of hair melted off. Not to mention my normal, somewhat dry hair had become so lacking in moisture, it felt like straw. Five months into my pregnancy, my hair started falling out. I would take pictures and send them to my mom of the ball of hair that would be in my hands after washing it. Pregnancy is supposed to be a time when your hair is at its best. But between my thyroid levels, the stress I was under and the medication I had to take…my hair was in an awful state.

Part Two…Coming Soon.