This is the first article in a series called Living La Vida Frugal. The Hair Edition takes a look at a few things that I did in the past to cut back on my spending.
Back in 2008, I cut my hair and reverted to wearing my natural hair. I was wearing my hair in its natural state from birth until I finished university, a month before graduation. Taking care of my hair was a challenge and I usually wore it in twists because it was so much to deal with. I was also a student, with no income, and I did not want to burden my parents with that additional cost.
I used to wash it and style it on my own and these processes on their own could be a couple hours. In hindsight I guess I could have asked my parents for money to go to a salon, but I never did. I think I always had this frugalista mentality and I was perfectly satisfied with taking on the stress of my hair. Sometimes I would ask my best friend to plait it in corn rows, which prevented me from having to manipulate my hair for at least a week.
However, when I finished university, I decided that it was time for a change. I was tired of my naturally “curly” hair and I wanted straight hair. I knew that I was going to do it for a while and I hooked up with my aunt’s hairdresser at the time. It was the first time that I was going to get my relaxed and I was nervous as hell.
The Hair Edition: My Relaxer
If you’ve never heard of a chemical relaxer, you should definitely watch Chris Rock’s Good Hair movie. The horror stories of getting hair relaxed were etched into my brain. Scars, burns, scabs and bald patches were some of the war wounds that I had heard of, but I was not deterred from my goal.
My hair came out beautifully. It was thick, long, healthy looking and I loved it. I could wear a bun! For the next four years I would religiously get my hair relaxed every six to ten weeks to keep my hair straight. I would also go to the hairdresser every two weeks to get my hair treated. The time and money was ridiculous, but that straight hair was too sweet.
But something was festering deep within my purse. I was annoyed at the amount of money that I was spending on my hair. And then in August 2008, four years after I had started to relax my hair, I made the decision to stop. I did not want to do it anymore. I was spending way too much money and I really hated spending half of my Saturdays in the salon. And was also tired of the aforementioned burns and scabs. ( Yuck!)
Goodbye Relaxed Hair
My last relaxer was in August 2008 and it was done via a kit by my best friend. The only way that I know of to get rid of a relaxer, is to let the hair grow out and then cut it off and that’s what I did. I wore braids and transitioning styles. During that time I fell in love with the hair information on the Internet. I was interested in hair sites and hair sites only. I wanted to learn how to care for my hair because I was not going to pay anyone to do it.
In June 2009, I got my boyfriend to cut off the relaxed ends of my hair, leaving only the natural, chemical free portion. Today, I still have natural hair and I do not have any plans of relaxing it anytime soon. I will also admit that I have not been to a salon since August 2008. I do not miss the time that I spent in the salon nor do I miss paying out the money to get my hair done.
Image Credit: Nappy.co