A Little Bit of Vanity

Leilu: At the start of my hair journey in 2008

If I had known that all would take was a little bit of vanity, I would have been a vain black women a long time ago. Being a self certified nerd and academic, I never really paid much attention to my hair or the way I look. That is of course until my hair fell out so badly I was not sure if it was beyond repair. 

But how did this happen?

Yes, you guessed it I was self relaxing. I usually got someone to do it for me but I was desperate and decided to try to do it myself. This picture was taken June 2008.

Anyway lets not get ahead of ourselves. A little history:

I had my natural hair until the age of 11 when I begged my mother to get a curly perm.

So for the next 10 years I sported a curly perm, it was wet but really hardly required any maintenance and I didn't need to go to the salon that often usually twice a year in my case.

By the noughties I grew the curls out and straightened it. Went to a salon once every two weeks, the length didn't really change and all that really changed was my bank balance as my hair never grew. So I just stopped going to the hair dresser and got braids and later a weave. The hope was that my hair would eventually grow underneath . Of course this never happened. The above is the results of no vanity and no care. Please note that I have never cared for my hair, never really worn satin scarfs at night and there are times when I have gone from one relaxer to the next washing my hair only once.

So I plan to chart my journey here, for all the UK girls who live miles from any black salons and travel two or three hours to London or Birmingham and have to buy all their hair products on the internet and pay ridiculous amounts of postage from the States.


Embrace Your Inner AfroDeity!
Leilu










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