Recently I just cut off most of my hair and went natural. By going natural, I mean that I am embracing the naturally curly hair that I was born with. Most of my life I've either had a perm, or I flat ironed my hair every day because that's what was acceptable and that's what everyone else around me did. Now, I decided to put an end to that and stop straightening my hair and grow it out naturally. So far I've been natural for a little over a month and this is the hard truth about being a natural hair girl.

1. HAIR TYPING

This is such a pain, especially when you have more that one hair texture in your head. It can be a real headache trying to figure out what type of curl pattern you have since there are several natural hair charts on the web and quite a few have varying definitions about which hair type is which. For example, sometimes 4a hair on one chart will end up being 3C hair on another chart. Overall it's just nice to know your hair type so then you can find other people like you with the same hair type and kind of see how your hair might turn out if you do a certain style.

2. SHRINKAGE

Shrinkage can be a real pain for a girl with natural, kinky, curly hair. Your hair might be touching your shoulders when straight, but as soon as you wash it your hair shrinks. It is cool, but it can really suck when you want to see the length of your hair. That is just something I have to deal with and learn to embrace. The only way I will be able to see all of my length would be if I straightened it, but that is not happening anytime soon. I am excited to see what form my hair takes on though as it grows out.

3. WASH DAY IS LITERALLY A WHOLE DAY

I had never understood why some natural hair girls called it wash day until I went completely natural. The wash and style process literally takes a whole day. When I wash my hair, I normally try to do it on a Saturday when I have just about the whole day to myself because I really need it. Natural hair takes up a lot of time, especially when you have to wash it and style it. The drying process by itself can take up to a whole day to complete. The best thing is to start as early as possible, especially if I plan on going out later or studying. I like to start my wash day process around 8 am so I can at least sort of have the night to myself.

Even though my natural hair can be a process and a pain sometimes, I am learning to embrace it. I want to embrace it because it's a part of me and who I am. It may not be long at the moment, but it will be. I will grow it out as long as I can and I will love the kinky, curly, natural hair that I was given.