My Hair Story - Diana

Today we are starting our new section called my hair story. It is where we invite all AfroDeities to tell us there story so far. No matter if you have started your regime or not or if you think your hair is currently perfect or leaves a lot to be desired.
Send your hair stories to me Leilu at leilu@afrodeity.co.uk or afrodeityuk@yahoo.co.uk
Our first story is from Diana:

When I first started reading your blog, I was thinking about what your regiment is and thinking it is very restrictive.  And when I was at my hairdressers this week, I had an ah-ha moment (as Oprah would say).

I first permed my hair at 13 for elementary school graduation.  I loved it except neither me nor my mom knew how to care it, so in less than a year, I transitioned back to natural hair, which I kept through highschool until I went away to University. In university, I was left with the prospect of combing my own hair (which was a daunting task at the time as my mom had done my hair my whole life).  So, the week of my 19th birthday, I permed my hair and have been doing it ever since (I am now 32).  When I first did it at 13, I was told to go 2 weeks and then wash the first time. Come back to the salon for a wash and then wash it every week on my own until my next perm.  So, that would be 4 washes in between perms, 3 of which were done by me.  And so when I started perming again, I kept this regiment (sometimes all 4 washes on my own).  This has always worked very well for me and have always had pretty good hair (but I was really bad at wrapping my hair at night and very bad at drying my hair properly, often just air drying and leaving it in a ponytail for a week).  My pregnancy and breastfeeding hair was the best ever, and seeing as I was breastfeeding and/or pregnant for 5 years straight, it seemed to work for me - and I could also serious abuse my hair with very little repercussions.

Then came the weaning of my 3rd and final child.  At which time my hair started falling out (which is normal and most of my friends experienced it sometime after childbirth, though I had never. Maybe because my pregnancy and breastfeeding piggybacked each other the whole time).  I had significant hair loss that happened over 3 months.  It was from the root and not really any actual breakage.  Since going back to my hair routine after, I noticed my hair was not responding the same way it used to.  I noticed the last few months that my hair doesn't seem to make it to 2 weeks of hair washing after that inital perm (serious breakage).  IN fact, this week since my perm, I realized it doesn't even last a full week.  So, today (which would be 5 days after my perm), I did my first midweek wash (the pre-poo, if you will).  I plan to wash on Friday (which is my wash day).  I am going to try to embrace 2 hairwashes a week and see if that helps my hair any.  One of them being just conditioner.

If you have any other tips, let me know.  I am not ready to embrace the full treatment you do...the biweekly trim and everything else seems overwhelming.  I think this is a lifechange I have to lean into.  I have been very faithful using the caster oil, though.

When I was complaining to my hairdresser on Thursday last week about my hairwashing routine not working anymore, she looked at me and said, "as you get older, your hair changes.  You can't expect your hair to be the exact same as it was when you were a teenager".
Ah-ha!

Thanks again Diana for sending in your hair story, especially the bit about your pregnancy hair, I am sure a lot of us can relate to that.
Hopefully Diana's story is similar to others of you out there and helps you in some way!

Embrace Your Inner AfroDeity
Leilu