Hello, bonjour lol (cliche I know, I know), I'll start off by introducing myself- My name is Patricia Katula and I'm 19 years old. I'm Congolese, "omg you don't look Congolese wow" (I get this all the time and till this day I’m not sure whether it’s a compliment or not, but I'll just keep it moving). I live in London and study Criminology at Birmingham City University. I’d also like to thank you for clicking on this link and for even considering reading on. I am very grateful- may the good Lord bless you.
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| Oh look! That's me |
In order for me to tell you all the purpose of this blog, it’s only right that I tell you why I started this blog as well as my journey. On the 28th August 2012 I proceeded in “the big chop”- for those of you who don't know what this is, it means cutting off the relaxed/permed parts of your hair.
From as long as I could remember, my mum used to relax my hair every six months. At a very young age I had no say in regards to what was put in my hair. It was all up to my mum as you all know, mama knows best lol. It wasn't until secondary school that my mum eventually gave me the freedom to do whatever I wanted with my hair- even yet, I still stuck to frequently perming it. My sister’s wedding came and I got my first weave in august 2009. Of course I was very excited because my hair was Laiddddd. But before I got my weave I was scared of the idea of it since most of the girls my age that got weaves didn't make it look very good; luckily for me my hair was done very well, which I'm grateful for.
I didn't do another weave again for about a year and just continued relaxing and braiding it. I've always had very full hair even though my hair wasn't very long, but the more I relaxed it the thinner it got; which at first I didn't see a problem with. My mum has always been my hairdresser so I've never needed hairdressers or anyone else. However my half-sister once did my hair so tight that I literally couldn't move my head and I cried like a baby. My mum had to take it out in the middle of the night and as each cornrow came out, so did my hair and as my mum finished, my hair had completely broken beyond repair( I have very soft hair).
I stopped relaxing it and began putting weaves-in and braids until I saw that it started repairing but I stupidly decided to relax it again… what a big mistake! By Prom 2011 I mistakenly bought super relaxer rather than regular relaxer (considering I have super soft and super thin hair), which of course didn't mix well with the super relaxer. I didn't even have the relaxer in for two minutes however my scalp began to itch like crazy and it lit felt like my hair was on fire so I began crying (second time in my life crying over hair). My mum rushed me to the bathroom and washed my hair with cold water. Upon finishing, I came downstairs and my mum began laughing. I rushed to the mirror to see what was so funny (praying that I wasn't bald), luckily I wasn't, but my hair was three different texture - the back was straight and relaxed, the middle hadn't relaxed and all and the front was curly (3c type). I was beyond confused but there was nothing I could do as prom was around the corner so I just had to deal with my confused hair. Prom came and went.
I've started college now, Christmas 2011 came and normally my mum would do all our hair or I'd do my own hair (oh I forgot to mention I do hair, I'm pretty good at it too, I don't mean to blow my own horn but you know ...) but for some reason this Christmas was different as I had my natural hair and I didn't know what to do with it so I decided to relax it and put it in a bun ( bearing in mind I hadn't relaxed my hair since prom) so I relaxed my hair this time using a regular relaxer however within just 5 minutes my scalp was burning, so I immediately washed the relaxer out. Once again I had multiple textures but this time it wasn't as bad as before and it almost looked cool so I just left it and I put it up in a bun. My mum said "I don't think relaxer is for you any more" I simply agreed. So from that day on I decided I would never go back to relaxing my hair again.
And so began my transitioning journey December 2011 to august 28th 2012!
Back then I didn't know anyone who was natural or wore their natural hair out so I had no idea how to deal with the transitioning stage. There was no one around to give me advice and literally everyone I spoke to had relaxed hair, so everyone thought I was crazy for giving up the creamy crack; but I knew it was for the best. I'm not even going to lie, I didn't know that I could go on YouTube and find basically everything I needed to know about natural hair. I wish someone had told me sooner that way my transitioning period would've been easier. First year of college I met two girls who were on their 'natural hair journey', one was transitioning and the other one was officially natural. I was intrigued by them and they soon became my inspiration. Fast forward to summer 2012 I told my dad I was going to cut my hair and he said "not in my house you won't " lol the thing with my dad is, he is very old fashioned and believes a woman should have long hair because long hair equals beauty where the longer you hair is, the prettier you are. I thought this theory was very stupid tbh but I kept that to myself. August 28th I said “mum I'm cutting my hair” and by this time I had loads of regrowth and I'm sure all the girls with relaxed hair know that regrowth is such a problem no matter you hair texture. I took a pair of scissors grabbed my hair and cut my hair to show my mum I meant business as she was doubting me.
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| This is 3 months in. I can't find the actual picture of when I big chopped |
credits: Irinie x
