Crown breakage.

I have terrible crown breakage! I promise my hair just doesn't want to cooperate there! That's another thing that has me discouraged. Am I going to be bald there if I cut my hair?! It's always been like this for as long as I can remember, well probably middle school. Not only is it super short there but it's also super tender and had the most tangles. Last night when I was flat ironing it, it took about 2 hours because of detangling that mess.

Look how short that is. Truthfully about half of that small piece is relaxed, the other half natural. So last year half of that was how long my crown was.

I hate wearing my hair down because my sides are longer than the middle so instead of the V or U shape I have a freaking upside down V shape. It's so ugly.

If anyone can help me with breakage at my crown and tenderness, PLEASE let me know!!

I'm getting discouraged.

...to the point where I want to cry.

All of the criticism I get from other girls upset me because they just don't get it. To them it looks like I'm letting myself go, that may be the case because all I do is wear buns and ponytails because it's getting to be a serious task that needs more time than I have for it. Just yesterday a girl, who is natural, said to me "You've been looking a mess this year. What happened to your hair? Where'd it go" so on and so forth. I actually cut my hair above my collar bone April of 2009 and I'm not sure she knew that but the fact that she basically told me I looked a mess hurt me just a little. But I didn't let her know that I was transitioning. It's just been really hard. High school is cruel.

I've had long hair since I was little until I cut it Freshman year and every year since and it got shorter each time. In middle school I was "The black girl with long hair." It's just hard for me to imagine myself with very little hair after the BC.

During my whole transition, about 7 months, I didn't use heat on my hair because I was scared of heat damage early on. Last night I was looking at pictures of girls on Facebook and they all had long hair, some weaves, but seeing that made me feel like they were better than I was. I caved in and flat ironed my hair to show people that I really do have long hair. They don't understand that the natural hair is curly and causes my hair to appear shorter than it is.

At school today I got so many compliments on my hair, "It's so long.", "It's so pretty." It discouraged me to hear that because although that's what I wanted to show people, it also made me think that I wasn't pretty otherwise and it made me want to keep my long hair and relax it.

Here are a few length shots:

 The hot pink line is where my hair stops when it is wet and the shrinkage takes over. I'm about APL. I'm pulling it because it's been raining causing my hair to poof.

Also you can see how much my hair has grown over the past year because you can see where my highlights start. I cut my hair above collar bone and got highlights April 16th, 2009. So yeah...great growth.

No, one side isn't longer than the other, the rest of my hair is pulled back. I had gotten layers last year also.














 This journey essentially is a struggle with myself and I feel as though I'm all alone in it.

I need their hair!

Ohhh man! One day!

Shedding and Detangling.

I would have to say the beginning of my journey was a lot easier than it is now. It didn't get difficult until about the fourth month which I'm sure is normal for most since I've heard of so many women giving up ad relaxing at the fourth month or going ahead and BCing that wasn't the original goal. I used to curl my hair and wash about 2 times a week but it's gotten to be such a task that I've neglected my hair.

Detangling this mess is sooo terrible that I just detangle the top enough to put it back in a pony tail which is what I've been doing the past few months. I'm about 7 months post relaxer. Also because I've been wearing nothing but ponytails, my hair is breaking off a lot faster than it would have because of the fragile line of demarcation. My hair is getting thinner and thinner as time goes on. My initial thought was, "It doesn't matter because I'm going to BC in a few months/weeks." I'm now starting to worry since I pushed the date back 2 months.

This weekend I'll get together a new routine.

My poor tresses...or lack of.

Prom hair & BC news.

This is my half wig for prom!

Its "ModelModel CocktailWig." Style, Midnight. Color; 1B.

I did it all by myself and I'm so proud and excited! I actually love this wig so much that I'm going to buy a few more and use it to transition. This brings me to my BC news.

I will not be Big Chopping in June. I'm going to continue to transition with the wigs all summer until I start college in August.

More Ms.Michele.

 Stunning!

Rockin' that bald head! :)
Love her.

Chrisette Michele goes back.

Chrisette Michele has joined the natural train!

She was spotted sporting a blonde BC recently, that honestly reminds me of Amber Rose, and I think it looks gorgeous darling! Here she is quoted the reason why she went through with this dramatic change.

“I was tired of black sista’s feeling subject to having their hair pressed and straightened, and damaged, with relaxers, and heat. So I wanted to make short and nappy hair fashionable, and let the industry know that there is nothing wrong with the texture that we have been born with. So I plan to grow it out to the big beautiful nappy hair that I have.”

Before she was mainstream she actually was natural, it wasn't until she made it really big that she had gotten relaxers and weaves or vice versa.

Either way I love her music and I'm glad that she's giving naturals a stepping stone to be proud of our God given beauty. I also hope that this encourages others who have been thinking about it to go ahead and do it. It's a beautiful thing.

Defeat extremely dry hair.

All of last week I noticed that my hair was extremely dry. I co washed and did my normal routine of styling and it was still dry and brittle. I even co washed it again the same day and repeated the routine which again ended in failure. I couldn't figure out what was going on. Then I realized I hadn't deep conditioned in a few weeks because I've been so busy.

I got out my Replenishing Pak, which by the way I just found out came in a bottle, and got to work on my hair. After I cowashed, I detangled and parted my hair, working the conditioner in the sections. I also added aloe oil, castor oil, and vitamin E. The directions said to leave it in for about an hour if no heat but I instead kept it in all night while I slept and rinsed it out the next morning.

My hair came out super soft and moisturized!

Lesson to be learned: Do not neglect your hair. Listen to what it needs! Deep conditioning is a must!! I will certainly do this on a regular and make time. Also, MOISTURIZE AND SEAL YOUR ENDS EVERY NIGHT!!!

Prom hair verdict.

Prom is in exactly 2 weeks.

I had a little trouble figuring out how I was going to style my hair.

I've gotten flexi rods, weave, wings. flat iron ideas.

The verdict is...

HALF WIG!

I'm super excited.

I've youtube'd lots of videos and I love them.

I love how it's a wig but it's natural looking because your real hair is actually the hairline.

Not like lace fronts. Ugh. Can't do it.
Also I've never had a weave before so it's new and exciting for me.
Mama and I are going wig shopping soon.
Stay tuned for the final results.
(in two weeks of course)
:)

Transitioning hairstyle. [2]

So I woke up the other morning and my hair was this big. I didn't wrap it or anything the night before. Nothing. So when I woke up I had this huge tangled mass on my head and I tried everything to get it to lay down and act right. Just as it was time to go I thought of a hairstyle from the blog The Golden Sparkle (whom I lovvve) so I tried it and it worked for the time being. But I didn't have a chance to detangle sooo I did the best I could. Here's the inspiration:

& here's my attempted.

I don't think it came out right because I didn't detangle and the fact that she's fully natural and like 90% of my hair is relaxed so it looked really crazy. But it's a cute style and I will most def try it again.

I believe I owe an apology.

 This would be me, Shelby Corley. :)
I was about 3 months post relaxer in this picture.

In my video "One womans reaction to her BC" or something like that, I noticed a comment that referred to the woman in the video as me. That was not me and I haven't done the Big Chop yet. So sorry for any confusion, I thought it would known that she wasn't me from "one womans". Lol. I wouldnt refer to myself as "one woman". Hahaha.

So now here's my chance to update the new followers (and old) about who I am. They have been growing like crazy. Thanks! :)

Why did I decide to go natural or transition? To be completely honest I have no idea why. I wanted to cut my hair but continue to relax it for a few months because I wanted the pixie Rihanna but that obviously didn't happen. I think it was the fact that I love curly hair and it's so hard to do it while relaxed without doing so much damage. And the curls don't even last!  

When was my last relaxer? Once again I don't know. It was somewhere at the end of September. I was never the one to count the weeks, every time I got a "kitchen" I cried to my mama to get a perm.  

Am I doing the big chop and is my transition short or long term? Yes. Im BCing June 5th or 6th for my 18th birthday and I would consider 8 months long term.

Well there you have three questions. Lol. I got tired of talking to myself but if you have any questions, PLEASE ask me. Also, comments, concerns, clarification are welcomed. Once again. SORRY FOR THE CONFUSION!

If she can rock a bald head so can I!

Seriously, as long as she's been Kanyes arm candy, which has been for quite some time now, I haven't heard anything negative about her bald head self! NOT ONE THING! So I was just sitting here thinking about my BC in a few months and how my hair will only be a few inches and getting a little worried. (Still going through with it though.) So while I was going through other blogs I saw a post on her and it clicked! You can tell she feels like she's the most beautiful girl in the world! And honestly has much as I dislike her, I've come to appreciate her. She isn't hiding behind her hair is these other women and celebs. She is beautiful and has less hair than a new born. So when I cut my hair, I have to feel, believe and show to others that I knowI 'm beautiful and the rest wont even matter.

Much love Ms. Rose. :)