My hair has been doing quite a number on me recently. On the one hand it’s really healthy, shiny and strong and I’m retaining a lot of length. But on the other, I’ve seriously been battling single strand knots and it’s been driving me up the wall. Of course the knots aren’t visible in these photos, but I do think my ends appear rather dried and frayed, which is as a result of the knots (although it could be that my hair hadn’t dried properly). I recently trimmed my ends while in twists and immediately after that I went in search of knots on individual strands – you can read that post here – and while I got rid of a lot, it feels like I still have a long way to go with them.
I’ve resigned myself to the fact that I’ll have to cut off at least another 1 – 2 cm fairly soon. So I’ve made a decision. In the interest of being able to see all the knots, I’m 99% sure that I’m going to blow-dry and probably flat-iron my hair when I’m in Cape Town in December. I’ll enquire with my curlfriends on stylist recommendations, someone who knows how to work with natural hair and just take it from there. I’m hoping that having my hair straight will make it much easier for a stylist to give me an adequate cut. I also feel like I just need to have this done once and then I’ll be fine to trim my own ends again as needed once I’m back in Japan. It’s entirely possible that I’m making a mountain out of a mole-hill, but when it comes to my fro I’d rather err on the side of caution.
Regarding these photos, it does still amaze me that my hair can go from small to big in a matter of hours. In these images, I’m sporting a fresh braid-out with a side sweep and some of the hair tied in a mini side pony tail at the back. Very simple but I felt quite pretty and in a matter of hours, it had magically grown, just the way I expected it to.
Love your curls,
ELEANOR J'ADORE 
LOVE the photos…and that lipstick is BOSS! Good luck with those knots 😀
November 12, 2014 at 9:36 pm Edit
Thanks Hun, I’m in love with my new purple lippie. And yes, I think it’s more than luck that’s needed with these knots. I mean serious business! Haha 🙂
Hi Eleanore. Your hair looks beautiful. I’m curious about your journey.did you transition (which is what I’m trying) or chop it all off. I can’t see myself with a little fro. So used to my long hair. Took me a long time to make the decision. But I realized the front of my hair never grew because it was so weak from relaxer and heat. For now I’m almost 4 months post relaxer (for a girl that used to religiously relax every 6 weeks). Just doing buns and ponytails. Everything else looks a little weird for now.
Good luck with the wedding. Love the idea of an off line wedding.
Hi Mel
Thank you for the lovely compliment. I usually just say that I transitioned, as I had my last relaxer in 2010 and after that I just kind of trimmed and cut my hair into different styles. I was still using heat from time to time though, and my hair was fairly short at the time. But I’ve also had a short afro when I was 22. At the time my hair was blonde, but severely dried out from all the chemicals so on a whim I just decided to cut it off and rocked a TWA for a while before I got bored with it again.
Congrats on being post 4 months relaxer! That’s a big step if you’re used to relaxing every 6 weeks.Buns and pony tails are definitely a good way to go. Are you gradually cutting off your relaxed ends though? I seriously recommend you do that to help you reach a full natural head of hair sooner rather than later.
And thanks so much for the well wishes for the wedding! I can barely wait for the day to arrive now 🙂 xxx
Warning: it takes at least 3 washes before your true curls come back after a flat iron. I suppose it’s not to bad to flat iron but for me personally, I’ll use it with caution.
Ok cool, but how did your curls bounce back after your flat iron a few months ago? Or was that just a blow out? I actually just want to get my hair stretched out enough so that all the knots can be visible enough to cut away. It’s not that I have to have it flat ironed.