Hair introduction (from Pocahontas to Rapunzel?)

Hi dolls,

A little introduction will be needed & I'll make sure I'll be mentioning every aspect of haircare I'm familiar with. First, you need to know that my mom is from European descent, with a lot of hair that is sleek and straight. Not too thick. My late father was a native Arowak (American Indian) with thick, course, slightly curly hair. Recipe for a hair war on a baby's head!

*Giggles* No, seriously. That is what a hairdresser told me once. Literally: 'Your mom and dad are fighting over a place on your head'. That was during puberty. When all the hair troubles started.

When I was little, I didn't have any haircare problems. It was thick, my mom kept it long for me and took really good care of it. I think I grew up with constant coconut smell. I always had something in my hair that would nourish, protect and keep my hair in a bun/braid. Had to have it tied up, because I didn't like it when it was brushed. My hair got so long at a certain time, that my mom had to cut it, so I wouldn't be able to drop it in the bathroom (if you know what I mean). I hated it short. Looked like a cleopatra wig, because my hair was just too thick and coarse to look good short. It tends to look 'wide', when it's short, while when it's long, it gets pulled down more by the weight.

Anyhow, when I got in my teen years, I noticed that most of the other girls wore their hair shorter & much more styled than I did. I felt like everyone could see I was from Native American descent, but not for the right reasons. I had to always wear a braid or clip it, because otherwise I'd feel embarrassed of the    coarse texture. Crazy, right? If you would have asked me back then what I thought of my hair, I'd 've been all negative. I would have said it was too thick to handle or 'look cute'. And too dark.
Oh, if I could go back to that time...

At the time of the picture I was 13 years old and my haircare regimen consisted of brushing my hair thoroughly twice a day, shampooing every other day, always using a conditioner & indian Amla hair oil. I did not realize back then that it was the Amla that kept my hair so dark (& perhaps, thick?).

My friends pursued me to cut it shorter, buy some curling/straightening irons, use some hair dye to get it lighter (since I had such fair skin and we felt I would handle lighter hair better) and chemically straighten it. I cut it somewhat up to my shoulders, got it chemically straightened 3 times in 6 months (of which 2 times in one week) and dyed my hair one color after another.

My friends had not realized that regular hair dye wouldn't work for my hair. The drug stores brands didn't lighten my hair shade at all. My hair was getting dryer and more frizzy than ever. Coarse is an understatement. But I still wanted that sleek European hair so I went to various hair dressers to get it cut and dye it in another color. The only hair dresser that got my hair to lighten up, made it turn yellow, after which I sent a friend to get a brown hair dye at a local store and dyed it that very same day, to remove the yellow.
Can you imagine the damage??

In this picture you can clearly see the texture switch. It was now curly, frizzy, some straight parts and completely dried out and dead at the ends. Horrible!
I felt so uncomfortable in most situations, because my hair would be the first thing to enter a room. Not me.
You'd see some gothic looking Rapunzel walking in with 'unbrushed' hair.
I think that was what got to me the most: the fact that it looked like I wasn't bothering my hair, but actually did so many things to it, in hopes of getting it easier to work with.
I guess I wanted what every teen wants; hair that moves with the wind, shines & looks healthy. Oh, and preferably like whatever was in fashion back then.

With the discovery of black hair dye, the hair starting looking traumatized.. The bleach was just too much for my already weak hair. Though I have to say, I loved the color Brazen Bronze from Softsheen Carson. But you don't gain anything, having a beautiful hair color & awful hair structure! No shine, frizz, split ends, fly aways..

Well, I completely ruined it as you can see in the picture above. That was actually taken just 2 weeks before I had a hairdresser cut it short...

Ever since I got obsessed with taking better care of it. I was about 15, but decided to get it trimmed more often, keep a better diet, not dye/bleach it so much anymore, never chemically straighten again and try whatever brand to keep it healthy.

I did notice that I had to switch hair products regularly, to keep my hair responding well to them. If I stick to a product for too long, my hair doesn't react as 'fresh' as it does when I don't use it steadily.
My hair got thinner, but more manageable... The hair loss started and didn't really stop, but there was more room for confidence about the way my hair looked.

Certain friends always preferred the thicker, pure hair. Especially my 'black' friends, if you will. They were the ones that warned me from the start. But the problem was, I couldn't relate to their hair. And not to my European (looking) friends either.. Actually, I didn't know anyone with these issues. Or the perfect solution. I went from thick, sleek hair to coarse, frizzy, curly hair in my teens and back to sleek, but thin..