Has It Really Been A Year?

Well, things have been resolved and my hair is much happier. My university came seriously close to pretty much screwing my life over, due mainly to one stupid person and a rigid computer system, and though it has made things more difficult, it is resolved. I've also discovered that being a curly girl in the dorm room I'm in for the next three weeks is pretty much impossible. The bathroom/shower area is ridiculously small with no where to put anything (not cool when you have multiple products/hair towels!), and the electrical outlets are nowhere near the mirror! I have to sit in a weird position on my bed. It's a nightmare.

Which is why I'm glad to be home for the weekend! I had a pretty good hair day yesterday and soon I'll be able to see if it carried over into second day hair. I revisited pink boots and KCCC and remember why I fell in love with it back at Easter.

Ok, on to the next item... Has it really been a year? It's crazy to think about everything that's happened since I first started last summer. All the experiments I've had, the good ones and the bad. I've learned so much about so many things since taking the plunge - my outlook on life has changed. And I know that sounds ridiculous and naive, but it's true.

Just over a year ago, I remember being in the hair product aisle with a friend. She knows her ingredients. She picked up the bottle of conditioner I was considering, pointed to the ingredients and said "These are so bad! Don't buy this! This one right here can cause cancer!" to which I laughed and replied, "Mmm chemicals," and put in my basket. Now you can't get me near that with a ten foot pole. I'm constantly complaining about ingredients in my family's hair products. Or screaming at the tv when certain companies air false advertising. My friend introduced me to another website that led me to nc.com, and I always tell her she created a monster - I'm worse than her now!

I began with the book that many begin with, even though I did find nc.com before. While I'm grateful to her for writing it so that I might be introduced, I think it falls short in a lot of ways. There is so much more to caring for curly hair than anyone could have imagined. Sometimes it's more of a curse than a blessing, but that's life. Overall, my hair is in a much better place - as am I. As shallow and materialistic as it sounds to some, having curly hair that is healthy and well cared for makes all the difference. Curly girls endure more than their straighter counterparts. It really does have an effect on their psyche. And bad hair days = bad days, period.

Ok enough of the rambling - on to the pictures!

The last two pictures are of yesterday's hair. I had some issues with volume (as usual - and I'll add that the clipping picture is just one that I've tried, not using it right now) but overall pretty good! It's crazy to look at my pre-CG pics and see how far I've come! And things will only get better! Thanks to everyone that's helped me over the past year - I'm more grateful than you can imagine.