November 19, 2025 • 21 mins
Hair carries memory, culture, and the everyday work of showing up. I open up about life with thick, curly hair—from toddler photos where my curls were bigger than me to a present-day silk press that finally feels like balance. You’ll hear the real differences between a “perm” for straight hair versus Black hair, why heat is both a tool and a threat, and how I weigh the trade-offs that come with shine, swing, and scalp health. This is a practical guide and a personal story in one, built from years of braids, weaves, trims, and do-overs.
We get into the fine print of protective styles: the hours they demand, the take-downs that test your patience, and the small techniques that keep them fresh—sealing ends, gentle wash routines, and scalp access. I share what changed when I moved away from chemicals, wrestled with shrinkage and dryness, and learned a silk press could give me ease without losing myself. Expect concrete details on tools and routines, from brush-dryer combos that won’t snap off in coils to heat protectants and wrapping at night with flexi rods or pin curls to hold shape.
There’s mindset work here too. Two sisters, same parents, different textures—proof that comparison robs joy. I talk about releasing length envy, prioritizing healthy ends and low manipulation, and embracing grays when I want to and dye when I don’t. Biotin, prenatal vitamins, rosemary mint oil, and weekly wash habits show up as supporting players, not miracle cures. If you’ve ever juggled identity, practicality, and beauty through your hair, you’ll feel seen and leave with strategies to try next wash day.
Enjoy the conversation? Follow the show, share this episode with a friend who gets the Black hair journey, and leave a quick review to help more listeners find us. Your stories and tips make this community stronger—what routine is working for you right now?
Episode 15: What Is Dry Shampoo?
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/15-what-is-dry-shampoo/id1677891195?i=1000638393181
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
SPEAKER_02 (00:41):
Hi guys, and welcome to another episode of Turn to
Pete Podcast.
This is one of your co-hosts,one of eight.
This is just like two of fourepisodes I'm recording today
with just me.
Full disclosure, I am fully inbed right now because I'm on my
period this week and I just feelall over my body.
I usually don't, but it's likemy whole body hurts right now.
(01:02):
So I was like, you know what?
Let me just work from bed todayand add a few things I wanted to
talk about, and Shree wasn'tavailable.
So I was like, you know what?
Let me just record these solo umand get them out into the world.
But yeah, so today we aretalking about my natural hair
journey.
Oh guys.
And just my hair journey ingeneral.
(01:25):
So take it back to thebeginning, back 39 years ago
when I was born, October 5th,1986.
Came out of the womb with a headfull of curly black hair, thick
curly black hair.
Um, and it has stayed like that,texture thick and curly for my
whole entire life.
(01:45):
I have pictures of myself fromwhen I was like a toddler.
My hair is like bigger than me.
My parents used to call me DonKing.
My hair is so thick and justlike not even coarse, it's just
like thick and tangly and curly,and we get it from our dad's
side, we get it from our dad'smom, our grandmom.
(02:07):
She's since passed on.
But her hair was gorgeous, itwas so thick, and she had like a
head full of hair, and just um,for as long as I can remember,
she always used to wear she usedto wear wigs.
But before the grandkids, herhair was like out and stuff, but
I had seen her hair like withoutthe wig, obviously, because she
wouldn't wear it like in thehouse.
(02:28):
But and her hair was like a headfull of gray hair when she was
older, when she got older, andit was just thick and long, and
it's just like I have a picturein my head right now, which is
amazing.
But I have had quite the journeywith my hair, so I just feel
like being a black woman, justlike your hair is just like a
whole it's like a whole separateentity of you.
(02:49):
Like there are different gradesof hair, even if you were like
if like for example, Tawana andCherie come from the same
parents.
We are full blood siblings, wehave two different versions of
hair.
Like Cherie's hair is thick andlong, but she also came out of
the womb uh 32 years ago with ahead full of thick black curly
(03:13):
hair.
Like we both did.
Our baby pictures are identical.
You have to really look at us inthe face to tell which is which,
and probably also like thepicture quality, because one's
from the late 80s and one's fromthe midn like the early mid-90s,
if you're really intophotography like that, and like
maybe like the props, which ismany, there were hospital
pictures, there were no propsreally.
(03:33):
So you really have to like lookat it and tell who was who
because we look identicalbecause we both came out with a
head full of curly black hair,thick curly black hair, and both
of my boys did too.
My niece, her hair got like thatas she got older, got older,
she'll be three.
But her hair, she has so muchhair now, and it's just like my
(03:54):
sister does it every Sunday,it's super cute, and her hair
now is thick, black, and curly.
Um she didn't come out likethat, but her hair took some
more time to grow, but her hairis like that now, and I I just
love it.
But um, so my sister's hair islong, it's always been longer
than mine, which is fine, notmattering.
This is an example of like youcould be a black woman, same
family, full full bloodsiblings, and you just have
(04:15):
different grades of hair, butshe's still got thick hair.
Like I both got it from hergrandmom on her dad's side, or
dad's mom.
Thick curly hair, and um she herhair is longer than mine.
My hair, when it's wet, that'swhen it's naturally look when it
looks the most well it's in itsmost natural state is when it's
(04:38):
wet.
It's curly and it's scrunchies.
Like it looks like I have anafra when my hair is wet, but
only when you blow dry it outand you sh you do a blowout and
you straighten it.
I got a silk press recently.
My hair is not curly anymore,obviously, because the curl the
silk press straightened my curlsout, but my hair is long, it's
not super long like my sister's,but like my sister's gotten her
(05:01):
hair cut and trimmed, but hersis past her shoulders, mine is
like almost to my shoulders.
Um and my hair has always beenlike thick and full.
So sometimes now with the silkpress, like my hair looks flat
just because of like I guess theway that like the silk press
that my hair took the silkpress.
But when I run my hands throughit, I can like barely get my
(05:22):
hand through it because it's sothick, but I think like fluff it
up and I'm gonna get a roundbrush.
But this is my hair without anychemicals on it.
So also like just a little likehistory or just like facts.
So African Americans andCaucasian, our hair obviously is
different, and like the processthat we do with our hair is also
(05:42):
obviously different.
So when you get a perm in theCaucasian community, their perms
make their hair curly.
African American community withperm, it makes your hair
straight, like bone straight,and it lasts for like six to
eight weeks.
It's chemicals they put in yourhair, and you have to like sit
with it on your head for I don'tknow how long, but if it's on
(06:03):
too long, it burns your scalp.
And every black girl listeningwho've gotten a perm knows what
I'm talking about.
The perm burn.
Um, it burns her scalp if it'son too long, and it just like
bone straightens your hair.
And in that time, you cannot getyour hair wet because it'll like
the perm will just like not meltout, but like your hair would no
longer be bone straight.
(06:24):
It'll will also depend on thecourse of your hair and the
grade of your hair.
So whenever I was wearing a permand like my hair was like wet,
like if I got it wet in therain, it would just like go lip,
like it would just start to curlup again and not look bone
straight.
And in full disclosure, like youcan wash your hair when you have
a perm, you can get liketouch-ups, but you'll just have
to blow dry and straighten it.
(06:45):
It won't be as straight as thefirst time because the perm's
coming out like six to eightweeks, but um you just have to
straighten it.
But also heat is like kind offunny with black girls bec on
our hair because you don't wantto put too much heat like blow
dryer and straightener becauseit can dam heat can damage your
hair, but you also need to crankup the heat a bit sometimes,
(07:08):
depending on like the grade ofyour hair, because if your hair
is super curly and you're tryingto straighten it, you're gonna
need like to crank that bad boyup to like the highest to get
that curl out.
So it's kind of like a love-haterelationship.
It's interesting.
They have they have a bunch ofheat protectants that you can
use.
Um yeah, so that's a perm, andthat's chemicals in your hair.
(07:30):
So I've not worn a per gotten aperm in like it's been years.
And before I got perms, I wasgetting my hair braided.
My mom is braiding it, so it wasstill in central state, and or I
was going to the salon to get itbraided, which I love how I look
in braids, it looks super cute.
Um, but I go through phaseswhere I wear braids and when I
(07:53):
don't, but I do love myself inbraids.
I've gone through manyvariations of braids as well,
different colors and likedifferent types of braids.
And again, depending on likewhat type of braid you have, you
could be at the salon all day.
Um I've never gotten microbraids.
Big ups to the African Americanwomen that have gotten micro
braids, bless you.
(08:13):
Because if you're in the salonliterally like all day, unless
multiple people are doing yourhair.
Um, because they're super small,but they look so good.
They're so cute, but I wouldcould never sit for that long.
I'm talking like twelve likehours.
I have gotten braids where likethey all my black women know
what I'm about to say, wherethey would take a match and they
(08:34):
would like burn the end of thehair, the braid, it would like
turn into a cone so the braidcould stay in.
I've also had braids where likeno match involved, but it'll use
the type of hair where like ifyou put it in water it'll curl
so that'll keep the braid in, orthey tie the bottom at the end
of the braid, like they'll justtie it.
(08:56):
So that I've also had weave inmy hair like numerous times.
I used to get weave in my hair alot in college, and I used to
also experiment with thedifferent colors.
I've had blonde weave, it's beenlike super curly, like super
straight, and like there's alsodifferent variations of putting
weave in your hair, so you canglue it in, which is not my
favorite.
I think I've gotten it once, andthat was just like a front part
(09:18):
for my sister's wedding.
There's also another way whereyou braid your actual hair, like
in cornrows, and the hairstylistwill sew the weave in the braid.
Um that lasts for like four tosix weeks.
The takeout is a pain.
Depending on the hair that youhave, you can wash it when you
have it in there.
Same with the braids, and thebraids also the takeout is it's
(09:40):
a pa also.
I've again been through manyversions of this.
Like when I was younger, um, mymom would take out my braids and
it would take hours to take themout.
And then you'd have to wash yourhair after that because it
hadn't been washed, because thathair that I had, I think you
couldn't wash it.
I can't remember.
There's some hair that when youhave in, you can't wash it
(10:02):
because it'll just mess it up,and that's just a waste of
money, obviously.
But they do have now like hairthat you can wash while it's in
your head, which is good.
Because again, black women, youknow, like our h our scalp gets
oily, it gets flaky, it getsnasty.
It needs to be, you know,moisturized and maintenance and
loved on.
(10:23):
So right now I wash my hair oncea week.
Once I didn't wash it this pastSunday because I had just gotten
it done the week before that wasalready washed.
But I'm probably gonna wash itagain this coming Sunday, or I
think I'm gonna go see myhairstylist again this week.
So I'll just let her wash it.
I won't need to because you knowthey use like the best products
and it's just nothing better.
(10:44):
Like your hair is never as goodas as it is when you get done
this one.
But my hair, I had braids beforethe silk press.
So no more braids for now.
And I did have natural before.
Well, my hair is still natural,but I had um my hair was curly
before, it's coily, it's curly,the shrinkish shrinkage is real.
My grays were coming through.
I've had gray hair for likeyears, don't know why.
(11:06):
But I wanted to get my hairstraight, but not use like a lot
of um heat.
So my hair girl, I asked herabout a silk press, and she said
that's a great idea.
So I went in, got the silkpress, she did a blowout, and
then she straightened my hair,and then it has been straight
for like over a week.
Well, she curled it, and then mycurls fell like the next day,
(11:30):
just because my hair is supercurly, but also when you
straighten it and like youreally straighten it, it will
not hold a curl the way that itwas done.
So we're trying a differentmethod, which I think is gonna
be like different types ofcurling uh rollers.
So my hair might hold those, butyes, so I've had perms, I've had
braids, I've had weave, and thisis my first time getting a silk
(11:52):
press, but I do want to keep myhair in a silk press.
I love it.
So when I wash it at home, I'mgonna wash it and blow dry and
straighten it, and then it'llstay straight for a couple of
weeks because I have and that'slike wrapping it at night, or I
can curl it like with flexirods, which we're gonna use at
the hair salon, and that shouldbe good, or I can pin curl it.
Uh my b um, black woman, youknow the terms that I'm using,
(12:16):
you know what I'm talking about.
My again, my hair's always beenfull and thick, and that's not
the problem.
I want my hair to grow likelengthwise.
I think it only I'm not sure.
It will make me sad though.
Grow to like a certain pointthat it just like stops and it
just starts like continuesgrowing full and like which is
(12:38):
fine.
But my hairstylist, like I getmy hair, like whenever I go,
she'll trim my ends if I needthem and like starting fresh and
like getting rid of old growthand all of that.
But my hair grows super quick,the fullness of it, but I need
it to grow super quicklengthwise.
So it's like I'm blessed withreally like curly, thick, full
hair.
Very blessed for that.
(12:59):
Feel very grateful for that.
Missing the piece of the lengththat I want.
Like, if I had my sister'slength and the hair I still have
now, I'd be amazing.
My hair is still amazing, butyes, and then also my nails grow
super fast.
Like my hair, my nails are superquick with growing, and they've
always been like that.
Not sure why, because I don'thaven't drunk milk since I've
(13:21):
since I've been a toddler.
I don't like milk.
I drink it sometimes, like inthings.
Like I just had black tea withmilk, but I you will never catch
me drinking a glass of whitemilk.
If you do, you need to ask me ifI'm okay, and then knock the
glass out of my hand.
My children and their dad lovemilk.
I'm buying like two to threegallons of milk every single
time I go to the store becausethey all three love it, and I
(13:43):
just can't.
They say calcium helps yournails grow.
I don't know what's helping mynails my nails have always been
great at growing and same withmy hair.
I mean, I eat broccoli becausethere's enough calcium in there
for that.
But again, that's just anotherthing I'm blessed with.
It's always been like that.
And now, since I've gottenolder, I've been taking I've al
my my mom has always given mysister nine vitamins, for me
(14:05):
vitamins since we were younger,and we have just like continued
that on.
But like since I've gottenolder, I've like, you know,
researched different supplementsand stuff for like hair growth
and like you know, took prenatalvitamins with both my kids and
restarted like my vitaminregimen after both of them were
born and everything.
But I take biotine, which isgood for your hair and your
(14:26):
nails.
So it just kind of like like Iwas saying with the prenatals,
it's like it had biotine in itand like it helped like your
nails and like your hair grow,but I'm like my hair and nails
are already growing fine.
So it just kind of just likeadded to it.
Like I know a lot um a lot ofwomen after they have birth they
deal with postpartum hair losswho think like blessed have
never dealt with that.
(14:46):
My hair kept growing.
There was a that was never aproblem.
So that and it's always beensuch a journey for me with my
hair because I feel like ifyou're a black woman and if you
don't know how to do your hair,it's almost like that's like
your rite of passage.
And it's been such a journey forme, and it's been like
frustrating a lot because it'slike I'll see black women with
(15:08):
like gorgeous hair, whether it'slike natural or in a perm or
like they just it looks in mymind, it's like, oh, their hair
looks better than mine.
But it's like I don't know thestory behind that.
I don't know how long it tookfor them to perfect that craft,
or if they just get it done allthe time, which is also fine.
Like that's part of like gettingmaintenance in your hair, is
going to get going to the salonand getting it done.
(15:28):
Because as an African Americanwoman, your hair is a full-time
job.
Like, depending on the style youget and like the time of year,
you have to be really committedto know what you need to do.
And for braids, I had braidsduring birth pregnancies because
it was like lower maintenancefor me.
When it's curly and like coilyand shrinkage, like I have a
(15:50):
hard time with that because itgets like really dry and I don't
know how to take care of it likethat.
But now that it's a silk press,I've been doing so much better.
I've been putting um scalp oil,rosemary mint scalp oil on it,
and that's supposed to help withlike the length of your hair,
which amazing, and then hairgrease and just you know, you
(16:10):
know, just moisturizing it andstuff.
But my hair is still straight,um, still thick.
We still got that, which isgood.
But I also just got a new blowdryer.
It's actually a comb, it's ait's a brush, but it's a hair
dryer, like it's not the oldschool like hair dryer with like
the extra piece you have to puton for the comb.
(16:32):
And like my hair is so thickthat it used to break the teeth
on the combs all the time.
We've had so many likeattachments and replacements,
and like right next to the pinklotion, and just like oh my god.
It's like a whole story in andof itself, like African American
hair for women.
It's a whole thing.
For men too, I'm sure, but I'mspeaking as my ex from my
(16:53):
experience as being a blackwoman.
But it's just a whole thing.
It's a it's a labor of love,like and also I got I dyed my
hair black because I didn't wantto see the grays anymore.
So it's just black, which is mynatural color.
But I've also had my hair dyedbrown, so many different colors.
Um, it had highlights in myhair, everything, which is like
(17:13):
so funny.
It's just like I feel like yourhair like tells a story.
But anyway, so I got a new blowdryer, Revlon.
I'm excited to use it.
Um, it's just one big brush, andyou plug it in and you just, you
know, said it's good for curlyhair, and it said it's good for
African American.
We've heard that I have 4C.
Um, so we'll see.
And I remember I don't know whatkind of straightener I have now,
(17:34):
I forget the name, but it getsthe job done.
But I remember when Chi was sobig back in the day, I wanted a
Chi straightener, so and I thinkI ended up getting one, but it
was like um not evenrefurbished.
I think it was just like I thinkI forgot where I got it from,
but it like wasn't full price.
But I was so excited when I gotit because it was like the and
came into my different colors.
(17:54):
I think it had a black one andit was like the thin one.
And I remember the heatprotecting, the chi heat
protector um that you wouldspray on before you straightened
your hair.
But that's all.
Like I said, it's a journey,it's been a labor of love.
I am learning to embrace my hairand just, you know, this is what
(18:16):
it is.
I mean, I love it.
It has been with me, you know,for thirty-nine years, been
through so much in college aswell.
It may have kind of put like aprobably delayed my hair length
wise, because I went to ahairstylist before a beach
party, and she cut my hairuneven.
Like one side was up to my chin,the other side was like sh
(18:41):
either shorter long, I can'tremember.
But then she had the audacity tocurl it so you could tell.
Like it wasn't like, you know, alittle bit, it was like
literally two length two visiblelengths, different lengths of
hair.
Then, like I said, she had theaudacity to curl it, so it
looked ridiculous.
And then I had to just like goback to another salon and like
(19:01):
cut it completely short to startagain and it grew up pretty
fast, but I was like, Oh mygosh, she messed up my hair.
But I have since recovered sincethen, but I think it's still
it's still traumatizing to mebecause I can still picture it
my hair.
No, thank you.
We are past that.
But yeah, so this is just myjourney with natural hair.
(19:23):
Um I know Shere and I did a bepisode a couple months ago um
about our hair journey as well.
Let me pull it up because wetalked about just like being a
black woman and just hair, youknow.
(19:44):
I think it was called I'mlooking it up right now.
I believe it was called Yes, itwas back on December 13th, 2023,
episode 15, and we called itWhat is Dry Shampoo?
And we talked about hair,natural hair, weave braids, etc.
(20:06):
And the oftentimes burdened itfeels that black woman us have
to carry just because of ourhair.
Um, we shared our perspective,our experiences living in our
skin with our hair.
So if we want to take a listento that one that was from almost
two it was two years ago,December.
Episode 15, What is Dry Shampoo?
Yeah, so two years later, we arestill going on this journey with
(20:28):
our hair.
And here we are.
So thanks for joining us, guys.
And uh please like, listen,subscribe and review.
And if you can find it in me togive a five-star review, we'd
love you for it.
We love you for it either way,even if you didn't.
But please like, listen,subscribe, and review, and
(20:49):
share.
Share this with you know, one ofyour girls who understands what
it's like to be a black womanwith hair.
With all the hair.
All right, guys, I'll talk toyou soon.
Bye.
Hi guys, and welcome to another episode of Turn to
Pete Podcast.
This is one of your co-hosts,one of eight.
This is just like two of fourepisodes I'm recording today
with just me.
Full disclosure, I am fully inbed right now because I'm on my
period this week and I just feelall over my body.
I usually don't, but it's likemy whole body hurts right now.
(01:02):
So I was like, you know what?
Let me just work from bed todayand add a few things I wanted to
talk about, and Shree wasn'tavailable.
So I was like, you know what?
Let me just record these solo umand get them out into the world.
But yeah, so today we aretalking about my natural hair
journey.
Oh guys.
And just my hair journey ingeneral.
(01:25):
So take it back to thebeginning, back 39 years ago
when I was born, October 5th,1986.
Came out of the womb with a headfull of curly black hair, thick
curly black hair.
Um, and it has stayed like that,texture thick and curly for my
whole entire life.
(01:45):
I have pictures of myself fromwhen I was like a toddler.
My hair is like bigger than me.
My parents used to call me DonKing.
My hair is so thick and justlike not even coarse, it's just
like thick and tangly and curly,and we get it from our dad's
side, we get it from our dad'smom, our grandmom.
(02:07):
She's since passed on.
But her hair was gorgeous, itwas so thick, and she had like a
head full of hair, and just um,for as long as I can remember,
she always used to wear she usedto wear wigs.
But before the grandkids, herhair was like out and stuff, but
I had seen her hair like withoutthe wig, obviously, because she
wouldn't wear it like in thehouse.
(02:28):
But and her hair was like a headfull of gray hair when she was
older, when she got older, andit was just thick and long, and
it's just like I have a picturein my head right now, which is
amazing.
But I have had quite the journeywith my hair, so I just feel
like being a black woman, justlike your hair is just like a
whole it's like a whole separateentity of you.
(02:49):
Like there are different gradesof hair, even if you were like
if like for example, Tawana andCherie come from the same
parents.
We are full blood siblings, wehave two different versions of
hair.
Like Cherie's hair is thick andlong, but she also came out of
the womb uh 32 years ago with ahead full of thick black curly
(03:13):
hair.
Like we both did.
Our baby pictures are identical.
You have to really look at us inthe face to tell which is which,
and probably also like thepicture quality, because one's
from the late 80s and one's fromthe midn like the early mid-90s,
if you're really intophotography like that, and like
maybe like the props, which ismany, there were hospital
pictures, there were no propsreally.
(03:33):
So you really have to like lookat it and tell who was who
because we look identicalbecause we both came out with a
head full of curly black hair,thick curly black hair, and both
of my boys did too.
My niece, her hair got like thatas she got older, got older,
she'll be three.
But her hair, she has so muchhair now, and it's just like my
(03:54):
sister does it every Sunday,it's super cute, and her hair
now is thick, black, and curly.
Um she didn't come out likethat, but her hair took some
more time to grow, but her hairis like that now, and I I just
love it.
But um, so my sister's hair islong, it's always been longer
than mine, which is fine, notmattering.
This is an example of like youcould be a black woman, same
family, full full bloodsiblings, and you just have
(04:15):
different grades of hair, butshe's still got thick hair.
Like I both got it from hergrandmom on her dad's side, or
dad's mom.
Thick curly hair, and um she herhair is longer than mine.
My hair, when it's wet, that'swhen it's naturally look when it
looks the most well it's in itsmost natural state is when it's
(04:38):
wet.
It's curly and it's scrunchies.
Like it looks like I have anafra when my hair is wet, but
only when you blow dry it outand you sh you do a blowout and
you straighten it.
I got a silk press recently.
My hair is not curly anymore,obviously, because the curl the
silk press straightened my curlsout, but my hair is long, it's
not super long like my sister's,but like my sister's gotten her
(05:01):
hair cut and trimmed, but hersis past her shoulders, mine is
like almost to my shoulders.
Um and my hair has always beenlike thick and full.
So sometimes now with the silkpress, like my hair looks flat
just because of like I guess theway that like the silk press
that my hair took the silkpress.
But when I run my hands throughit, I can like barely get my
(05:22):
hand through it because it's sothick, but I think like fluff it
up and I'm gonna get a roundbrush.
But this is my hair without anychemicals on it.
So also like just a little likehistory or just like facts.
So African Americans andCaucasian, our hair obviously is
different, and like the processthat we do with our hair is also
(05:42):
obviously different.
So when you get a perm in theCaucasian community, their perms
make their hair curly.
African American community withperm, it makes your hair
straight, like bone straight,and it lasts for like six to
eight weeks.
It's chemicals they put in yourhair, and you have to like sit
with it on your head for I don'tknow how long, but if it's on
(06:03):
too long, it burns your scalp.
And every black girl listeningwho've gotten a perm knows what
I'm talking about.
The perm burn.
Um, it burns her scalp if it'son too long, and it just like
bone straightens your hair.
And in that time, you cannot getyour hair wet because it'll like
the perm will just like not meltout, but like your hair would no
longer be bone straight.
(06:24):
It'll will also depend on thecourse of your hair and the
grade of your hair.
So whenever I was wearing a permand like my hair was like wet,
like if I got it wet in therain, it would just like go lip,
like it would just start to curlup again and not look bone
straight.
And in full disclosure, like youcan wash your hair when you have
a perm, you can get liketouch-ups, but you'll just have
to blow dry and straighten it.
(06:45):
It won't be as straight as thefirst time because the perm's
coming out like six to eightweeks, but um you just have to
straighten it.
But also heat is like kind offunny with black girls bec on
our hair because you don't wantto put too much heat like blow
dryer and straightener becauseit can dam heat can damage your
hair, but you also need to crankup the heat a bit sometimes,
(07:08):
depending on like the grade ofyour hair, because if your hair
is super curly and you're tryingto straighten it, you're gonna
need like to crank that bad boyup to like the highest to get
that curl out.
So it's kind of like a love-haterelationship.
It's interesting.
They have they have a bunch ofheat protectants that you can
use.
Um yeah, so that's a perm, andthat's chemicals in your hair.
(07:30):
So I've not worn a per gotten aperm in like it's been years.
And before I got perms, I wasgetting my hair braided.
My mom is braiding it, so it wasstill in central state, and or I
was going to the salon to get itbraided, which I love how I look
in braids, it looks super cute.
Um, but I go through phaseswhere I wear braids and when I
(07:53):
don't, but I do love myself inbraids.
I've gone through manyvariations of braids as well,
different colors and likedifferent types of braids.
And again, depending on likewhat type of braid you have, you
could be at the salon all day.
Um I've never gotten microbraids.
Big ups to the African Americanwomen that have gotten micro
braids, bless you.
(08:13):
Because if you're in the salonliterally like all day, unless
multiple people are doing yourhair.
Um, because they're super small,but they look so good.
They're so cute, but I wouldcould never sit for that long.
I'm talking like twelve likehours.
I have gotten braids where likethey all my black women know
what I'm about to say, wherethey would take a match and they
(08:34):
would like burn the end of thehair, the braid, it would like
turn into a cone so the braidcould stay in.
I've also had braids where likeno match involved, but it'll use
the type of hair where like ifyou put it in water it'll curl
so that'll keep the braid in, orthey tie the bottom at the end
of the braid, like they'll justtie it.
(08:56):
So that I've also had weave inmy hair like numerous times.
I used to get weave in my hair alot in college, and I used to
also experiment with thedifferent colors.
I've had blonde weave, it's beenlike super curly, like super
straight, and like there's alsodifferent variations of putting
weave in your hair, so you canglue it in, which is not my
favorite.
I think I've gotten it once, andthat was just like a front part
(09:18):
for my sister's wedding.
There's also another way whereyou braid your actual hair, like
in cornrows, and the hairstylistwill sew the weave in the braid.
Um that lasts for like four tosix weeks.
The takeout is a pain.
Depending on the hair that youhave, you can wash it when you
have it in there.
Same with the braids, and thebraids also the takeout is it's
(09:40):
a pa also.
I've again been through manyversions of this.
Like when I was younger, um, mymom would take out my braids and
it would take hours to take themout.
And then you'd have to wash yourhair after that because it
hadn't been washed, because thathair that I had, I think you
couldn't wash it.
I can't remember.
There's some hair that when youhave in, you can't wash it
(10:02):
because it'll just mess it up,and that's just a waste of
money, obviously.
But they do have now like hairthat you can wash while it's in
your head, which is good.
Because again, black women, youknow, like our h our scalp gets
oily, it gets flaky, it getsnasty.
It needs to be, you know,moisturized and maintenance and
loved on.
(10:23):
So right now I wash my hair oncea week.
Once I didn't wash it this pastSunday because I had just gotten
it done the week before that wasalready washed.
But I'm probably gonna wash itagain this coming Sunday, or I
think I'm gonna go see myhairstylist again this week.
So I'll just let her wash it.
I won't need to because you knowthey use like the best products
and it's just nothing better.
(10:44):
Like your hair is never as goodas as it is when you get done
this one.
But my hair, I had braids beforethe silk press.
So no more braids for now.
And I did have natural before.
Well, my hair is still natural,but I had um my hair was curly
before, it's coily, it's curly,the shrinkish shrinkage is real.
My grays were coming through.
I've had gray hair for likeyears, don't know why.
(11:06):
But I wanted to get my hairstraight, but not use like a lot
of um heat.
So my hair girl, I asked herabout a silk press, and she said
that's a great idea.
So I went in, got the silkpress, she did a blowout, and
then she straightened my hair,and then it has been straight
for like over a week.
Well, she curled it, and then mycurls fell like the next day,
(11:30):
just because my hair is supercurly, but also when you
straighten it and like youreally straighten it, it will
not hold a curl the way that itwas done.
So we're trying a differentmethod, which I think is gonna
be like different types ofcurling uh rollers.
So my hair might hold those, butyes, so I've had perms, I've had
braids, I've had weave, and thisis my first time getting a silk
(11:52):
press, but I do want to keep myhair in a silk press.
I love it.
So when I wash it at home, I'mgonna wash it and blow dry and
straighten it, and then it'llstay straight for a couple of
weeks because I have and that'slike wrapping it at night, or I
can curl it like with flexirods, which we're gonna use at
the hair salon, and that shouldbe good, or I can pin curl it.
Uh my b um, black woman, youknow the terms that I'm using,
(12:16):
you know what I'm talking about.
My again, my hair's always beenfull and thick, and that's not
the problem.
I want my hair to grow likelengthwise.
I think it only I'm not sure.
It will make me sad though.
Grow to like a certain pointthat it just like stops and it
just starts like continuesgrowing full and like which is
(12:38):
fine.
But my hairstylist, like I getmy hair, like whenever I go,
she'll trim my ends if I needthem and like starting fresh and
like getting rid of old growthand all of that.
But my hair grows super quick,the fullness of it, but I need
it to grow super quicklengthwise.
So it's like I'm blessed withreally like curly, thick, full
hair.
Very blessed for that.
(12:59):
Feel very grateful for that.
Missing the piece of the lengththat I want.
Like, if I had my sister'slength and the hair I still have
now, I'd be amazing.
My hair is still amazing, butyes, and then also my nails grow
super fast.
Like my hair, my nails are superquick with growing, and they've
always been like that.
Not sure why, because I don'thaven't drunk milk since I've
(13:21):
since I've been a toddler.
I don't like milk.
I drink it sometimes, like inthings.
Like I just had black tea withmilk, but I you will never catch
me drinking a glass of whitemilk.
If you do, you need to ask me ifI'm okay, and then knock the
glass out of my hand.
My children and their dad lovemilk.
I'm buying like two to threegallons of milk every single
time I go to the store becausethey all three love it, and I
(13:43):
just can't.
They say calcium helps yournails grow.
I don't know what's helping mynails my nails have always been
great at growing and same withmy hair.
I mean, I eat broccoli becausethere's enough calcium in there
for that.
But again, that's just anotherthing I'm blessed with.
It's always been like that.
And now, since I've gottenolder, I've been taking I've al
my my mom has always given mysister nine vitamins, for me
(14:05):
vitamins since we were younger,and we have just like continued
that on.
But like since I've gottenolder, I've like, you know,
researched different supplementsand stuff for like hair growth
and like you know, took prenatalvitamins with both my kids and
restarted like my vitaminregimen after both of them were
born and everything.
But I take biotine, which isgood for your hair and your
(14:26):
nails.
So it just kind of like like Iwas saying with the prenatals,
it's like it had biotine in itand like it helped like your
nails and like your hair grow,but I'm like my hair and nails
are already growing fine.
So it just kind of just likeadded to it.
Like I know a lot um a lot ofwomen after they have birth they
deal with postpartum hair losswho think like blessed have
never dealt with that.
(14:46):
My hair kept growing.
There was a that was never aproblem.
So that and it's always beensuch a journey for me with my
hair because I feel like ifyou're a black woman and if you
don't know how to do your hair,it's almost like that's like
your rite of passage.
And it's been such a journey forme, and it's been like
frustrating a lot because it'slike I'll see black women with
(15:08):
like gorgeous hair, whether it'slike natural or in a perm or
like they just it looks in mymind, it's like, oh, their hair
looks better than mine.
But it's like I don't know thestory behind that.
I don't know how long it tookfor them to perfect that craft,
or if they just get it done allthe time, which is also fine.
Like that's part of like gettingmaintenance in your hair, is
going to get going to the salonand getting it done.
(15:28):
Because as an African Americanwoman, your hair is a full-time
job.
Like, depending on the style youget and like the time of year,
you have to be really committedto know what you need to do.
And for braids, I had braidsduring birth pregnancies because
it was like lower maintenancefor me.
When it's curly and like coilyand shrinkage, like I have a
(15:50):
hard time with that because itgets like really dry and I don't
know how to take care of it likethat.
But now that it's a silk press,I've been doing so much better.
I've been putting um scalp oil,rosemary mint scalp oil on it,
and that's supposed to help withlike the length of your hair,
which amazing, and then hairgrease and just you know, you
(16:10):
know, just moisturizing it andstuff.
But my hair is still straight,um, still thick.
We still got that, which isgood.
But I also just got a new blowdryer.
It's actually a comb, it's ait's a brush, but it's a hair
dryer, like it's not the oldschool like hair dryer with like
the extra piece you have to puton for the comb.
(16:32):
And like my hair is so thickthat it used to break the teeth
on the combs all the time.
We've had so many likeattachments and replacements,
and like right next to the pinklotion, and just like oh my god.
It's like a whole story in andof itself, like African American
hair for women.
It's a whole thing.
For men too, I'm sure, but I'mspeaking as my ex from my
(16:53):
experience as being a blackwoman.
But it's just a whole thing.
It's a it's a labor of love,like and also I got I dyed my
hair black because I didn't wantto see the grays anymore.
So it's just black, which is mynatural color.
But I've also had my hair dyedbrown, so many different colors.
Um, it had highlights in myhair, everything, which is like
(17:13):
so funny.
It's just like I feel like yourhair like tells a story.
But anyway, so I got a new blowdryer, Revlon.
I'm excited to use it.
Um, it's just one big brush, andyou plug it in and you just, you
know, said it's good for curlyhair, and it said it's good for
African American.
We've heard that I have 4C.
Um, so we'll see.
And I remember I don't know whatkind of straightener I have now,
(17:34):
I forget the name, but it getsthe job done.
But I remember when Chi was sobig back in the day, I wanted a
Chi straightener, so and I thinkI ended up getting one, but it
was like um not evenrefurbished.
I think it was just like I thinkI forgot where I got it from,
but it like wasn't full price.
But I was so excited when I gotit because it was like the and
came into my different colors.
(17:54):
I think it had a black one andit was like the thin one.
And I remember the heatprotecting, the chi heat
protector um that you wouldspray on before you straightened
your hair.
But that's all.
Like I said, it's a journey,it's been a labor of love.
I am learning to embrace my hairand just, you know, this is what
(18:16):
it is.
I mean, I love it.
It has been with me, you know,for thirty-nine years, been
through so much in college aswell.
It may have kind of put like aprobably delayed my hair length
wise, because I went to ahairstylist before a beach
party, and she cut my hairuneven.
Like one side was up to my chin,the other side was like sh
(18:41):
either shorter long, I can'tremember.
But then she had the audacity tocurl it so you could tell.
Like it wasn't like, you know, alittle bit, it was like
literally two length two visiblelengths, different lengths of
hair.
Then, like I said, she had theaudacity to curl it, so it
looked ridiculous.
And then I had to just like goback to another salon and like
(19:01):
cut it completely short to startagain and it grew up pretty
fast, but I was like, Oh mygosh, she messed up my hair.
But I have since recovered sincethen, but I think it's still
it's still traumatizing to mebecause I can still picture it
my hair.
No, thank you.
We are past that.
But yeah, so this is just myjourney with natural hair.
(19:23):
Um I know Shere and I did a bepisode a couple months ago um
about our hair journey as well.
Let me pull it up because wetalked about just like being a
black woman and just hair, youknow.
(19:44):
I think it was called I'mlooking it up right now.
I believe it was called Yes, itwas back on December 13th, 2023,
episode 15, and we called itWhat is Dry Shampoo?
And we talked about hair,natural hair, weave braids, etc.
(20:06):
And the oftentimes burdened itfeels that black woman us have
to carry just because of ourhair.
Um, we shared our perspective,our experiences living in our
skin with our hair.
So if we want to take a listento that one that was from almost
two it was two years ago,December.
Episode 15, What is Dry Shampoo?
Yeah, so two years later, we arestill going on this journey with
(20:28):
our hair.
And here we are.
So thanks for joining us, guys.
And uh please like, listen,subscribe and review.
And if you can find it in me togive a five-star review, we'd
love you for it.
We love you for it either way,even if you didn't.
But please like, listen,subscribe, and review, and
(20:49):
share.
Share this with you know, one ofyour girls who understands what
it's like to be a black womanwith hair.
With all the hair.
All right, guys, I'll talk toyou soon.
Bye.
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