Introductions Part V: Welcome To The Np Family!

[pelogrueso]

Hello NP family. I am a Brooklynite of Afroantillian descent. I am extremely happy to have found you! I have been checking out this site for about 6 months or more before I finally decided to become a member. I discovered this site through a link from the Motown girl site. I did the BC in March 06. And had been transitioning since Sept 05. Presently I am sporting small individual braids. I am still learning so much about caring for my natural hair. Like so many of our sisters, my hair had been burnt/straightened and permed from the time I was very young (about age 10, I'm now 40). So I don't really know my natural hair! I am getting well acquainted and have already found some good advise on this site. Your stories and photos are encouraging beyond words. Thank you all so much for sharing! I know I don't have to make this journey alone. And Dee, thank you for maintaining this site, i've read your welcome page and there is no question in my mind that this site is for the happy 2 B nappy!
Pelogrueso

[sunshine21]

HI,
My name is Dawn. I decided to go natural in November 05, and I have between 3.5-4 inches of natural hair(depending on where you measure). I went natural kinda by accident, and kinda on purpose. I am 22 and have been getting perms since I can remember. Tired of of hair dresser cutting of my hair, and feeling like it had stopped growing after a certain point(it was about 2 inches past my shoulders). I decided to switch hair dressers and told her that my hair was being abused by my previous hair dresser. The hair dresser looked at my hair and said. Stop getting a perm. So right then and there I added no more perms to my hair. I was actually excited about going natural because it was something new. Several woman in my family where dreds. The new hair dresser told me that my hair had a tight curl but was easy to straighten. So I went to her for about a month. Then I stopped going to hair dressers completley for 2 months. The next hair dresser I went to cut my permed ends past my ears. That was ok to me. I was not used to having short hair. And some days it was hard. Walking in walmart and seeing those perms. But I pushed on. Finally in may I went into a hair cuttery and told the woman to cut the rest of my permed ends off. I where my hair in twa's right now. I moisturize it daily and only brush it every other day(if i absolutely have to). i have not been flat ironing or hot combing since the end of December. And so many guys have come up to me and said they liked my hair.

I found this site around the end of february, and learned the dangers of flat ironing and hot combing your hair. I also learned about how many people actually decided to be natural. Its a wonderful experience when I meet someone in a store or just in passing who also has natural hair. Several of my male friends have pretty long hair and its like having an extra connection with people who love their hair as much as you do. I love my hair so much. I did like it permed I must admit, but to me natural hair is so much easier to care for. You dont have to worry about spending tons of money. And you dont have to worry about heavy maintenance issues that having a perm gives you. My natural hair has actually made me more confident in who I am, and it has made me proud to be black.

[yassylane]

Hello Ive been natural for 2 years, but for the 2 years I use this site as a reference but I just joined last month. I went natural because I was just so sick of the "p.ermy go round" I wanted to get off, so I did. I will never look back. When I had a straighten the ish outta my hair with a burning chemical was 4 inches long, dry and ashy. But now I have a little over 12 inches of hair and I am so proud of it. I am a foster mom of 4 and I get frustrated and I threaten to perm but I just say that to get a little encouragement and to lift my spirits up. I love this site, I dont think I could have done as successfully as I have if it werent for this site.

[bjuniel]

Hi, I am new and my name is Brenda i am from Arkansas

Well to to get the point from the gallery pic you ladies have beautiful hair.
I am so glad I found this website and with topics that I can really relate to..
I hope to make any friends and get to know you more ..so please introduce yourself to me..I am read to chat about hair..lol

At the moment I regularly go to the hair salon because to me they do more damage I do my how perms yers I said perms TBC is was use and I have seen nothing but result for it.

Before when I was letting the stylist kill my hair it was really sad it is now growing back and thicking. The lady that was doing my hair never mention that i had so much breakage I just happen to look one nite in the mirror exam my hair and send all the damage that was going on with my hair i was upset and anger. She could have told me the damage my hair was in..Since I vow never to let another stylist straighten the ish outta my hair with a burning chemical the only time I go is to get a style or a updo..only!! and once my hair grows out I will not got for that.


So I am needing some info on the great hair products you ladies are using.
I know you ladies have great products for use I was hoping that you could email them me.

1) a hair thicking products
2) help with balding sides
3) and something for growth

[LuvelyLocs]

Hello!!!!!

Im Marsha and im fifteen years old. KInd of young Right?
I decided to not put a &#39;chemical cream fire&#39; in my hair two weeks ago. Im doing it with my aunt. She did the BC but im afraid! and my mom wont let me <_< I am going to gradually cut it though! Im also from BROOKLYN!!!! and i also dont want to be a statistic of hair loss :unsure: I LUV!! this website!!! :wub: ^_^ and any info would be GREAT!! :rolleyes:

[naturalstar]

Hey everyone

I&#39;m 21 and from London, England. I just joined this site this morning after constant here say about the wonderful atmosphere and wealth of information here.

I was almost 4 years into being totally natural, when I made the mistake of putting the "chemical fire cream"( love that phrase! ) into my hair again last summer. I only did it three time is about a 7 month period so the damage was minimal but it just wasn&#39;t me. I missed having that thick hair to twist! I missed feeling my natural hair! and most of all I missed looking like a natural beauty. In fact for me, I felt stigmatised by having my chemical fire cream lol. I know for a lot of women, its the other way around.

Anyway, in januray I had micros put in and the my first BC was in march. It was incredibly liberating. I cut my har down to about 2 1/2 inches then put in micros again. I took them down last week and cut off my last remaining inch of cooked hair. I thought I had got rid of it all the first time! So now I have a short but thich and healthy crop of hair. I put it in afro kinky extentions myself at the beggining of this week. It used to be my trademark style when I first went natural but truth be told, I hate it now! I&#39;m comfortable enough to have JUST my fro which feels great to say. I will keep them in for about a month and then i will wear my fro loose. Or I may go to my local natural hair dresser and get them to twist it for me. My mother (who has almost waist length locs) goes there and they do some wonderful things with natural hair!

Anyway, thats my intro done! I&#39;m off to see if I can find some pretty styles for a short fro.

peace x

[cooyah]

Tell us about you

name: Cooyah
Age: 21
Loc: more times in port antonio, jamaica but unfortunately in the states for nursing school, how i miss home
working ma **** off with two jobs and going school full time
hobbies: saving the children of the world from hunger, no education, sexual abuse and overall mistreatment. especially jamaican & dalit children.
Advocate for Dalit Freedom Network, World Hunger, and World Health

Mine and my country&#39;s well being comes before all else, like my daddy says, "If the empress isn&#39;t happy, NO ONE is happy"

your hair

um not great at the hair typing system but by the new growth i have i&#39;m guestimating nappy, no curls, no waves, looks like my baby sis&#39;s just kinda there slight Zish pattern. very thick and cottony chin length;2 months post relaxe.r, slowly transitiong with twists and sew-ins until my 22 Bday

and how you found the site
google, you find everything there and then heard about it on some other hair boards so said hey i&#39;m already addicted because of the hair lady on growafrohairlong.com why not add another hair porn site to my list.

yea thats pretty much it until my next birthday

[itsjustmemarlena]

hey all,


i&#39;m Marlena, 23 years old and currently living in sunny San Diego, CA.

I have been permed for as long as I can remember. I remember sitting at the stove getting hotcombed too.

Recently I was going to straighten the ish outta my hair with a burning chemical. Having just moved here and not knowing where any hair care stores were for black women, i realized I didn&#39;t have the right supplies (neutralizing shampoo or vaseline). You see, I had been perming my own hair. My father was not a big spender on things like salons, so I carried that mentality that I could care for my own hair just fine into my adult life. I have been to a salon twice in my life.

After seeing that i didn&#39;t have the right tools to straighten the ish outta my hair with a burning chemical, I looked on the internet for a style i could possibly wear, seeing as how I had three weeks of new growth. Well to make a long story somwhat shorter, I came across Nappturality.com in a google search. I became fixated on all this healthy hair around here, and the more pictures and albums I looked at, the more I wanted the same. So I tried a straw set which only lasted a few days before I decided to do the BC.

I&#39;m never turning back. Seeing where some of you are at 9, 12 and 18 months is a true inspiration. If others can do it, I know I can do it too!

My Fotki Album

Password is rollercoaster (lowercase)

[nuja_queen]

Hi my name is Tanisha. I have been a member since 6-11-06. I have been natural since November of 2004 . I tried going natural before and got discouraged. But since 04 I have stuck it through and I LOVE MY HAIR :wub: . I don&#39;t worry about burns, breakage, dry scalp dandruff or dry hair. My hair is stronger and more resilient than it has been for years. I am never going back to a chemical fire cream. Being natural has brought me closer to my heritage and who I really am. I appreciate the things my people went through and I honor who they were and are by cherishing my hair. They survived without a perm and so will I. Anyway my cousin e-mailed your web page to me and she has gone natural too. This is a great website. Thanks

[afrosoulicious]

hey, lovelies! this is a second intro, because for some reason - when NP went under construction, my acct was deleted ... or something.
anyhow ... before, i was lyrical sincerity.

big chopped 4/6/06, with 2.5-3.5 inches of hair ... and now, 2 months and some change later, i&#39;ve got 3.5-4.5 inches of ... a WHOLE BUNCHA NAPS! and i love it.

click the link in my sig to view the naps.

peace & blessings sistas.