Starting Off

Hello all. My name is Terrace but most people can never seem to pronounce it right. Throughout the years I have affectionately been referred to as "Tee" by some, hence the name of this blog. Anyway I should start by giving a little backround. I am 30 years old and like alot of african american women started using relaxers in my hair at a young age. I don't know how or when but somewhere along the way I was made to think that chemically straightening my hair was the only way to manage it. Now I see so many sisters rockin' their natural hair in many beautiful forms and know that is not the case.

Let me just say that I didn't have some big epiphany and decide to go "au naturel". It kind of happened on accident. I have an auto-immune disease called Lupus. For those who don't know in short it's a disease in which your immune system goes haywire and attacks different organs in your body. So far, it's attacked my heart, a lung, kidneys, and skin/scalp. There are a bunch of little symptoms too like joint pain, fatigue, rashes, etc. Anyway, back to the hair thing. In the winter of '06 it attacked my skin/scalp. My hair started thinning to the point that I could only wear a ponytail. And when that didn't work anymore I decided to get my hair microbraided. HUGE MISTAKE!!! I was thinking that the braids would give my hair a rest and maybe allow it to grow. They did just the opposite. It should have been a sign when the braider pulled some of my hair out trying to braid it cause she was gripping so damn tight. I only had them in for almost three weeks when I decided to take them out. Some of the braids would come out when I tryed to pull up in a ponytail or just running my fingers through it. Plus my scalp was itching and burning like crazy. That was from the lupus rash though. Anyway once I took them out a lot of hair came with it and what I was left with was patches of hair on my head. It was a really difficult time emotionally for me. And it happened at X-mas...imagine that. The time when you're supposed to be joyous and happy.

I was told by a dermatologist that my hair would probably never grow back. I can remember the visit like it was yesterday. I removed my headwrap and asked, "will my hair ever grow back?"

"No probably not," was her response. She spit the words out without emotion or empathy. Those words resounded in my head for months. In fact, I couldn't shake them until a few months later when I started to notice the beginnings of stubble where my head was bald. OMG Y'all-I've never been so excited to see stubble in my life. Needless to say I was very grateful when my hair started growing in. I've only had one real haircut since I've been growing my hair natural. It was cut into a style mostly so there are still some relaxed ends where I still had patches of hair.

I have been trying to figure out what to do with my hair now that it's growing more. I can clearly see the difference in my natural texture and where the relaxed ends are. I came across a site about sisterlocks and fell in love with the idea of them. I like the look of locked hair and I am thrilled about the styling versatility that sisterlocks offers. I've been going back and forth because after all...it is permanent. But I finally got up enough courage to email the consultant from the first site I looked at. She emailed me back yesterday and actually called today. We set up a consultation for Friday. Wish me luck.

p.s. Whether I decide to get sisterlocks or not, I don't think I will ever go back to relaxers. So this blog will be about natural hair and should be interesting to say the least. I'll post an update after my consultation.