May 31, 2012

My Transition Lessons: My Journey is MINE & No One Else’s

A while back I said to myself that I would do a little series about what I learned while I was transitioning to natural hair. I didn't follow through on it at the time because I was super busy. However, in a few months it will be my 1 year nappiversary so I figured that I needed to stop procrastinating and do the doggone thing. So here it begins.

A surprising thing I encountered while transitioning was how much people were willing to give their opinion of what I should and shouldn’t do based on their journey.  I’m not talking about offering advice or insight into what I would encounter while transitioning, or how to deal with this or that obstacle.  I mean straight up, flat out telling me I should do this or shouldn’t do that.

The main thing people were against was my decision to transition over a long period of time. There were folks who all but berated me for opting to “deal with the pain of transitioning” instead of going with a TWA & doing my big chop immediately.  Even after me stating that I didn’t want a TWA, the response was “its just hair! It’ll grow.” Well, if it was “just hair” why are you so invested in trying to sway me from my course of action??? LOL.

So what I had to do was tell people that MY decision of how I was going to transition was just that…MY decision. And if MY decision was to transition for 1 month, 5 months or 24 months, it was MY decision to make.  And if they didn’t agree with MY decision, that was their choice, and the easiest way to get beyond it was to get over MY decision.

I say all that to say that when you choose to do anything, how you do it is totally up to you. As a friend of my mom says, as long as it’s not immoral, unethical or illegal…have at it.

Your life, your journey, your choice.

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