But I guess you knew that already? Ok, here’s the shortened version of the story. As some of you may know, I decided to transition after my last relaxer in July 2008. Earlier that year, I met my boo, the wonderful Otis. I’ve always had a thing for long hair in a man so I asked him to let his hair grow out, I think it’s something to do with watching the sexy Lorenzo Lamaz as Reno Raines in Rengade when I was a teenager! At the time Otis had the standard short crop that men sport. After a bit of back and forth arguments for and against the idea, he finally agreed and his last haircut was in August of the same year. Here are the pictures of his hair as it was growing out.
He followed my hair care advice as much as a man who cares little for hair can. He got his hair wet every day, sometimes he would wet his cornrows in the shower or sometimes he would spray it with a water glycerine mix. He shampoos and conditions his hair1-2 times a week and he has never once deep conditioned (that’s woman’s stuff, he says!).
About 6 months ago, he was frustrated with his hair, he like myself has the wonderful coily 4a texture that is both a pleasure and bane but Otis was without the everlasting patience that I posses when it comes to my hair. He wanted to chop it off and go back to his short crops and I agreed because he drove me mad with his whining when I did his cornrows. Then I had a brainwave. I told him that since he was having his hair cut off anyway, if he would let me texturize it for him just to see if it would make things easier. He agreed.
Just to clarify, Otis has the same hair type as me 4a but my strands are much finer than his which is why I would not consider a texturizer myself. Although I believe that natural hair is the best way to achieve maximum growth potential, Otis was obviously an ideal candidate for chemical intervention. So we went ahead and texurized it. I used a mild lye texturizer into which I added a few tablespoons of olive oil to slow down the action and I both smoothed and combed the chemical in. We rinsed after 15 minutes and did the usual neutralizing and conditioning. His first words out of the shower were ‘Look baby, I can comb my hair!’. Ahhh bless! He has continued with his usual routine since then without complaint. I cornrow his hair which he keeps in for 3-4 weeks after which we either redo it or he wears his hair out in a ponytail for a couple of weeks. He is due a retouch soon, twice a year with a texturizer is plenty in my book. His hair still shrinks up into a fro if left to dry unchallenged but it ‘s back to semi-straight when wetted.
Here is is his hair blow dried yesterday. It’s been 2 and a half years since his last haircut, it looks just past arm pit length if it was dead straight.
Tomorrow, my own first official length check of the year.
