Au naturelle

I've found myself contemplating, planning, making lists and trying to decide on what I should do with my hair, is going natural the answer? Let me pause for a definition: going natural means to stop processing my hair with a relaxer treatment. The relaxer straightens my hair, by breaking down the proteins that give my hair its makeup, but it also strips the hair of priceless protein oils for growth. Ergo, hair is a mess.
I've found myself obsessively thinking about how to go forward with my hair because if you don't know: maintain black hair is a long and arduous process. Why? I don't know, but let me demystify a few common misconceptions or things you just don't know when it comes to black hair.  My hair wet doesn't look the same once it's dried (unless you want to wait 2.5 hours). Washing my hair is an ordeal, it takes time - wash, deep condition, blow dry and flat iron. I'm tending to my hair so much on Sundays, I feel like I have to break have dinner for energy and go back to taming. My hair is thick - it's healthy for the most part (knock on wood), but it's thick. It's hard to maintain with my workout plan - ever notice in the gym, women either have "gone natural" (afros, twists, dreds) some other form of natural styling, but very few are relaxed and breaking a sweat. It's pretty much impossible and becomes an ultimatum it's either nice hair or a fit bod.

To me it's six in one hand half a dozen in another - relaxing your hair, hoping for little to no breakage OR going natural? I'm sorry, but I don't think I can deal with the TWA (Teeny Weeny Afro). Definition: TWA is the beginning of the natural process, when the person going natural makes the big chop, cuts all her hair down to get rid of the relaxed hair, what's left is a teeny weeny afro.

On the other hand I've seen evidence of perpetually relaxing and hair loss that can come of that. Plenty have seen the movie "Good Hair", but you probably only know a small dose of the reality that the documentary reveals. While Chris Rock so eloquently tried to explained to the nation the history and conundrum of black hair, it's not as easy as you think to go through and get rid of your process treatment. When you think about the time invested over years and years to see it do nothing, but make things worse? Makes you wish there was a warning label with the long term effects. Then again, it probably wasn't your decision - I can just see my Dad now, struggling with this massive ball of hair wondering "what can I do to my baby's hair?" and a Just For Me commercial comes on like an answer to his prayers.
Going natural won't save me any time - in fact I'll probably go back to where this journey all started and wonder - what am I going to do with this hair. 

So now that I've talked myself in circles, getting no closer to a decision, and making a confusing situation even nappier, here's my true question what is really going to work? Or maybe another peel off the old onion of life, is letting me know I'm going to need to accept what I have and make it work?
Either way, it's Sunday - so I have some hair maintenance to attend to. Until next time my dear readers!

A little R&R

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Day one of my cabin fever - I've been sick all week and now I'm ready to leave. Remember that body realization I had this week in Dear Body, what's wrong with thee? well turns out the flu like symptoms were a virus. Going back to the origins of those viral symptoms, I forgot to record my run in with the crazy drug head on Sunday night before church. Yes, a crack head - stalked me at the 125th subway, slobbering, pigeon-toed and disgusting looking, yelling at me to leave the station. Needless to say, once I got away unscathed I thought of all the things I shoulda coulda done. Like kick her!! Everyone knows people who are high lack in the reflex department... Anyhoo since she touched me when she pushed me and tried to grab my purse, I blame this virus and my sentence to the bed on her. Thanks, and no thanks.

While I'm resting, I'm also thinking - worrying is more like it, because I'm worried this week being sick has set back my training plan. I'm concerned I won't be ready for May 1st (marathon). Luckily, I have a great friend and forever running partner that reassured me that in fact it takes your body three weeks to become out of shape. So this one week and subsequent week of rebuilding should not put me off track. Before talking to my friend, I tried writing, tweeting and searching running forums for an answer from someone else who's been in my position, but nothing on record. So I'm marking this as high priority anyone in training, this will not set you back (fingers crossed, will report back in two months). It also a bit ambitious to think that within 16 weeks training for a spring race, with most of the training at the tail end of flu season that you will be healthy through that whole time.

And if you aren't training for anything, except that extra special stressful work week, good hydration and nutrition can of course keep you on track - unless you run into a crazy in the subway and then you're out of luck.

Write to you soon my dear readers!