"Oprah's Protege"!!

by Virginia Baase
(Ypsilanti, MI )

I am currently 30 years old; and into my tenth month of transitioning. This is the first time in almost twenty years that I will be chemical free!! As a child growing up, I had very crazy, thick bi-racial hair. I don't know how many of you are wrestling fans; but my older brother called me "Kabooki"; this Samoan wrestler with big crazy coarse hair!! He used to spit green dust onto his opponents faces! So imagine my dismay as a child to be compared to this insane voodoo wrestler! So many terrible hair style attempts and night in tears as I got my hair washed and detangled; or cornrowed.
At age ten, I began to get no-lye relaxers. To my dismay; my hair was still unruly; and only looked as if it were blown-out!! So at the age of eleven; I took the big plung and went to a professional to get my hair relaxed. Now, my hair was at about bra-strap length when I went into the shop; and full of body. As I sat waiting patiently as the stylist applied the "creamy crack"; he'd ask if it burned yet; ask me to hold on a bit more; and continue to spread it through and comb it in with a small tooth styling comb. My head was on fire!! When the pain was over; he clipped( more like butchered!!) my ends. My extra long hair was cut to bob length, resting just above my shoulders!! It was also so whispy and stringy! No hold whatsoever; and my scalp was full of scabs!!! And he also gave me that old 1980 Oprah-do with the very tight curl under; and a gigantic wave-like bang!! I was in tears for a week when I saw the end results!! For some reason though, I continued to go back every so often; with threats of my hair falling out if I didn't keep up on my touch-ups!! Ever since I've been a victim of the "creamy crack", because I never learned to deal with my true texture.
Thank God that I've been "clean" for ten months now!! I hope that I can restore my hair to it's original length and thickness!! I can see with my four inches of growth that my hair is going to most likely be a beautiful 3b-4a texture; and I'm loving it!!