I’m always surprised when someone asks me where my kids get my curly hair.

“Really?” I want to ask. But I guess I can’t blame them. After all, most people have only ever seen my hair in its straight state.

I’ve never really regularly worn it curly in my adult life, mostly blaming that fact on my career. They prefer news anchors have a sleek and “professional” look. Which is why white or black, you rarely see anchors sporting curly locks on air.

I’ve never taken the time to straighten my hair myself. I have so much hair I just know by the time I’m done, my arms would be sore and my hair a mess. For this reason I go to the salon to get my hair straightened, or “pressed” as we called it growing up. Using a searing hot comb to pull my hair straight after it’s been washed and blow dried.

Nowadays getting my hair straightened simply replaces the hot comb with a flat iron. Works just dandy.

Since (to me) it’s a big ordeal to schedule a salon appointment ever time I want to go from curly to straight, or just when I want it to get to looking nice again, I preferred I not swim or wet my hair between most stylings. And when I plan things like my crazy 5k, I schedule hair appointments right after, to go back to straight and sleek.

Well, since I’m on vacation, not anchoring anymore, and couldn’t book an appointment before my trip, I decided now was the time for me to start embracing my natural hair. I feel unjust calling it a full on hair journey cause I’m not going very far and wide to change my hair back to a natural curl pattern, but it is my own journey. My little hair hike.

You may run across a lot of #naturalhair hashtags, or hear a lot of hubalub about people transitioning their hair, or even doing the “big chop.” That’s essentially cutting off the chemically relaxed or permed ends of the hair and transitioning back to your hair’s natural state. A reader recently asked if that was in the works for me. Thankfully, growing up my mom never allowed me to chemically process my hair–color or relaxer–so getting it back to it’s natural state was only a matter of getting it wet.

And here’s the result…

Well, this was after twisting off my hair into sections, letting it dry, then pulling the twists apart.

I’m not gonna lie, I’m very conservative when it comes to my hair. Aka BORING. I love pony tails and many days I’ve skipped brushing it all together. Wearing it curly requires me to do a lot more maintenance to keep it looking nice. Which is good and bad. Good because it looks super cute (I think), bad because I actually have to do my hair every day.

A friend of mine came over and helped me style the front into a parted halo braid, and I’ve been playing with the back since then. Since I’m in Utah, it’s extra dry and I’m trying to keep my hair hydrated and moisturized without having to wash it every couple of days. So I’m attempting to make one wash last several days in different styles.

I re-twisted and pulled up my hair one day.

Let them down the next.

(I’m just now realizing Big T was in each of these selfies).

And I’m hoping to maybe fluff them up a bit more today and crossing my fingers it’ll be cute. Especially because I’m taking mommy and me photos with my kids today. Rebecca Loren Photography took my last two blog header photos during a shoot Lil’ J and I did with her three years ago. I’m hoping to score a new one with both my babies while I’m here in Utah. The crazy/ exciting/ scary thing to me is that I’ll be representing the curls for the first time in not only these pictures, but our family portraits we’ll be taking Friday (and my brother-in-law’s wedding photos Saturday).

I know it sounds so vain/insignificant/ lame to worry about, but it’s a big deal to me. These pictures will be hanging up forever, so I really hope I like my ‘do.

The good thing is I’m feeling more confidant than ever about my hair, I’m excited to sport my natural hair with my curly-haired kids. And I haven’t set any plans to go back to straight for the time being. I wanted to embrace my natural hair before I turn 30 and by golly, I’m going to do it now!

Tags: 30 by 30, 30x30, hair, hair hike, natural hair