After years of short, relaxed cuts, shoulder-length bobs, micro-braids, and even a short-lived Big Chop in 2013, I began a hair journey of mishaps, blunders, and wonders over the past 18 months.

Here I am in January 2015, fresh-faced, at my allergist’s office with a roller set:

Here I am later that same month at my sorority’s Founders Day Ecumenical Service: 

After months of personal hair care and indecision about what I wanted to do with my hair, by March 2015, my hair was relaxed, neck-length, thick, and relatively healthy. I spent about six weeks in micro braids, and I began “lightly” relaxing my hair on my own. It was presentable, but not exactly “hair-dresser straightened and styled.”  Desirous of a change and trusting my new hair stylist and colorist, I made a sudden and drastic transition during Spring Break from a very dark brown natural hair color to a lighter reddish-blond color. While I liked the initial lighter color, my hair would undergo several changes over the next year and a half.

Here I am getting color, for the first time in over 15 years (March 2015):

Looking cute! Here is the finished result of my color treatment (March 2015):

I took pretty good care of my tresses; almost never applying heat unless it was being professionally shampooed and conditioned, and I pin-curled or slept in magnetic or soft satin rollers to maintain a basic and conservative “style.” Eventually, the light color started to fade and dark roots grew. I was forced to make another hair decision. To color or not to color?

Later in the summer of 2015, just before the start of a new school year, I took the color plunge once again…this time, lightening my hair considerably.

Here I am in July 2015-a blonder blond! Brows and all!

It was a change…yes, a drastic one, and I didn’t love it or hate it. On most days, I wasn’t sure how I felt about it and there wasn’t much I could do at that point. It was simply VERY light, and I tried to camouflage it with several different styles. Once the color “calmed down” and deepened a bit (thank goodness!), I found the color more tolerable. I even experimented with different textures and curly roller sets, too.

So, after a few months of wearing the blondest blond (for my taste), I did what I always do when I have no idea of what I want to do with my hair…I returned to micro braids.

Hard to believe it, but underneath that dark braiding hair is a blond living and breathing! November 2015-digging the braids once again: