I remember at the age of thirteen I was going through an identity crisis. All of the kids I played with in my old neighborhood had curly hair and I kept thinking to myself, “I need curly hair!” I remember explaining to my aunt BJ that I was upset because I didn’t have curly hair. She said it’s ok; I’ve got just what you need. She went to the bathroom and returned with a T.C.B. relaxer! I was so excited! Here I am thinking that I’m about to have curly hair when what I was really about to get was a perm! Hey, I was thirteen, I didn’t know any better!

My aunt told me that she would give me my curly hair later on that night but at this point, I couldn’t wait so I started to do it myself! I opened the jar, grabbed a comb and started to slick my hair back with the creme thinking to myself, “I’m about to have curly hair!” WRONG! I let the relaxer stay in my hair for at least 3o minutes until my scalp started burning. By the time I rinsed it out, my hair was completely straightened! I kept thinking to myself, "What have I done?" We didn’t have much money so I was forced to rock my hair like that! I remember having a bad case of split ends, new growth and whatever else that came along with a bad perm! Oh well, so much for my curly hair…

-dj