My name is Linnea Smith-Waters I’m from Baltimore, MD. I have four daughters who all have natural beautiful hair. I started doing my own hair when I was 10. My mother would always braid my hair in singles and leave them in for weeks I used to get teased and called Whoopi Goldberg. She is a very lovely women, however when your 8 and 9 that’s not really the comparison you would like to hear. I begged and begged for a relaxer and she finally gave me one in 5th grade shortly after I started doing my own hair. I did a pretty good job; always greased my scalp, shampoo and conditioned, I didn’t apply heat to my hair until high school when I started to cut my hair short.

I have always had shoulder length (terminal length) thick hair; however I would go through bouts of relaxer sores that would cause hair loss around my edges and nape of my neck. February 2013 I started the Daniel Fast with my church for Lent season. After becoming chemical free with my diet and saw the many benefits I started to reap from it. I realized it was time to do the same to the crown of my head as well. That is also when I began my Weight Loss Journey. I had lost 15lbs while on the Daniel fast which was not the goal. As my faith increased extensively I had gained some much more knowledge about the wonderful that the earth provides us, foods that man didn’t process or chemically enhance in any way I wanted to stay that way and I wanted to keep to losing more weight. I weighed 283lbs in November 2012 as of December 2013 I now weigh 208lbs went from wearing a size 22 to a size 14.

I had my last relaxer in November 2012 therefore that is when I started transitioning. During my transition I tried to wear braid outs and twist out but wasn’t too happy. Then I just started to wear crotchet braids, weaves, buns, ponytails and finally making my own wigs. November 29, 2013 was wash day and I just got fed up with dealing with the two textures. I finally did the big chop November 29, 2013. However I still wasn’t confident enough to wear it out. Getting ready for church December 22, 2013 I just couldn’t put that wig back on. I took my braids out put some product on it, my husband walked in and said he loved it! My girls absolutely loved it!

December 22, 2013 I finally exposed my baby afro to the world and I felt so proud because I always encouraged my daughters to love their natural hair but I was always covering mine up. Now, I love protective styles and believe they are very beneficial and necessary and time, but I definitely wanted to lead by example with loving my natural hair and exposing it more.

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