At first, I thought the day would never come when I would wear protective styles. An ardent lover of the afro since the beginning of my natural days, I had since resigned that "hidden hair" was simply not for me. When I finally did bite the bullet and agree to start wearing protective styles, I did so begrudgingly as I thought the day would never come where I actually liked it.

Thank God I'm a terrible psychic, because that day has come: I am totally in love with my protective styling! Why the sudden change of heart? Allow me to present the evidence...

From November 2009 Hair
Here I was back in November 2009 with my very unhappy hair. As I mentioned when I first posted this picture, my love for wearing my hair "out" had caused me to slip into a state of unapologetic negligence. I forgot to moisturize my hair for days. I slept on cotton pillowcases without covering my hair up for bed. I used the blow dryer constantly to stretch out my roots. My hair was dry with frail ends and virtually no length retention. As you can see by my face I was a very unhappy camper.

Fast forward to February, I had finally gotten the hang of my hair regimen and started to wear protective styles as a way keep my hair from drying out in the harsh winter air.

From February 2010 Protective Styles

From February 2010 Protective Styles

From February 2010 Protective Styles
By this time, I had my routine down pat. Usually on Sunday or Monday, I would wash my hair, put it in twist and pin it, then wear it like that all the way until Friday, where I would take the twist out and rock it curly for the weekend. Come Sunday, I'd do it all over again.

Just this past Easter, however, I noticed something peculiar. Upon taking my hair down so that I could wear it "out" for church, I was really shocked at how my hair looked.

From April Hair (in Philadelphia!)

From April Hair (in Philadelphia!)

From April Hair (in Philadelphia!

Never before had my hair sat at that length in its curly state! I decided to do some investigating...

Before

From April 2010 Length CheckAfter

Before

From April 2010 Length CheckAfter

In six months I went from just below shoulder length to armpit length with protective styling. And I never thought I'd see the day...