Freshman year, I tried dying my hair myself with a “red color for dark hair” kit without bleaching. The results could only be seen in the sun and I ended up chemically burning my scalp. Yikes. Sophomore year, I had my hair professionally bleached and dyed to a light brown color. It totally changed my curl pattern, but I still really like the color. Junior year I made the theme of the year “braids” instead of coloring my hair, so kind of a fail there. The ones pictured here are with added silver braiding hair. Senior year I dyed my hair jet black, which people barely even noticed. And as you can see, I did heat straighten my hair quite a bit – almost monthly freshman year.
My hair really took a beating for… uh… 12 years really. Ouch.
But I’m happy to report and I’m getting better with my hair! I haven’t heat styled my hair since summer 2018 and I’m learning every day how to appreciate and enhance my 3C curl pattern. All the chemical treatments left my hair brittle, so I’m still learning to understand my true porosity.