Readers Diary – Jemima Rajesh

  • January 11, 2022
Jemima Rajesh

Jemima Rajesh: Readers’ Diary includes some of my beautiful readers who’ve had a curly hair transformation after following the Curly Hair Routine. A whole section dedicated to my readers.

So here’s a big shoutout to all my lovely readers – I would love it if you can share photos of your curly hair’s before & after, how the blog has helped you and a paragraph about your routine and products. Send them to info@curlsandbeautydiary.com

“Growing up as a teenager with unruly, frizzy hair posed a huge challenge to my self-esteem. I spent my teen years being very insecure about my hair, as I had no resources to learn how to care for it and wear it with confidence. My mother had similar insecurities, she had extremely thick luscious curls that couldn’t be subdued by any hair tie. She grew up hating her hair, and longing for silky straight hair. After moving to the Gulf, she got her hair permanently straightened and over time, ended up losing most of her hair, except at the crown. She now rocks a pixie cut. Since she never figured out how to maintain her hair, she couldn’t guide me either. Just like every other Indian mom, she made sure I combed out my hair and drowned it in oil every week. The excess shampoo required to strip off the oil would cause further dryness. Any online tutorial I could find on frizzy hair care was an instruction manual for hair straightening. Salon aunties bugged me every time about how great I would look if I got permanent straightening/ keratin treatment done. I envied the girls who had low-maintenance, straight hair and could show up to class looking perfect every day.

I decided to get a fresh start before college began by straightening my hair. It was presented to me as the ONLY solution for my hair. For the first few weeks, my hair looked limp and dull. Then, it started looking great and I relished the compliments I received. A few months in, I noticed my hair was growing out and my roots were frizzy while the ends stayed straight. I also noticed a progressive increase in hair fallout over the months. I kept visiting the salon every four months to touch up my hideous, frizzy crown area. It was scary how they applied chemicals to restructure the hair bonds and ran the blow drier at the highest setting on my already brittle hair. I decided to end things when my last trip to the salon ended up with me crying hysterically on the floor as it felt like my scalp was on fire and about to fall out. I then decided to find a way to wear my natural hair once and for all.
 
Luckily by then, the natural hair movement was finding its roots (pun intended) in India. Curls and Beauty Diary showed up first in my search results and I was filled with relief that an Indian blogger (from my home state that too) was there to show me the way. I can’t express my gratitude to Anjana enough. I read through the blog religiously, writing down notes on each topic covered. She was very patient to answer any questions I had and shared all her knowledge with me. With this encouragement, I grew out my curls over a year and resisted any temptation to straighten the roots. I started researching more on the CG method, found several other bloggers online, tested various products and techniques to figure out what works best for me. It took me a year of CG to see proper results.
 
And now, 2 years into CG, I’m finally proud of my hair and wear it as my crown. I don’t straighten it for events, I can show up just as I am. It’s funny how in a nation where the majority of its people are blessed with curls, we are systemically brought up to hate what is naturally bestowed on us. My own mom would criticise me for not brushing my hair and following “random fads that won’t stick around for long”. My heart breaks every time I see someone in the barber’s chair going through a keratin/protein/straightening/whatever-new-name-they-start-calling-it-to-fool-customers treatment. I believe that stylists must educate their customers and not profit off of their ignorance. I’m thankful for all the curly hair bloggers out there doing the Lord’s work. I hope more and more people take pride in their natural hair and not fall prey to highly unfair standards of beauty.
 

My curly hair routine:

  1. I oil mainly my scalp and the ends with a mix of castor oil, Group concepts hair growth oil and Earth rhythm’s onion oil. Whatever is remaining, I apply to the length of my hair. I wear a shower cap and wait at least 30 minutes before washing off.
  2. I then shampoo my scalp with Plum’s macadamia shampoo (got it after the review here and I love it). I use a scalp massager to exfoliate the scalp and stimulate hair growth. Whatever is remaining, I apply to the length of my hair.
  3. Then, I wash off the shampoo and saturate my hair with water, before applying Flawsome India’s hair mask. I love the slip it has, perfect for detangling. After finger detangling, I run a wide-toothed comb through the strands to evenly coat it with the mask.
  4. After 20 mins, I wash off the hair mask and apply the Ashba botanicals’ leave in. Amazing slip and very moisturising. I rake the product in sections to wet hair, comb it, followed by the praying hands method. Then I scrunch out the excess water.
  5. I rehydrate the hair if necessary, apply the Ashba hair gel and repeat the previous process. I then wet plop my hair for 30 mins and let it air dry after that.
  6. Once completely dry, I scrunch out the crunch and carefully fluff out my hair without causing frizz.”

Start your own curl transformation today! – Start Here. Read about other readers’ transformations here – Readers’Diary. Submit your own diary at info@curlsandbeautydiary.com

Jemima Rajesh

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