Christmas time rolled on and I was determined to feel grateful for something! I had decided to take on a new hobby. The Ukulele! While sitting in church choir, I saw one of the altos carrying a ukulele box to another room. It hit me, I can’t play guitar for shit! Why not try the Uke! It’s smaller, less strings and it looks fairly unintimidating. My husband is a musician as well; he plays the guitar and the bass. He works on weekends playing in a combo at a restaurant. His boss plays the Ukulele as well. He asked him if he had a random Uke I could practice on just to see if I could handle it. He lent me his old ukulele and I began studying it.

Quickly, I began to get the hang of it. However this ukulele was so old the tension in the pegs began to weaken. The A string would loosen and the note would go flat. I had gotten so attached to playing songs, it was disappointing to have stop. So my husband bought me a ukulele for my Christmas present.

By Christmas, time my hair and I were getting along. I had trimmed it into a very nice shape and had decided to let it grow out. That new found freedom I felt in Salzburg was carrying through. I wore it in an afro more and didn’t bother with Curl definition. However it was feeling more and more like paper again. It would grow out; feel like a dry mess of straw then break off. The only thing that was growing was my frustration. I began co-washing again it helped a little but nothing long term. I would oil it, nothing. I would twist and tuck it, nothing. My hair was also doing something strange. It was curly at the root, but would straighten out at the end; an inconsistent curl from root to tip. I didn’t know what to do! Cut it again, maybe? My mind frame was this; my hair has changed this is what happens when you get older. It will never grow longer than it is right now. While watching one of my favorite shows Mirror, Mirror, the host did a segment on Castor oil. Using a tiny bit on your hair greatly improves your ends and reduces flyway's. Desperately, I went to the drug store and decided to give Castor oil another try. In the past I had used it but didn’t think it was beneficial. While setting my hair in twist and tucks, I would mix the castor oil with some of Dove’s oil cream moisturizer. I did this for a month and notice a significant change in the quality of my hair. It started to curl again and felt softer. In my mind, the pieces started to come together. It as if little droplets of information started to hit my head. During this time I had joined the addiction know as Pinterest. Pinning fashion images and style pictures was how I first got interested. Then an Image of a stylish up do on a beautiful black girl caught my attention. How did she do this style? Could I see myself doing the same style? I click the link that was attached to the imaged and recognized the sight from a few months ago. The image was from Black girl Long Hair. I went to this website and started reading about the Young lady who took her hair from Big Chop to some significant length. She changed her regime stop using heat and started treat her hair better. The results were a glorious head of lovely long locks. I began to Google “Natural hair” and then found the website Naturallycurly.com. This is where I found the typing system which I understood but wasn’t sure where I fit in. My damaged hair did so many things I could really identify with 4 A, B, or C! So I just kept reading.