Guest Blog: Photographer Lajoy Cox Shares How She Went Natural

My name is LaJoy of LaJoy Photography. Being a biracial woman isn’t something that I have always known. I was a relaxer user for about 10 years until one day while trying to apply my own relaxer, (something I had done a hundred times before) I got the smallest amount in my eye. I immediately felt a burning sensation like I had never felt before and at that moment I knew that what I was doing to my hair was not worth losing my eyes. Once my eyes stopped burning and I stopped crying thinking I would be blind in one eye forever because I wanted my hair to be straight.

I sat on my bed with my 3-month-old daughter on my lap. I knew I wanted my daughter to know just how beautiful her hair was and know she should love her curly hair and never do something so horrible to her hair. I started researching being natural and what I would need to do in order to achieve the healthy hair I wanted for myself and for her. Only 2 months after my little accident I had watched tons of natural hair videos on YouTube, I consulted with natural hair blogger CocoaBrownCurlsXo, and realized I could wait and let it grow out or I could big chop. I cut all off my hair off and rocked my little curly TWA with pride until my hair grew to what it is today.

Being the first woman in my family to say goodbye to the Relaxer prompted my Aunts and Grandmother to tell me stories about my past and parts of my family that I didn’t know. They told me things that started to explain why my curls behaved the way they did and with each story, I appreciated each curl that much more. So being Natural means family, love for myself, my daughter and a new found love for my heritage.  Mixed Chicks was one of the first products I used on my hair and still use today so for me, they are apart of my hair family and always will be.