Ignore how it makes me look like timothee chalamet as well as my forehead pimples, and let me explain a little.

So, I used to obsessively finger curl my curls and "force" them to be the way I wanted them to be. (Images 5 and 6)

As well as having my hair be combed out and cut with an electronic clipper (which ROYALLY messed it up when it came to length of individual curls, but we'll get to that later) And use a gigantic amount of product, more than my hair needed (Which in turn gave me forehead pimples) Because I wanted to look like a Greek statue when it came to curls.

I only found out this seriously messed up my hair once my aunt pointed it out to me a few days before Christmas.

And as of yesterday, I've started actually letting my curls go, to let them do their own thing. So far it's been..interesting. it FEELS healthier and..free-er? In some areas like the sides it's damaged and there aren't many curls at all. And that's obviously due to my lack of knowledge when it came to who I should let cut my hair (I'm gonna definitely go to a hair dresser rather than a barber in the future) But in some places like the back, it seems the curls are thriving. And STILL seem to have that soft Hellenistic-statue look I was in love with so much.

TL;DR, Ive discovered I have a long way to go after damaging and somewhat abusing my hair for the better part of a year, and have subsequently "set my hair free". Im happy about it, and will continue to experiment with different products and ways of going about things.