Repost: Who (or What) Inspired You to Go Natural?

I think this question has probably been asked a million times, but it hasn't been asked on here =) I'll go first: I been natural my whole life but never really knew how to handle my hair until junior year of college. If my hair was loose it was straightened and if not it was in braids or twists. I was actually trying to get a relaxer because I honestly was frustrated with limitations I felt my hair had. It also didn't help that people were encouraging this idea (except for Mr. Smooth who openly opposed it)

One of my sisters, who was ten at the time, was crying to my father about wanting better hair. And better hair as in straight hair. My dad wanted me to do her hair more often and since he knows absolutely nothing about hair he asked me about straightening it. I was genuinely confused as to why my sister wanted straight hair when she has more "acceptable curls and texture." So I'm busy trying to convince my sister about how beautiful and versatile her hair is and I suddenly became curious about dealing with my hair. I was researching styles and methods and tested them out on myself and realized that some of them worked! So whenever I would visit my dad I would wear my hair loose and let my sister play in it and what not. My dad would join in and be like wow look at your sister's hair, isn't it lovely (and then I found out he really meant it). So showing my sister how nice her hair was led me to realize that my hair was nice too. I didn't want the relaxer anymore.

This started around this time (Spring 2009) so in a lot of ways I'm celebrating an anniversary as well. I've had a ton of hit and misses and frustrations but the journey has been great and I'm still loving it and realizing the importance of the natural presence!

So folks, what about you? What made you go (or stay) natural? Who encouraged you? How has the journey been? Let us know!