Friday, August 26th, 2022 was my last day as a practicing Curl Artist.

5 years ago, 21-year-old Andra moved to Chicago with an intense and grounded hope. I left my family, my full-ride scholarship, and everything I’d ever known.

Little did I know, I was following a whisper.

and it was saying to me that there was “M O R E”.

I remember the moment like it was yesterday: laying on my couch in my basement unit apartment, with little natural light, feeling like I was falling.

I regularly felt lost at sea navigating a shaky faith, a miserable marriage, and deep feelings of shame and inadequacy.

I was buried under my fears.

And yet, the handful of cells in me that could hope, did.

I believed deep in being that there was “more”, even though everything around me felt like cold stone.

more has looked like nannying babies, selling bundt cakes, sweeping salon floors, making friends, shedding tears, experiencing divorce, falling in love, and figuring out how to be a stylist and a full-time adult.

5 years later, that whisper is still here, but I hear it clearly now, and instead of saying “more”, it’s saying “enough”.

Letting go of what is familiar in exchange for what is true requires a deep trust that we are enough, that there is enough, and that we’re doing enough.

That is what I’m practicing and as I do hard work to support and regulate my nervous system, I can’t help but daydream over how we’ll be able to connect as the vision I’m nurturing unfolds.

I’m accepting that my way won’t look like anyone else’s and that the shit I do in real life looks crazy from the outside. I’m getting cozy with my quirks and my faith and it’s feeling like the adventure of a lifetime. I trust my Knowing.

Thank you for the myriad of support these last few years. Thank you for being a witness to my journey. Being “Haircousin” has been a wild ride and the world of tight curls will always be a part of my story.

Here’s to more Andra Renee.

🥂Cheers to enoughness, 

A.