Quick Tip: Remaining Motivated During Your Transition

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At one point or another, you are going to be frustrated with your hair during the transitioning period. It's inevitable. Your hair will seem to be more susceptible to matting and knotting during the washing process. Your hair will feel hard instead of soft, and nothing that you do seems to work. You will reach a point where you have absolutely no idea what to do. You will be so tempted to give up that you either pick up the phone and start to dial your stylist in order to make an appointment for a relaxer, or you head to your local BSS to pick up a box of your favorite relaxing system. I've certainly been there. Every long term transitioning kinky curly coily head has been there too. To get myself through these trying moments, I've developed a way to boost my motivation levels in order to keep moving forward.

1.     Focus on the Reason Why You Wanted to Go Natural

As a person who likes to write (and has somewhat of a notebook addiction), the day I decided to go natural I started a hair journal. The first entry that wrote in this journal was a detailed explanation of why I wanted to go natural. At the time, I didn’t really have a purpose for writing it down, but I have found that by re-reading that entry, I have continued to be motivated. Focusing on why you chose to go natural and to transition to begin with will help to re-energize you and give you that extra push to go over those frustration day humps. On a day when you are not frustrated, I suggest that you jot down why you want to go natural and keep it around to re-read on days when frustration levels are at an all time high.

2.     Look for curlspirational kinky, curly, coily heads

As you may have noticed, most, if not all, of my posts begin with a picture of some gorgeous natural locks. These pictures are my curlspirations. It is gorgeous, fabulous natural hair that makes me want to see the potential that my natural texture has. These provide daily inspiration for me to keep moving forward. Find pictures of natural hair that is just fabulous to you and place it on a natural hair vision board in a place that you can look at daily. A vision board is a poster  that contains all of your aspirations. It can be theme specific, such as natural hair, or broader than that, such as what you want to accomplish in 5 years. By looking at this board daily, you will be motivated to continue moving forward to reach your natural hair dreams.

3.     Scour Your Favorite Natural Hair Blog

One of the biggest motivations that you can have on frustrating days is looking at the story of someone else who is either transitioning at the same time as you, or has already successfully transitioned. Seeing someone else who has already gone through the process and has endured through the frustrating moments is extremely motivating. It gives you the mentality that “if they can make it through, then I can too.”

Transitioning To Me

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So much going right with this picture!

One of the biggest things that I've noticed about myself during my transition thus far is that I have become more accepting of myself. In the past, I have taken so much pride in my hair that my entire mood for the day circled around whether I was having a bad hair day or not. If I was having a bad hair day, everything else would fall to pieces. I wouldn't feel like dressing cute and girly as I usually do. I wouldn't want to spend time primping and slapping on just the right amount of make up to accentuate my features. I wouldn't care if my nail polish was chipping to the point of almost non-existence. I wouldn't even have enough confidence to hold my head up high when I was walking down the street. My hair was my shield and the entirety of my confidence.

The moment I decided to go natural, there was definitely a shift in how I viewed myself. After watching a lot of others on youtube, I knew that the transition wouldn't always be a smooth process. I knew I would have countless bad hair days simply because one of the two textures on my head didn't want to cooperate with the other. Since I couldn't go an entire year moping around, I knew I couldn't hide behind my hair anymore.

At first, this was kind of a scary thought. For as long as I could remember, my hair had been my pride and joy. It was what I got the most compliments on. As time went on, however, I have become more and more comfortable being myself without relying on my hair. I take more pride in other things about myself, and I celebrate and appreciate the features that I was born with. I knew that there was a mental component to the transition to natural hair, but I just didn't expect that it would mean transitioning to me. The last piece of the puzzle is living with the hair that I was created with and I can't wait to see it!