I BC'd!!!

Remember when I said that I was going in to see my stylist for a trim in this post? Well, when I sat in the chair I accidentally ended up saying "take off all the relaxed ends" instead of "take off a few inches." When I realized my flub, I didn't even bother trying to correct myself. I thought that maybe my unconscious was telling me that it was time, so I just went with the flow...and I could not be happier!

How-To: Cute Up-Do for Transitioning Hair

For the past 9 months, my signature transitional style has been twist-rod sets. While this simple, practical style has become my staple, I wanted to do something a little different. In my usual fashion, I looked at some things that other people have done and came across this uber cute and easy style. What I love most about this style is that it can be done on type of hair, regardless of whether you are relaxed, natural, or transitioning. I find that this style works best on dry hair. Below is what I did to achieve this look.

How-To: Starting Your Transition

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The biggest question that I had when I embarked on my natural hair journey in May 2010 was this: how do I start transitioning? I immediately began scouring the Internet for an answer to my question, but alas, there was no answer to be found. I found a lot of information on transitional styles but nothing more. To help someone who is the same boat I was once in, here is the thought process that I went through to start my transition.

1.    Stop getting relaxers.

This is the biggest step in beginning your transitioning process. I’m not going to lie, it felt a little weird when I reached my 6 week post relaxer mark and I didn’t go back to the salon to get a touch up. Skipping the first one was the hardest, but once I realized my pockets that month were a little heavier since I didn’t spend the money on the creamy crack application, it wasn’t hard at all to continue with not getting a relaxer.

2.    Decide how long you want to transition.

The length of time you choose to spend transitioning is completely up to you. It can be as short at 1 day to as long as 2+ years. When making this determination, consider how long you want your hair to be when you BC (your hair grows at an average rate of .5 inches a month), how willing and able you are to deal with the two textures on your head (it does get frustrating every once in a while). I chose to transition for at least a year because I knew I wouldn’t be comfortable with having extremely short hair (I’ve never seen my hair extremely short before) and I figured that after a year, I would have a decent length. Not necessarily SL, but certainly more than just an inch.

3.    Determine how you want to wear your hair.

While transitioning, you will need to wear your hair in such a way that the two textures on your hair are blended. There are few different ways that one can do this. Some choose to use protective styling such as box braids or kinky twists. Others choose to use low-manipulation styling such as rod sets and bantu-knot outs. Still others choose to flat iron their new growth. Choose a method that will work best for you, your lifestyle, and your natural hair goals. Consider how often you want to restyle your hair, whether you will be going to a stylist or doing your hair yourself, how you want to wear your hair once fully natural, and how often you want to trim your permed ends when making this determination. I knew that I wanted to regularly wear my hair curly once fully natural, and I knew that I wanted something that didn’t cause a lot of fuss but allowed for a variety of different styles. With this in mind, I chose to wear my hair in low-manipulation styles. For more information on ways to wear your hair during your transition, check out this post.

4.    Create a hair care regimen.

Because of the line of demarcation, transitioning hair is fragile and requires a lot of consistent care. To be consistent with the care of your transitioning hair, developing a regimen is extremely beneficial. During the first 3 - 4 months, get to know your new growth and learn your hair's likes and dislikes. Once you have this down, proceed to creating a regimen that suits your hair's needs and helps you manage the two textures. This transitioning hair care regimen does not necessarily have to be the one that you follow once completely natural. I personally will be switching it up a bit once fully natural. Your regimen can be as elaborate or as simple as you want it to be. For tips on creating a transitioning hair care regimen, check out this post.

Also, check out my Do's (part 1 and part 2) and Don'ts of transitioning.

Creating a Transitioning Hair Care Regimen

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When beginning to transition to natural hair, one of the first things that you should do is to create a transitioning hair care regimen. What products you choose to use during each step depends on what you personally prefer to use and what your hair needs. (Check out this post to see the type of things to consider when choosing your hair care products during your transition.) In my opinion, there are 5 essential steps to a transitioning hair care regimen.

1.    Pre-Poo

Pre-Pooing is the process of preparing your hair for the shampoo process. This step is essential to transitioning hair because it gives you a chance to remove a lot of your shed hair before getting your hair wet. Removing shed hair prior to shampooing will help prevent excessive knotting. To remove the shed hair, lightly coat your hair with oil or a conditioner, finger comb gently, and you should be able to easily slip the shed hair out. 

2.    Shampoo

There’s nothing really different about shampooing transitioning hair than fully natural or fully relaxed hair. As more new growth came in, I found that shampooing in sections was extremely helpful. Shampooing in sections, similar to pre-pooing, is an additional way to prevent knotting. I section my hair in four (straight down the middle from forehead to neck and from ear to ear) and shampoo each section separately. I keep these sections until its time for styling my hair. At this point, some choose to use a rinse out conditioner and detangle prior to the next step. This is something that I have chosen not to do (I detangle later), but it’s purely personal preference.

3.    Deep Condition

Transitioning hair NEEDS moisture, so weekly moisturizing deep conditioning treatments is a must in order to keep moisture levels high. Liberally coat your hair with a conditioner and ensure that each strand is coated. Put on plastic cap and apply moderate heat for at least 30 minutes before rinsing out. Heat is an important factor for DC. Heat opens the cuticles to the hair, allowing the conditioner to get deep in the hair shaft and work its magic. There is a new trend in the natural hair community of using a steamer to DC. It is claimed that your DC will be more effective with a steamer because the steamer provides both heat and moisture, allowing the conditioner to work better. I personally haven't used a steamer, so I don't have an opinion either way about it. 

4.    Style

Once you have rinsed out your DC, you are ready to style your hair. Since the name of the game is moisture, its good to use a leave in conditioner before styling your hair. (This is the time that I choose to detangle my hair.  No real logic behind it other than I don't want to detangle multiple times lol. When I used a rinse-out conditioner to detangle prior to DC, I found that I still had to detangle again.) Seal the moisture in with Shea butter or oil (whichever you prefer) and style as desired. The leave-in conditioner will leave your hair really soft, so if you do low-manipulation styling (such as a twist-rod set), I suggest using a gel or setting lotion to make sure you get a good hold on your set.  At this point, a lot of people use a bonnet dryer or a blow dryer to dry their hair, I prefer to let my hair airdry overnight. Again, drying methods are all personal preference.

5.    Moisturize

To retain moisture in your hair, ideally you should moisturize it every 2 – 3 days between washing, assuming you intend to wash your hair once a week. Using a penetrating oil as a moisturizer has been beneficial for me. (Using any water based product on my twist-rod set was just the ultimate fail. The relaxed ends went limp and my new growth curled and expanded. Definitely not a good day to day look lol.)  Some use Shea butter, others use a moisturizing lotion and seal with oil, and still others prefer to co-wash every 2 – 3 days instead of applying a moisturizer. Again, this is personal preference as to the method you use to restore moisture to your hair. 

Choosing Products for Your Regimen

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You have decided to go natural, so you scour the internet looking for any and every piece of advice possible. You find TONS of product reviews, many of which a lot of people agree to be the best product out there. Immediately, you run to the nearest BSS in search of these products. You purchase every one that you've seen raved about on the net. When you get home, you can't wait to try out your new treasures, so you prepare to wash and style your hair. Everything seems to be going well. You rinse out the product expecting your hair to feel EXTRA soft (after all, that's what everyone who was natural said it would do right?)...yet you find that your hair is the complete opposite. Hard. Brittle. Dry. And now you're stuck with a bottle of something that you absolutely HATE.

This is the trap that many who have just chosen to go natural fall into. Myself included. Everyone with advice to give says that you need a transitioning hair care regimen, so you assume that the products that they love must be what you need to transition. WRONG-O! Each head of hair is different, and therefore needs different types of products to take care of it. So while you can follow how another handles her hair, you don't necessarily need to use the exact same products. So then, what products should you use? 

Well, it depends on what your hair likes and needs. Learning your hair requires some experimentation, but before you go on a product buying binge, start with the products you already own and see how your hair reacts to them over time. In learning your hair, consider the following:

·      How does you hair feel when wet? When dry? When thirsty?

o   This is beneficial for you to know what your hair needs when

·      How quickly does your hair dry?

o   If it dries quickly, you need to use a product that is able to nourish your hair long after the water is gone. Water based moisturizes may not be the best for you unless there are packed with some serious conditioning ingredients. Try some oil-based moisturizers instead.

o   If your hair dries slowly, water based moisturizers may be ideal to you.

·      How does your hair react to the products you are currently using?

o   If you like how you hair reacts to it, look at the ingredients and try to use products with similar ingredients.

·      How does your hair react to protein?

o   If your hair is hard when you rinse out a product with protein in it, you are likely protein sensitive. Try to use minimal amounts of protein in your regimen

o   If your hair is soft, your hair likes protein. Be careful not to overdo it with the protein though. Too much protein can be drying

Low-Manipulation Styling v. Protective Styling v. Flat Ironing

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One of the first decisions that anyone has to make when beginning to go natural is the type of styling you want to use throughout the transitioning period. There are generally three different categories in which you can choose to style your hair. The type of styling that you choose to use is purely up to you, and you don’t have to stick to just one category the whole time. Below is a compilation of what I perceive about each of the three categories. Hope it helps!

1.    Low Manipulation Styles

Low manipulation styles are those styles that don’t require you to handle your hair too much after washday.  It is a type of styling that attempts to make your relaxed ends curl so that they blend with your new growth.This can be very helpful in keeping the amount of breakage you get during transition to an absolute minimum. You will need to make sure that you at least lightly detangle your hair before shampooing to prevent excessive knotting once you wet your hair. Low-manipulation styles will also assist in preserving the integrity of your natural curl pattern (assuming that you don’t use high heat when drying). This is beneficial if you intend on wearing your hair curly once fully natural. This type of styling is very flexible, allowing for a lot of different looks. Common low-manipulation styles include, twist outs, braid outs, straw sets, rod sets, twist-rod sets, and roller sets. 

2.    Protective styles

Protective styles are those styles that don’t require you to handle your hair at all for an extended period of time, and protect the ends of your hair. Much like low-manipulation styling, this is extremely helpful in preventing breakage at the line of demarcation. Additionally, this type of styling is also good for ensuring that you maintain the integrity of your natural curl pattern, which is beneficial, if you want to wear your hair curly once fully natural. You will need to be sure that you 1) keep your hair moisturized, 2) take your hair down periodically to remove out shed hair and to give your hair a good deep conditioning. Protective styles include braids, full head weaves (with your hair braided underneath), wigs, kinky twists, twists, and buns. Be sure to not pull your hair too tightly when doing this styling otherwise you will run the risk of pulling your hair out from the root. (and we all know how sensitive the edges can be to that sort of thing.)

3.    Flat Ironing

Rather than curling your relaxed ends to make them blend with your new growth, you can straighten your new growth to make it match your relaxed ends. This will allow you to style your hair as you normally would if you were still relaxing. Because of the amount of heat that you will need to apply to your hair to make sure that the textures remain blended (you will probably be flat ironing multiple times a week, even more so if you live in a humid area), be sure to take extra care by moisturizing and sealing your hair daily, doing both a light protein treatment using a deep conditioner that contains proteins(to rebuild the nutrients that leave your hair due to the heat) and a moisturizing deep conditioning (to return moisture into your hair), and using heat protectant. All of the heat that you will be applying to your hair has the ability to permanently alter your curl patter by loosening it to the point of being straight. (Naturals usually call this heat damage). This is not 100% guaranteed to happen but it is quite possible and does happen often. If you intend on primarily wearing your hair straight once fully natural, then this really won’t be a problem for you. But if you intend to your wear hair curly sometimes and straight others, this may affect your ability to do that. 

The Don'ts of Transitioing

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If I had to do it all over again, there are some things that I would tell myself not to do when starting my transition. For those of you that are just starting your natural hair journey, I hope this helps!

1.     Don’t Go on a Product Buying Spree on Day 1

You will see a lot of product reviews all over the net. For some products, many naturals will agree that they are awesome. This doesn’t mean that you have to run out to the store the day you decide to go natural to purchase the products. Instead, spend the time doing research on products and determine the type of products you want to try from that information. I stupidly ran to the store on day one to try the products that I had heard so much about. Now I have a cabinet full of things that I will never use again. I have revisited some of these products now that I have more new growth to see how the new growth reacts, but for the most part, a lot of the products that I bought initially contain things that I don’t want to touch hair ever. Don't make the same (costly...) mistake I did.

2.     Don’t Assume that What Works For Someone Else Will Work For You

Each head of hair is different. That means that each head of hair will react differently to different product ingredients, even if two heads have similar hair types. If you know for a fact that your hair doesn’t like Shea Butter (for example), don’t try a product that contains Shea butter just because someone else with the same hair type swears by that product. You are just asking to frustrate yourself. In the beginning, a lot of frustration that I had came from trying products that others swore by but my hair just didn’t like at all because of one of the ingredients.

3.     Don’t Blindly Accept What Someone Else Says to be Fact

Always, always, always do your own research before making a change or trying a particular product on your hair that another person advocated for.  There are tons of people who claim to be natural hair experts on the web so it is extremely easy to blindly follow someone who is a self-proclaimed guru, especially if you are new to the natural hair realm and you don’t really know anything. I blindly followed some “suggestions” and my hair became so matted and knotted that I literally had to cut the knots out. Don’t get me wrong, there are plenty of bloggers and vloggers who are right on the money when it comes to their tips, tricks, and advice. I’m not saying that you need to totally dismiss what others who have been through it said. What I am saying is take something that someone tells you, research it, and then take the advice only if your research backs up what you were told. 

My Essential Transitioning Tools

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There are some hair care tools that are essential to a successful transition. They help minimize the frustration you have with your hair, prevent knotting, and assist with each step of your hair care regimen. What’s even better? These tools are true investments. They can be used not only for you transition period, but also for the rest of you natural hair journey!

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.”

The Do's of Transitioning to Natural Hair, Part 2

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In addition to the 5 things that I discussed in part 1, here are an additional 5 things that I would tell myself to do if I were to start the transitioning process all over again.

1.    Get to know your hair.

There is no point in even picking up and trying a product if it contains ingredients that your just does not like. Knowing what your hair likes and dislikes will make your hair shine! Getting to know your hair will take some experimentation, but don’t get discouraged. Pay close attention to how your hair responds to certain products and take note of it. This brings me to my next tip…

2.     Appreciate your hair for what it is.

Your hair is unique. There will never be another who has hair that is exactly like yours. So rather than hoping and wishing that your hair acts or looks like someone else’s, appreciate your hair for what it is.

3.    Be patient.

Hair grows on an average of half an inch per month. No faster, no slower. There is nothing that you can do to speed this up (well unless you’re pregnant, then your hair will grow a whole lot faster).  Take your time and enjoy your hair for what it is during every stage of the game.

4.    Trim Regularly.

One of the biggest things that I have noticed, is that the more new growth you have, the easier it is for your relaxed ends to get tangled and matted together. By keeping up with regular trimming, you will be able to cut down on the amount of frustration had from matted, tangled, relaxed ends.

5.    Moisture, Moisture, Moisture!

One of the most important things to remember while transitioning is to keep your hair moisturized. The line of demarcation is extremely fragile and needs to remain moisturized in order to prevent breakage at that point. Moreover, your new curls coming in THRIVE on moisture. Without it, they will become hard and brittle.

The Do's of Transitioning to Natural Hair, Part 1

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There are a lot of mistakes that I made during my transitioning process so far. I did a lot of things on a whim without really thinking about what I was doing or why I was doing it. Needless to say that caused me some frustration. Although I in now way consider myself to be an expert (I'm still learning as I go along), here are some of the things that I would tell myself to do if I were to do this process all over again.

1.    Research, Research, Research!!!

At the beginning of anyone’s transitioning process, there usually isn’t much new growth. Take this time to research any and everything about natural hair and the transitioning process. No matter what anyone tells you, be sure to always conduct your own research. That doesn’t mean that you have to dismiss what was told to you. Use that information as a starting line and see if your research either supports or vacates that information before you act on it.

2.    Keep a hair journal.

This may seem trivial, but it is really beneficial. Keeping a journal of some kind allows you to keep track of what is and what isn’t working for your hair. It will also help you keep track of what you are doing to your hair so that if you try something and get a really great or really bad result you can track what it was that you did. Your hair journal is also a great place to keep all of the information that you researched.

3.    Develop an easy, manageable hair care regimen

Consistent good hair care is one of the best ways to encourage growth and retain length in your hair regardless of whether you are relaxed, natural, or transitioning. To ensure that you are consistently treating your hair in the same manner, a regimen is needed. Think about what your hair needs when creating your regimen and design something around that.

4.    Find and Master at least one transitional style

In my opinion, every person who is transitioning to natural hair should have at least one signature style that you know frontwards and backwards. This is EXTREMELY beneficial. By knowing this style, you will be able to have a quick go to style on even the worst of bad hair days.

5.    Treat all of your hair as if it were natural.

Just because you have two extremely different textures on your head, that doesn’t mean that you have to treat them differently. Since the ultimate goal is to have healthy natural hair, treat all of your hair as if it were natural to further facilitate this end.

This is the first post in a 3 part series regarding this information. Check back tomorrow for part 2!

Quirky Girl Tips: The Mental Transition

I learned rather quickly that transitioning to natural isn't just a physical transformation, it's a mental one as well. Here are a few tips and tricks that helped me overcome those frustrating days when I mentally couldn't handle it.

1. Find Your Natural CURLspiration. There will be days when you really ask yourself, "why am I doing this to myself??". The only way that I have been able to pull through these occasions is to go to my favorite blogs and look over the many natural hair journeys of others. Seeing the before and after shots of these curlicious divas gave me the drive to press on. If they could do it, I could do it too.
2. Be Patient. If you are like me, then when you really want something, you want it right now. Like, RIGHT NOW, right now. When transitioning, there is no snapping of fingers and *poof* kinktastic afro. It takes a lot of time to grow out your straight ends and to obtain your dream length. There is no such thing as a magic product that will miraculously make your hair grow 3 inches in one month. So to get through those impatient moments, I went back to an oldie but a goodie: "Good things come to those who wait." In time and with good hair care practices, your hair dreams will be a reality.
3. Master at least one transitional style. There are TONS of styles to rock on a day to day basis, but every so often, your transitional hair will just not do what you want it to do. Your new growth won't remain sleek enough to blend with your relaxed ends for straighter styles, and your relaxed ends won't curl enough to blend in with your new growth for curlier styles. To keep frustration at bay in times like these, I always go back to my good ole trustworthy style: the twist-n-curl. Knowing this particular style in and out makes it easy for me to fix my hair even on the worst of bad hair days. 
4. Be Confident In Your Hair Plan. You have absolutely no idea the number of times that someone has tried to convince me either to go back to that creamy crack or to do my BC. Although I know that these people have the best of intentions, at the end of the day only I will have to live with my hair. Not anyone else. The only person that knows exactly what would make me happy with my hair is me, so I will not do anything that I know for a fact will not make me happy with my hair. Don't let anyone sway you  into doing something that you don't really want to do. Be confident in what you want and stick with it.