Going natural is not just a physical change, but an introspective, tiring, and fulfilling journey all in one.
From changing your hair, getting to know the new you, to finding the products that work for you and dealing with society telling you that you should've kept the relaxer is—to say the least—a lot.
So below my curly, I have some transitioning hair tips for you, to make going curly a little easier—let's begin!
One: Moisturizing
Listen to your hair! Figure out what hair care products your hair loves. Your hair at this time may not be very friendly and be very dry, so moisturizing products are your bestie!
I suggest investing in creamier products that are naturally moisturizing, such as deep conditioners, leave-ins, soufflés (with coconut oil, jojoba, aloe vera, almond oil, avocado oil, argan oil, etc) if you experience dry transitioning hair (which is common).
However, because there are different kinds of moisturizing products (water-based, oil-based, etc.) you want to figure out which of these are the best moisturizing products for your hair.
Two: Texture Change
It takes some time for you to figure out what products work for you because you're literally getting used to having your natural texture mix with a chemically damaged one.
This means, your hair texture or even hair porosity can change as your new growth may feel coarser or different from your true hair texture. You may have to change up a product that was working really well for you, with a different one as you continue your journey!—totally normal.
* Tidbit Tip* Sometimes you may want to cave, and get another relaxer. To help me not get another one, I set terms for myself. I had to be natural for at least two years. And, if by the second year I tried everything to absolutely love it and just didn't think it was for me...then I could get another relaxer. This allowed time for me to adjust to my new hair, and really give myself a chance to love it without feeling like I could never go back to relaxed hair.
Three: Detangling
Naturally—no pun intended hehe— it will take time to figure out the best hair care routine.
But, finding the right conditioner can really help create shiny, healthy, easy to detangle, moisturized hair.
What really helps wash day is finding a detangling brush that works for both hair textures.
You want a detangler that will not pull or knot your two textures and cause breakage.
When conditioning find the best brush that works for your curly hair texture (you can look through reviews and figure this out really through trial and error).
I also advise allowing the water to run through your hair while in the shower when detangling, to rinse out the conditioner, and comb through knots at the same time.
It creates smooth hair, fewer knots. Less crying. Zero tears. Shorter showers (save that water baby)!
Four: You Don't Have to 'Type' Your Hair
(Just Yet!)
Allowing time to pass for your hair to develop a pattern of some sort can help you start to analyze and detect which curl type you have.
You can see in the picture (from my transitioning days in 2017), how my hair looks wavy, as my curls meet my relaxed hair (1).
Then, you can see how thick my hair becomes and the density/pattern changes (2).
By the time you reach 10 inches +, your hair will most likely show your curl pattern clearly, especially, if you’ve found great products that work well and manage your hair while maintaining a routine.
Finding styles that easily blend two textures makes your journey so much easier! Especially, if they are your favorite, easy, go-to hairstyles! Peep the link about to view specific styles that were my favorite!
Six: Stray Away from "Stressing" Hairstyles
I realized that using bobby pins for my buns were making my ends even more fragile, pulling out my hair.
So, if you do a bun or updo make sure you're using moisturizing products and tuck in your ends without using too many bobby pins or something that can pull on the hair and instead, use something soft to secure your ends in the bun.
Because transitioning hair can be very delicate, using a deep conditioner or leave-in conditioner may be beneficial before putting your hair up!
For example, I like to use a soft cotton headband (because my hair is super thick) after a wash day and using a leave-in while rolling my hair into a bun.
This a great way to jazz up your transitioning styles (because you can also use printed headbands, scarves, scrunchies etc.) Using these instead of bobby pins can keep ends tucked in, keeping them moisturized, and protected from the sun! Also, you can peep these tips (and more) on my YouTube video on channel—don't forget to like and subscribe!
Seven: Protect Your Hair From Heat
If you peep my summer tips post on my IG account you'll learn more about how curls can be damaged by the sun (causing heat damage for delicate hair) let alone just the regular heating tools like blow dryers, straighteners, etc.
Heat can be very damaging to your curls even if you aren't transitioning. However, transitioning hair has two textures, as we know, so using a straightener on it can damage the new growth in addition to causing breakage to the area of the hair where the relaxed hair meets the new curly growth.
For my curlies with high porosity hair, summer may be a struggle because your hair already suffers from being dry.
Overall, moisturizing hair masks, deep conditioners, leave-in conditioners, and DIYs can assist with the dryness and make your curls love you again. There are products to help with sun damage too, to protect your scalp and hair from sunburn!
Sun protectant DIYs can prevent damage and can be more sustainable (and you know me, I'm all about reducing plastic consumption)!
Eight: Always Sleep with a Headscarf
Protecting your hair at night is key (before, during, and after transitioning). Make sure you use a silk scarf or pillowcase when sleeping! (This is important bc your ends are very fragile bc of the different textures of hair, especially if you missed some relaxed babes)!
Nine: Take Pictures of Your Journey
One thing that kept me going (besides giving myself a time limit) was to take pictures of my progress. I always felt like my hair wasn't growing, but whenever I would look back, I realize how much my hair did grow, how much my texture changed, or how defined/frizzy it got after using different products.
Ten: Before You Chop
Plan out what potential hairstyles you can do before chopping, to prepare yourself for your new hair.
If you #bigchop yourself, then you most likely will have random relaxed ends that you’ve missed! To prevent this, try big chopping while deep conditioning! This method can help you view those stray relaxed ends faster and easier.
Even so, you may still cut random relaxed ends for a week or so until they are completely gone.
Don't forget to enjoy your journey as much as possible! You are giving yourself a chance to get to know the real new you! Be patient with yourself, you got this. #IfICanDoItSoCanYou
Until next time!
—The Curlfriend