Transitioning
I transitioned without really understanding what it was. All I knew was I was tired of relaxing my hair every six weeks! I hate the smell and while my hair was ‘silky’ it was blah. More and more I started to envy women that I thought had ‘good hair’ with their beautiful curls or waves; never realizing the beauty of my own hair. I wanted the big, beautiful hair.
So not knowing that I was ‘transitioning’ (because I did not know all of the lingo of natural hair), I just stopped relaxing my hair and kept flat ironing it. I researched the internet about none relaxer methods to straighten my hair. I came across Diva Smooth. I liked it and loved that I didn’t need to use chemicals to straighten my hair.
I will not repeat the rest of my story but just wanted to share to other women that may be considering transitioning from relaxed to natural. I wanted to give some tips that I learned the hard way.
1) Patience – Patience is a must! Whether you decide to transition for a long time or do the Big Chop (BC) after a short period, you must have patience. Many of us have never dealt with our hair in its natural state. For this reason, it is imperative that you be patient in learning what you hair likes, what works, what doesn’t work. Also the stage that you are at. Hair, all hair does different things at different lengths, natural hair is no different.
For some reason, we seem to be harder on our natural hair. We want it to behave quick, fast and in a hurry! It won’t work. So instead of a lot of headaches, take your time to learn your natural hair.
2) You can’t always have what you see! – There are so many blogs out here and YouTube videos with how to videos. Someone with a similar hair type describes how they achieved a certain style. That’s nice but it may not be for you. Everything just doesn’t work for everybody. Dee and I learned this the hard way and were frustrated because we could not achieve the same style. Some things just don’t work for every head.
3) Product Junkism – Don’t do it! Every week there is a new ‘natural’ product that comes out. It seems the new money maker. You will waste so much money trying every product. Try one product, if it doesn’t work as good as you may like, don’t let it go to waste. You can find someone else that it may work for. I’m fortunate in that I have my daughter and Dee. Find a friend that is natural or some of the forums people do swap. If you do find a product you like, stick with it. I have tried so many products and finally went back to what worked. My regimen is very simple and it works. I don’t change up every time a new product comes out (any more, lol).
4) Do what works! - Keep it simple and do what you like. Don’t give in to what others have to say. It took me a long time to get comfortable with wearing styles that weren’t conventional. When I say conventional, when I stopped flat-ironing my hair I wore styles that were either a roller set or flat twisting the front and twist-n-curling the back so no one really knew my hair was natural. Now, I wear it big and proud! I love my big hair and others do too!
5) It is a process – Never forget that it is a process. Your hair will not be how you want it for a while but it is worth it. It is definitely a challenge dealing with two different textures but if you keep your hair moisturized you should be okay. Styles like I described in #4 can be used to ‘hide’ the different textures. Flat-ironing or braids are other options if you don’t want to deal with you hair too much. But whatever you do remember it takes time. I’m only two years in but my hair is so different than when I first started. But I am glad for the process as it gave me the time to know my hair. Love, love, love it!
Stay the course and don’t give up, it will be worth it!
