So guys this first part of the series is going to be about transitioning.
Transitioning is when you are going from having your hair chemically relaxed or straightened to having it natural and curly. Transitioning is something that a lot of girls and guys with curly hair go through however I have also seen a lot of people that are doing it wrong! (:
The biggest mistake that I see girls who are transitioning doing are using heat on their hair while it is still healing and trying to repair itself. That is a big no no!
When you are transitioning you cannot use any kind of heat on your hair at all. Your hair has to get used to it's natural pattern again and because your hair may be damaged the heat that you are using on your hair will only cause it to get more damaged and break off causing it not to grow.
I would say that you should not use heat on your hair for a good 6 months to a year while you are transitioning back to curly hair. This includes the flat iron and the blow dryer and the hot comb.
Another big thing when you are transitioning is that you need to keep your hair moisturized at all times. The moisture is going to help repair your hair and keep it from breaking off. That being said there are a couple things that you must invest in when you are transitioning:
A good deep conditioner
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I have said this in so many posts, if you want to your hair to be healthy and especially if you want it to grow you need to deep condition it regularly. I would say at least twice a week when you first begin transitioning and then after maybe 6 months you can go down to once a week however I deep condition my hair twice a week and I have always been natural.
Also when you are looking for a deep conditioner I recommend getting one that states that it will repair the hair. I know that Ion has a few reconstructing deep conditioners that work really well and of course there is Shea Moisture that is wonderful on transitioning hair (I have a review on Shea Moisture's deep treatment masque here)
A good leave-in
I swear by having a seal in conditioner. I do not care what kind of hair you have and if you are transitioning or not everyone needs a leave-in.
Leave-in conditioners help to moisturize your hair like conditioners do however they also seal in moisture from deep conditioning treatments. I use a leave in conditioner on my hair everyday because I know my hair needs the moisture and I do not want it to dry out.
Every hair care line on the planet has a leave-in conditioner and they all pretty much do the same thing but the ones that I have tried are Garnier Frictis, Paul Mitchell, GVP, DermOrganic and Bioterra. I had a good experience with all of these leave-ins but if you try something that does not work for you try something else, do not get discouraged (: I have a review on the GVP Paul Mitchell leave-in conditioner here (:
An oil
Some people do not think about putting oil on their hair however if you are transitioning then oil is your best friend because oils are the best way to moisturize your hair. The best oils to use on your hair when you are transitioning are either olive oil or coconut oil. Both of them are great and some people like to use coconut oil in their deep conditioner and use olive oil as their daily moisturizer which is perfectly fine.
I use coconut oil because I found that olive oil was really heavy and it weighed my hair down so it is just figuring out what works for you.
Also when you put oil in your hair to moisturize it you want to make sure that you use your leave in conditioner afterwords to seal in that moisture.
Get you hair trimmed
I know that most of us dread getting our hair cut because we want it to be long and beautiful but when you start transitioning back to your natural hair texture you need to make sure you get all of your dead ends cut off. Because no matter what they will never look good and they will only weigh your hair down. Once your hair is cut it can grow properly and be healthy.
That being said I am not going to tell you to get your hair trimmed regularly. My philosophy is that if you cut your hair regularly it will not grow. So what I recommend doing is taking excellent care of your hair and when you see it is starting to look really dead and wispy at the ends then give yourself a little trim at home (see my tutorial for a quick trim here) but do not go to a salon.
I do this maybe once every 6 months and my hair is well past my shoulders (down to my belly button to be exact).
Protective hairstyles
The last thing that you want to keep in mind when you are transitioning is finding some protective hairstyles that you like. A protective hairstyle is any kind of style that keeps your ends from being exposed to the elements but especially your clothes and the air.The air can really dry out your hair and when you hair rubs against your clothing it causes friction and split ends.
Protective hairstyling is crucial to transitioning hair because it is really weak so you really want to protect your hair as often as you can.
There are all kinds of protective hairstyles: braids, buns, up dos, Mohawks, pompadours. All you have to do is find some that you like and rock them. Most of them are really cute and they protect your hair (: its a win win situation!
Comment down below guys and tell me what your natural hair texture is (: did you always like it?
Well guys that is it for this post (: I hope that, for any curly girls out there that are transitioning, this helped you (: and for anyone is considering transitioning I hope that this has convinced you to embrace your natural texture because natural hair looks good on EVERYONE!
Be safe and I will see you guys in my next post (:
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