My Natural Hair Transition

My natural transition

In 2013, I embarked on the journey to natural hair. I was tired of relaxers, damage and breakage so I tried to go natural. Mind you I was 49 years of age and had gotten my first relaxer at 19 years of age. Needless to say, that after 30 years, I had NO recall of my natural hair. So the journey began and not long after ended because I admit that I had not done my homework. My natural hair was dry, brittle and as damaged as my relaxed hair (honestly, the texture to me felt like steel wool). All I could do with it was wash it, condition it, French braid it to the back and throw on a wig. After about 5 months I gave up and relaxed my hair and repeating the cycle of breakage and damage.

Then in the Fall of 2015, I took down the French braid that in my shoulder length hair to find a bald spot an inch and a half wide and three inches long!! I stood in the mirror stunned with my mind racing trying to phantom what could possibly HAPPENED to my hair. To my dismay, in the bald spot was NOT A strand of hair! Seriously. When the shock wore off, I said to myself, “you don’t know what happened but it’s already done so what’s the next step? I washed my hair, applied a deep conditioner, vowed to not relax my hair again and began to search the Web for help on transitioning from relaxed to natural.

It was hard not to feel overwhelm with all the advice and product promotion so I started with the basics. The other disheartening thing was the “big chop” or cutting off the relaxed hair. I wasn’t ready. So here are the three steps I took starting my transition.

Confident woman in her natural hair.

First, I EMBRACED my natural hair and the journey to all natural with determination! I looked forward to longer, thicker hair as my relaxed hair was very thin. In this step it is best to learn your hair texture so going forward you know how to care for your hair type. Please remember that what works for others may not work for you. This can be hair products, treatments, when and how often you do whatever to your hair. Trust me, you can waste a lot of money buying every product that’s recommended. If you’ve had relaxed hair for years, you will have to get to know your natural hair all over again.

Second, I tried the basics of hair care. Regularly washing, conditioning, moisturizing and oiling my scalp. Then I heard about LOC (liquid, oil, crème) and LOCO (liquid, oil, crème, oil). This method made the most sense to me. I thought back to the days of the CareFree Curl and people who had 2 inches of hair their whole life grew hair down their backs. Why? Because their scalp was constantly moist or wet and that allowed the hair to grow out of their scalp.

Woman getting her hair braided

Third, I did not comb, brush or apply any heat to my hair. This is one of the best things to do especially if you decide against the big chop and you are dealing with both natural and relaxed hair. Some people recommend a wide tooth comb for detangling. Personally, I use my fingers.

For me this helped me to get better acquainted with my hair. Did you know that the average person has at least two different hair types? Finger combing my taught me which areas of my hair were which hair type.

Overall, you be the judge of what works for you.

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