Hey, Curlies!

The process of embracing your natural hair texture or “going natural” involves a lot more than people believe. It not only transforms you physically, I believe it does mentally as well.

When I first went natural in 2010, it was all trial and error as the natural hair movement wasn’t as alive as it is today.

Here are the 5 things I wish I knew while transitioning to natural hair. Hopefully, this will help you on your journey.

  1. The texture you see growing out of your scalp during the transitioning stage is NOT your true texture. The texture may seem looser than normal because you still have relaxed ends attached. Those ends are weighing down your new growth which causes a looser pattern to appear. Once you decide to cut off your relaxed ends, things will be very different.
  2. Moisture is key! Especially during the beginning of my transition, I continued to treat my hair as if the entire head was still relaxed. That was a big NO-NO. You have to remember that you have two different textures in your hair and that you must be gentle. This means no harsh combing/ brushing and limited heating tools.
  3. Shedding will occur, but it is not the end of the world. (I promise) I attempted to transition two years but I only made it to 14 months because I experienced tons of shedding. The key here is knowing how to deal with the shedding. Deep condition your hair after every wash and do protein treatments when needed.
  4. Protective styling can go a long way when transitioning. I’m still not sure why I did not figure this out sooner. I began wearing braids, twists, and sew-ins more toward the end of my phase. These styles are low manipulation which causes you not to damage your strands as often. Most of the time you will see tremendous growth during these times.
  5. People in the world are just plain mean! You have to be mentally ready to be attacked by the ones around you. Natural hair is just beginning to break through and some people still do not recognize that. You have to build inner confidence and also maybe a little anger control to handle some of the people that you may run across.

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