The Long and Curly Road-Getting Through Your Transition

I would love to tell you that your transition from relaxed to natural hair will be easy. I'd live to tell you that you will never have to worry or think about your hair ever again; but I can't. You deserve to know the truth, so here is what I've experienced and felt during my transition.


Detangling: If you're not used to handling and caring for natural hair, getting started can be tough. Always work in sections. It is too easy to get overwhelmed trying to detangle or style a whole head of hair at once. I suggest you invest in several sets hair clips. I also learned that water is your friend. Curly/kinky hair should only be detangled when wet and with a wide-toothed comb. Start from the ends and work your way up. Some people use a Denman paddle brush to smooth out and detangle sections of hair, but if your hair is really curly/kinky I would stick with the wide-toothed comb. When you're detangling your hair, remember the weakest parts of your hair will be where the new natural growth meets up with the relaxed hair and where the curl bends. Not paying special attention to these area will result in damage and extra frizziness. Take your time when detangling and don't be afraid to spray some extra water on to help loosen up any tangles. If you do come across 'the mother of all tangles', you can try snipping it out with a pair of hair shears. Pulling and forcing the tangle will result in breakage.


Shampoo and Conditioner: One of the things I learned pretty quickly was that traditional shampoo was not going to work with my natural hair. As my transition went on, I noticed when I used traditional shampoo, it stripped my natural hair of all of its moisture leaving it dry, frizzy and especially hard to detangle. Traditional shampoos have harsh sulfates in them that tend to leave more pourous curly hair with less moisture than straight hair. This is when I started co-washing, using conditioner to detangle and add moisture to my hair then risning it out which left my hair soft, manageable and clean. When preparing to wash my hair, I usually section it off holding each section in place with a clip. Then going section by section I spray it down with water, detangle and add conditioner to the detangled section. Once all sections have conditioner on them, I let it stay in for an hour or two for deep conditioning. In the shower, I take down one section of at a time to rinse and detanlge it before putting it back into the clip. It sounds like a lot of work; but in the end, it makes the job of styling your hair much easier. Every three weeks or so, I do use a low detergent shampoo to get rid of any build up I have and this systems has worked well for me.