My Relaxed to Natural Hair Journey Update Without Cutting All My Hair OffIt's been 12 months since I decided to go natural. Well done to me and all of you other curly haired people that have made the same daring decision. However, the real questions is, "Am I going to do a Big Chop or not?"
That decision was easy as pie for me. I was definitely, not chopping off all my hair, right down to my roots and starting from scratch! Been there (unwillingly), done that, and won't be cutting my hair above my shoulder ever again.
In the past 11 months, my hair has really transformed from shoulder length (when straightened), stringy, lifeless, with wacky curl pattern, to boob length when curly! My hair now has a great curl pattern, but only when using specific products in my hair, and breakage has decreased dramatically.
My hair has been through so much damage from using a flat iron,
swimming twice a day, six days a week in chlorinated pool water, coloring
and relaxing my hair.If you would like to know about my hair journey from relaxed to natural without a "big chop", keep reading, and I'll try my best to explain what has worked for me.
The main issue that I struggled with was breakage and detangling. My hair was always getting tangled and tangles was the worst part of my transition process.
I have just recently started to finger comb my hair, now that I have finally figured out a technique or finger detangling process that works best for my hair. I also split my hair into two or sometimes four sections so that I can get product evenly over all my hair and detangle it better.
My hair was quite short a year ago, as you can see from the first three photos. When it was straight it was just above my shoulders. Now it's down to my boobs when it's curly!
I
know the reason why I have had such trouble detangling is because, I am
dealing with two different textures in my hair, due to not chopping off
all the damaged hair. That is a decision I am sticking with and all the
crazy tangles that I experience, is something I am going to have to live with
and deal with until I eventually cut off all the damaged hair and have one
texture again. I can hold off until that day comes. Here's a few tips from my experience of going natural without cutting all my hair off:
- Concentrate on your ends! I knew that my ends is where I was loosing the length and that was the reason why my hair never seemed to grow past my shoulders. My ends were constantly drying out and and breaking off. The ends are the oldest part of your hair and need more moisture and protein than your roots, because the natural oils and nutrients can't travel down curly hair shafts as well as people with pin straight hair. That's why our roots are always softer than our ends, and why people with pin straight hair deal with oiliness.
- Get the best detangler you can get your hands on. The most annoying and irritating issue that I've dealt with on this journey is detangling my hair. Dealing with two different textures from deciding not to do a big chop gets my hair gets into the worst tangles. Having a good detangler that provides that "slip" in your hair in important, because you don't want to pull and tug at your hair so much that you are breaking it off yourself! Your hair needs to rest as much as possible. Detangling with ease will decrease breakage and fall out.
- Analyze your hair and figure out what it needs. Your hair is technically dead, but it still needs its share of nutrients, moisture and protein to stay strong and grow long. Click on the link below to watch my video on how I analyze my hair. The video might help you get an idea of what is going with your own hair, and avoid making the same mistakes that I did along the way and playing the "guessing game" for longer than you have to. Click Here to watch my video on How to do an Easy Hair Analysis and Figure Out if Your Hair Needs Protein or Moisture
- Tuck your hair away. Stop wearing your hair down all the time and allowing it to get tangled and dried out from all the air and rubbing against your cotton clothing. If you wear protective hair styles and keep your ends tucked away from the outside air as much as possible, it will prevent your hair from drying out as much.
No comments:
Post a Comment