Going Natural Transitioning from Relaxed Hair Without Cutting
Transitioning from relaxed to natural hair is a process that allows you to maintain the length in your hair while it grows.
Some transitioning methods and going natural advice will help you maintain healthy hair while reducing unnecessary breakage.
African American hairstyles transitioning allows you to lessen the need to do the BC or big chop. How long you decide to transition and what products will help with keeping your hair moisturized is things you will need to consider when you start your natural hair journey.
Relaxers also known as creamy crack can cause so much damage to women of color that the idea of continuing on a course of hair abuse is now leading napptural women to go natural. It is an emotional journey that many have experienced.
Hair forums and discussion boards are available to help with the transition period as well as giving the needed support to all you curly heads out there.
In black hair the curl pattern will be more noticeable once it reaches some length, so be patient because it does take time.
Find products that cater to your natural hair, start experimenting with various products to see what will work best for you. Everyone's hair is different and what may work for you may not work for someone else.
Transitioning Information
How long should I transition?
The length of time that you transition depends on the person, some have opted to transition for up to a year or more, while others do the big chop right away, and others keep their ends trimmed slowly reducing relaxed ends as their natural hair grows out.
Its important to note that the point where the natural hair and the relaxed hair meet is really fragile, so in order to minimize breakage you will need to treat all your hair as if it is natural, this means to avoid pressing out your new growth to blend in with your relaxed ends.
It is important that if you decide to transition for 6 months or longer that you will need to start moisturizing and taking care of all your hair as if it is all natural, use products that will help in the process.
How to Straighten Natural Hair without a Relaxer
Once you have some length to your natural hair you will want to blow it out and straighten it at least one time each year to do a length check.
The easiest way to do this is to wash your hair detangle and either blow dry your hair with a comb attachment on your hairdryer or use the no tension method where you just dry your hair by stretching it as you put the dryer close to your natural hair.
I like to stretch my hair with braidouts and twistouts, it usually takes a few days but it saves on me having to put too much heat on my hair.
Once you hair is stretched you can use the heat training method with a flat iron, keep the heat temperature at a moderate degrees and then you can achieve the look of a relaxer without the damage.
transitioning from relaxed to natural hair without the big chop
So many ask the question is it possible to grow ones hair out without cutting off the permed hair.
The reason this is such an issue is because if you have grown your hair long past your shoulders to do the big chop would be traumatic at best, not only for you but everyone in your life.
People get used to seeing you with long hair so suddenly have a twa just may be too much for most to bear so can you still be natural with permed ends?
Some have succeeded with the no chop method in which you stop relaxing your hair and you maintain your new growth in a long term transition.
Unfortunately there are no products that will take the relaxer out of your hair, so you will have to just wait patiently as your hair grows.
It starts by learning how to develop a healthy hair care regimen. The two things that will become your friend is deep conditioning and protective hair styles.
Your goal should be to grow long and healthy hair, no matter if you are maintaining relaxed hair or natural hair.
You will eventually have to start trimming the ends of your hair as your new growth gets longer. If you do not want to wear short hair then you will need to commit to a long term transition process.
Miss Jessies rapid recovery treatment is a deep conditioner that with give you healthy, shiny hair results. To grow longer hair you will need to stop breakage that occurs from using hair products such as combs, brushes, hair accessories.
Protect your hair with satin covered hair rollers, wide tooth combs and satin pillowcase and scarves.
Essential oils and moisturizing gels and creams is what you need to apply to your hair on a daily basis around the temples, hairline and ends of your hair.
It is recommended to try to get the right PH balance in your hair by using aloe vera gel, coconut oil and a cream based leave in conditioner on the hair.
The key is to keep the ends from drying out and breaking off.
You have been natural for several years or most of your life and you may have been natural in the past but for whatever reason you have decided you want to go natural again in 2012.
What transitioning methods should I use?
During the transition process of growing out your relaxer you will need to find good natural hairstyles to wear that way you can allow you hair time to rest while it is growing out.
You are entering a whole new world with your hair and it is one that is less traveled by many black women and napptural women who want to gain healthier longer hair.
So the first thing to do is to look at the product labels, read ingredients on hair care products, make a list of moisture retaining ingredients
So that you can purchase products that will maintain your curl definition, provide softness and manageability as well as retain moisture for added length.
Some of the most popular products include Karens body beautiful, elucence moisture balancing conditioner and shampoo, unrefined shea butter, extra virgin olive oil, coconut milk, carrot oil.
Essential oils and moisturizing gels and creams is what you need to apply to your hair on a daily basis around the temples, hairline and ends of your hair.
It is recommended to try to get the right PH balance in your hair by using aloe vera gel, coconut oil and a cream based leave in conditioner on the hair.
The key is to keep the ends from drying out and breaking off.
You have been natural for several years or most of your life and you may have been natural in the past but for whatever reason you have decided you want to go natural again in 2012.
What transitioning methods should I use?
During the transition process of growing out your relaxer you will need to find good natural hairstyles to wear that way you can allow you hair time to rest while it is growing out.
Some of the best natural hairstyles for transitioning is two strand twists, flat braids, and banti knots.
Using protective styles require that you change up and have variety, due to added stress your hair will receive if you stick with just one protective style method.
So if you find that you like to wear twists, wear them for a month and then the next month pick a different transitioning method for your hair.
Braid outs is also recommended to use while transitioning.
Natural hair is stronger than permed hair but it is also can be fragile, fine and course so it needs to be handled with gentle care.
Going Natural without cutting hair
I get so many emails from woman who want to go natural but they do not want to cut their hair or do the big chop, what they will eventually find is that they will have to cut off the ends of their hair as it grows to avoid damage and breakage.
Once hair has been relaxed it is no longer healthy, it will be weak and not as strong as your new growth, also the curl pattern you seek will be unattainable as long as you keep your straight ends.
Regrow Hair Tips
Some hair growth options include being able to transition without much hair breakage, but if you do incur hair loss some simple solutions would be to use natural home remedies to grow healthier hair.
End hair loss naturally
A natural topical treatment that accelerates hair growth without any unwanted side effects, you will be able to regrow thick natural hair with saw palmetto, nettle, capsicum, ginger and camellia.
Coconut milk and oil is also natural and moisturizing to the scalp and hair, rosemary leaves in water and castor oil provide the needed nourishment.
Perfect 10 Haircolor
Dying your hair when it is natural is easier if you pick a color that matches your current hair, simply because if you bleach it or use high definition colors it will disturb your curl pattern and most times it will relax the curl to the point that it will not return to its kinky state,
which is not a good look especially in the front of your forehead when you need to wear an afro or blow out and kinky twists, sticking with a dark brown, black or even a reddish brown will give your hair some shine and healthy pickup.
Best Hairstyles for Transitioning From Relaxed Hair
As you go through your natural hair journey you will find that some styles work better than others, some of the more popular protective hair styles are kinky strand twists.
Remember the size of the kinky twists is what you want to keep at a small to medium size because if they are too big they will drop and not stay very long as your hair starts to grow out.
One method that I use to keep my twists neat is shea butter. I have found that the thickness of the shea butter helps maintain my natural hair and keeps it in place even after a few weeks in the same hair style.
If you decide to wash your hair and keep your twists you may want to re-apply the shea butter along with a leave-in conditioner while your hair is still damp. To save time you can re-twist at the root of your new growth and secure with bobby pins.