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Transitioning 101: Conditioner and your hair! Ok, I'll cut right to the chase. You cannot successfully transition (or even stretch your relaxers) without embracing conditioners. Heck, you healthy hair journey will be mainly about disciplining yourself to use conditioner consistently and correctly.
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Transitioning 101: Wide-tooth combs Wide-toothed combs
Most of us remember our hair being combed or detangled as children. These are not fond memories for the majority. Why? Usually a mix of the wrong technique (we'll cover that later) and the wrong tools. Now, my mother used to use either fine-toothed combs (aka, rat-tail combs) and medium-toothed combs to comb my hair. I NEVER enjoyed having my hair done. I liked the finished braided result, but I hated the torture to achieve it! A wide-tooth comb was one of the first things I ran out and bought as I started my hair journey. It really made a difference. How? Well, for one thing, I wasn't ripping right through my hair, catching every other bump in the hair shaft. For another thin, I wasn't loosing as much hair in the process. We have kinky-curly hair. As such, we need tools that take that into account. When we detangle, we aren't trying to get rid of the twists and turns in our hair, we're just trying to remove shed hairs that can get caught up! On a transitioning head of hair, you have more new growth that can catch up those shed hairs. Furthermore, you don't want to be too rough on that fragile demarcation line. If you yank, the relaxed hair will break off from the new growth - which is firmly attached to the scalp -WHOOPS! A wide-toothed comb is a gentle starter for anyone on a healthy hair journey. Detangling combs: People rave about the Denman brushes and now they rave about the Tangle Teezer! Well, I did not find the former to my liking, but I do like the latter. I don't feel that I NEED them to continue in my healthy hair journey, but they do help once a month or so, to really remove the shed hairs that escaped the wide-toothed comb. When I started transitioning, I only used a wide-toothed comb on freshly washed damp hair. I would apply my leave-in conditioner and seal, then detangle! This works well for me. I find my Tangle Teezer has the added benefit of smoothing my hair shaft so the hair is shinier, smoother and dries softer. It is not necessary, I repeat, IT IS NOT NECESSARY to have a detangling comb! You can get very far without one and may never need one! Wide-toothed combs tend to be cheaper and more easy to find in the local beauty supply store. In fact, one of my first wide-toothed combs came as a free gift with some Fashion fair make-up purchases! Try them out and see. Transitioning 101: Getting Started Transitioning This is going from relaxed or texturized hair, aka chemically-treated, to hair that is au-naturale. It grew out of your scalp that way! Should I transition? This is a completely personal thing. You should never transition for reasons outside of yourself. If you do, you may find you don't like the process, or dislike the end result. Transition or go natural for reasons of your own. What's the difference between transitioning and going natural? Well, one involves a period of growing out the chemically-treated hair to a certain length and then cutting it off to leave only the new growth: that's transitioning. Going natural involves simply getting a pair of scissors or going to the barbers and getting all the chemically-treated hair cut off - in one bold move!_ For the Long Haul: HairCrush Ok, here's a natural whose wonderful head of hair helped me to finally say, "Yep, I'm transitioning long-term!" She has been amazing at keeping her fotki page updated with tons of hair pics to keep us hoping and she now has a youtube channel: HairCrush Here she is: ManeChick (Haircrush). Her fotki is here (for more pics) ![]() Are you natural or transitioning? I am 100% na-tu-ral! What is your hair type? 4a and 4b. What made you decide to transition and why long-term? Something just clicked! I realized as an African American woman my hair was never meant to be straight; I would never fit theEuropean standard of beauty. I was killing my hair with chemical relaxers and decided to leave my hair in its natural state the way God intended it to be. I transitioned long term because I didn't want to go through a phase of wanting to hide my hair because it was too short and I wanted to give my hair time to grow to a length where I would be comfortable. And I have a big head....lol! A TWA (teeny weeny afro) would not have been hot on me, lol! How long did you transition for? I transitioned for 2 years and 3 1/2 months. Did you have a goal length for ending your transition? I wanted the hair around the nape of my neck to be at least past my collar bone. For the Long Haul: Nada101 Another treat for transitioners, naturals and those thinking of taking the plunge: Nada101! A hairlista with a gorgeous head of natural hair! Are you natural or transitioning? I am Natural. What is your hair type? Truthfully, I do not know what my hair type is, so normally I don't put my hair in a specific category unless asked. However, for the purpose of picking a hair type I would guess that I am a type 4a with maybe some 3c, but again I am not 100% sure about my hair type. What made you decide to transition and why long-term?
I decided to transition because I no longer desired having my hair relaxed. I began to read books like Cathy Howse, Thinning Edges and Curly Girl and I began to realize how damaging chemical relaxers are. I decided to do a long-term transition because ,for majority of my life I had a decent length of hair. I knew that if I did not have a certain length of hair, then I would not be comfortable. How long did/are you planning to transition for? I transitioned for a total of 2 years. Did/do you have a goal length for ending your transition? I did not really have a specific goal length for ending my transition. All I wanted was my hair to fit into a ponytail before I ended my transition. Reason being I was not really interested in wearing my hair down all of the time and I wanted to have the freedom of being able to either wear my hair down or put my hair up. Any naturals who inspired you during your transition? Yes, there were so many naturals I was inspired by! Here is just a few people who have inspired me along my way: Bublnbrnsuga (former Fotki name)- She was natural for quite a few years and had beautiful long natural hair. As of recent years, she relaxed her hair and is now natural again. She no longer uses Fotki, but you can find her on Youtube under ChakaKhanian Zhara, Velvet, Louisvuittongurl, Peachtree, Curlybear and Blackrican (all from Fotki) Click "Read more" to view more pictures and the remaining interview! For the Long haul: SKY To kick off the New Year, we have an amazing transitioner to grace our pages!
She has been transitioning for ~30 months now and she has inspired me to continue reaching for greater lengths whilst on my transition. This KISS and Fotki member has a tail-bone-length hair when stretched and her new growth is thick and thriving. Well, now that I've got your attention, read on to learn more about Sky and her transitioning tips! Are you natural or transitioning? I am transitioning from relaxed to natural. What is your hair type? I don't understand hair typing nor does it matter to me so I'm guessing its 4a with some 3c? This is how I describe my hair; multi/highly textured, course, kinky, wavy, frizzy, curly, soft and thick. What made you decide to transition and why long-term? I missed the versatility of my natural hair and I wanted my thickness back. How long are you planning to transition for? For as long as my relaxed ends can hang on for without looking too ridiculous. No special date. Do you have a goal length for ending your transition? Since I don't plan on ending my my transition any time soon, I'm not sure, but if for some reason I changed my mind and set a date I would prefer my new growth to be at least mid back approaching waist before I end the transition (hopefully). For the Long Haul: Laila-Jean! A special treat, today! Here's an amazing transitioner, who I found on fotki, but funnily enough is from my side of the pond - the UK! She's a Ghanian Native (next door to my home country, Nigeria) and has bags of style, wonderfully infectious energy and enthusiasm when it comes to her hair. Her youtube channel: Fusion of Cultures is one of my favourites but don't forget her Blog :Honey Molasses and fotki page (for more pictures). Here she is: Laila-Jean! Are you natural or transitioning? I’m currently transitioning to natural. I was relaxed for a few years but I’m actually transitioning from a texturizer.
What is your hair type? I’m not really into hair typing because I personally feel that it’s just another tool used to segregate us as a race. However, I would describe my hair as being very thick with a combination of coily, curly and wavy strands. It’s really soft and absorbs everything! However, it seems to be changing as time goes on, so it might be different once I BC. For the Long Haul: Shannon Are you natural or transitioning?I am Transitioning What is your hair type? 3c,4c What made you decide to transition and why long-term? I decided to transition because I didn't want to get relaxers all my life and I wanted to make a change, which is go natural. Long-term because I don't want to cut my hair again. How long did/are you planning to transition for?
I plan on transitioning until sometime in 2011 Did/do you have a goal length for ending your transition?Neck Length Any naturals who inspired you during your transition? Yes: Ivy Charlaine, Jill Scott, longhairdontcare2011 Click "Read More"! to view more pictures and the remainder of the interview! Inspiration | Transitioning Deep Condition I love cocoa89's hair and how much natural hair she's got with her relaxed ends. She finally big-chopped this year and posted a video in October! Check her out and do subscribe! ♥
For the Long Haul: Chantelly! This time, I want you ladies to join me in congratulating a new natural who is gracing our pages! Chantelly! This brave lady shares her surprise decision to go natural right through to final chop! Without much further ado...... ![]() Are you natural or transitioning? I am officially rocking 100% natural hair. I did my BC/Mini chop two days before I reached 15 months post on October 26, 2010. I think my hair type would be considered 4a. What made you decide to transition and why long-term? Believe it or not, it all started when I wanted to stretch my relaxer for 6 months. Then I remembered that I had done that when I tried to transition a few years ago. I figured if I could make it so 6 months then I could go for a year, and if I make a year than I might as well go natural. That's how I made my decision to go natural. How long did you plan to transition for? I decided on transitioning for 2 years but I was happy with the amount of hair I had at 15 months post. Click "Read More" for more pics of her gorgeous hair and to find more tips for transitioning! |
LolasCurls
Hey there!
I'm Lola - a hair obsessed doctor who stumbled into running long distances and baking all the cupcakes. I blog about life, running and of course, hair! I'm an AltraRunCrew sponsored Athlete and a "RADRabbit" with Rabbit athletic gear, so I will do the occasional running shoe review. For business enquires, email me at [email protected] I do not own the copyright to all the pictures so I will credit the source, where that is the case. Categories
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