Once Upon A Natural

Transitioning

Transitioning is the process of going natural from chemical treated hair. Many people will try to transition, and I was one of those persons. Transitioning is not an easy process especially if you do not know what your hair texture is like. These are some tips to make your process easier. It won't magically make all the struggle go away but it will surely help.
Steps to transitioning:
1. Keep your hair moisturized at all times, usually with some product that is creamy. Try to keep away from water when you are styling transition hair. The hair is more delicate and water will only make the hair softer and easier tear/break.

2. When washing your hair you might want to have both a sulfate and non- sulfate shampoo. You can read the ingredients on the back of your shampoo to know if it contains sulfate or not. When ever you watch your hair use the non-sulfate shampoo, but use the sulfate shampoo after 4 or 5 times of using the non- sulfate. The non-sulfate will not strip the oils from your hair as much as the sulfate will and so the non- sulfate is better for your hair but however because it does not strip away the oils from your hair as much this might cause product build up on your hair and this can be bad for your hair. This is why you use the sulfate shampoo so you can get rid of all that build up. Now you are probably thinking (I don't want product build up in the first place so why don't I just use the sulfate shampoo always). Your hair is fragile in its transition stage and too much striping of the oil will cause it to get brittle and break.
This why you balance it.

3. Wash your hair ever one week and half to 2 weeks. Too mush washing of your hair will strip your hair of the oils whether you use a sulfate or non- sulfate shampoo or just deep condition; your hair is still being cleaned and this might contribute to dry, itchy scalp which might contribute flasks or dandruff.

4. Keep your hair in protective staying at all cost. Try to do the protective style without extensions because the extensions might easily cause your hair to tear when you are removing it and if done to tight might cause alopecia ( balding of the head usually the edges). If you are doing protective styling without extensions then the longest time period that the style should be in is 2 weeks and the shortest is 1 weeks. You can also remove between that 1 week and 2 weeks time period. If you are doing protective styling with extension then the shortest time period I would recommend is 2 weeks and the longest time period is 3 months.

5. When combing your hair use a natural size tooth comb meaning that it is not too wide and it is not two small. You might be tempted to try Finger detangling but if is not don't properly it will only cause more knots and tangles in you hair over a period of time and you even end up with dreadlocks looking hair. When combing your hair make sure it is moisturize properly and comb with gentleness to help prevent breakage and tearing.

6. Remember to deep condition! You can deep condition ever 2-3 times period that you wash you hair. Excess deep condition will cause protein overload and can cause your hair to break. If you wash you hair every 2 weeks then you deep condition on the fourth week along when u wash your hair the second time. If you wash your hair every week and a half then you would deep condition you hair on the 3rd week (the second time).

7. Do not be afraid to big chop! If you feel that a big chop is what you hair need to be healthier because your texturized hair is just to damaged to be transition to natural hair the big chop.

8.Transitioning does not mean that your hair will magically get healthy. You stop chemically treating your hair and that's why you hair health might improve but transition only turns your hair natural so if you have badly damaged chemically treated hair get rid of the bad parts because that will only become damaged natural hair if you make it stay. Some damages can be restored to normal when treated properly so only start removing damage after about 2 months in transitioning, that way all restoreable damage will be restored. It is all important that you clip off an inch of your hair in the beginning of your transitioning process ( but this should be your preference of choice many people start transitioning with removing the inch).