Five Best Practices to Know About Transitioning from Relaxed to Natural Hair

Are you relaxed or natural? That's the current question most women are asking each other these days. This question is normally followed by a huge debate on the in's and out's of why each side of this war should change their dreaded hair practices.

I totally support going natural. However, I also believe it's not for everyone. Whether it be the condtion of the hair or the lenghty styling involved at times sometimes things just don't fit into our lifestyle.Here are some things they don't tell you before you consider going natural:

1) Physical Toll

As you get deeper into the transitioning process you will notice the dreaded new growth that you normally run to relax but you can't do that now, you're going natural. The longer this goes on the harder it is to conceal. You have to learn new ways to style your hair without damaging it. The hair is very fragile in this state. If you are not careful you could end up with some major damage which is the reason some opt to go for the BC (or big chop). Natural hair is not the easiest to style and for me it took some getting used to before I was comfortable with wearing it in its natural shape. After years and years of getting my hair relaxed I was just used to the sleek look (which I can still achieve with a flat iron) and the natural look to me can sometimes look unkempt or fuzzy. But that can be alleviated with a lot of trial and error in which you will do a lot of discovering what works for your natural hair.

2) Mental Toll

"What's wrong with your hair". "You're going natural? Oh, I'd never!" Theses are just a few phrases you might hear before, during, even after you go natural. The questions, the comments to me was the aggravating part because people just don't get the logic behind the choice. For so long most african-american women have been groomed to have the relaxed look and anything otherwise is a monstrosity and should be avoided. You have to prepare your self for this on top of the frustration you experience from dealing with your own insecurities you know have to deal with the general masses. Thank goodness I have my own mind because otherwise. I'd be in tears daily.

3) All Beauticians are not your friends

Find you a hairstylist that supports you going natural. A while back it was pretty hard to find the support I needed to go natural so I just became an expert at finding out what I needed to know. You don't want someone whose going to complain about having to do your natural hair which is a major complaint I've heard from stylist saying that the extra time spent takes money out of their pockets. So defeinietly find out will your current stylist be able to support this life change.

4) YouTube is a great resource

YouTube is the holy grail of natural haircare and styling. I don't know about you but I need step-by-step/ visual instructions sometimes to really get what I'm doing. YouTube also offers different people with all types of new ideas, best practices, and just general need-to-know information about any and everything but especially natural haircare at home.

5) The reward is greater than the trial

After all that is said and done I have to say I think whatever decesion you make about being natural or not being natural. Whatever you decide through it all it will be a great experience. Learning about your hair and namely about yourself and being comfortable is what its all about.

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