Things I Learned When I Went Natural

No Relaxer Is Going Natural

There are several ways to go natural. One can simply start their natural hair journey by not relaxing their hair anymore.

Big Chops Aren't Necessary

You don't have to chop off all your relaxed ends at once to go natural. You can gradually trim or cut your relaxed ends, which is called transitioning. Transitioning can take as much or little time as you want. It depends on you and how fast or slow you want to go. 

Transitioning Requires Patience

The heading says it all. Transitioning requires a patience you do not need with a big chop, because you're taking care of and dealing with two different hair textures at the same time. There are challenges that come with dealing with two different textures at once. Besides the challenge of caring for two hair textures, there is the waiting that comes with transitioning. You might start to get impatient with wanting to know what your hair type is (Andre Walker System) or hair porosity is (high, medium or low). When you still have your relaxed ends, you can not really get a ton of answers on that until all your relaxed ends are gone. 

Cut Wet Hair

This is a hair cutting tip. You cut hair when it is wet, not when it is dry. I never really attempted to cut my own hair, so I didn't know until I started my natural hair journey for the second time that you only cut hair when it is wet.

Dry Hair Doesn't Tell Curl Patterns
Dry hair can't really tell you much about a person's so called curl pattern, because the hair may be stretched , twisted out, weighed down by the relaxed ends and so forth.

If You Have To Use Heat

If you are going to use heat in your hair, make sure you deep condition and moisturize your hair first. When possible let your hair air dry, so you can use less heat, because you aren't having to use heat to dry before you style. Also use a heat protector and don't use excessive high heat. The only way to be 100% sure you have no heat damage is by not using heat. 

Heat May Delay Hair Texture

If you spend the majority of your natural hair journey applying heat, especially if you're transitioning like me, it is possible that you might not have seen your actual texture yet.

Oils

When being new to natural hair it is possible to have misconceptions about your hair and hair products and techniques. I learned Oils are moisturizers that seal moisture in. The difference is oils do not have water, so they do not add moisture in.