Keep It Kinky: Natural Hair and Beauty: Transitioning Again: 0-5 Months Journey

Transition Start Date - May 1, 2013 (about 2 weeks post relaxer)

I've transitioned to natural or cut my hair off quite a few times in my life. I'm one of those people who are always craving change and love to use my hair as a creative outlet. Well, I planned to stay relaxed for a year but I didn't last. I had my last relaxer near May 1, 2013 and I thought, since I've pretty much mastered the art of transitioning, I'll share my journey with you.

2 Months Post Relaxer

At about two months post-relaxer, not much changes. I do however start to do more roller sets, bantu knot outs, twist-outs and braid-outs at night to keep my hair detangled and stretched at nights. The truth is, maintaining healthy relaxed hair is not much different from maintaining healthy natural hair. I would moisturise with a water based leave-in and seal the moisture in with a light oil at nights then prep my hair for the next day's style. I still deep condition every 1-2 weeks.

3 and 1/2 Months Post-relaxer - Transitioning Hairstyle

3 Months Post-relaxer - Transitioning Hairstyle

At 3 months post-relaxer, I started doing more updos. This was the peak of summer and they allowed me to keep cooler since my hair was away from my neck. I also experimented with braid-outs that allowed me to kind of have that big haired natural look that was something also fun for the summer. Braid-outs are a great way to mentally prepare you for the look of natural hair. Pictures of a few of those styles are above.

Check out a video in about month 3 of my new hair journey where I spoke about my decision to transition.

At four months, I started to get bored with daily styling so I began doing styles that would last me 1-2 weeks like the one below.

Low -Manipulation Protective style on Transitioning Hair

I also got my hair done at the salon so that I just didn't have to deal with it. It have me a fun break from daily styling. If you ever begin to struggle on your natural hair journey, go to a salon until you feel like doing your hair again.

Braids Extensions at 5 months Transitioning to Natural Hair

Now, at 5 months, things are becoming a little more challenging. Daily manipulation is causing a little more stress on the line of demarcation (where the relaxed hair meets the natural new growth) so I get a little more breakage if I am not very gentle. I therefore decided to play with a style using a new natural-looking type of hair. Because my real hair is almost arm pit length at this point, my braids are pretty long. We didn't cut artificial hair so I ended up with waist length hair! (lots of pics and tutorials coming soon). Check out the type hair I used below.