My first weeks as Newly Natural!!!
June 26, 2015
It has been about three months post my Big chop (on 14th March) at about 16months post relaxer.
I have been so silent trying to take it all in,trying to understand my new mane.
First thing first! I am definitely in love with my tresses. Some hair journey processes have been simplified big time! Detangling for instance, has become such a breeze! As long as its wet and saturated with conditioner or shampoo my Wide toothed comb just glides through. It literally takes less than 20 minutes to detangle my entire head in about 6 sections.
Detangling my hair was a real struggle while i was transitioning.
I have gone through emotions though and I have to admit that it has not been all rosy. Patience is one thing i have had to learn.
At times my Dear. Hubby goes like "your hair..are you going to straighten it for church tomorrow or something? "It takes a while for them to understand the whole reason behind it!
There are times I have felt like going back to the relaxing but at such times Joanne has always been my voice of reason. Reminding me why I went natural in the first place! I think new naturals all need such a person to hold their hand!Thanks Sis..
Initially I was trying to make my hair as sleek as possible for the office and that was where I went wrong. I was getting so frustrated. I was meant to understand Natural hair acts nothing like relaxed hair therefore they should never be treated alike. So, I embraced the fact that my natural hair does not lie flat neither will I try to do my hair each morning before leaving the house. It is just how it is.
I have learnt that less manipulation will always make life easier for anyone with natural hair and its exactly where I am at right now. I am wearing a high puff right now and chunky twists have become my signature style for the past several weeks. I wash, condition and style on Sunday evenings and wear the same hairstyle for 1-2weeks before re-doing/re-thinking.
There's so much to say...postpartum shedding,losing my hairline while breastfeeding,trying out regimens that will work for my life style and just going through all this new HHJ!(Healthy Hair Journey!)
I am very excited to share this journey with you and hope that you will drop by for the upcoming posts.
Have you just started your natural hair journey? what challenges are you facing with your hair? I would really love to hear from you.
Stay blessed!
Evelyn
Welcome to Grow African Hair Long (GAHL)
6 comments
Wow girl! I am in love with your natural hair!!! those twists look so chucky! I love! And your new baby.....aww precious moments! God Bless!
ReplyDeleteThank you so much dear :) God bless you too!
ReplyDeleteI'm really glad I stumbled upon this blog. Honestly growing my hair has been really frustrating for me. I used to cut it when I was in school, but since I graduated I thought why not just grow it out long. So I relaxed it. For me, it was quite a mistake. My hair is naturally soft and easy to manipulate so relaxing it made it appear weaker and thinner. I kept up the relaxing for two years, wearing my hair in weaves and braids up until last year when I extended the periods between each time I relax my hair. At first I gave it about 2months, then 5, and I noticed when I eventually relaxed it, my hair would appear a little better. So I began to wonder what the secret was behind extending relaxing days and began researching. That's how I found out about how to treat my hair right, for both relaxed and natural and what not. The thing I found interesting was hair in transition. Whenever I asked around, they always told me if you don't relax your hair when it's due, after a while your hair will start cutting and developing split ends then you'll have to cut it completely and start all over. Now, I call those people false prophets. I'm quite knowledgeable about african hair now due to much ado and a tiny obsession. Those people weren't exactly wrong, also, they weren't exactly right either. The minute they saw undergrowth, they thought my hair was due for relaxing and I couldn't maintain it like that for a long period. I used to believe them and run to the saloon, now I don't. With the help of a trifecta of natural oils like olive, castor oil and Shea butter I'm now about four months into transitioning. I started deep conditioning on Sundays with egg, olive oil and honey. I steam once a month and protectively style, wrapping it up with silk scarf at night. The results, well.... I'll b lying if I said I didn't see improvement, little but significant. Although, now that I have an undergrowth, my nape hair, hair line and sides of my hair still look scanty, but I'm hopeful. After all patience is key. But I was wondering if it's supposed to be that way and if I should just cut it all off and start a whole new regime with my natural hair instead of waiting for the undergrowth to surpass the relaxed alittle before I chop it off. I'm reluctant to start from scratch but it doesn't seem like I'm doing it right either. Ps, since I started deep conditioning and oiling, it's starting to itch afterward. I haven't had this problem before. I began using vinegar to rinse it out and drops of essential rosemary oil accompanied with other oils to lock in moisture, but it still itches even when it's not dirty. I have until December to decide if I wanna cut the ends and stay natural or relax it. I could really use some advice concerning the hairline and nape problems and what you would recommend for me because your hair now is just gorgeous and I would like to have gorgeous hair too. Congratulations on your new angel.
ReplyDeleteThank you for your comment, sorry it took too long for me to reply.
DeleteI am impressed that you have done so much research about african hair. Your hair routine sounds very good to me and protective styling will definitely help a lot during your transition. you can definitely do a long term transition until you are comfortable with your length before doing the big chop. As you go on you will realize that your hair will need more moisture than protein so in future you might not need the egg. but for now just keep on using it to strengthen the relaxed hair especially at the line of demarcation. Also if you are able to get a conditioner with hydrolized proteins that would help a lot to stregnthen your hair inside and out. The egg protein is unfortunately too large to penetrate your hair. as for the itch try and remove the vinegar from your rinse and see what happens. maybe your scalp is reacting to the vinegar. opt for other acidic rinses like aloevera. I would advise you to give the natural hair a chance to grow out a little bit before you make your decision. try going for 6 months and see how you like it. There will be frustrating days but it is so worth it. natural hair is so beautiful and versatile and I am dure you will not regret embarking on that journey. personally it is the best decision i ever made concerning my hair.
Your hair is beautiful Eva. God bless you
ReplyDeletehie i saw your post where you said you wanted to treat natural hair as relaxed. It does not behave like relaxed hair. Treat it as natural 4c hair and you will grow to love it , it has its own beauty that is not Caucasian. Learn from your hair and not vice versa and you will see that it is not that difficult to don your hair in its natural state.believe me im on a same journey and now im loving it coz i learnt from my hair. And try not to look at some bloggers who portray movie like hairstyles it will only frustrate you
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