Grow African Hair Long GAHL: long term transition to natural

The Gahl length retention challenge is officially over and I would like to share what is going on with my hair. I decided to straighten my hair so as to be able to see if I retained length during the last six months and yes I did retain length. My hair is now a little past bra strap length. However, I will be trimming off a little of my relaxed hair soon.

shrinkage after blow drying on cool hair Vs straight flat ironed hair.

My transition is going quite well and I am learning more about my hair everyday. For instance I learnt never to go more than a week without washing and detangling my hair. I made this mistake last week and as a result my hair ended up being tangled and matted. I had too much shed hair caught up at the point where the relaxed and natural hair meets (Line of demarcation). It took me more than one hour just to detangle my hair and this also caused unnecessary breakage. The back and edges of my hair are currently 53 weeks post relaxer while the crown is 28 weeks post relaxer.

wet hair texture. front 28 weeks post relaxer, back & edges 53 weeks post relaxer.


damp hair texture shot.

After washing, conditioning and de-tangling my hair. I moisturised it with my homemade leave in conditioner and then applied some heat protectant serum. I then proceeded to blow dry on cool air. Blow drying on cool air does not get the hair straight but it will make it manageable and you will not cause any damage to your hair. I then proceeded to flat iron my hair. I loved the results! it was so nice to be able to actually see my length because my hair shrinks a lot. Before straightening my hair I had a feeling that my ends looked to thin, but after it was straight the difference was not so bad. I am very pleased that I have not had any significant breakage despite having to deal with different hair textures.

click here: My previous heat pass

My ponytail

I intend to keep my hair straight for two weeks then I will go back to my lovely curls and coils. I do love both straight hair and curly hair so I will definitely be straightening my hair even when I am fully natural ;)

Sideshot

A long term transition can be quite challenging for someone who is used to having straight hair all the time, I have decided to avoid the straight hair styles because I would have to use heat to straighten my hair. and since i´m still on the Gahl length retention challenge 2013 which doesn´t allow me to use direct heat on my hair until August. I have to find other ways to manage my hair.

I have already began treating my hair as if it were fully natural by trying out hair styles I have seen done by

natural hair ladies on you tube.

If you would like to recreate this protective hairstyle below is a step by step description of how I achieved it.

The final look

So for this Hair do we will need:

Lots of bobby pins
A soft brush to lay down the edges
A moisturiser.
Gel or styling cream/ lotion to tame edges and fly away hairs.

Step 1.

Part your hair into four sections, part the crown depending on how big you would like your bangs to be at the end.

Step by step pictorial of the hairstyle

Step 2.

Moisturise the two sections above the ears, if you need to keep your edges flat, this would be the best time to either apply your styling cream or hair Gel. Either roll the hair or do a flat twist and make sure to do a two strand twist/ roll until you reach the ends of the hair.

Step 3 & 4.

Moisturise the hair hair at the back and use your brush to make sure it looks neat. Then pin down the twists as shown. Depending on how long your hair is you might want to fold the twists to make them easier to work with.

Step 5

Roll and tuck the remaining hair into your twist and use some pins to secure the hair.

Step 6.

Pin down the sides to achieve the shape you want.

Using bobby pins to achieve the desired shape

Step 7.

Moisturise your crown.

You can add a little styling cream at this point if you feel the need to. Again use your brush to make the hair neat then proceed to make a loose two strand twist.

Step 8 & 9.

Tuck your ends into the base of the twist. Depending on how long your hair is, you might want to fold the twist and pin it down. Use pins to secure the hair and to achieve the look you desire.

I am still looking for more hairstyles to try out and would love it if you ladies gave me more suggestions :)

May was the 4^th Month of the Gahl length retention challenge and I am already very excited to find out how much length I will have retained by August when the challenge ends. I have not trimmed my hair since the challenge started and I am quite proud of myself because I have only used heat once in those four months. And I have been religiously moisturising and sealing every other day and my hair is almost in a bun every single day.

I promised to update you ladies on my long term transition to natural hair so here goes the first update :)

The back and edges of my hair are currently 44 weeks post relaxer/texlax while the crown is exactly 20 weeks post. I do have a lot of new growth!

I have been getting questions as to how I manage so much new growth without wearing protective styles such as braids or weaves. Well I have come to realise that my hair loves to be left alone and it does not like any kind of stress and manipulation whatsoever, Any time I did braids, twists or weaves in the past I always ended up with a small setback. This is why I decided to try and deal with my hair regardless of how much new growth I had. By sticking to this method I have been able to learn how to manage my own hair even with three different textures ( relaxed, texlaxed & Natural).

Managing different textures on one head can be challenging at first but it can be done, however you will need a great virtue which is patience. You will need to find out what works for your hair.

Here is what works for me.

I always do a pre shampoo treatment( pre-poo) with a mixture of sunflower oil, tea tree oil & olive oil. I find that this oil mixture really softens my new growth.( I normally leave this on for about 30 minutes to 1 Hour.

Left: Pre- shampoo treatment. freshly washed, conditioned & Tshirt dried hair.
Before going under the shower to wash my hair, I properly remove any shed hairs i can find using my fingers. My hair is usually divided into two or four sections.(I comb my hair only once a week)
I then rinse my hair with warm water for a few minutes and proceed to shampoo with the cream of nature Argan oil sulfate free shampoo or the seba med everyday shampoo ( also sulphate free).( while washing I keep finger detangling my hair).
After rinsing off the shampoo with warm water, I apply the nivea long hair repair 1 Min express treatment which I leave on for exactly one minute. After rinsing it off I apply my Aussie moist conditioner and rinse it off after a few minutes. I no longer feel the need to leave the conditioner on for too long because I usually get soft hair immediately. After using these two.
Washday: sunday 9th June. moisturised & sealed hair, air dried in a bun

I normally rinse off the conditioners with cool water, which makes the hair smooth and reduces frizz. This is also the point at which I will de-tangle my hair with my seamless comb. By this time the comb will just be gliding through :)
I use a soft clean cotton T-shirt to gently blot water from the hair then I apply my home made leave in conditioner, followed by some coconut oil to seal in the moisture and a hair butter to seal in the moisture even better. This method is popularly known as the LOC method and it helps my hair retain moisture for about two to three days! This is why I moisturise every other day.
Last but not least, I either let my hair air dry open or I bun it and let it air dry. I will later just bun my hair.

Bun on air dried hair, I love trying out new buns :)

So far the transition is going on well and I hope that it stays that way. If you have any tips on how to long-term transition to natural with less breakage, please do share. I need all the information I can get . And thanks to all our readers for all the support you have been giving us. We really appreciate you for taking your time to share our hair journies with us :)

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Top: braids, curled at the bottom with perm rods. Bottom: Braid out and major shrinkage