Best way to transition to natural hair

The trend now is keep natural hair. Most people do not want the breaking relaxed hair again, but prefer healthy looking natural hair, thereby making many
people do the big chop, cutting off their relaxed hair. Whereas what many people don’t know is that there is a stage before the big chop called TRANSITION.

Transitioning is a gradual process of going
natural. Transitioning to natural hair is a simple process of growing out your natural texture before cutting off the processed or damaged ends. When you transition, you coddle along your tresses,
both natural and damaged, growing out your hair until you are ready to cut the ends off. Transitioners enjoy the benefit of added length for styles, and avoiding
those awkward growth stages that can frustrate many big choppers. Transitioning is the way to go if you don’t want to sacrifice your hair length and go natural
all at once. There are ways you can do your transition without the big chop and that is what we are looking at today.

Stop using chemical relaxer and all forms of chemical treatment: This includes texturizers, keratin treatments, and permanent hair dyes. All of these products alter the structure of your hair and will
prolong the transitioning process even further. They can also add extra fragility to your hair which is something you don’t need.

Good trim: This means you need to get rid of all those dead, thin and split ends. The longer you transition, the more brittle they will become so you might as well let them go now because they will break anyway.

Avoid heat: You want to avoid heat usage (flat irons & hot combs) because your hair is already in a fragile state and because if you encounter heat damage this could also potentially permanently straighten your hair, which is what you are trying to avoid.

Protect your edges: Avoid transitioning styles that put too much tension on your temples and the nape of your neck. The hair there is usually finer, thinner and
more delicate. Strengthen your hair with protein treatments and frequent deep conditioning: Where your relaxed hair meets your natural roots there is going to be some weakness in this area due to the texture differences. This is pretty much unavoidable, but what you can do is keep your hair in tip top shape by deep conditioning with every wash that you do, and doing protein treatments every 6 to 8 weeks.

Wear low manipulation or protective styles: A low manipulation style, is simply a style that does not require daily styling and maintenance, hence less strain on you hair. A good example of a low manipulation style would be a roller set, twist out, or braid out. Being that your texture is not going to be consistent while you are transitioning you will probably like the results of roller sets better or combing twists with rollers on the end (this way the ends of your hair will look nice and curly). protective style, is a style in which the ends of your hair protected by being tucked away and the style doesn’t require daily maintenance other than moisturizing. Good examples of protective styles include buns, box braid extensions, or even wigs.

Trim: How long the transitioning process will take will depend on the current length of your hair, if your hair is shoulder length or longer and the majority of your hair is relaxed it could take up to a year or more before your natural hair reaches a length that you are okay with. You don’t have to rush into a big chop, that’s the beauty of this method, but you must have patience.

Eat a balanced diet: What you eat also applies to hair growth. Eat lots of fruits and veggies, take vitamins and mineral supplements. Oh and garlic too it helps.