How to transition to your natural hair?
How to transition to your natural hair?
It is indeed a huge decision to transition to natural hair.
Although hair is not a living structure, it plays a major psychological function by controlling our self-esteem. It means the better our hair is, the better will be our confidence. It also affects our relations with others, whether they are professional or social. But choosing to give a huge chop to our hair is tough. This is the reason many of us decide to give our hair some time by letting them grow and gradually cutting them to get the growth. This journey of transitioning to natural hair might be scary as well as exciting. Every girl going through this transitioning phase has a lot of questions and doubts, which may get cleared with today’s article. Employing these tips will help you in flaunting your natural hair confidently, just the way they grow from your scalp.
Why should you transition to your natural hair?
10 Commandments for hair transitioning
1. Figure out your Hair Density:
Most women stay stuck to their hair type and leave an important factor behind which is hair density. However, determining the hair type also helps women in choosing hair products for them, but knowing the hair density can make it all even clearer.
Hair density refers to the number of hair strands growing from each square inch of one’s scalp. Women with thin hair have low hair density. Also, if you are able to see your scalp easily after a hair wash session, then it also indicates low hair density. Shampoos specifically designed for providing a volume to your low-density hair are a good option to opt for.
Women having hair strands somewhere between thick and thin can tell their hair to be of medium density. However, determining medium density is harder, but if you are able to see your scalp after parting it, then it concludes that you have medium density hair. Products that go well with medium hair density include gels, creams, and butter which provide both volume and softness.
And lastly, if you find it difficult to see your scalp well, then your hair has a high density. For high-density hair, products like butter, creams, and gels are an absolute must-have.
2. Examine your Hair Porosity:
After knowing your hair density, it is the turn for determining your hair porosity. Hair porosity means how well your hair can absorb as well as retain moisture.
Hair with tightly packed cuticles indicates low porosity. If you notice water just sits on your hair when they are wet, then your hair has low porosity. It happens because hair with low porosity is resistant to water, so you must wash your hair over and over again so that to prevent the building up of products on the hair. Coconut oil and Jojoba oil are among the perfect solutions for hair with low porosity.
Hair with medium porosity does not require much effort for styling because such hair cuticles are significantly away from each other and are not packed very tightly. So, people with medium porosity have a wide range of choices for styling products to choose from.
High porosity hair has a huge separation from the cuticle and is awfully damaged. The main cause of such high porosity is the exploitation of hair by chemical relaxers and harmful hair dyes. Retaining moisture becomes difficult for such hair. So, for high porosity hair, you should opt for leave-in conditioners, sealants, and moisturizers.
If you struggle to know the porosity of your hair, you can perform the water test very easily which will help you quite well. For this, you just need a glass of lukewarm water. Take a strand of your hair and pour it into the water. Then, there can be three conditions which are:
The hair strand floats at the top surface of the water (You have Low porosity hair).
The hair strand sinks to the middle surface of the glass (You have Medium Porosity hair).
The hair strand sinks to the bottom of the glass (You have High porosity hair).
3. Minimize the heat to zero:
The more you expose your hair to heat treatment, the more damaged it will be. Heat can make your hair awfully dry and damage your natural curls a lot. It happens because the heat takes the outer proteinaceous keratin layer from your hair out which makes them dry and damaged.
Also, the styling tools using heat take out all the moisture from your hair and make them dry, especially if someone doesn’t know the proper way to use such styling tools. Dry hair leads to split ends, which makes them eventually break.
4. Trim your hair oftentimes:
As we have understood that use of heat stylers and chemicals on your hair can lead to excessively damaged and dry hair. And, if such damaged hair is not well treated, it may last as such for years and years. Hair shows growth from roots and not from the tips, hence chopping the damaged hair tips every once in a while is a good idea.
So, trim those dry and damaged ends every month a bit which will give space for your curly hair to grow well. Just after your trim, you will get to notice a healthy change in your hair. Your hair will seem to be healthier and fuller from all over the length.
5. Go for Hair Extensions:
Although, It is a biased point you can still choose it over damaging your hair even more. During the time of transitioning, you can still wear hair extensions.
This one is easier and works too. You just need to clip your hair extensions, sew-ins, or wigs for saving all the time that goes into styling. Also, you will be protected from heat and damage. While wearing extensions, leave the frontal part of your hair and braid all the remaining hair to protect them. And, the frontal hair which we left can be used to cover the rough wefts of the hair extensions.
The interesting part of hair extensions is that they are not permanent. You can keep them aside while you are home. Give a good massage to your hair, and moisturize them well so that you can transition to your natural hair faster and better.
6. Protecting hair while you sleep:
In the process of hair care, protecting hair while you sleep is a really important part. Pillowcases made of cotton often tend to drag out the moisture from your hair and make them dry. It happens especially with people who toss and turn a lot when they sleep. So, this becomes the reason why every woman needs to use a silk scarf, bonnet, or headband when sleeping.
Also, you can swap your pillowcase cotton with a silk pillowcase, it will also work the same way. However, these sleep accessories don’t seem like the perfect option, but you will definitely notice your locks would be preserved and be silky. It happens because a silk pillowcase or silk scarf will not absorb the moisture and natural oils out of your hair.
7. Have a proper moisturizing routine:
It does not matter which type of curls you have, moisturizing your hair is the key to healthy hair. Excessive dryness makes your hair more susceptible to damage and breakage. So, moisturizing your hair well will help them in retain moisture and will promote hair growth.
An effective method of moisturizing low porosity hair is LCO i.e. Liquid, Cream, and Oil. And for hair with high porosity, the LOC method works well which means Liquid, Oil, and Cream. As said by some of the famous natural hair influencers, both these methods work effectively to provide the required hydration to your hair.
The 2 methods have different effects on different kinds of hair just because of the order of applying them. Let us see how these methods differ:
The LCO Method (Liquid, Cream, Oil): In this method, firstly you should apply some liquid which is water or maybe a water-based product. After this, you need to apply some water-based moisturizing cream. This moisturizing cream will help your hair to retain and lock moisture in them. At last, it is the turn for applying natural oil. This method is recommended for people with low porosity hair.
The LOC Method (Liquid, Oil, Cream): This method includes the application of water or any water-based hair product in liquid form. In the next step, you will need to seal the liquid water-based product in your hair with the help of natural oil. At the last, you need to apply cream or butter to your hair to lock the moisture well in your hair. Women with high porosity hair should go for the LOC method.
8. Detangle your hair well regularly:
Curly hair tends to get tangled pretty often. This is the reason for us adding this tip here. So, detangling your hair regularly should be there in your hair care regimen. Textured hair types also are very susceptible to breakage. This is why people with textured hair should detangle it while their hair is wet.
On the day of shampooing, apply a pre-shampoo treatment to your hair. Such treatment will help you to detangle your hair well before washing. It will also give needed moisture to your hair. Also, it will reduce your washing time. Along with it, go for a nice detangling brush to get smooth, tangle-free hair
Perm rods work like training rods for women who are new to this way of transitioning to natural hair. For using these, you will need to section your hair in parts. Then take one rod and start rolling it starting from the tip in an upward manner up to the roots. It will give voluminous and bouncy curls to you. After rolling all your hair in this manner, cover your head with a silk scarf and keep it like this for around 8 to 10 hours. When you take it down, comb your hair with fingers using some moisturizer also.
10. Track the Progress regularly:
When you will start tracking your progress regularly, you will be able to understand your journey well. It will tell you what works well for you and what doesn’t so that you can change what is not working.
Journaling about your hair transition journey, setting reminders on your mobile phone, and taking pictures from time to time is some working ideas to keep track of your progress.
Transitioning to your natural hair can be quite demanding but the results will be worth it. This journey of transitioning can leave you exasperated and hopeless. Also, there will be times when you will think of going back to your ex-best friend- the relaxer. But do not get afraid of all this. Just keep your focus on watching your hair grow because when you will see results, it will become easier for you to stay attuned to the process. So, we recommend you to be gentle to your hair and try new products and hairstyles with patience. Just keep in mind that you don’t need to take any rough decisions for your hair in this process that may damage them.
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