Tips for Transitioners

There’s no need for a lengthy introduction for this post. The title is pretty much self-explanatory.

Transitioners: Ladies who stop perming (chemically relaxing) their hair in order to rock their hair’s natural curl pattern. Shakin’ what their mamas gave them, au naturale!

If you’re transitioning and you need a little help, check out these tips:

1. If you want to cut it all off at once (doing the “big chop”), then go ahead. But you actually don’t have to go bald (or almost bald) in order to go natural. You can wear           your hair in a variety of styles while you grow out your relaxer, and just trim the              relaxed ends little by little over a period of time.

      2. Please do NOT fry your natural hair with a flat iron (hair straightener) or blow                   dryer, in efforts to get it straight and blend it with your relaxed ends. That would            cause major breakage…and when irrevocable breakage occurs, you might as well cut          it all off. (Refer to #1)

      3. Beware of the line of demarcation! This is basically the point where your natural               roots meet your straight ends.

Source: A Hair Story

      4. Don’t dye your hair during your transitioning process. Chemical dyes cause our hair             to be drier than usual, which may increase chances of having breakage. And during           your transition, your hair is already fragile, especially at the “line of demarcation”             (See #3)

      5. Find a nice balance between giving your hair enough protein vs. moisture. Use                  protein conditioners once or twice a month, and deep condition your hair with a              moisturizing deep conditioner once a week (or once every two weeks). But pay                attention to how your hair reacts to the way you treat it: if it’s dry and breaks                  easily, then you need moisture; if it’s too mushy and weak, then you need protein            to strengthen it.

       6. Use hairstyles such as bantu knots, roller sets, wigs & sew-in weaves to disguise the           difference in textures on your head so that you can still look cute as you go through           this ugly duckling phase (Hey, I’m just keeping it real).

       7. Find a good detangler. Conditioners that have bihentrium menthosulfate are really            useful, because this ingredient serves as a detangling agent. So check the label of              that conditioner you’re looking to buy and see if bihentrium menthosulfate is                    there. The closer to the top of the ingredient list it is, the larger the amount of it            that’s present in the conditioner, and the better it is for you.

        8. Deep conditioning is your friend, girl! It’ll help you manage the two textures more             easily by making your hair feel soft and prevent breakage. Get to know it!

Hero Hero Bonus: Living in Nigeria (or in hot, humid climate)? Try to limit your hair's exposure to the sun during this transitioning phase, because excessive heat exposure will cause more dryness that you bargained for. If you go for protective styles that hide your hair during most of the transition, it'll make the process a lot easier. So opt for braids (but DON'T make them too small, too tight, nor keep them in too long, abeg!) or weave-ons (again, not too tight, and don't wear them too for too long). 

Congrats if you have decided to go natural; it takes courage and patience to do so. If you’re still debating whether or not to go natural, be sure you do your research, and make sure to keep an open mind.

Until next time!

Winning! Coconut Oil Has Really Helped My Hair (& Nails)

For someone who used spent most of her early life using only Dax/Lanolin and Blue Magic grease on her hair, I’m definitely playing by a different set of rules nowadays. 

Coconut oil is the TRUTH, oh! 

Source: My Blessed Life

Tell your mama, share it with your friends, and introduce it to your pikin. 

I love coconut oil, because it’s so versatile; if I could write a song about it, I would! 

By the way, I only use pure/extra virgin coconut oil. The purer, the better. 

Benefits of Coconut Oil:

• Strengthens AND moisturizes my hair
• Strengthens my nails 

How I Use  Coconut Oil:

• As a "pre-poo" (pre-shampoo) treatment
• As a deep conditioner

The pre-poo is a process that I do before I wash my hair where I coat my hair strands and my scalp with coconut oil or a mix of oils. This helps to keep my hair moisturized, even while the shampoo is cleansing my hair. It prevents my hair from feeling hard and dry after the shampoo process.

How it Works:

• As a pre-poo (hair): Coconut oil is the only natural oil that has been scientifically proven to penetrate the hair shaft. Because of its ovalene molecular structure, coconut oil, if it sits on the hair long enough (a few hours or overnight is best), its molecules can twist and turn and maneuver their way past the hair cuticles and into the inner parts of our hair strands, blessing the hair with moisture from the inside out (Amen, oh!). 

Source: Black Girl Long Hair

 Other popular oils such as olive oil, castor oil, and grease/petroleum jelly/petrolatum        have molecules that are way too big to penetrate the openings in our hair shaft, and therefore just sit on TOP of the hair without giving the hair the thorough moisture that it needs below the hair’s surface. So even when your hair is so greasy that you can lean on a chair and leave a grease spot (I've done that before--so embarrassing!),        but the hair still feels hard/rough to to the touch, this is why. That oil or grease you put on your hair is only disguising the fact that your hair is dry, dry, crunchy dry! 

• As a deep conditioner (hair): Coconut oil has a bit of protein in it. That being said, you can be assured that it’ll give your hair strands some strength it needs to withstand your constant combing, twisting, relaxing, plaiting, weaving, etc. 

• As a moisturizer & strengthener (nails): The health of my nails, cuticles and the skin around my nails has improved dramatically since I started rubbing coconut oil on my hands. And as long as I’m using is regularly, I don’t get blisters, dry patches, or hang nails on my fingers. And my nails (which usually don’t grow passed a certainly length) are now longer than they have been in years. Simply massage a small dab of coconut oil on the tips of your fingers every night before bed. 

• As a skin moisturizer: Recently, I added coconut oil to a bottle of skin lotion. And what a brilliant idea, if I do say so myself. I was pretty much ready to throw that lotion away (it was a brand I was trying for the first time, and it was not moisturizing enough for my dry skin). But now that I’ve added coconut oil to it, the remixed formula keeps my skin feeling soft and supple all day long. Winning! So ladies, before you throw away that cheap lotion that didn’t work for you, try adding the oil first. 

Bonus Tip: Live in Nigeria? Check out Daytona Pharmacy in Lekki (Lagos), or order online from Natural Nigerian for some coconut oil

For those of you who have had experience with using coconut oil, do you like it?

And to those of you who haven’t used coconut oil before, does this info encourage you to try it out? 

Let me know!