I started my first lesson by looking up the word: Natural hair. The search led me to many helpful websites such as Curly Nikki, Mahagony Curls, and other natural hair care websites. I learned about the BC, Two Strand Twists, and Twist Outs. You could say that I was in natural girl heaven because I was excited about all the new things I was learning about my hair and wanted to try out every example.
Next, I started asking people that were already natural about their transition. These individuals were friends, friends of friends, and those who I met at a particular coffee shop I often visited. At the coffee shop, pretty much everyone was natural or transitioning to be natural. I thought to myself, this must be my sign; My journey to being natural had to start soon. And it did.
My transition started out kind of slow. I told myself that I would stop getting a relaxer and let the perm grow out. Now what do I do? That technique only worked for so long because managing two different hair textures was difficult: I had my natural hair that curled up and would not work well with my old hair products. Then I had my previously relaxed hair that wanted to stay straight. So my next plan was to clip my ends once a month. This method helped me transition into my next phase: The Big Chop.
The Big Chop came about five months after I decided to stop getting a perm. I felt freedom from having relaxed hair, but at the some time nervous. I was free because I was no longer constrainted to the conditions of getting a relaxer every six weeks; I was nervous because my journey to having natural hair was only just beginning.
I found myself watching a lot of Youtube videos. Remember how I said earlier that I researched various things about natural hair? Well in my research, I paid special attention to YouTube videos by Curly Nikki and Mahagony Curls. Their videos helped me in the beginning stages of my Big Chop. Another important fact to my success in managing my natural hair was that I had always been a great hair stylist when it came to doing others hair, as well as my own. I had never attended beauty school and had learned how to braid and twist hair as a child. The videos that I watched were easy to understand and imitate.
So how am I rocking my hair nowadays? I am very glad you asked that question! Well, it has been over three years since I went natural. You may see my hair go back and forth from the straight look to the wet and go look. As my hair continues to grow, I have to find other ways to do my hair because what worked for me in the beginning, does not always work for me now.
~I encourage everyone to get to know their true hair by knowing what and what does not work for their hair type. You never know, you may like what you see
