Hello everyone,
I've been a long time lurker in this forum and I thought I would share of little bit of my natural hair journey. I initially came to this forum to learn more about taking care of relaxed hair back in 2009. I learned about natural hair through this forum as well as others and decided to transition based on tips and information I learned. My last relaxer was January 2010 and I transitioned for about 18 months. I've learned a lot through this forum and would like to thank everyone for their information.
My Current Regimen:
I wash my hair in six sections every two weeks with Giovanni Tea Tree Shampoo or Curlicious Curls Cleansing Cream. Then, I deep condition with Jessicurl deep conditioning treatment and mix it with a cheapie condition like Trader Joe’s Nourish Spa for two hours or overnight. About once a month I deep condition my hair with a protein conditioner like greek yogurt mix or Aubrey Organics GBP, which I mix with a cheapie conditioner. After deep conditioning, I then apply my leave-in conditioner which is Darcy Botanicals Curl Smoothing Cream or Giovanni Direct Leave-in. I then seal with shea butter. I normally style my hair in some sort of stretched style like a braid out and do a stretched style about a week later by spraying water, adding a moisturizing and sealing with shea butter.
I have a mini blog that details what I did during my transition here
http://tiajonay.blogspot.com/search/label/transition
C. how long you relaxed and what products you used
I was relaxed since I was about 6 six year old until I cut off all of my relaxed hair at 21.
E. Your goals as a natural, especially length goals
I would like my braid outs to be about BSL eventually
F. Any hair inspiration pictures or stories about who/what inspired you (in a POSITIVE way) to go natural or consider it
The ladies here were definitely my inspiration as well as some youtubers like naptural85, nikkimae and simplyounique
F. Anything else POSITIVE you want to share.
I definitely struggled throughout my transition and I still do as a natural. I think patience is key and learning what works for your hair.
Check out my youtube channel for more pictures and hair progress videos since I have been natural