New *2009* Transitioners Support Thread!

Ok ladies my hairs true colors are starting to show, I am learning why I disliked having my hair combed. I basically have 2 main textures which probably don't play well together but they will when I am through with them, I hope:spinning:! I have waves, very deep or loose, the loose waves look like frizzy straight hair - I remember this hair from when I was younger because it was always in the front of my head and that's what I saw all the time, so no new knowledge there. What has come as a shock to me has been that the back of my half of my hair is made up of tight coils. Very definite coil pattern that springs, most are made up of teeny clusters of hair, but there are bigger looser ones too. These coils are what I believe made hair combing such a big issue for me because even now, I don't believe they are meant to be manipulated, except when wet. If I try to separate them or comb/brush them out they become frizzy curls and are can be prone to tangling which we all know is no fun, especially during a transition. Left alone, once dry they stay as happy little individual coils. While I am sure once longer they will be cute I am pretty much afraid of them for now because I know they aren't trying to be styled into anything. Product shopping when I am fully natural will be a doozy I think:perplexed. Just wanted to vent a bit, thanks ladies.
 
yeah i had used the whole egg.
the aphogee was okay i guess. i liked the smell and i didn't expect it to be so creamy. i'm gonna use the whole bottle and hope i see results by the end of it.​
 
I think I am starting to see waves. I must be seeing things because I normally do not see any new growth until week 7 or 8. I will be 6 weeks post this week.
 
I wish people would tell us how many months they are instead of weeks.:rolleyes: I'm finding it hard to count on my fingers.:lachen: I don't think I'm making it to a year to transition.:sad: I'm tired of dealing with the 2 textures and I'm already 3 months post relaxer.:nono:
 
MummysGirl said:
I'm 33 weeks post relaxer, which makes me 19 weeks from being 1 year (52 weeks) post.

I wonder if it's too early to say I have decided to transition for at least 15 months (65 weeks)?

My initial goal was 1 year but now I'm officially changing that to 15 months :yep: so I'm halfway into my transition.

My revised regimen for the 2nd half of my transition is:
1. Always airdry in 5-6 cornrows/flat twists or more (for braidouts or twistouts)
except when
2. Hair in braids without extensions (see right pic in siggy)
3. Cowash 4 times a week when hair is loose and 2ce a week when in box braids
I'll DC 2ce a week, moisturise morning and evening and like I've always done.

I did a braidout on dry hair because I decided last night, hours after airdrying, I wanted curly hair for today. I definitely prefer results on 80% dry hair - more definition. Picture attached...
Click to expand...

Congrats on your decision! I am thinking 15 months might be better for me too. I just moved to colorado and it gets cooold here in the winter. Seems like you have a good regimen going. Nice braidout!
 
I wish I knew accurately when my last relaxer was, lol, much less weeks or months, I am just guesstimating. After reading a thread about how people moisturize and seal I thought maybe I need to moisturize my new growth because I don't want to have dry natural hair and after all the new growth I have now will be my ends when I BC sooo. I did straight back parts maybe like 10 for each half of my head because I realized that the castor oil that was applied to the scalp the night before was all gone so yeah I guess my new growth has been parched. I used the Mango Butter and applied it like a relaxer just not as thickly and rubbed it into the new growth. When I was done I used my hands to moisturize the relaxed hair in 4 section. I brushed it into a ponytail and went to sleep.

Outcome: Edges all over smooth and flat, hair in ponytail smooth and flat. I did realize that this is too much for the front half of my head which is made up of the waves, the product applied to the roots completely drenched the hair and stretched it straight, so I will have to do bigger sections when moisturizing that half. In the back where the coilies are sprouting I can feel them still there ever resistant to laying down. The Mango Butter only made the curl pattern stretch a little bit, so the coils just appeared a little longer, definitely not smoothed out like the waves are. I may have to start stalking more curly people fotkies because these 2 textures definitely have no interest in doing the same thing.
 
Ok I am so done right about now. Relaxing sounds so good. I have been wearing kinky twist that I did myself since June. I can't get more hair until next week so I figured that I would wear my hair out this week. I am 5 months post and I tried a roller set/flat iron on Saturday, my hair laughted at that. So last night I did a perm rod set with blue, yellow and red rollers and I don't like how that looks. I have tried braid outs and twist before and they are a no go right now. My crown area is very short so nothing looks right.

So I have decided that I will wear a phonybun this week. I just can never make the bun look natural. So now I don't know what to do with my hair and I go back to work tomorrow after two week vacataion. Hair can't look a mess. Maybe I will try a braid out on airdried or blowndried hair so that it would look so frizzy. I just don't know but I have to decided something. Too hot for a wig.

On another note I trimed my hair last night so I am slowly getting rid of the damage that I cause by trying to self relax.
 
i'm nearly 13 months post! amazing. I started transitioning July 08. Before that, I transitioned from Jan. 08 to July 08. If I hadn't relaxed in July 08, I'd be 20 months post by now! how crazy is that!

But... updates... it's not going too bad, I guess.
I realize, though, that I need to buckle down and start taking better care of the natural hair. I've been saying that for a while now, I know :lol:

I had a bad incident where basically I lost a little patch of hair!:eek: luckily it's not noticeable, but I think it was from a really tight ponytail that I did that day :(

There is also this other small patch of my hair that is shorter than the rest. I realized that a while back, and I think it's because it's in the crown area, gets tangled easily from lack of brushing/detangling, and then becomes fragile and breaks.

I NEED to get myself a Denman brush! I think I am going to get one next weekend when I am in NY b/c I can't seem to find one here in Boston (few beauty supply stores accessible to me).

I bought a blowdryer and have blowdried my hair twice with the comb attachment... on low speed and warm heat. it makes my hair so much more manageable. Less frizz.

I'm trying to come up with a list of products to buy by the beginning of next month, and I'd like to improve my blowdrying technique, b/c I think that's what I'll be doing once school starts.

My hair is currently APL after my haircut in June. I want to trim an inch, but then I'll just have 2" of relaxed hair in the back. I'd really like to try getting a rodset on my hair. I think they are so cute.
 
kayex said:
Wow you are definitely long term. What styles have you been wearing up to this point? I was only relaxed for a little while as well and barely kept up with them while relaxed and I feel lost. I hope to make it to 17 months but at this point I hate my relaxed ends so much I wouldn't be surprised the moment I am able to have my natural hair cover a half wig the scissors come out and get to work. I am just trying to avoid cutters regret as I have that right now, my hair length now is the shortest it has ever been and it has been very hard for me to deal with even with relaxed hair.
Click to expand...

The first part of my transition was with cornrows, I used to keep these in for about 4-6 weeks.

I did micros for the middle part of my transition. I was lost at this time as to what else to do with my hair until a friend suggested that I get a weave.
The weaves allow me to be versatile, but I really am feigning to see my hair right now.

I understand about cutter's remorse. That is why I hide my hair to not even think about the scissors.
 
bad news:
i'm starting to feel like i am going to be transitioning for a really long time. like 3 years... my year anniversary set that nagging fear in...

i have this nagging fear that i am going to HATE my texture...the more naturals i see in person the more fearful i am. i LOVE hair on this site, but real life is scaring me...who knows...

good news...maybe remedial to some, but yeah...
I started co-washing standing in the shower. it has changed my relationship with detangling and bunning. I used to hang over the tub b/c i always had easily irritated skin, but that is getting better so I tried it. It made life so easy. if you aren't trying it in the shower you are adding more work and probably risking hair. I can do one full detangle in the shower and that's it. Hanging over the tub i would detangle there and by the time i would flip it to style...i would have to detangle again.
 
I am 10 months post right now and going strong. I am at this point planning on chopping bit by bit. So I am scheduling a 1 inch cut every 2 months. So I will be cutting an inch sometime this week.

I am hoping to finally get one of those crazy hair growth spurts pregnant women always get. So far I am having no such luck.
 
:grin: I know what you mean! It's only cos my transition's going much better than expected that I've decided to make my earliest BC @ 15 months and actual target is now 18 months... we'll see :-)
SouthernBeauty said:
Right now I am 85% sure I will in December but since my transition is going so well I am thinking of waiting until March or April... decisions decisions!
Click to expand...
 
Hey Ladies,

Well I did it, I did the full BC. I cut the back I think about 2 weeks ago and this past Saturday I just cut the rest of it. The scraggles were looking crazy so it was time. I didn't make my 1 year mark but I do have to say I have a good amount of growth in the back. Of course the top is shorter but I am trying to work around that. It was scarey at first but the more I work with my hair not against it the better.

Here are my pics ladies:
 

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Congratulations!!!! Your hair looks so soft and that looks like a lot of growth for 8 months :yep:
How's your natural journey been so far?
natural2be said:
Hey Ladies,

Well I did it, I did the full BC. I cut the back I think about 2 weeks ago and this past Saturday I just cut the rest of it. The scraggles were looking crazy so it was time. I didn't make my 1 year mark but I do have to say I have a good amount of growth in the back. Of course the top is shorter but I am trying to work around that. It was scarey at first but the more I work with my hair not against it the better.

Here are my pics ladies:
Click to expand...
 
natural2be said:
Hey Ladies,

Well I did it, I did the full BC. I cut the back I think about 2 weeks ago and this past Saturday I just cut the rest of it. The scraggles were looking crazy so it was time. I didn't make my 1 year mark but I do have to say I have a good amount of growth in the back. Of course the top is shorter but I am trying to work around that. It was scarey at first but the more I work with my hair not against it the better.

Here are my pics ladies:
Click to expand...

Congratulations .....
 
natural2be said:
Hey Ladies,

Well I did it, I did the full BC. I cut the back I think about 2 weeks ago and this past Saturday I just cut the rest of it. The scraggles were looking crazy so it was time. I didn't make my 1 year mark but I do have to say I have a good amount of growth in the back. Of course the top is shorter but I am trying to work around that. It was scarey at first but the more I work with my hair not against it the better.

Here are my pics ladies:
Click to expand...

Congrats!! It looks really good on you!!!
 
MummysGirl said:
Congratulations!!!! Your hair looks so soft and that looks like a lot of growth for 8 months :yep:
How's your natural journey been so far?
Click to expand...

Thanks:yep: It feels soft as well, finally gave myself a deep conditioner last night and that makes a world of difference as you know. Yeah the growth is pretty good but my crown takes long to grow but hopefully it will catch up soon. I have like 5 layers on my head :lachen:

As for the journey it's going good so far. It's so funny because when I get out the shower after washing my hair shrinks up so much and it's a shock for me at times but when i stretch it I am like ok there is length here. I am in the process now of trying to determine if the same products still work for my hair and also coming up with different styles to tame my hair. Last night I did two strand twist and then did bantu knots and the new pic I just posted is how it came out so not to bad.

I will keep you ladies posted with pics as time goes on.:grin:
 
natural2be said:
Hey Ladies,

Well I did it, I did the full BC. I cut the back I think about 2 weeks ago and this past Saturday I just cut the rest of it. The scraggles were looking crazy so it was time. I didn't make my 1 year mark but I do have to say I have a good amount of growth in the back. Of course the top is shorter but I am trying to work around that. It was scarey at first but the more I work with my hair not against it the better.

Here are my pics ladies:
Click to expand...
CONGRATS!!!!!!
:drunk::drunk::drunk::drunk:
​
 
blksndrlla said:
bad news:
i'm starting to feel like i am going to be transitioning for a really long time. like 3 years... my year anniversary set that nagging fear in...

have this nagging fear that i am going to HATE my texture...the more naturals i see in person the more fearful i am. i LOVE hair on this site, but real life is scaring me...who knows...
Click to expand...


Just stay strong!
You have to learn to embrace your texture
and find the right methods to deal with, once natural.
Your hair will flourish then!
From what I see on this site their isn't a bad texture
:)
 
natural2be said:
Hey Ladies,

Well I did it, I did the full BC. I cut the back I think about 2 weeks ago and this past Saturday I just cut the rest of it. The scraggles were looking crazy so it was time. I didn't make my 1 year mark but I do have to say I have a good amount of growth in the back. Of course the top is shorter but I am trying to work around that. It was scarey at first but the more I work with my hair not against it the better.

Here are my pics ladies:
Click to expand...

:clapping: Congratulation’s on your BC. Your hair looks beautiful!
 
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