Transitioning without BC'ing Support Thread

My transitioning hair looks a mess all the time! I'm 35 weeks post (8 months). My natural hair is thick 4a. It needs glycerin. I'm in humidity all the time, so it won't hold a style. My relaxed ends just flop dead under the natural hair. I don't want to BC -- I'm not going to BC. Really want to do a 24 transition minimum.

But I need some help ladies. I need to know how I can style my hair so it looks cute -- cuz I ain't cute rite nahw!!!

I need to keep it healthy (glycerin keeps my natural hair soft, strong, no breakage at demarcation line). I haven't found a non-glycerin solution yet. Only thing I can figure is go back in hiding under wigs, but I'm tired of doing that too. Any suggestions?
 
trclemons said:
Friday was 41 weeks for me and I am really having a hard time loving my hair. I didn't know I had fine hair and although my transition has been easy and I am loving the curls, I don't have the thickness I desire and that is very scary to me.

I am hoping that as I get more new growth in Year 2 of my transition, I will get more volume. In the meantime, I need to focus on loving my hair regardless.
Click to expand...

I know how you feel. I knew I had fine hair because when relaxed my hair was fine. My stylist was trying to get me to transition or texlax but I never did. However the first time I went natural my hair was thicker than ever. Early on my new growth looked fine as well but I BCed at 14.5 months post & my hair had thicken up greatly. Im currently transitioning again but I can show you what my hair looked like natural the first time.
 

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HappyAtLast said:
My transitioning hair looks a mess all the time! I'm 35 weeks post (8 months). My natural hair is thick 4a. It needs glycerin. I'm in humidity all the time, so it won't hold a style. My relaxed ends just flop dead under the natural hair. I don't want to BC -- I'm not going to BC. Really want to do a 24 transition minimum.

But I need some help ladies. I need to know how I can style my hair so it looks cute -- cuz I ain't cute rite nahw!!!

I need to keep it healthy (glycerin keeps my natural hair soft, strong, no breakage at demarcation line). I haven't found a non-glycerin solution yet. Only thing I can figure is go back in hiding under wigs, but I'm tired of doing that too. Any suggestions?
Click to expand...

Do like braid extensions? You could try box braids, kinky twists or Senegalese twists
 
KaramelKutie803 said:
Do like braid extensions? You could try box braids, kinky twists or Senegalese twists
Click to expand...

I do like box braids. I tried Senegalese twists before, but my natural hair wasn't cooperating. Never tried kinky twists. I need to look up some pics of those.

The only thing that's holding me back from braids is that my nape mats up with a quickness, like in 1 week. So I was thinking about not getting the nape braided with synthetic braids at all and just keeping them in individual natural plaits. IDK! I'm at my wits end!
 
Last edited:
Hi Ladies! I'm checking in after forever.

I'm officially 18 months since the 21st. I've gotten into a decent rhythm with caring for my two textures (multiples if you consider the differences of my natural part). Things are going well and I'm used to wash days being EPIC events that I never dealt with when I had waist-length relaxed hair.

I've found that protein at the demarcation line helps, as does clarifying every 6 weeks or so with VO5 clarifying shampoo and conditioner.

I still cowash in braids and sometimes do a pre-poo with coconut oil; other times with NJoy's oil mixed with granulated garlic.

I run/workout daily so I cowash weekly and sometimes in between, I just let the water in the shower rinse away any perspiration around the edges so I can minimize the after prep and get on with my day. Thank God for having a tankless water heater. I spend 45 min-1 hour in the shower on wash day.

I'm loving my corkscrews and waves and frizziness all bunned and twisted up...today. LOL.
 
So yesterday I went and got my hair flat ironed and it looks really good. This Tuesday will make 7 months post. It feels good to have my hair look 'styled' and presentable. All this time I've been letting my hair air dry and will wear it pulled back in a low tension ponytail or pin it up and throw on my cloth stretchy headband. Well now, I think it's getting the point where I need to start doing braid outs exclusively if I'm going to wear my real hair. Even the stylist advised that I should start wearing braidouts b/c if I keep air drying the new growth will shrink and be kinky with the relaxed ends just there. It's too vastly different in the textures. He thinks a big chop is best but the second best way to deal with this is weaves or braids. I think I will do some braid outs for a bit and then start getting my hair weaved up.
 
divachyk you can so it, you just have to invest time in learning about your particular type of hair. Advice is great and can help you get started but just like everyone's body is different so is everyone's hair. That being said...

Being texlaxed is a piece of cake, I was texlaxed for years before I started my journey to natural hair, you have the ease of relaxed hair but a softer texture of natural hair... Good luck
 
HappyAtLast I'm inly a few month ahead of you... 13 months post... Do you like braids? I though I would hate box braids but I ended up loving them, I just braided my hair, no added hair and twisted the relaxed ends, wear it up in a bun for a week-2 weeks, took out the braids, washed and rebraided
 
OneShinyface, how do you wear your hair daily to blend your two textures? Braidouts?
Today I'm officially 7 months post! It's time to enter braid out territory and start utilizing the blow dryer once in a while.
 
Brittster - Congrats on 7 months!!

I wear my hair in various buns comprised of hair that I've sectioned into 2-3 ponytails. I combine the hair to either create an actual bun or I'll braid the sections then weave them together to create a bun.

I usually have a section of hair in the front that I create twists with and pin those back toward wherever my bun is - it looks kinda like a bang. I move the bun around to avoid monotony and so far, it works.

I style my hair using the ponytail sections because if I don't my pre-wash detangling session will be a nightmare.

I had beautiful wet braidouts that lasted 7-10 days when I was relaxed. Now the only way I could do one is if I blow dry first and use some kind of gel otherwise the difference in texture is obvious after the first day.
 
divachyk said:
I may lurk here often. You ladies have gorgeous hair.

@havilland, simply lovely!

I'm relaxed and considering a change. I'm not ready to be fully natural but I'm considering texturizing or texlaxing. I'm really not sure what I want. My hair was super thick but this last TU was quite the disaster. I didn't do the mid step protein and my hair started coming out in globs. I'm convinced it's way thinner and I'm not quite pleased.

I'm not interested in wigs or weaves. My hair tangles horribly so I usually end my stretches around 10-12 weeks or it's a matted mess. That alone scares me and makes me question, how in the world would I transition to anything with such picky hair.
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divachyk this made me LOL! But I could have written this word for word about my hair. I am sure if I ever go natural 5-6 would be the longest. After that it would be the big chop:yep: And like you, I have been wanting a change, but I am not 100% sure on what I want.
 
I wanted to wait until late November to install some twists but that may need to be moved up to keep myself from cutting more hair. I get closer and closer to the scissors each wash day :look:
 
Mjon912 said:
HappyAtLast I'm inly a few month ahead of you... 13 months post... Do you like braids? I though I would hate box braids but I ended up loving them, I just braided my hair, no added hair and twisted the relaxed ends, wear it up in a bun for a week-2 weeks, took out the braids, washed and rebraided
Click to expand...

Mjon912
Hmmm, I hadn't thought about box braids with just my own hair; never did it before. I guess my hair is long enough to do that and put it in a bun at BSL. I'll consider that too. Thanks!
 
KaramelKutie803 said:
I know how you feel. I knew I had fine hair because when relaxed my hair was fine. My stylist was trying to get me to transition or texlax but I never did. However the first time I went natural my hair was thicker than ever. Early on my new growth looked fine as well but I BCed at 14.5 months post & my hair had thicken up greatly. Im currently transitioning again but I can show you what my hair looked like natural the first time.
Click to expand...
KaramelKutie803. Thank you. This gives me hope and makes me feel better about my hair journey.
 
HappyAtLast said:
My transitioning hair looks a mess all the time! I'm 35 weeks post (8 months). My natural hair is thick 4a. It needs glycerin. I'm in humidity all the time, so it won't hold a style. My relaxed ends just flop dead under the natural hair. I don't want to BC -- I'm not going to BC. Really want to do a 24 transition minimum.

But I need some help ladies. I need to know how I can style my hair so it looks cute -- cuz I ain't cute rite nahw!!!

I need to keep it healthy (glycerin keeps my natural hair soft, strong, no breakage at demarcation line). I haven't found a non-glycerin solution yet. Only thing I can figure is go back in hiding under wigs, but I'm tired of doing that too. Any suggestions?
Click to expand...

I have to be honest. Transitioning was not my time to be cute. I had to prioritize. My priority was not cutting my hair. That was my focus. I looked a mess most of the time. When I wanted to be cute I wore wigs.

Styling my transitioning hair was just a waste of time. Two things worked - buns and flat iron. I didn't use heat alot so guess what my hair was in--A BUN. LOL! I was a librarian for two years. ;)

It was frustrating alot of the Time but I just decided that it was better than a big chop and I just made myself keep at it.

I encourage you to focus on the fact that you will get to keep your hair and how much you don't want to cut it off. Every time you get frustrated about style....think of your main goal.

I hope that helps some. And good luck!
 
My hair acted really crazy today. I cannot get my hair to lay fairly smooth for for a bun.... whenever I get a section detangled it will retangle. So the end result today was a mini fro and relaxed hair on top again like I said..levitating!
My newgrowth dries and is so packed to my scalp it hurts to section.
 
janaq2003 said:
My hair acted really crazy today. I cannot get my hair to lay fairly smooth for for a bun.... whenever I get a section detangled it will retangle. So the end result today was a mini fro and relaxed hair on top again like I said..levitating!
My newgrowth dries and is so packed to my scalp it hurts to section.
Click to expand...

When was the last time you did a protein treatment followed by a moisturizing condish.

My hair would act up about every six weeks. When I knew it was time for a deep treatment. I had to be religious about it or suffer the rat's nest.
 
janaq2003 said:
My hair acted really crazy today. I cannot get my hair to lay fairly smooth for for a bun.... whenever I get a section detangled it will retangle. So the end result today was a mini fro and relaxed hair on top again like I said..levitating!
My newgrowth dries and is so packed to my scalp it hurts to section.
Click to expand...

This is exactly how my hair is too. When it dries, I usually just try and brush it back and wear a scarf/headband. But now I'm starting to want to do something different. Prob start doing braidouts and rocking those for the week.
 
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