What Did You Do/ Would You Do Differently Starting Your Hair Journey Over?

[NaturallyATLPCH]

Nevah evah evah EVAH let henna or blonde dye touch my hair again. I can tell the difference in my ends with this blonde crown I dyed back dark brown. My moisture levels are good, but I am going to have to slowly chop away the color on the ends.

 

[Misseyl]

I would have cut sooner. My 4c hair is difficult but I'm having a good time trying to figure out what works.

 

[mysblossom]

This is my second time around with a hair journey. I'm texlaxed and loving it.

The first time around was a fail because I was doing too much to my hair. I became a product junkie and I jumped on a lot of bandwagons. I was having breakage galore and couldn't pinpoint the culprit(s) because EVERYTHING was something new to me and my hair.

This time around is better because I have a few products that I use regularly. I'm consistently taking a vitamin for hair in addition to my daily multi vitamin. My clarifying shampoo is gentler than stuff I used previously.

Also, I pay attention to MY hair, and figured out recently that I don't need to do protein treatments as often as I thought.

Awesome.

What clarifying shampoo do you now use?

 

[Queensheba88]

I would have stayed texlaxed my hair was its healthy before i made the decision to go natural. I am back textlaxed but i wish i had not gone natural.

 

[GettingKinky]

I would have stayed texlaxed my hair was its healthy before i made the decision to go natural. I am back textlaxed but i wish i had not gone natural.

I'm transitioning from natural to texlax now and I constantly wonder if I will like being natural? Why didn't you like your hair natural?

 

[PJaye]

If I had to start over, I would head straight for the natural/handmade smaller vendors because my hair didn't take off until I began using those products. For me, 95% of the OTC products were an ineffective waste of time.

 

[InBloom]

Awesome.

What clarifying shampoo do you now use?

I actually have several that I use depending on what I have on hand.

Keracare's 1st Lather - the most gentle of the bunch - then follow up with the hydrating shampoo.
Elucence Moisture Balancing Shampoo - a teeny tiny bit is sufficient (smells like grapefruit - love it)
ORS Creamy Neutralizing Shampoo - this is good, but not as good as the other two.

Thanks for asking!

 

[mysblossom]

It's early in my natural hair journey, but . . .

• I wish I'd practiced twisting on a natural hair wig on a wig stand since I never found a good natural hair mannequin.
• I wish I'd started out thinking, "Just have fun LEARNING. Don't need instant success. Instead need growth in skill and knowledge. Be happy with PROGRESS."
• I wish I'd known that getting my hair flat-ironed could put me back in the same position I was in when I was transitioning: Having to deal with two textures. Heat damage is no joke, and now I'm a natural trying to get healthy hair again versus a natural with extremely healthy hair.
• Related, I wish I hadn't just assumed that my hair stylist would not damage my hair.

Above all . . .

I wish I'd tempered/clarified my own personal expectations: In my mind "natural" summed up to meaning freedom from the "must-get-a-relaxer" jail. But there's more to it than that, and there's a cost to being natural (which is time and effort and money while discovering which products and tools work for me). Instead of thinking mainly of the "bad" I was leaving, I should have fore-grounded the "good" I would be gaining in going natural. It would have helped me to understand that I'm putting in lots of work, yes, but it's because I'm gaining something, not just avoiding something. This would have helped me not to be so concerned about how much work it is taking to learn to care for and style my natural hair.

"Natural" is not equal to "easy."
Natural CAN be equal to "fun discovering."

 

[Leo24Rule]

I've never had to BC, but in terms of starting my hair journey to recover from heat damage due to the stupidly of frying my hair daily with literally olive oil caused thinning.

Although, my hair has always been long, my journey is to gain overall health (length & thickness) and in all my efforts to succeed I've learned:

• Not to jump on bandwagons
• STOP being a product junkie
• Moisturize & seal hair
• Stay away from heat
• Put the scissors down
• Create a simpler hair regimen that puts an end to feeling overwhelmed on wash day & less water usage

 

[divachyk]

NEVER use the tangle teezer
DON'T try to pattern my regimen after others
Cut off damage and move on rather than gradually trimming
Not buy and use some many products
Find a regimen and stick with it
Relax my hair 2x yearly at most

 

[ForestRose]

I would have cut off my hair completely to start with fresh ends. Over this year I've cut off so much more than I wanted which could have probably been avoided had I been more confident with going shorter earlier on. It would've been a lot longer by now.

 

[AgeinATL]

I would have transitioned to natural sooner.
I would completely avoid stylists. I did when I was relaxed. Made the mistake of going to a stylist natural and got heat damage.
Not buy in bulk. I had to give away too many products due to consistency issues with these handmade vendors.

 

[Platinum]

I would have transitioned to natural earlier and lock my hair.

It would have been down my back by now.

 

[Brwnbeauti]

I'd have stopped relaxing 3 years ago

 

[Queensheba88]

I'm transitioning from natural to texlax now and I constantly wonder if I will like being natural? Why didn't you like your hair natural?

For ME it was all about the time commitment. I live a very busy life and, with my 4c hair i did not like the fact that i was spending my whole Saturday or Sunday on wash days and styling only to not like the outcome or it to not be dry on Monday morning for work. As well as having to re-twist at night. My husband was complaining because i was always DOING my hair. Honestly texlaxed hair worked best for ME. My wash day is 45 min and i air dry most of the time.

 

[Blessed&higlyflavoured]

henna

or devil dust as I call it. A complete and utter wasted of time. My hair was a dry tangled mess after using that stuff. If my hair feels like it needs a strength boost I just do a quick protein reconstructor and keep it moving

Not listening to my hair
Somethings just don't work. No matter how much you wish they would. Coconut oil for example. Cowashing is another one

Not taking it too seriously
Hair grows back. and watching and wishing for hair doesn't make it grow back any faster.

ETA

natural products in general tbh

 

[Coilystep]

I wish I could have gone natural sooner. Even though I always had nice permed hair I always longed to not have to perm. None of the hairdressers I was going to never had any answers on what I could do other than perm.

 

[sgold04]

I wish I found this site sooner. I would've learned the following much earlier:
Changed how I detangle
Trimmed only once or twice a year
Used heat protectant when straightening
DIY

 

[Ayesha81]

I would have trimmed regularly. My hair looks so much better when the ends are trimmed.

 

[ThickRoot]

Went natural sooner. I BC'ed last month, I have 4 inches of hair but I love it and feel confident wearing it. It's not fancy or done up at all but I like it and I realize that's what truly matters.

 

[Coilystep]

Went natural sooner. I BC'ed last month, I have 4 inches of hair but I love it and feel confident wearing it. It's not fancy or done up at all but I like it and I realize that's what truly matters.

That's exactly how I felt. I was a little bummed about having short hair, but it's been fun having short hair. It has definitely grown a lot in the year since I chopped. I'm looking forward to longer lengths. I am enjoying my natural hair.

 

[SpicyPisces]

I would've kept my hair in protective styles longer. I wore my hair in braids for the first 18 months after I big chopped and retained all my length. Unfortunately last year I reached BSL and started wearing my hair out (and touching it way too much ), so my retention has stalled completely Had I continued keeping my hair braided, I would've been WL by now. My hair thrives in braids or twists, so I'm going back to that this year in hopes to reach WL sometime next year.

 

[curlyTisME]

Be consistent and patient!

 

[ckisland]

If I could do the first 6 years of my journey over, I wouldn't have kept cutting my hair. I look at pictures of my hair at my friend's wedding, and I can't believe how little I appreciated it . It was long, thick and easy to take care of, and all I did was complain about what I had .

But you live and you learn.

This time around I'm leaving my hair alone, and I'm going to treat it like it's precious to me. I want to see my hair really thrive. I've sworn off all heat, chemicals, scissors and nonsense for the next several years. I want my hair will look like in 6 years if I just take optimal care of it.

I'm also going to finally learn how to style wash n'gos

 

[geekyjade]

I would have always pre poo. Since doing this, it has made detangling easier and when I flat iron my hair, it falls better. I didn't do this in the beginning and when I was natural and I had a lot of knots. And because of those knots, I lost some length.

 

[Ajna]

Nothing initially I chopped my hair off and love it for five years. The challenge came when I started to grow it out and some one recommended using texlaxing to control the curl. After a year I had more problems then not and I basically had to grow my hair out and chop off ends until all the perm was out and that took almost three years. Finally my hair is all natural and I am back to loving it. But even in that I still have enjoyed the process I liked my period of thinking everything new was great and I liked finding new styles and getting to know my hair.

In the end I would not change anything it took a while to figure out how long it takes to find a regimen, which products work for me and discovering so many people doing things a little different. I liked the journey honestly.

 

[Cattypus1]

I would have read TSOBHC much earlier. I would have learned about the difference between lye and no lye. This alone resulted in the setback which put me on the transition train. I thought I knew about hair and had been a successful, untrained self stylist for years, I guess by accident. My hair had never been longer. I'm hoping to get back there as s natural.

 

[fatimablush]

I will not use henna or cassia this time around. I've noticed a HUGE difference in my hairs softness while leaving the messy powders alone.

I'm not using natural products exclusively this go around either.

i will be using everything the second time i went natural...sorry but i am using grease. either Dax or whatever ..

leave in conditioner
grease
stay soft fro spray
i was using eco gel..but i am tired of seeing that i found this one other gel i want to try. i had it written down i have to find it.

Eta...I have only two natural products. my sisters whip shea butter. Hers is better than mine and stays fluffy. I am also light handed with this. ...and my DIY grease

 

[fatimablush]

brb

 

[Aggie]

For me seriously, I would leave my hair the hell alone. I get wayyyy better results when I do. Excessive washing, hand in hair syndrome was killing my hair. Now that I protective style 98% of the time, my hair is finally flourishing and growing healthily again...and I am happy!