Who Transitioned 3+ years??

[Solitude]

So I did senegalese twists, micro braids, and presses and a whoooolllle lottta ponytails to get me through. Little by little I taught myself to do an array of natural looks and developed a very simple regimen that had me consistently at or grazing BSL. One day early in 08 I was blowing my hair out and I realized my hair was kinky from root to tip and I was like NICE! and rocked my BAA for the world to see right away. I was enjoying my hair and growing it nicely. Then, last July I stumbled upon the boards while researching more natural shampoo's and now I share my styles with yall!

BlackMasterpiece,

I had been wondering for a while about how you transitioned. So, you never did "mini-chops?" Did you just do your regular trims?...or did the relaxed hair kind of break off or go away naturally?

When you got micro-braids, did they braid past the hair, or did you let them leave the ends loose? Any pics of your sengalese twists?

Sorry for all the questions and TIA.

 

[soon2bsl]

BlackMasterpiece,

I had been wondering for a while about how you transitioned. So, you never did "mini-chops?" Did you just do your regular trims?...or did the relaxed hair kind of break off or go away naturally?

When you got micro-braids, did they braid past the hair, or did you let them leave the ends loose? Any pics of your sengalese twists?

Sorry for all the questions and TIA.

Great questions, I'm wondering this as well.

 

[soon2bsl]

I only made it to 17 months lol. I couldn't take it anymore...

LOL, I can understand that. I get the itch to BC from time to time, but that's usually when I'm not in a long term protective style like sew-ins. Crochets are my new found love so I'll be switching back and forth between the two for while

Well, I'm attempting a long transition with braids. I'm now 2 years post and will carry on until I get fed up or the relaxed ends break off, whichever comes first. I have an album (link in my profile) but there isn't much to look at. HTH

Looks like you're doing a great job transitioning! How has it been so far? Have you run into any big challenges?

 

[beautyaddict1913]

I have been transitioning 18 months...I am really hoping that my transition will be no more than 2 years...but the longer your hair was to begin with, quite naturally the longer your transition...My longest layer was shoulder length...I had my hair cut in bangs and short layers around the front...see my album!

 

[BlackMasterPiece]

BlackMasterpiece,

I had been wondering for a while about how you transitioned. So, you never did "mini-chops?" Did you just do your regular trims?...or did the relaxed hair kind of break off or go away naturally?

The relaxed hair fell away on its own, never mini-chopped whatsoever...just let my natural hair replace my relaxed hair

When you got micro-braids, did they braid past the hair, or did you let them leave the ends loose?

They left some of the relaxed hair loose....it would have been an excellent protective style had I known what I was doing lol....when I took them down I wasn't listening to my mom yet about washing in sections and that resulted in a alot of unecessary breakage and shedding.......to think, all I needed was sections and some conditioner ah well, ya live and you learn....I eventually got a clue and listened to my mom lol.

Any pics of your sengalese twists?

Sorry for all the questions and TIA.

not a clear one lol it looked like this girls but I did brown and light brown

 

[LadyRaider]

I'm not cutting my hair... evah!

But BMP is right... the pictures of the BCs and cute TWAs and WNGs etc are very tempting.

 

[malibu4590]

I am transitioning now and it has been 26 months so far. I don't expect to BC anytime soon because I am content with protective styling until I reach my WL goal. What made this transition pretty effortless was washing and DCing 1x per week in braids (now I wash in twists since I have more natural hair than relaxed hair) and wearing a wig that I make once every 6 weeks. If you leave your hair alone, you will tremendously cut down on breakage at the demarcation line.

 

[soon2bsl]

I am transitioning now and it has been 26 months so far. I don't expect to BC anytime soon because I am content with protective styling until I reach my WL goal. What made this transition pretty effortless was washing and DCing 1x per week in braids (now I wash in twists since I have more natural hair than relaxed hair) and wearing a wig that I make once every 6 weeks. If you leave your hair alone, you will tremendously cut down on breakage at the demarcation line.

That's great Malibu! So, let me ask, once you make it to WL, are you going to trim and maintain at waist until all the relaxed ends are gone? Or are you going to cut all the remaining relaxed ends once you reach WL, which could take you back to say APL or BSL for example. Hope I make sense!

 

[malibu4590]

That's great Malibu! So, let me ask, once you make it to WL, are you going to trim and maintain at waist until all the relaxed ends are gone? Or are you going to cut all the remaining relaxed ends once you reach WL, which could take you back to say APL or BSL for example. Hope I make sense!

Once I get to WL, I'm going to do slightly bigger trims, maybe an inch every few months but nothing drastic. I have been dusting my end no more than 1/4'' to 1/2'' every 3 or 4 months since I started this transition. I think I have about 4 inches of relaxed hair left and am about BSL. I hope I'm making sense now .

 

[Bun Mistress]

My goal is MBL to WL. I think if i get to MBL (which I should by the end of the year) I will start to trim a bit more seriously. I resist the urge to cut b/c I love my length and I resist cutting b/c I love long healthy hair. I wish I could say I had a loose curl pattern easy to manage hair but I don't. I have cottony wooling hair. I have hair that hates washngos and on some days is 4z. But I have learned to manage it well. I believe that if I can't manage my transitioning hair that bc'ing wont' make it easier. My goal is a 3 year (atleast) transition. I want MBL to WL hair in the end and I'm a very slow grower.

 

[lovenharmony]

I'm just about 1 year into my transition and I won't be cutting until my natural hair is APL Bunning is what has kept me from doing the BC...although I do get quite tempted with all the gorgeous natural ladies here!

 

[havilland]

not sure if you are interested in ladies who transitioned to texlaxed from bone laxed....but that is what i did.

it took me about 3 years. i started in jan 2007.

i trimmed little bits at a time over two years or so, then didn't trim at all the last year until the very end of the year when i trimmed that last inch or so off.

the key for me was learning how to detangle the two textures. the products were a nightmare because my bonelaxed hair liked moisture and my texlaxed hair likes protein...so using two set of products was ugh!......

also, i wore my hair up or weaved alot of the time. the first year i wore a weave the whole year. then i wore my hair in a bun the second year, except for length checks. third year i wore 6 months in a weave, 6 months out.

it was a pain in the butt....however i was happy to do it to keep my length.

my fotki name is havilland. you can see the pics there.

 

[Bublin]

If this helps my Mum transitioned for 4 years....well she just never cut off her ends. They broke off naturally and she had a very rare trim every now and again. She has very strong 3c hair. She can put anything in it and her hair seems to love it. She uses all my leftovers!!!!

She didn't transition deliberately. She just couldn't be bothered to relax anymore. I remember her having a fuzzy halo (hairline) for a while but it really was a breeze for her. She always wears her hair in cornrows with a hairband/scarf on top. She would sometimes brush it back into one and then do a single braid down her back. Basically she is always wearing a protective style but my Mum of course doesn't use those terms. She just keeping it out of her way.

She only washed when she thought she needed to - every 2-3 weeks. She would use a paddle brush on dry hair, never a bristle brush and a comb on wash days. She blowdrys on wash days with a comb attachment and then uses a creamy leave-in and a serum. Dax on her scalp when her hair is damp. Inbetween washes she only moisturises her edges and ends when she needs to.

 

[soon2bsl]

not sure if you are interested in ladies who transitioned to texlaxed from bone laxed....but that is what i did.

it took me about 3 years. i started in jan 2007.

i trimmed little bits at a time over two years or so, then didn't trim at all the last year until the very end of the year when i trimmed that last inch or so off.

the key for me was learning how to detangle the two textures. the products were a nightmare because my bonelaxed hair liked moisture and my texlaxed hair likes protein...so using two set of products was ugh!......

also, i wore my hair up or weaved alot of the time. the first year i wore a weave the whole year. then i wore my hair in a bun the second year, except for length checks. third year i wore 6 months in a weave, 6 months out.

it was a pain in the butt....however i was happy to do it to keep my length.

my fotki name is havilland. you can see the pics there.

If this helps my Mum transitioned for 4 years....well she just never cut off her ends. They broke off naturally and she had a very rare trim every now and again. She has very strong 3c hair. She can put anything in it and her hair seems to love it. She uses all my leftovers!!!!

She didn't transition deliberately. She just couldn't be bothered to relax anymore. I remember her having a fuzzy halo (hairline) for a while but it really was a breeze for her. She always wears her hair in cornrows with a hairband/scarf on top. She would sometimes brush it back into one and then do a single braid down her back. Basically she is always wearing a protective style but my Mum of course doesn't use those terms. She just keeping it out of her way.

She only washed when she thought she needed to - every 2-3 weeks. She would use a paddle brush on dry hair, never a bristle brush and a comb on wash days. She blowdrys on wash days with a comb attachment and then uses a creamy leave-in and a serum. Dax on her scalp when her hair is damp. Inbetween washes she only moisturises her edges and ends when she needs to.

Great info. Thanks ladies for sharing. Havilland can you post the link to your fotki?

 

[dr.j]

Great thread! My goal is 2 years but reading this thread is inspiring me to go longer....maybe. erplexed

I have about 3-4 inches of new growth but my hair is grazing BSB straightened....It seems like my hair is growing so slow. I can't imagine the relaxed ends just falling off. That's pretty wild.

 

[Austro-Afrikana]

I've been transitioning for 2 years so far. My relaxed ends have been breaking off over the past 6 months and I'm not sure why. I had 5 inches and now I have 1 - 3 inches. I am aiming to get to MBL or WL before I start trimming my hair. I am now at APL so it may still be another 2 years but if things carry on as they are I won't have any relaxed ends soon lol.

 

[Mook's hair]

YEah, I did exactly 2 years April 17 07 - April 17 09

That was my goal from the start. there really wasn't very much to trim off at that point because I had been doing small trims every few months and just maintaining 1 length. I was not trying to retain the length of the relaxed hairs. If I had gone longer the breakage would have increased for me. I'm a proud type 4 natural now.

 

[Imani]

Interesting thread. I'm 9 months in, no idea how long I'm going to transition. I started out with pretty short hair and after several trims the back of my hair is really short and almost all natural already. The top/front half of my hair is about 50%.

I can see myself holding on to those relaxed ends up top another 2 years if they are not breaking and very slowly trimming them off. I want to make shoulder length by the end of the year. And eventually at some point APL bc my hair has never been past shoulder my entire life.

 

[mg1979]

I'll be at two years in September, but I'm not sure if I can hang in longer than that.

 

[soon2bsl]

I'll be at two years in September, but I'm not sure if I can hang in longer than that.

That's great. So have you been maintaining at a certain length, or just letting your hair grow and dusting/triming as needed?

YEah, I did exactly 2 years April 17 07 - April 17 09

That was my goal from the start. there really wasn't very much to trim off at that point because I had been doing small trims every few months and just maintaining 1 length. I was not trying to retain the length of the relaxed hairs. If I had gone longer the breakage would have increased for me. I'm a proud type 4 natural now.

Thanks Mook for sharing your info! Your hair journey is awesome and your hair is beautiful! You mentioned breakage..so was it breakage at the line of demarcation and/or your relaxed ends were breaking? Do you think the breakage could have been avoidable, or do you believe that it's inevitable at some point during the transition to have some breakage b/c you're dealing with 2 textures?

 

[mg1979]

That's great. So have you been maintaining at a certain length, or just letting your hair grow and dusting/triming as needed?




Thanks Mook for sharing your info! Your hair journey is awesome and your hair is beautiful! You mentioned breakage..so was it breakage at the line of demarcation and/or your relaxed ends were breaking? Do you think the breakage could have been avoidable, or do you believe that it's inevitable at some point during the transition to have some breakage b/c you're dealing with 2 textures?

I have consistently been around APL when I wear it straight-doing little mini chops here and there. I had been flat ironing once a week with the products in my siggy. I wasn't worried about split ends since I had been doing the mini chops. About a month ago, I did another mini chop and found that the hair at the nape was all natural! I have been so protective of that natural hair I haven't wanted to apply any heat so I've been bunning it since. I'm finally having the urges to cut all the relaxed ends off, but I'm just not at a length I'm comfortable with to go all the way. I'm hoping I will be by the 2 year anniversary!

 

[classychic1908]

I never did a big chop, I don't know how helpful that is, because I have no idea how long it took me to fully become natural. I stopped relaxing about 8 years ago. Hold on I did, on a whim relax again, maybe 2 years after that and that was my last go round. My hair was between collarbone and apl.

What worked for me was using the juice and activator gel. I wore mainly wash n gos because my relaxed hair still had a lot of texture. This was well before discovering hair boards and I had no idea what I was doing.

 

[The Girl]

Well, my 3 yr will be June-ish 2010 I guess. I say guess b/c my last texlax was June 2007.

 

[soon2bsl]

Well, my 3 yr will be June-ish 2010 I guess. I say guess b/c my last texlax was June 2007.

Great! So what was your starting length, and what length are you now? Can you share some info, such as what's been helping you during this transition, have you done any mini chops, etc?

 

[fivetimestwo]

I have been transitioning 18 months...I am really hoping that my transition will be no more than 2 years...but the longer your hair was to begin with, quite naturally the longer your transition...My longest layer was shoulder length...I had my hair cut in bangs and short layers around the front...see my album!

ITA with the bolded I started my transition in June '09 and I was a little above APL so I decided I wanted to transition at least until my natural hair got to APL too. I am almost 1 year post now and originally I wanted to get to 18 months and then chop. However, looking at this thread, I might just see if I can go even longer.

 

[soon2bsl]

ITA with the bolded I started my transition in June '09 and I was a little above APL so I decided I wanted to transition at least until my natural hair got to APL too. I am almost 1 year post now and originally I wanted to get to 18 months and then chop. However, looking at this thread, I might just see if I can go even longer.

Thanks great, curvycurly. It can be done, it just requires exxxttra patience lol. I see we started our transition around the same time as well.

 

[Sequoia]

Looks like you're doing a great job transitioning! How has it been so far? Have you run into any big challenges?

Sorry to reply late. My transition is okay because I'm almost always in braids.
Detangling was a nightmare at first but, after stalking a few fotkis, I started washing in braided/twisted sections and that was life saver.
I'm having problems with dryness so I'm going to try using water-based conditioners and layering with shea butter.