Yes, there is more than one transitioning period. The first one is well known and called transitioning or long-term transitioning and it is one of two ways of going natural. The second transitioning…the one where one must acknowledge the hairs that grow out of their head and takes a leap of faith that you will love your natural coils, curls and waves.
See also: BC or Long-Term Transitioning – Which Route to Take?
When I decided to stop treating my natural hair as a place to attach braids, ponytails as well as sew-in weaves, I was ready to accept whatever was naturally growing out of my head. That’s not so easy. I mean….every woman who decides to take on the challenge of relearning or learning for the first time how to properly tend to her tresses, has some idea of how her natural hair will look. Your idea may be far off from the truth. I’m here to tell you that it may be a while before you actually see what your hair can achieve.
My hair was dry as a desert when I first went natural. Years of treating it poorly were telling on me. I was using semi-good products because I used the first thing I could find. This was 7 years ago, mind you. I had stumbled upon Miss Jessie’s Line and thought they were the best but I hadn’t really done that much research back then. Their CurlyPudding as well as the Rapid Recovery were my staple products and I wasn’t co-washing yet. My hair was in a different place back then. It didn’t even LOOK the same.
My who has been natural almost all her life had a mass of gorgeous curls….I mean GORGEOUS! I didn’t think my hair was like hers and I was OK with that. Well, within a year Sabrina got her research on and started co-washing, sealing my ends, being kind to my hair and what the hell??????? My hair is now coily and springy and far from what it looked like when I first became natural.
What does this all mean? Well, just like you had to train your hair to wrap when you were relaxed, you gotta train it to be Natural. Well, it’s the same damn thing with Natural hair. My hair was used to chemicals. It wasn’t used to being treated well, treated kindly, and treated with respect. My hair took awhile to find itself. It took about a year to figure itself out and it would have been shorter had I known what the hell I was doing! My sister went Natural about three years after me and her tresses took around a year to find its way to what it looks like now.
The majority of the women going Natural won’t know what their hair will end up looking like or feeling like until they’ve been doing this for a good amount of time. Here’s a few good reminders for you:
BE PATIENT cause it’s gonna take time.
BE LOVING to those confused strands of hair
BE SMART ABOUT IT and get your research on!
and
BE UNDERSTANDING that not everyone will like what’s going on with you and your hair.
Been there and done that and really wanna be here for you in your quest to find that Natural woman waiting to come out.
Your hair is beautiful Naturals,
Sabrina
