Going Natural- My Personal Hair Journey- Part 2

It’s now been nine weeks since my last relaxer (December 2, 2010) and I’m still hanging in there with my transition from relaxed to natural hair. In my previous blog post, I said that I was going to try the straw set on my hair. Well, I didn’t quite get to it. I’ve been so busy finishing my classes towards my degree that I forget about it. Charge it to my head, not my heart. Any who, I’ve been wearing my hair in the Twist Out style, which I really like because I can keep it braided for a few days before I need to take it down. The only thing I do hate about the Twist Out is that because my hair is straight on the ends with relaxed hair, I have to roll it with perm rods to get it to curl on the ends. So until all of my relaxer has been cut out and my natural hair curl can form on its own, I will have to continue putting the perm rods in my hair when I do the Twist Out.

Also, my head has been itching like crazy these past couple of weeks! I felt like a dog with fleas! Man, the itching was driving me crazy and it was only in the spot that I call my “stress zone.” Not sure if I failed to rinse the conditioner out my hair very well, or if the setting lotion I’ve been using was causing my head to itch. The setting lotion isn’t alcohol based, so it couldn’t have been drying out my hair and scalp.

Anyway, I washed my hair tonight and have been washing and deep conditioning it weekly. So far it’s not itching anymore and I made sure I rinsed very well. I use a deep conditioner called Queen Helene Cholesterol Hair Conditioning Cream. I have been using this deep conditioner for the past 20+ years and still love it! This conditioner adds moisture to my over-processed hair, treats and conditions my damaged hair, and leaves my hair shiny and soft when I remember to use it. After washing my hair with Infusium23 Shampoo, I put a generous amount of the cholesterol conditioner on my hair, put a little water on it and work it into a creamy lather, comb through, cover my hair with a plastic cap, and sit under the dryer for about 30 minutes. Then, I rinse it out completely until the water runs clear. Next, I put Infusium23 Leave-in conditioner on my hair then begin styling. I think as long as I continue with my deep conditioning treatments, I shouldn’t experience a lot of hair breakage. Plus, I’ve been keeping excessive heat (i.e. curling irons, flat irons, and blow dryers) off my hair and letting my hair air dry. I know that using these heat styling appliances has had a toll on my hair as well. You might be thinking that sitting under the hair dryer is considered heat. But, the difference is that heat from the hair dryer is being evenly distributed across the hair. Heat, from say a blow dryer, is being concentrated on one section of the hair at a time and sometimes for a long period of time to get it dry.

I also have about one inch of new growth, but I’m not cutting my hair off into a TWA (teeny weenie afro). I don’t know how long I’ll be able to go in dealing with the “new growth versus relaxed hair wars,” but if push comes to shove, I’ll get braids. When I first started my transition, I did cut about an inch off the ends all around, which didn’t do a lot in reducing my length. I should have cut more, but it’s too cold. Maybe once it starts to get a little warmer, I’ll cut a little more off. I did keep my hair trimmed regularly when I did my relaxers, so I don’t have very many split ends.

Well, that’s my update. I have included a couple of pictures and I’ll update you again in a couple of weeks on what’s going on with my natural transition. Until then, peace and hair grease!