Transition simply means letting the relaxer grow out gradually. I took less than a year to transition; I was so impatient I just couldn’t wait to get rid of my relaxed hair. I wanted to do ‘the big chop’ which means having all of your chemically straightened hair cut off and start all over again but I was discouraged by people who have always known me with long straight hair. However this didn’t stop me from cutting my hair gradually until March 2010 when I decided to get rid of all the relaxed hair.
Transition can be scary for some people but fear not, nowadays there’s a lot of help from you tube and various blogs on how transition. You can transition as long as you like, but the longer your hair gets the more challenging it is to detangle.
First things first when transitioning is you’ll want to shampoo your hair once a week using sulphate free shampoo and co-wash your hair at least three times a week. Co-washing is when you apply conditioner to wash your hair like you would use shampoo; this will make your hair feel silky and smooth. Shampoo contains lots of surfactants which tangle your hair and dry it out, avoid using shampoos that contain sodium lauryl sulphate, tetrasodium EDTA, propylene glycol.
You will want to moisturize your hair every time it feels dry, at least three times a week. There a lot of things you could do with transitioned hair such as braiding, braid out, twisting, twist out, bantu knots, weaving, micro braids, micro twist or kinky twist. Whatever you do avoid applying heat to your hair, as much as it might be tempting to do that stay away from your hair straighter because you will cause damage to your natural hair growth.
Remember to detangle your hair before washing it. Detangling transitioning hair requires a lot of patience. Start by spraying the hair with a mixture of conditioner, water and oil. Separate the hair into four sections, and apply mixture to each section. Detangling your hair is very important!! Failing to detangle properly will lead to hair breakage and failing to detangle at all will cause the hair to matte.
Hope this tips help and if you didn’t know what to do now you know.
