Afro hair + Beauty + Fashion + Fitness

Jul 14, 2012

♥ HAIR JOURNEY+ Transitioning? Transitioning Diaries Pt.1

Today I am writing an unusual post, warning for a huge mix of text, baby pics and reviews :)
I have decided to transition- those who haven't got afro hair or haven't heard of relaxers are probably thinking.. okey?! Transitioning means growing out your naturally curly hair and stop relaxing (straightening) your hair.

Warning for long text explaining basically my whole hair journey lol:

Well relaxing afro hair means chemically treating it so that your hair strands goes straight- permanently. It can cause a lot of breakage if you don't care about your relaxed hair properly, or even if you do. My hair has been relaxed on and off since I was about 8-10 (ill change this afterwards when Im sure what age I was).

How it all startedAt that time I was really shy and insecure, I lived in a tiny town (more like village) in Sweden which was not the most multi cultural place. It's fair to say I was the only none white person, which to them automatically made me black, even though I'm half white half black. Anyway, all I wanted at that time was straight hair and light skin. My mum is white and none of my Swedish family have or had dealt with afro hair, so my English family sent the relaxer. Since me or my mum didn't really know how it worked, I just thought it was this miracle product that would automatically make my hair looks like the  young girls on the package (lol you all know what pic im talking about, otherwise click here).
If you know how relaxer works you can probably guess it didn't quite turn out like that. The relaxer is applied similar to how you apply hair dye to your head, only that you have to constantly press and smooth it to help the hairs go straight. It would not dry bone straight and to achieve super straight hair you will still need to style it with a straightener or hair dryer. We (my mum and I) did not do any of these so my hair was straighter, but not at all straight.

This is my natural hair by the way, sorry about the baby pic.


After that I don't really remember, but shortly after that I started to visit my English family yearly so I  think I had my hair relaxed at the salon when I was there. That might have been a few year after when I was a bit older. At this time I was only wearing my hair up in a pony tail, yes always! And it was super long. I had it straightened a few times at the salon in England and my hair was super long! Almost down to my breast (I dont know how else to describe it)
When I was around 13 or 12 my hair I still only wore my hair in a pony tail, I was to self conscious about my hair. I discovered hair straighteners and started to straighten it almost every day- but still wore it up! When I was 14, I moved to a new city and for the first time in about 5 years, I wore my hair out. This was a big deal to me lol. 

My hair was now it's shortest in a long time! A couple of years before this, my hair was twice the length.


During my next visit to England a hair dresser cut (in my opinion) way too much of my hair off. To be honest, that's when my hair stopped retaining length ( I say this because it was obviously growing, but it was breaking more- hence it did not look longer). I was now wearing my hair out every day and straightening it. 
When I was 15 I started to visit my child hood friend (more like family) more often when I was in England, and she had started to wear weave (sew in hair extensions). Her hair was long and straight and it looked really natural. I had it done during my next visit and I was hooked! 
Now I was wearing tracks (which is not a full weave, the rest of your hair is still left out) and straightening my hair. Since I had never felt happy with my own hair I was now hooked on wearing weave. I would leave it in for way too long, up to 5 months, then get it done when I was back in London. 

I now committed every single relaxed hair crime lol. I took it out myself (cut the threads of the weave myself), then without any treatments or leaving my hair, I headed back to the salon to get my hair relaxed (only like a day after taking out my weave) and had them sew in new weave! This is really really bad. You should leave your hair at least 1-2 weeks on it's own after having weave sewn in. I knew this, but didn't care because I now felt I couldn't wear my hair without weave, same was as before I felt I couldn't wear my natural hair out without putting it in a ponytail.I don't regret it at all, the only thing to regret is how insecure I was at that time.

In the first pic I am wearing tracks. In the second GLUED in hair extensions.

Around 15 years old.



Here I am wearing weave, AND glued in hair extension (mainly used by white people, because imagine how that tangles in the afro growing out?!). That was crazy. Oh and I had dyed my hair black here.

Around 16 years old.


I wore weaves until I was like 17 or 18, and then decided to leave my hair alone and try to grow it out, but still relaxing it. Since I started this blog I've just been leaving my hair alone, hence all the pony tail looks! 

Except when I was really young I've always loved curly hair, and every time I see my hair growing out I've been thinking about transitioning. The last time I relaxed my hair was 3 months ago, and before that I was already thinking about transitioning. I found that it was too much of a hassle and my regrowth was too tangly. 

But then again, I wasn't detangling my hair at all so it makes sense it would be knotty. 
I decided to transition about 3 days ago, and I won't change my mind. Sometimes I'm really spontaneous, but not in a way that I change my mind. I just make my mind up really sudden lol.

My hair regime will kind of be the same, except I'll stop blow drying my hair completely, to prevent breakage and to be able to see my new growth. I had a sample of this product before I decided to transition and I still really liked it. It's meant to detangle your new growth and moisturise it. 

I really like it and it makes detangling a lot easier.


I haven't tried this brand before but I've now checked out their other products, they all contain mineral oil and other bad stuff! The ingredient list in this is fine, but not amazing.. it contains quite a lot of Shea Butter which is the second ingredient.


It smells of mango and lime, the smell is amazing! This is what it looks like.


Any transitioning tips for me?
Any hair journey stories, link it :D?

x

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27 comments:

  1. really nice blog! you are so pretty!:)

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  2. I commend you for your decision Yolanda! You can definitely do it.

    As for tips I definitely recommend you research transitioning videos on youtube. Before I decided to BC I was contemplating transitioning too and these two ladies helped: "HairCrush" and Laila of "FusionofCultures"

    They are both on youtube by the way.

    One product that I used, and loved, to detangle was the Mane 'n Tail, Detangler Spray! It does wonders to your hair and makes detangling soo much easier!

    I wish you the best in your hair journey.

    Love,
    Sheyla

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  3. you're so pretty! thanks for sharing your hair journey story, i loved reading it. i'm transitioning to natural, too. my last relaxer was in November of 2011 :) i keep getting tempted to do the big chop LOL there are sooo many ladies on youtube helping me: naptural85 is one of them. keep us posted and email me whenever you want!

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    1. yes naptrual85 has helped me too I started to tranition 2 months ago and im see lots of growth but I really want to cut it off and i cant tell whats my hair type so I can buy me some hair produts my hair is like z's all down my hair any tips (do you know what type that is)

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  4. Your hair looks so good in all of these pictures! Good luck with transitioning - can't wait to see you curlied! X

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  5. OMG!!!! I cant believe you are too! :) I just recently transitioned beginning of June of this year, so a month ago! I straightened my hair everyday for about seven years straight! so my flat iron was my bestfriend but I have gone without it for a month and a half now! I was going to do a blog post about my transition but I kinda put it off, now your post about it inspired me to do one!! look out for mine! :) ur so beautiful! Please do updates and hair products ur loving! Thumps up for curly hair gals! :)

    the website that has helped me a bunch is ... naturallycurly.com! :)

    SO excited to see both of our journeys! xxx

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  6. Congratulations on deciding to transition. It will be a hard but worthwhile journey :)
    I look forward to reading your future transitioning posts :D
    Good luck!!

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  7. mother nature spent a lot of time on you, pretty girl and your hair
    looks better natural, 'cause mother nature knew what she was doing.

    great blog. informative and fun!

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  8. Great decision!
    I have been natural now for 2 and half years straight, but I keep my hair by having braids and during the cold winter months I sew in weaves, but I have not put on relaxer for more than 2 and half years, am glad I made the decision, my super curly African hair is now healthy than ever and also growing fast.
    This page on fb has also been helpgul: https://www.facebook.com/Transitioning2Natural
    There are so many natural bloggers too, I will recommend you to have on mask made from the white part of egg, olive oil and avocado every week, its soften the texture of my hair and keep it from drying!
    If you need any more tips you can email me anytime, even though am also still learning.
    Good luck and your natural hair is actually amazing, I will kill to have that as mine lol.
    Have a great week dear.

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  9. love ur blog :)
    follow me back :)

    http://indahmeitasariwinata.blogspot.com

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  10. That baby picture of you is adorable! Can't wait to see what your hair looks like naturally xo

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  11. Oohh that baby pic of you is such a darling! You're so cute and pretty being born mixed, girl. I'm myself asian married to dutch, still wondering how our baby would look like. ^_^ Anyway, your hair transition looks fabulous!!

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  12. hello!! :) me too i'm transitioning since the month of April, i'm going in my 4th month of transition...it was a bit difficult in the beginning but i start to feel easy with it now... i talk about it on my blog. you can see this link about the story: http://la-melisse.blogspot.com/2012/06/au-secours-mon-coeur-balance-et-ca.html use the translator because i writte in french --'
    and i try to make some mask on my hair too detangle and smooth the new hairs growing! you can see the receip on my blog! follow the link : http://la-melisse.blogspot.com/2012/06/masque-hydratant-nourrissant-cheveux.html !
    hope i help you a bit:) sorry for my bad english! lol
    end good courage ;)
    kiss

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  13. Hey , I've just snipped of the last of my relaxed ends and loving my natural hair , so if you want any tips feel free to inbox me on Facebook hun good luck !! X Sade ( from bar school)

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  14. Transitioning can be fun and sometimes very challenging. I have been natural for amost two years and I am so happy that I did. It's so odd that hair is such a huge part of out lives (as women, and specially for women of color) We grow up without any reinforcement that what we have is beutiful on its own! I hope your journey goes well. I'm happy that I no longer rely on a relaxer to make me feel beautiful : )

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  15. Omg, I can relate in so much in this post. Or, I have tried to relaxe my hair at home multiply times, but it hasn't worked. I really want to have a sew in weave, but it's way too expensive in Sweden so I want to do it by myself. I hate my hair now, and I feel very insecure with my hair, and I always have a ponytail, I just hate it, I feel so ugly. :(

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    1. Hi hun do you have a blog? I can't find anywhere to respond to you? Omg im so happy someone can relate to this.. and are you in Sweden? I know everything is soo much more expensive here. I've found a video that explains quite well how to do a full weave but you have to know how to cain row hair.. xx

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    2. Oh you answered. :D yes I have a blog wwww.neadesu.blogspot.se, I didn't know I was linked to my google + account, I thought I had erased it.
      Oh, please link it. :D I've thought about buying a wig, but it feels a bit scary, but I'm not sure what I'm going to do.

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    3. hi of course I did! the blog address you put didn't work. it says there is no blog with that address, I found one called http://neadesu.blogspot.co.uk/com is that yours? and to answer your first comment fully, you shouldn't feel insecure about your hair hun, if your hair is natural research on google for natural hair styles :) there is so much to learn! and decided whether you want it to be relaxer or not, i would advise you to not do that, because from my own experience, it is not worth it in the long run. i will try to find the video :) x

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  16. One person I know who's transitioning for a while is Fiona of LoveYourTresses: http://www.loveyourtresses.com/
    The Care for your hair group on facebook is good too... https://www.facebook.com/pages/Care-for-Your-Hair/225783061283#
    You could ask for advice in the british curlies forums www.britishcurlies.co.uk
    Naptural85 and MsVCharles on youtube are good ones to watch too, if only for inspiration if nothing else...

    That's all I can think of for now - I'll come back if I remember any more!

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  17. you are sooooo beautiful my darling!!! I can't believe I missed this awesome post, your baby pic makes me want to hug you forever!!!

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  18. You're really pretty!,have you ever tried Kinky Curly hair products? I live in Ny so I'm not sure if they sell it in your country but you can always check online! I feel these products would be terrific for your hair and the whole going natural process too. Im going natural myself, I never had a relaxer but have been blow drying and flat ironing my hair since I was a child. Also, since you're into more natural products with no mimeral oil and whatnot, Kinky Curly is awesome. Look up kinky curly on YouTube! Its really a great line of products!

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  19. No needs hair extension for curly hairs. Some hair oils and shampoos are available in markets that make hairs in curly style.
    clip in hair extensions

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  20. I think you look really pretty either way, straight or curly. I'm sorry you went through a period of being so insecure, but we ALL did when we were in high school--if not about hair, then about something else--so you have nothing to be ashamed of!!

    I hope your transition journey is successful!! Hopefully it gets healthier without the weaves, heat styling, etc. <3

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  21. Tjena! Snygg blogga ;) I enjoyed reading you hair journey, it's great that you made the decision even when you had no reference point on where to start. You natural hair is very lovely.

    www.heynaturalbeauties.com

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