Mojito Chica- A Story of Transition

-Were you a long term or short term transitioner, and why?
I was a short term transitioner. I transitioned for 3.5 months. I did the BC because I was excited to see what my natural hair would be like without the relaxed ends. Also I was tired of DH asking about the goal of this “hair thing.” Not that DH is against natural hair; it’s just that I have a plan for damn near every other facet of my life and natural hair care is really like stumbling around in the dark for me. It’s all good though; I can handle trial by fire, lol.

-When did you BC? What was your initial reaction to your natural hair?
I did the BC on November 1, 2008. I was initially amused because a few permed ends remained and were a little spiky, and I thought I looked a little punk rockerish, lol. After my amusement I was really surprised at how curly it looked when wet, and then equally surprised when it didn’t look so curly when dry. I have never had long hair, so the shortness wasn’t an issue at all.

-What was your transition routine (products included)?
My routine was to co-wash hair two or three times a week, wrap my hair until I couldn’t get a comb through it anymore, which was circa month 3, and cover with a satin scarf at night. After I stopped combing I just combed my hair back into a bun-like style to get used to seeing my forehead again. I say bun-like because I didn’t have enough hair for a real bun :o)

Product-wise I probably tried a new conditioner every week, lol.Let’s see I tried a sample of Crème of Nature Jojoba and Olive Oil Moisture-Active Deep Conditioning Treatment, Suave Naturals Tropical Coconut and Juicy Green Apple, Trader Joe Nourish Spa shampoo and conditioner, Suave Professionals Humectant, moegrow oil, shealoe using unrefined shea butter, castor oil, and coconut oil. Out of all of these I only continue to use the Suave Naturals in spritzes and moegrow oil when I remember to oil my scalp.

-What was your staple hair style during the transition?
Hair brushed back away from my face.

-How did you moisturize your hair to prevent breakage at the new growth line?
Um, yeah I’m still working on the moisturizing thing; however, I didn’t experience a lot of breakage while transitioning probably because I didn’t really manipulate my hair except to wash it.

-Why did you choose to go natural?
I started thinking about natural hair after reading the story of the Glamour editor describing afros as “political don’ts” and the blogosphere discussions about it circa July 2007. I remember reading a comment that said something like black women shouldn’t be expected to assimilate and subject themselves to european standards of beauty to get a job. That was the beginning of my awakening from the hair matrix. I began to wonder what my natural hair even looked like. My hair was first pressed then relaxed from the age of 5, so I really had no idea what my natural hair was like. Fast forward a year and my opportunity to escape the matrix presented itself when my beautician stopped doing hair on my day. I wasn’t about to spend Friday nights or Saturday days in the beauty shop and didn’t want to find a new beautician, so I quit relaxing cold turkey. I quickly found Nappurality, Naturally Curly, and YouTube for some much needed guidance. I’m happy with my decision :o)