Ms. G– A Story of Transition

CN: Were you a long term or short term transitioner, and why?
I would consider myself to be a long term transitioner. I transitioned for a year from November 2008 – November 2009. I would have gone longer, but I got tired of the weave(s) (I had three weaves done in 2009) and every time I would take one out, I would fall more in love with my own hair texture.

CN: When did you BC? What was your initial reaction to your natural hair?
I BC’d in the beginning of November 2009 and since I had been stalking curlynikki’s web site for over a year, I already had all of my products and materials ready to try my first T-n-C; which didn’t exactly turn out just how I imagined but I was still pleased with the results.

CN: How did family and friends react to the new you? What was your response to them?
My family and friends accepted my new hair and have liked most of the styles I’ve done. I think I get the most “looks” from some of the older people in my family wondering why I want to wear my hair out “nappy”. I just don’t think about it because I know that this is something that makes me happy and something I’m doing for me and my hair.

CN: What was your transition routine?
So far I’ve henna’d about 5 times and I did this in five consecutive weeks, seeing that they say that you see the best results after multiple applications. I plan on now just doing the henna about once a month. I deep condition with Aubrey Organics HSR once a week. During the week I will either wear a twist out, braid out, pony puff or flat twist and bun in the back. I will spray my hair throughout the week with my own concoction of Devacare One, Coconut Oil, Olive Oil and water if I feel like its getting a little dry.
My main products are:
Aubrey Organics HSR or Organix Coconut Milk Conditioner – Deep Conditioner (once a week) Kinky Curly Come Clean – Shampoo (every two weeks) Herbal Essence HH or TT – (once or twice a week depending on what I’m doing on the weekend) Kinky Curly Knot Today or DevaCare One – Leave-in Shea Butter & Unrefined Coconut Oil to seal my ends.

CN: What was your staple hair style during the transition?
In the beginning of my transition (about the first 5 months) I would flat iron my hair. Then I started getting weaves around April-November. So I didn’t do too much to my hair during those times. Every time I would take the weave out I would cut some of the relaxed hair out. Although, I did have a lot of heat damage from the part of my hair that was left out of the weave.

CN: Why did you choose to go natural?
I chose to go natural because I wanted healthy hair and I wanted to see my hair grow out to BSL (when straight). Sometimes I wonder if my hair can get that long seeing that it will usually get right above the bra strap and stop, LOL. I never really knew how damaging relaxers, heat, and certain products were to my hair until I visited this site. Now, I’m on the natural hair mission just to have full luxurious healthy hair.