I've been waiting for this very hair moment to arrive. Finally, it's here! Healthy and beautiful! Look at that healthy and bouncy natural curls!
Come see what these hair transitioning stages look like in my case.
From this awkward two-textured hair transitioning days:
If you have been reading here on my blog, I started this hair journey since December of last year. It was exactly about a year, too then since I had my last rebond treatment. Yes, I hated my curly hair that much that I opted for chemically relaxed hair every year for 13 years straight! I even forgot how curly my natural hair is. It was the only way I know on how to keep frizz off of my head. Enjoyed it, though. But through the years, I missed my curls as well but to no patience and lack of knowledge on how to truly care for them. They were a poof on my head.
So, from late last year, I decided to stop relaxing my hair, mainly because I've no money to maintain it here in Taiwan and that I wanted my curls back. I kinda got tired of my boring relaxed hair. And so the research for tips and tricks on managing curly hair began. Fortunately, curly hair bloggers and vloggers are all over the internet and I got everything from there - from curly hair friendly products to wash routines to monthly care regimen. Like what I said on my previous posts, if tutorials were made available or if i had known them way before, I wouldn't have spent money on salon treatments at all. My hair thanked me and are looking better every single day.
For those who have been asking me on how I finally got here and for how long, here it is:
2007 to 2015 - the years when I got relaxed hair treatment
December 2015 - the final rebond treatment and decided to quit
December 2016 - 1 year post-relax treatment; 4 inches of natural hair growth; no big chop yet
January 2017 - 13 mos into transition; mini hair chop; consistent hair wash routines and oil treatment; all done at home
February 2017 - 14 mos into transition; trimmed some more relaxed hair; co-washing and wash routines
August 2017 - 20 mos into transition; trimmed the rest of the relaxed hair; neck length natural hair growth
September 2017 - 21 months into transition as of this post; fully grown natural bouncy and healthy curls!
Thank you Lord! My patience finally paid off. Gone are the challenging and awkward transitioning hair days! I've never been this happy about my natural hair. Ever! I owe this to all the curly bloggers ( (Anjana of Curls and Beauty Diary) and vloggers (Curly Penny, Curly Zeria on youtube to name a few) who inspired me a lot into taking this journey. My hair is still on its course. I want to achieve more volume and more healthy curls in the future. And i know that I will get there with the love and care that I give them.
So for those curlies out there who are into their transitioning hair journey or those who would like to start, my advise is just this: BE PATIENT! YOU WILL NEED A LOT OF IT. I mean, think about the time that you will be wasting if in the midst of your journey, you give in to straightening your hair permanently or damaging it even more with heat tools. Opt for overnight curls instead or overnight straight hair to avoid damage. It's also important to go for protective hairstyles if you need to attend special occasions and you want your hair to look beautiful. I mean, I've been there. I've resisted temptations and thought of all the rewards afterwards. I do not want to start over again as every damage from heat tools will give you months of recovery! So, DON'T RISK IT!
Are you going into curly hair transition as well? Let me know how it is going with you. Be posting product reviews on my next posts. Ciao for now, curlies!
