Dear Transitioners,

When you're transitioning, you need to develop an entirely different mindset from the one you had while you were still relaxing. Here's what helped me to transition successfully:

1. I decided I wanted to transition and I had a solid reason.
2. RESEARCH, RESEARCH, RESEARCH-- the internet is your best friend, look at pictures, read stories of fellow transitioners, learn about your hair, because if you don't your hair is going to be "unmanageable" solely for the reason that you have no idea what your doing.
3. Change your entire product artillery. Learn about ingredients, and figure out what is best for your particular texture through trial and error. Read the ingredients and reviews before you buy and be sure to look for key words that describe what your hair needs.
4. Stay away from heat! You're going to hear this everywhere...the line between your relaxed hair and your new growth is weak and prone to damage, so handle with care. When I was transitioning, here are some of the styles I did:
• months 1-2 after last relaxer---wash and go. I wore the waves that my relaxed hair had when wet along with a little help from styling mousse. 
• months 3-4ish (depending on you) ---braids! carefree, kept my hands out my hair, and promoted growth. I talk about my braid regimen in earlier posts. 
• months 4ish-6ish--twist and curl, braid outs, bantu knot outs, flat twist outs. I tried and loved everything. Find your niche and it'll be great.
5. Wash often! I co-washed weekly and shampooed monthly usually on Sundays because I had the most time on these days to properly detangle and primp.
6. When it's time for the BC, your hair will tell you, your soul will tell you. I did it without family support and succeeded. Don't let anyone bring you down!!

Good luck!

When did Chemical Burns Become the Norm?

I remember getting touch ups every month and almost every single time, it resulted in a burn and i just blew it off deeming it ordinary. But think about it, if you stay out in the sun too long and get burned, you learn to put on sun block or just not stay in the sun too long; if you spill a chemical on your skin resulting in a burn, you get treatment and learn to be more careful; if your cooking, and you burn yourself on the stove, you learn not to stand too close to the popping oil, or use better heat protection. Why is it that when women get burns in their scalp, they brush it off and continue relaxing their hair? Burns are NOT acceptable!! So why do we accept it??

The last time I had my hair relaxed, it resulted in severe burn in the the entire front right quarter of my scalp along with minor burns on other parts of my scalp. The burns were so sever that I made the decision to NEVER put that crap in my hair ever again! Yet, women who are fully aware that their scalp is sensitive to the chemicals in the relaxer continue to relax their hair and suffer these burns. Is the pain really worth the week (more or less) of "beauty" you get from a fresh touch up? Is it really worth still having sub par hair and a clearly damaged scalp. Think about it!!!

i have come to realize something about relaxers....

they're just not real!!!! I mean, that's obvious, but it's becoming more apparent to me on this journey as i scope out more natural women. Today, my sister and mom went to the hair salon to get they're hair done. After, about 2 months of stretching her perm, my 12 year old sister went to get a touch up and a cut. FYI: she's been getting perms since she was 7 and when I decided to go natural, she wanted to do it too, but my mother detested it because she hates "nappy hair" and its just "not right", so my sister had to get a touch up.  When she came home, her hair looked nice, but it was obvious to me, that this style was not her. While stretching her relaxer, she wore braids, and braid outs, that fit her just beautifully, making it more apparent to me that pin straight "white girl hair" looked unfitting on her. If this is the case, why do black women continue to get relaxers? Can't they see the truth???

Naturals...they're everywhere!...even in the workplace!

Everywhere I look, I see naturals. There're naturals in almost every show I watch, in every store I go to,and  every time I turn around, I see a woman with beautiful natural hair. If this is a fact, then why does the myth that natural women can't find work even exist? That's like saying that Spanish women with hair just as thick as ours (and I kno many) can't work. That that is barbaric and unbelievable to any degree. Many Hispanic women I know are very successful women and they wear their naturally curly hair to their job with no problem.  This rumor needs to stop! It's ridiculous! It's fairly understandable that a woman with a BAA (Big A** Afro) would be seen as unprofessional in an interview because they're hair would be just too wild in appearance, but this should not be an obstacle in the road to naturality. There are tons of amazing styles that natural women can wear that can still look presentable, and if you're using your hair as an excuse why you can't get a job, then you're settling. Explore your hair! Natural women are literally everywhere. Yes, people will confront you and ask questions, but that happened to me when I was relaxed. The black woman's hair regimen is a mystery to most people, it's our job to inform others and relieve them of their ignorance. Embrace your natural hair responsibly.

Embracing the inner me - Natural Sunshine.com

This is a post that i put on my Natural Sunshine page (community for naturals) on July 4th. I actually didn't realize, until now, the symbolism in this post being written on independence day. I'm a strong believer in signs, and this sign, to me, signifies success. My journey WILL be successful, it has no choice:

One thing I'm learning in my journey is to be comfortable with myself. I'm the type of person who really couldn't care less about what alot of people think about me. The way I see it, no matter what you do, someone somewhere is gonna have a problem with it, so just do you. That's why I do me! That's one of my reasons for transitioning. I wanted to be me. I really love the woman I am becoming and I feel that in order to fully become that woman, I need to "do me." The shamika I see in the future has curly hair, she knows what she wants, and she's not afraid to go get it. That's really who I strive to be. I find myself admiring my curls and my new growth, but sometimes when I try to pull my hair back and it's not perfectly flat, I get a little upset and I kind of miss my relaxed roots. I need remember the reason I chose to do this transition: to essentially liberate myself from the mental and physical constraints I've allowed others to put on me. So, what I'm going to do is continue my journey and not give up because I really want this. I finally have control over something in my life and I love it! I have decided that for my birthday, which will be 9 months post-relaxer, I am going to BC. Im going to start my twenty first year off the way I want to....finally.

My Love Affair With My Curls

The title says it all...I absolutely LOVE my little curls and coils that are sprouting. They are sooooo beautiful! I wish I had a camera that would capture it's beauty! I find myself getting distracted while I'm setting my hair and stopping to feel each curl and straining to find a mirror that would allow me to see it, but apparently it's impossible to see the crown of my head. I find that the hair at my crown is very thick and the curls there group together much more than the curls at the sides of my head. I'm starting to see a curl pattern (or something like it). The curls at the front are loose, the curls at the sides are tiny and tight, and the curls in the back seem  follow the curl pattern of the front. I'm thinking that the sides are weird because of the stress from the micro braids, and the braids for my staple style, so I'm trying to think of another style so that my ladies are happy =D. Also, I'm trying to find a name for my hair lol (i name everything!) I'm thinking Sahara, because she's sooo dry and thirsty, any suggestions?

Natural Women Before and After

I don't know if it's just me, but I've noticed that women often look better when they're hair is natural than when it is relaxed. Sometimes, they even look like completely different people. Relaxed hair is such a norm that we often think our hair is supposed to be straight, but looking at these pictures made me want to go natural even more. It's like before, these women looked like they fit in, of course, conforming to social norms, but after, when these women were completely natural, they were really themselves. A lot of women have no idea how their natural hair looks. They have no idea how it curls or how beautiful it is when their hair is relaxed, but when they finally go natural its like they have a hairpiphany (yea i said it...i'm an English major so i can make up words lol) and you can see it in their face and in their style. It's like they're no longer forced to conform; that's what I mean when I say they finally become themselves. I can't wait to become myself =D

Here's some links to before and after pictures:
http://www.curlynikki.com/2010/07/walking-down-memory-lane-with-antre.html
http://newlynatural.wordpress.com/about/
more coming soon....i might even make this a new page =D

The Natural Hair Revolution! "Beauty Lies" part1

The Natural Hair Revolution "Beauty Lies" part2

YouTube - The Natural Hair Revolution! "Beauty Lies" part1

YouTube - The Natural Hair Revolution! "Beauty Lies" part1

The videos above opened up my mind to actually think about the origination of the relaxer. I've done research papers on women's fashion throughout different decades, and for the most part, fashion changed and evolved due to the simple want to change (with a few exceptions, of course). Makeup was invented to enhance features, curly perms and waves were invented for style, and etc. What I was frightened to learn was the reason the relaxer was invented: to make us, black women, resemble the our mistresses, the white woman. Now, don't get me wrong, anyone who knows me knows that I'm not one of those people who preach at you about black rights and everything, nor am I one of those people who are anti-white. I am actually guilty of saying that I would never go natural because it wouldn't look right on me. What I failed to realize was that I was born with natural hair and I had natural hair for 6 years, I was put on this earth with natural hair, so why wouldn't it look right?

Most women who relax their hair have either never seen their hair natural or have had perms for so long that they don't remember seeing their hair natural. We've been told for so long that our hair is too nappy and unmanageable to wear natural and most of us just believed that myth failing to realize that we aren't the only black women here on this earth. There are black women all over the world who are able to take care of their hair and wear it quite beautifully, so why can't we. There are tons of beautiful styles that we can do with our natural hair that we cannot do with limp relaxed hair. Natural hair can be stylish! It's actually more manageable and easier to style than relaxed hair. We need to take a step back and actually learn about ourselves and our hair and ask ourselves, why we're relaxing our hair. Do you really have a reason?

I'm actually trying to get an interview with the woman who made this video. I'll let you guys know how things go, stay tuned!

intro

Hi guys, my name is shamika and I am a 20 year old black woman of Jamaican heritage. Since last year, I've been contemplating going natural, but I was always talked out of it. Now,  I have grown completely tired of relaxed hair and I really do not enjoy wearing my hair bone straight. I've always been the type to get tired of my hair and want to do something different with it. I've done weaves, wrinses, cuts, but my favorite thing to do is wash it and let it air dry curly which is what let me to my decision to go natural. I've noticed that when my hair is relaxed, it hardly grows, but when I do my wash and air dry, it grows significantly and is overall healthier and thicker. My new growth is between a 3a and 3c texture and is very beautiful. I really love my curls and am very interested to see how far it can progress. This is why I am taking the BSL [bra strap length] challenge which will hopefully lead to WL [waist length] hair in the long run. My goal is to reach damn near close to BSL if not BSL itself by my college graduation next year May 18th!!! I am beginning this mission with braids and I already see growth. I got the braids on May 8th and they have, as of today, already grown about 3/4 of an inch in just two weeks and that is from using the method in this link: http://www.growafrohairlong.com/braidreg.html. What I do is wash my braids every week with BSX spray shampoo and alternate daily between braid spray and infusium 23 repairology. It really works! In approximately 2 months, I am going to take the braids out and start a new regimen, which hardly varies from the braid regimen, using deep conditioning weekly and wet buns. Ultimately, I am promoting healthy hair and growth for all black women. I will try my best to post pictures of my progress starting right after I take the braids out and continuing probably every 3 months. Wish me luck!