I remember viewing other transitioners' pictures and blogs on Hairlista and feeling envious that they were so many months ahead of me in their transition. I couldn't comprehend going without a relaxer for a year but I knew that's what I wanted to do. The hair bloggers used to write about 'how time flies' and I used to think 'yeh, right. It's going to drag on for me'. Honestly though, time has really flown by and as you can probably see from my recent lack of blogging activity, my hair has not been on my mind the whole time. At the start, I was constantly checking my progress or researching how much 'X' amount of new growth should look like etc. Now I realise that a watched pot never boils and I should just enjoy the journey. I'm only a year post. My natural journey is only just beginning.

I haven't felt a craving to go back to getting a relaxer - probably because I transitioned the naughty way and used the straighteners to help me. Nevertheless, I am proud of myself for getting this far. Click here to read my milestone blog posts so far.

I had my hair cut on 14th January. It was beginning to look like a mullet as the layers on top were much shorter than the bottom. My (new) hairdresser cut about an inch off the bottom hemline and explained that she wouldn't cut so much from the top. This would mean I've now got more of a blunt bob which will avoid the awkward mullet stage as it grows out.

Before and after my hair cut

So, did I make my goal of being fully natural by Jan 2015?
Well, apart from a tiny section in the front, yes. I'm counting myself as natural either way!

Sectioning my hair after washing

Some things I have learned about my hair:

Avoiding heat damage: Hair is best protected from heat when it is freshly washed and conditioned. Applying heat to unwashed hair bakes in the product and dirt already in there, causing damage that could have been avoided. For my hair, I get the best protection and results when I use a serum heat protectant on damp hair, followed by a non-water based spray heat protectant just before straightening.

Satin scarf vs satin pillow:  Recently, I've been experimenting with different ways to preserve my hair overnight. I've realised that the moisture is much better retained when I wrap my hair in a silky scarf as opposed to just lying on a silky pillowcase.

I have three different textures on my head: The bottom half of my hair is silky with a loser curl pattern. The top part is much tighter in curl pattern or has no pattern at all. The crown of my head is dry, wiry and brittle. If I treat each area of my hair the same, some part will be lacking in care. Thus, I have to pay extra attention to my crown, giving it more moisture than anywhere else.

I've had problems with breakage in the crown of my head.  I check regularly for signs of breakage but it seems to be doing well for now. Click to see my crown breakage post

Single strand knots AKA fairy knots: These have appeared all of a sudden at the ends of my hair. They're tiny little knots that form (usually near the end) of a single strand. I had loads of them and I thought it might be to do with the fact I use so much heat and needed a hair cut. Apparently they come with natural territory but I'm not sure if it has anything to do with damage - or if any healthy head of hair can get them.

What are my next steps? 

I'm going to focus on growing my hair longer now. For this, I will need to:

• Find a better way to wrap my hair. I use heat frequently to bump the ends of my bob inwards. I think the secret to putting down the straighteners is in how I wrap my hair at night. It's too short to cross wrap (a successful method when my hair was longer), so I'm trying other techniques.

• Try heatless styles like braidouts. Braidouts are something I really want to do and feel comfortable with. I guess when I've worn my hair straight like this for such a long time, it can be daunting to change up my style. 

• Get trims less often. It was recommended that to maintain my bob, I get trims every 6-8 weeks, but to grow it, I should get them every 10-12 weeks. If I want to go longer without getting cuts, I need to take better care of my ends.

How is your journey going? What is your next milestone? Let me know! 

View my transitioning pictures
Feeling nostalgic? Click here to see my first ever post 

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

In three weeks I'll be one year post. I can't believe it! As I'll be posting a full update in about three weeks, I'll keep this one short.

It's been longer than usual (1 week short of 4 months) since I got my last hair cut. I'm hoping to get another cut before my 1 year date on 22 Jan. That way, I can do the big reveal as to whether all the relaxed hair has been chopped off. I'm changing stylists so it's about whether I can get hold of my hairdresser in time or not.

Anyway, here's a picture of my hair now:

Jan 2015

I washed my hair today and wanted to share a few texture shots of my wet hair with you:

Crazy mix of coils and frizz

You can still see some relaxed hair at the front of my head... We'll see how much is left after my next cut

It's been a long time since I last posted. I am now 10.5 months post, and I know I did not write an update at 10 months, but really there was nothing to report.

As I've acquired some heat damage in one section and my ends need a cut, I decided to finally wean myself off the straighteners. I've tried braid-outs before but as I didn't have a product to aid definition, my styles never really worked out.

Last night, I used Soft 'n' Free GroHealthy Shea Butter Treatment on my hair for definition and then plaited it in three sections. I did this on flat ironed hair and this was the result:


It's different to my usual style so I'm feeling a bit conscious of my hair, but I'm going to keep trying braid-outs and hope that I can get to a point where I'm happy with wearing them

OK so it's not actually an ode. I just wanted to write a post about the benefits of documenting my hair journey and encourage others to do so also. Now and again I will visit my blog and click through the posts as if I were a reader. I've come to realise how useful my documentation has been for me in my journey and have listed a few reasons why:

1. It keeps me motivated. Having to frequently update my blog means that my hair journey is always fresh in my mind. Even when I get discouraged, I know that I can write about it here instead of just giving up.

See also: 9 Ways to Keep Motivated During Your Hair Journey

2. It reminds me that I'm making progress. Since I can't physically feel my hair growing and I see it everyday, it can sometimes feel like my progress is slow. Being able to see photographs of my hair (both on my blog and in my personal photos), I can see the changes in thickness. As I've been taking photos of my new growth, I can also see the differences in how much new growth I'm getting. When putting my pictures in chronological order, I can see how my texture is changing as the relaxed hair gets cut off.

3. I can refresh myself on forgotten products and techniques. Sometimes we like a change so we switch up our routine or products. My blog allows me to scroll back through time and revisit things I'd forgotten about that worked for me. It also means I can collect information about what didn't work for my hair so I don't make the same mistakes.

I never thought I'd go natural - at least not any time soon. Time has flown by, and while I know I still have a long way to go, my blog has allowed me the realisation that I've come a long way in the last 9 months. If you don't already, I highly recommend you begin documenting your hair journey too!

So it's been a while since I've posted but there hasn't been much to report. I've continued to wash and deep condition my hair weekly. I still moisturise daily and am still struggling to stop flat ironing so frequently 

One thing I have noticed however, is my breakage has decreased. While I still do have broken areas in the middle of my head, I have found that the existing hair strands are hardly snapping off and most of the hairs that come out are shed hair. I can't say why or when this started happening but I am definitely not complaining!

When I'm detangling my wet hair, I still continue to be surprised at the hair I find in the comb. For some reason I still expect it to be straight as if it were relaxed. I now get little coils that I'm fascinated with (I'm always stretching the strand to see how long it actually is).

Each day I am coming more and more to terms with the fact that my hair is about 90% natural. I'm hoping to get my next hair cut around Christmas, and am eager to see how much relaxed hair gets cut off when I do.

Wet hair

I recently returned from my holiday in Morocco. The week started off with me caring about what my hair looked like, but after spending an hour straightening it only for the sea air to frizz it up again, I realised there is just more to life! I soon realised that my hair doesn't actually look that bad without being constantly bumped at the ends in the morning. I just brushed all my hair back, tied my scarf on at night and in the morning my hair still looked fine.

I'm hoping this mentality stays with me now that I'm back in London.  My hair thanked me while I was away and not using so much heat. It stayed soft and moisturised all week - although I'm sure the warm weather helped too. A lot of the time I wore my hair half up - half down, with the front in two french plaits:

How I wore my hair on holiday. This is the best picture I could find...

The journey continues. I can't wait to see if I'm going to make my goal by January or not!

On 23rd July I did a post about my problem area - the crown. The relaxed hair had broken off really bad leaving just a few inches of natural hair. It's been almost 8 weeks since that post and as promised, here is an update on my crown progress

14 Sept 2014. Almost 8 months post

My hair dresser has put shorter layers at the top of my head, meaning the longer hairs seen in the first picture have been cut away. This has enabled my crown section to look more even. It's not perfect but it's definitely an improvement!

(See my One Year Post Relaxer post for a final update on my crown)

I'm going on holiday in 5 days and so I wanted my hair to look fresh. The ends were feeling rough and generally my hair needed some sort of trim or re-shape.

So today I took myself to the hairdressers and got another hair cut. My stylist recommended I install some braids for a few months just to give my hair a break from the heat I've been using. I can't lie - the thought has crossed my mind, but I really don't feel like braids, wigs or weaves are for me personally. I'm doing this transition the unconventional (and perhaps the stupid) way!

My hair cuts just keep getting shorter and shorter. The shorter it is, the more heat I use and thus the more I have to get trims. What have I gotten myself in to?

She tidied up my hemline

As my hair is in need of some hydration, I'm getting serious and devising a plan to inject some much needed moisture back into my hair.

1. Use porosity control conditioner every week. This conditioner aims to equalise the hair's porosity. I believe my hair is porous, meaning moisture escapes from the hair strand as quickly as it enters, resulting in constantly dry hair (and I use too much heat). This conditioner helps the hair to hold on to the moisture that has been put into it.

2. Focus on moisture deep conditioning. While it's important I use protein due to my use of heat tools, right now my hair is moisture deprived. Thus, I will be doing moisturising deep conditioning treatments for the foreseeable future.

3. Blow drying on cool. I did a post about this here, but in short, the cool shot helps to close cuticles and keep moisture in. It also avoids unnecessary heat

4. When flat ironing, use a silicon based heat protectant serum as opposed to a water based one. I find the water based protectants don't protect as well, and leave hair feeling dry and crispy afterwards.

5. Use castor oil to seal. For me, castor oil is the best oil by far for sealing in moisture and helping my dry scalp. I still use Olive Oil Moisturiser Lotion as my moisturiser.

In my previous post, I mentioned I've been really bad with my use of heat. I had become lazy with my wash days and started blow drying before I straightened. That's a double dose of heat sure to frazzle my hair. I then had the cheek to wonder why my hair was so dull looking,  breaking, and why my ends were frizzy and scalp was dry.

I know for me that blowdrying quickly depletes every drop of moisture that I'd just tried to replenish through deep conditioning. Not even my leave-ins and heat protectants made a difference.

I previously talked about blow drying on cool instead. The cool air is a good way to close cuticles, encouraging smooth and shiny hair, but it also helps to get my hair straighter. While it's manipulation, it's not damaging in terms of heat. I love the way it makes my hair feel and will using this method from now on. It's been two days since I deep conditioned and dried my hair on the cool setting. My hair is still moisturised, soft, sleek and shiny.

I have officially banned myself from heat-drying my hair!

Since my hair has taken a beating recently, I'm going to focus on replenishing its moisture levels. I recently revisited castor oil as a sealant and have realised that contrary to my previous thoughts,  I actually really like it! I guess I was just using way too much oil before which resulted in stringy hair. I used a tiny drop and that was sufficient in making my hair feel great.

Au revior!