10 Things You Must Know Before Going Natural With Your Hair
Going natural with your hair is not an easy journey. If you have made the decision but don’t know what to expect, do not worry. Here are 10 things that you must know before giving that big step!
1. You Have Two Options: Big Chop or Transitioning
There are no bad options here. Each of these has its own advantages and will eventually lead you to your main objective, it’s totally up to you which path to take.
The difference is that by doing the “big chop” the process is less of a torture since your hair starts from zero and you will already have natural hair (in a very short style).
Transitioning means to slowly growing out your natural hair and getting rid of the damaged hair, which requires a lot of time (even a couple of years to finally see your natural texture) and patience.
So if you transition, you likely might have two types of textures in your head (the natural new one and the damaged transitioning one).
2. Read about natural hair care!
When you are going natural, the best thing you can do is researching how to take care of your tresses.
Having a reference about how to start or which kind of products are recommended for natural hair will definitely help you. This way you will already have a guide and feel less lost about it, believe me… There’s a whole process behind the magic of natural hair!
3. Find some motivation when you feel like giving up
Not to sound dramatic here, but your expectations might not be fulfilled at the beginning if you think you will have Lion’s King mane or rocking curls when taking the big step.
When you’re going natural, you will definitely feel like a weight has been lifted off of your shoulders but the results won’t come out as you imagined it. It’s a process that takes time and it takes a lot of work, effort, patience, and self-love.
That is why you must find a source of inspiration not to give up, search for curly hair influencers on Instagram and watch youtube videos to keep you going (it works!).
4. Not everyone will agree with the “new you”
This might be one of the hardest things when going natural! Do not allow yourself to feel down if someone looks at you funny, if you get negative comments on your new change, or if any of your friends tell you that you looked better when you had chemically processed or straight hair.
This is a decision that you made because you wanted to, the only thing that matters here is finding your own happiness (people are never fully pleased).
Those same people that didn’t agree with you, will come back later to tell you how much they love your natural hair after your curls start blooming beautifully.
5. Not every day will be a “good hair day”
Even after you have recovered your curls and have passed through the process of going natural, there might be days that your hair doesn’t want to cooperate with you.
It might be the product you used, the way you styled it, how much you manipulated your hair, lack of hydration or it might just be the weather outside.
Just remember that there are awesome hair days and there are not that good days. Don’t fight it, just go along with it.
6. Never stop hydrating your hair!
Natural hair can get really thirsty! You have to keep it hydrated. Things like the sun, air pollution, winter season or beach/swimming pool diving can dehydrate your natural hair and avoid it from being healthy.
If your budget doesn’t allow you to buy hair masks or treatments, remember you can always go for the homemade recipes.
7. You invest more money than before
That’s right! Going natural is not a cheap lifestyle. If you thought you would be saving money cause you didn’t have to go to the beauty salon or investing money in all sorts of products, because hey your natural hair only needs water! You are WRONG!
When you are going natural you need more specific products to keep your curls healthy and poppin’. From chemical-free products to hair gels, leave-ins, hair masks, hair treatments, oils and a range of different products, until you find a routine that works for you.
8. It might take longer to get ready
On Friday nights you only had to unwrap your hair from a doobie/tubi or put it down from a high ponytail and you were ready to go and if your hair wasn’t looking properly, you could just get it fixed quite quickly with a flat iron.
Now it might take you a couple of hours to “refresh” your curls and in case you’ve had it up in a pineapple for the whole day, it might take some time for it to get “in the right position” after you’ve put it down.
9. You will be more self-confident
There is a magical feeling about going natural that stays with you your whole life. This new you is self-confident and empowered.
You now walk on the streets like you own it and you feel like the most beautiful woman in the world. People find you more appealing, cause the true you is out there being happy in your own skin and they see that reflection.
10. You might be tempted to straighten your hair
You will hear that little voice in your head telling you to run as fast as you can to the beauty salon to get your hair straighten, to straighten your hair yourself or to take a razor and get rid of all of it.
It’s completely normal to feel like that, maybe things didn’t come out as you expected but deep inside you know that going back is not the best choice. Remember it takes time, you’ve damaged your hair for a long time and it’s a long process to go back to your roots.
Going natural takes more guts than it seems to and it’s a long process but believe me, when I say, it is the best undescribable feeling once you go for it and it will all be worth it. What has been the hardest situation you’ve encountered while going natural? Tell us in the comments below!
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