Natural Hair and Humidity

Hi Ladies- Please bare with me, I'm sure that a question like this has been asked before, but with soooooo much information it's kind of hard to search through and get a specific answer that's relevent to your current circumstance. So if a fellow natural beauty won't mind answering for me again, I appreciate it.

I'm currently transitioning and I don't have any idea what I'm doing. I've been transitioning for about 5 months now, my last relaxer was March/2010. Up until this point I wore sew-in while I grew enough new growth, I took my last sew-in out yesterday. I blow dried and flat ironed my hair, it got straight but it's THICK!!!! I have about 7in of hair in total (hair is almost shoulder length, about 2in away), with about 1 1/2 inch of new growth. I don't want to do the bc, but I'm going to slowly cut off these relaxed ends. I got tired of dealing with the sew-in and that hair. And trust me I'm absolutely sold that I DO NOT want to relax my hair again. I'm convinced that it's just not good for our hair. I love the way my natural hair feels, but not ready to give up the length.

Ok, so my question. This morning I work up and my hair was just a big puff of nothing. I live in Chi-town and if anyone is familiar you know how our summers are. When I tried to flat iron my hair, it did nothing - so I just put on a headband and called it a day. I don't have a regimen. I use Pantene Relaxed and Natural Shampoo and a leave-in conditioner by Olive Oil called tree-something, I can't remember the name right now.

I need a regimen that I can try and also a hair style that will work great for me that I can get up and go. I'm interested in this twist-out style, but I quite don't understand if I'm suppose to twist it in individual braids or 2-strand twist straigt back (like corn-rows).

I believe my hair is a 3c/4a or 4a/4b - for a beginner transitioner can anyone with this same type of hair give me a inexpensive regimen that they use and works great and clairfy this twist-out hair style for me. Also can you post pictures of your hair (those of you with the same type as mine - and it would be really great if I can see a transitioners that has mastered this art of dealing with 2 types of hair.)

Thank you
MzTaly

Here's a previous post on handling humidity for transitioners:
http://www.curlynikki.forumotion.com/stylin-and-profilin-f2/humidity-and-natural-hair-t172.htm?highlight=humidity

Here's a post for beginner transitioners, including links for transitioner hairstyles like twist outs and bantu knots:
http://www.curlynikki.com/2009/06/resource-for-newbies-and-transitioners.html

Cheers!

Thank you very much!!! I found this helpful....especially the one about humidity.. Make sense now.

I just wanted to say..Well for me the best option for transitioning is keeping the hair under a weave or in braids.

I just got my hair straightened and washed and blowdried. It was looking sooo fabulous...for about 3 hours. (I also did a 1 inch trim). Keep the straight styles for the winter months. You are going to have to do natural styles like braid outs, etc. Or if you want a straight do then straighten the hair and know that the relaxed hair will stay straight, then leave the back down and gel the front back/up. No one will be able to tell your roots are not straight in tha back. I am 7 to 8 months into my transition. I also have extremely thick hair.

Hello there MzTaly!

I'll try to help you to the best of my ability. I have naturally Frizzy hair that's hard to get my curls to show, but humidity /slightly/ affects my hair. Water and sweat is also the culprit for ruining nice flat ironed hair (obviously lol). The very front of my hair is a loose 3b/3c (depending I guess lol), and the rest is 3c/4a. It's definitely a challenge, but challenges keep me busy.

For me, Twist outs don't last that long. If I do any style, I keep it for a day, because I usually don't like it after that. Many transitioners re-twist, or re-braid at night to keep their style going. I do my own twist outs with a 2-strand twist. I haven't tried it with flat twisting. Cornrows and plaits are also a nice style for transitioning hair.

A regimen should be tailored to someone's own needs. We are all different. I have a regimen of products of use, but don't keep a schedule, or routine to use them. I shampoo & condition once a week with Dove or Herbal Essences (at the moment I have Hello Hydration, None of your frizziness is fantastic too if you have frizzy hair), then a few times a week I'll condition only. For a moisturizer, I have Hawaiian Silky, but whatever you choose, make sure it's water based. I don't use an oil too often, I haven't seen any difference in the moisture retention when i do use it. But, a nice one is Organix Shea butter. It's helped a LOT with my frizz while I do braid outs or twist outs or any other style.

The type of flat iron you have I feel affects it's ability to do it's job. My first flat iron was some kind of Conair iron. The one I have now is an FHI with ceramic plates. It heats up to a temperature of 410 degrees F. I would recommend you purchase a nice ceramic flat iron with the option to change the temperature on it and set it to the lowest temperature that will ALSO get your hair straightened and also purchase a heat protectant. My hair stylist (that my mom obviously has no problem to continue to take me too and pay for), is a natural, so I don't mind going to her anyways, she's been doing my hair since I was 15ish lol. But she usually flat irons my hair for me and natural hair gone straight is amazing! As for your flat ironed hair blowing up after you styled it, I hate to say that there's not much to do, but for me, that is the case lol. Maybe someone else has tips.

I hear a lot about Cantu Shea Butter, and I bought a jar, haven't used it and don't plan to use it. After I bought I realized that this wasn't something I would like to use. I have to wear my hair up for work because I'm a server, so I usually go for a ponytail. To gel my edges I use Murray's Hair Dressing Pomade. It has only 3 ingredients: Petrolatum, Mineral Oil, and fragrance. A lot of transitioners may be discouraged by the first two, but that's way better than me trying to read the 50 ingredients in many other gels. It was made in the 1920s and it's just an ingenious product in my opinion lol. It lays my hair down, and sometimes my hair may come out of place, but with a brush/comb/hand it's laying back down. I can't do that with other gels. It's hard to remove from the hair and your hands because of the wax like consistency but will last a few days in your hair. A conditioner should take it right out. One day, I'll get around to making my own moisturizers and gels, getting down to 3 relatively safe ingredients is just another step closer to feeling safe about what you apply to your hair.

P.S. for flat ironing, if you're not going to blowdry, I suggest somehow "stretching" your hair overnight while it dries so you can use as little heat as possible to get the straightest look.

Here are some pictures to end this blab lol.
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.] A glimpse of the frizz *I cut the relaxed ends off here*

[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.] A braidout that didn't turn out properly.

[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]Another Braid out

[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.] After washing

[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.] Flat iron by my stylist, maybe a week later?

[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]Stretched out version of the coil in my avatar.

So there ya go, I hope it's not too much to take in, but I apologize for the length. Have fun transitioning