Back To Basics: How To Go Natural

I have been natural now for almost three years. So I’ve been in this life for a minute and as people who have been natural for a while I can acknowledge that when we speak about being natural we almost expect that everyone has a certain level of understanding. We forget that for some people the world of natural hair is new and can be intimidating. So If you are newly natural or you are thinking of going natural, welcome this series is for you.

So basically the first step in going natural is figuring out how you want to go about it. There are essentially two ways that you can go natural: Big Chopping (BC) or Transitioning.

Big Chopping is essentially the cold turkey of going natural. With this option you cut all you relaxed/ damaged ends off and you essentially start from ground zero. No Frills, Just take the leap.

Now if taking the leap give you heart palpitations, transitioning is probably for you. Essentially transitioning is allowing your natural roots to grow untouched for a certain period of time and going for trims at regular intervals to get rid of your relaxed/ damaged ends. The advantage of this is that you get to keep your length, but boy oh boy do you need to be patient because dealing with two textures can be difficult.

Those are basically the two options you have to go natural. If you are considering it you should totally do it. Natural hair is extremely versatile. The journey is an adventure and if its not your thing you can always return to the relaxed life, but at least then you can say you tried it.

The most important part for going natural to remember is to have fun, what ever plan you decide to have keep it flexible. For example my plan was to transition for 18 months to 2 years and that plan lasted all of 6 months because transitioning wasn’t for me. It is a journey to do enjoy the process of learning your hair and loving it.

Beauty and Splendour,

Siphi