Confessions Of A Naturalista Pt 2

This week the beautiful Naturalista Lisandra Pantophlet has shared her transitioning journey with us. Read her story & Be Inspired !! DARE TO BE DIFFERENT! ... DARE TO ROCK YOUR HAIR WITH CONFIDENCE!!

I had my last relaxer in February of 2012, so I am proudly two years relaxer-free! My initial reason for not continuing to relax my hair was because I was tired of seeing how thin my hair was getting. So at first I just wanted to give my hair a little break from the harsh chemical. I would braid my hair and leave those in and that kind of helped with not dealing with my hair for a couple months. After a couple months I started thinking about going natural. But I was totally frightened about rocking a short fro, I wasn’t ready for that kind of commitment. I had been wanting to lock my hair and most people I talked to about it kept telling me that the best way to start them was to “start from scratch”, but I was still skeptical about it. Until one day in October of 2012 I have no idea what came over me, but I asked a friend of mine to just cut my hair, just cut off my straightened ends. After my ends were cut, I shed a few tears in the mirror because I couldn’t believe I actually did it and I missed my hair immediately. The Saturday after I cut my hair I braided it, like I said before I could not deal with rocking a short fro. I redid my braids and by January of 2013 I decided to rock my TWA (Teeny Weeny Afro). I enjoyed it for awhile, but then I started becoming bored with it, because there were hardly any styles that I could do with it.

I was also becoming a product junkie. I would buy all kinds of products to experiment with and learned what products worked well with my hair and what products didn’t go too well with my hair. One product I tried but didn’t like was ‘Ms. Jacksons Curl La La’. The smell of it is amazing but it would flake my hair so badly, I hated it. One product that I loved was ‘Curl Nouveau’ because it moisturized my hair and made it so soft! One product that I have been using continuously is ‘Ecostyler Gel’ it really helps to define my curls and keep my hair in tact. I have also started using ‘Jamaican Black Castor Oil (JBCO)’ and ‘Extra Virgin Olive Oil (EVOO)’. I love using JBCO when doing my twists, I have gotten the best twist out results so far since I have been using this oil. I use EVOO to pre-poo (which is putting oil in your hair for 30 mins before washing regularly).

I was always reading reviews, following different hair pages, blogs and instagrams, just trying to get myself educated. I would also go on youtube and look up different videos for information & inspiration. I would look up different hair charts to figure out what kind of hair type I had, until I was convinced that there was no way my hair type could be on any of those charts (my hair was harder than a mutha!). I eventually came to a conclusion that my hair type was 4C. As my hair continued to grow out I started realizing that I had a mixture of different hair types (the back of my hair is like 4A, the front, 4B and the middle is definitely 4C!). I love it and hate it at the same time. But I will say, I do not, I repeat DO NOT miss relaxing my hair! I love the versatility of my natural hair, I love doing twist-outs, braiding my hair etc. Going natural really tests your patience and helps you to realize that everyone’s journey is different. Not because you saw someone else with curly hair does that mean that when you go natural you will have the same texture as that person. You shouldn’t feel bad that someone else’s hair grows faster than yours, you just have to embrace your own type of hair for what it is. In the beginning my hair was growing faster than it is growing at the moment. And that’s okay, I just can’t wait until I have shoulder length hair (that’s bouncy and healthy of course). That’s my hair goal at the moment. I don’t want to put my expectations too high. Sometimes I do wish that my hair was curlier and easier to handle, but I just have to accept my hair for what it is. Sometimes people ask me if I still want to lock my hair, and I don’t think I will do that anytime soon, just because now I have an actual hair goal and I am enjoying the possibilities so far.

In my picture I've kinda thrown together a set of pictures from the day I cut off my straightened ends until how my hair looks now. And don’t forget you don’t go natural, you return, cause natural is where it began!