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!

Pros & Cons of Natural Hair

There is a new trend among young women, they are putting away all the perms and chemicals used in their hair and transitioning over to the use of organic rejuvenating oils.  Yes the answer is clear more and more women are transitioning over to Natural hair. Today I will like take you though some of the top pros and cons that come with having natural hair.

Pros:

1). Diverse Styling Options: there are a variety of styles available for natural Hair types compared to permed hair, and as women we just have to do some research to figure out which style works best for you. Natural hair can be shaped & modelled in many different ways given some of the examples shown below you can make your hair look cool & rockstar-ish or at other times just go for a regal & sophisticated look. (There are so many other styles out there!! will focus more on styles in a later post)

2) Another Pro to having natural hair is that it is healthier compared to permed hair the added chemicals to the hair helps to damage the hair by stripping away hair cuticles, with natural hair the products that are used are more rejuvenating and organic and it helps to keep the hair moist and looking great 

3). Lastly rocking your natural hair gives you a certain uniqueness among the majority whom have permed hair it lets you standout.

Cons:

1). I remember when back in the day when I had natural hair and I had to sit down for my mom to comb my hair and for me that was a time of TORTURE! I squirmed, yelped and cried  wishing my hair was permed. What I want to say is that the maintenance of natural hair to taking care of it is not easy  it presents challenges especially when it comes to de-tangling hair which may last from anywhere between an half hour to an hour.

2) It is more time consuming when dealing with natural hair especially on those days when your hair seems to have a mind of its own and it requires just as much attention don’t think that once you get rid of permed hair that your hair will immediately take on LION POWER. It might become weaker, so natural  hair will require a lot more moisture in order to keep it tangle free.

Short demo on how to style your hair