Wash and Go w/ KCKT & KCCC

I would like to introduce you all to one of my favorite people – my friend Tiara! She is WAY more patient than me and transitioned for almost a year instead of doing a BC. Her coils are on POINT, so I wanted to share them with you! And…I’m sure you’re tired of looking at me anyway, lol! 🙂

1. Tell us a little bit about your hair journey. What made you decide to transition?

I didn’t get my first relaxer until the end of 8th grade so I had plenty of time with my natural hair. Frankly, if I knew then what I know now, I wouldn’t have relaxed at all but hindsight is 20/20. I really got the relaxer to make doing my hair easier for sports – I hated sweating it out and then having to wait for my mom to straighten it with the hot comb. When I was really impatient I would wash it and braid it myself. I never had issues with relaxers aside from the fact that when I got them I lost any type of volume for the first week or two after getting the relaxer. I started stretching my relaxers to every 10-12 weeks on the advice of my hair stylist – and since I was really wearing my hair in sad looking wash-n-goes I was able to really start to see my curl pattern and became intrigued to see what it would look like without a relaxer. So after much debate and some chats with my boo Elle and some other friends that I found out went natural, I decided to take the plunge and transition.

Relaxed Hair

2. How long did you transition for, and why? How did you maintain your hair while transitioning?

I transitioned for almost a year – I got the rest of my relaxed hair cut about 3 weeks shy of the 1yr mark. Oct 22nd marks 1 year since my last relaxer. I didn’t have the guts to do the BC and have little to no hair. I have a big head and a round face and I just don’t think that looks right on me. Transitioning also gave me time to research products and hair styles. My go to style was the bantu knot out. I had variations of the style to kind of mix it up and make the curls look slightly different. I would do a regular knotout or two strand twists into the knots, or flat twists with the bantu knots at the end to make the relaxed ends blend with the new growth. I also did rodsets with Strawllers a few times and I loved the outcome but since it took so long to put the rods in and the style would only last a few days it wasn’t a staple style. Plus I workout a lot and sweat like crazy so I am constantly cowashing and re-styling so the bantu knots were just quick for me to do compared to most other styles.

Transitioning

3. What’s your regimen with your newly natural hair?

I don’t have a regimen yet…sad I know. HAHA I am still experimenting and incorporating new things but I do have some basic things I do on a regular basis. I try to deep condition once or twice a week depending on what I have going on. I cowash at least 2 or 3 times a week since I sweat into my hair a lot. I have been experimenting with new products and styles and if I hate the outcome then I have to wash it out and go on to the next experiment – HAHA. I recently tried bentonite clay and I really like it, so I plan to do that once a month. I also want to try henna or cassia some time in the near future. So, yea, it’s pretty fluid right now.

4. What are some of your favorite products?

I am obsessed with conditioners! I love Kinky Curly Knot Today (as a leave in only), Aussie Moist, Yest to Cucumbers and recently fell back in love with Giovanni Smooth As Silk Xtreme Protein Hair Infusion. They all provide great slip and make tangles melt away. The KCKT, Aussie and YTC can all be used as leave ins too so that adds to their benefits. I also am a big fan of Coconut Oil and Jojoba Oil to seal and take down twists or braids. Stylers – I am still in search of something that wows me. I do like Afroveda Pur Whipped Gelly but repurchasing once I run out is probably not going to happen with the recent price hikes – but that won’t be for a while since I have a huge jar of it.

5. How do you feel about your natural hair?

I am loving my curls!! The are sooo freaking small and spirally and I want to touch them all the time! HAHA Shrinkage is a beast though and that’s been an interesting thing to adapt to.

6. Any advice for those transitioning or thinking of going natural?

Patience! Elle can attest to some of my random rants to her about just cutting my hair off when I getting antsy about the transition but then reality would set in and I would punk out at the thought of having so little hair. Cute when you are ready to do it. Experiment and practice with products and styles – it will help you in the long run. Also, do your research! I am a hair board lurker. I read tons of posts; Naturally Curly and CurlyNikki and blogs like Quest for the Perfect Curl are all great resources for product reviews and techniques to try. YouTube is great for natural hair info also and Fotki is great for hair inspiration when you’re thinking of ending the transition and running back to the creamy crack or making the decision to go natural.

Bantu Knot Out

Thanks, T, you are stone cold awesome and thebomb.com! Love you! If any of you ladies would like to be on the site, please shoot me an email at ellepixie@att.net.

xoxo