Transitioning Hair

Transitioning Hair

In order to “go natural” after having relaxed your hair, you have to get rid of your relaxed hair. You can either do this by:

1. Cutting off all your relaxed hair (this is known as a Big Chop), or 
2. Leaving your hair alone and letting it transition slowly by trimming it regularly as your natural hair gradually grows out. Eventually, all the relaxed hair will have been trimmed off and you’ll be left with pretty long natural hair.

Thus, transitioning hair is Afro-textured hair which is in the middle of a transition from being relaxed to going natural. It’ll have gone a little while without being relaxed and, as a result, you’ll have ended up with hair which is relaxed near the ends, and natural near your scalp. 

People who transition are usually people who don’t want to do a big chop – they want to go natural, but maintain the length and health of their hair as their natural hair gradually grows out. To keep your transitioning hair healthy, there’s a lot you’ll need to take into consideration. You’ll be rocking a multi-textured head of hair with multiple porosities, multiple densities and very different curl patterns and you’ll have to cater to all of that at the same time. It’s gonna be a lot. But don’t worry ‘bout it sweetheart, we’re here for you.

Start off by setting a target for when you want to be done with transitioning (e.g. 18 months, 12 months or even 9 months if your hair grows quickly). This will help keep you focused on the end goal as you’ll have a tangible finish date.  

Caring for transitioning hair:

As your hair has multiple porosities, you’ll have to take some liberties when moisturising it. We recommend moisturising it as if it were low porosity/natural as this will ensure that all parts are thoroughly moisturised. Although you want to keep all your hair as healthy as possible, it would make sense to lean a little in the natural hair care direction as that’s the hair you’ll end up with.

LOC Interlude: The LOC method is lauded as the most effective way of properly moisturising Afro-textured hair. It’s pretty simple, LOC stands for Liquid, Oil and Cream, and it can be used on hair of all curl patterns, including relaxed hair! The method goes as follows: hydrate your hair with a water-based product (Liquid), lock in that hydration by moisturising with an oil-based product (Oil) and seal the hair cuticle with a cream product (Cream). 

The LOC method is highly recommended for high porosity hair as both the O and the C steps to the method contribute to barricading the moisture in. LOC is the standard form, but there’s a couple of variations on this moisturisation method, depending on your hair’s porosity:

• LO: This is simply Liquid and Oil. It’s recommended for medium porosity hair, as this hair type absorbs and releases at an intermediate rate, so it doesn’t need too much moisturisation or too much locking in. Just a little of each is perfect.
• LCO: This stands for Liquid, Cream and Oil. It’s the exact same steps as in the LOC method, just in a different order. This method is recommended for low porosity hair as the use of Cream before the Oil increases the amount of moisturisation being put into one’s hair before sealing the cuticle. Low porosity hair types are more difficult to get moisture into, but manage to keep it tightly locked in, so the LCO method puts the emphasis on hydration and moisturisation as opposed to sealing it in.

We recommend following this order for your transitioning hair as it’ll give your hair as much moisturisation as possible. If you find that your relaxed/higher porosity strands are losing moisture easily, then double up on your oil step by adding extra oil to seal the moisture in on the ends of your hair.

Finally, on moisturising your hair, we recommend using a steam cap to deep condition and/or warming up your conditioners before you apply them. 

In addition to this, make sure you get regular trims to help you keep on track for meeting your target transitioning end date.

Achieve this with the following OLORI products:

• For hydrating and moisturising: DamageBeGone 3-in-1 Multi Conditioner
• For sealing and oiling: DamageBeGone Happy Hair Butter
• For deep conditioning: DamageBeGone Deep Conditioner

Protective styling:

Putting your transitioning hair in protective styles will help you retain length and also maintain the uniform appearance of your hair. Style your hair in any low/medium-manipulation braided or twisted hairstyle, whilst being sure to take it down and detangle every couple of weeks to prevent knotting. Use a spray bottle filled with a mixture of leave-in conditioner, your choice of oil and water to moisturise your hair while still in its protective style.

Achieve this with the following OLORI products:

• For sealing: DamageBeGone Happy Hair Butter
• For your spray bottle: DamageBeGone 3-in-1 Multi Conditioner

Wash Day:

Start by parting your hair into four sections. Heavily moisturise each section and detangle them as you go along, using your fingers, then a wide-toothed comb then a small toothed comb. It’s important to take a lot of care when detangling transitioning hair, as your relaxed ends can be prone to intertwining.

Once each section is detangled, go ahead and work your favourite shampoo into your hair, focusing it on your scalp and the hair closest to your head. Once you feel your hair is sufficiently lathered, rinse this out.

Deep condition your hair; we recommend spending 20 to 40 minutes on this step and repeating this every two weeks. Wash this out with a small amount of shampoo, then finally moisturise your wet strands using the LOC method and pop your hair into a simple style, such as a bun or big twists. You’re done!

Achieve this with the following OLORI products:

• For shampooing: DamageBeGone Conditioning Shampoo
• For detangling, hydrating and moisturising: DamageBeGone 3-in-1 Multi Conditioner
• For deep conditioning: DamageBeGone Deep Conditioner
• For sealing: DamageBeGone Happy Hair Butter