First, I gotta tell you this: I got caught in the rain the other day with NO umbrella and it was wonderful...what a freeing feeling it is to know that I wouldn't have to spend the next two hours trying to flat iron out all the kinks.... But on to different things lol

I think I have finally mastered the wet twist out. As I’ve said before, my hair is really long, past the middle of my back with the majority of it being relaxed (the last relaxer was in March). So, the first time, I had my sister twist it for me and what a surprise (insert sarcasm) it was to behold that the hair wouldn’t stay twisted. After she would get to the end, I had to hold all of them to keep them from untwisting.

Now I’ve done the twist out four times and my hair is finally becoming used to being curly. The first two times, I used Miss Jessie’s Curly Pudding and the third/fourth, Curly Meringue. And I like both of them. I don’t have a strict preference between one or the other. Both of them smell really good, but Curly Pudding has a lighter hold than Curly Meringue to me. So just depends what mood I'm in

So this is what I’ve learned so far:

1.     Condition, condition, condition, I can’t say it enough. The twist outs work so much better after I have sat with conditioner in my hair or gotten under the hair dryer for a deeper conditioner.

2.     Be sure to separate your hair into manageable sections. At first, I was just working from the bottom up. But the hair starts to dry at the top, which causes a tangled mess and lots of breakage when you try to comb it out. Instead, I separate into five sections which has worked wonders.

3.     In the beginning, I had the problem with my hair not twisting at the ends because of the relaxed ends. I should have bought hair rods to put at the ends, but I didn’t. If your hair is doing this, I’m sure the hair rods would quickly remedy this problem. Now that I’ve done it a couple times, my hair is much better at curling at the ends.

4.     Be sure to dry hair completely so that the twists stick. The next day, I usually keep the twists in when I go to work (a scarf helps give them a more refined look) and take them out that night if I’m going somewhere or wait until the next day.

5.     Retwist at night before you go to sleep and wear a satin scarf. It keeps them from drying out too much. When I untwist, I put in a little Baby Buttercreme to smooth fly aways and give a little moisture.

I’ll be seeing all my family this week for Thanksgiving, and it’ll be interesting to hear what they have to say when they don’t see me with the usual bone straight hair. Next week, I’m headed to a wedding and I’m gonna try the wet and go look. I’ll make sure to post pics of both and let you know how they turned out.

The creamy crack has been SCREAMING my name, especially since I put it in stone that I was going natural. Plus I think the weather wants to sabotage me too. Here it is, the middle of October and it’s probably rained everyday…the new growth is swelling, and swelling, and swelling…I’m scared :).

So I’ve been researching like a mad woman - conditioners, shea butters, no poos, leave ins, curly, kinky, transitioning, big chop, shingling, twist-outs - all words part of my new found vocabulary. Now, I’ve become extremely enthusiastic about the process and my husband has given me all his support. But, when I told some of my family members about my decision, I was instantly met with stares and perplexed faces. “WHHHYYYY?!?!?! You’re hair is so beautiful!!! Look how long it is!!!” is what I’ve been hearing. Straight hair = beauty. Natural hair, hmmm what does natural hair equal?

Nonetheless, I’m doing it. I recently ordered the Value Pack from Miss Jessie’s. Since I’m a newbie to transitioning, this was good for me because it gives a little sample of everything so I can try them out and see what works for me. It’s sad to say, but I don’t really know what my hair type really is because I haven’t ever really seen it. So I got a little bit of trial and error to do. I think I’m gonna try the wet twist-out first. I’ll make sure to let you know how it goes!

I LOVE my hair.

No, I don’t think you understand.

I LOVE MY HAIR!!! lol

Call it whatever you want - security blanket, vanity, treasure, crowning glory, whatever - I love it and can’t bear the thought of parting with it.

So, after relaxing my hair for about 15 years, I think I might be jumping on the “natural” bandwagon. But you have to understand my plight. Ok, here goes.

I’m from New Orleans, LA, a diverse city and state with a melting pot of cultures: Native American, African, French, Spanish, German, Italian, Caribbean, with a host of others. So it can sometimes be a guessing game what color skin, eyes, or texture hair your children will have. So within my family, like all multi-cultural families, there is a little bit of this and a little bit of that and a lot of in between.

With that being said, I got a helluva mixture of hair on top my head. As of now, my hair is down to the middle of my back. Usually I relax it about once every six months (and trim too, I know, I know). My hair is more wavy at the roots and more curly at the ends. I haven’t had a relaxer since March, but I’m kind of feenin’ for one now. I’m a straight wearing kinda girl even with all the humidity we have here in New Orleans. I usually wash and set my hair every week, flat iron the roots if necessary (which is definitely necessary nowadays) and wrap it every night.

So why did I decide to go natural? I’ve always loved the product of relaxers, but hated the process, but it never deterred me until now. I thought about going natural initially because there were so many other people on doing it. Then I saw people I KNOW doing it and decided to do a little research into it. The problem was that my initial knowledge about natural hair was the short, afro look, which I didn’t want. I wanted to keep my long hair and wear it curly when I wanted and straight when I wanted. So now I see that it’s possible to do both with natural hair. For now, cutting is not an option…I repeat, NOT an option. I like my long hair and don’t want to fathom a future without it. Obsessed you may say, but hey, what can you do?

So here begins the journey. Since I keep my hair straight most of the time, I’m especially interested in any advice/tips on going through the transitioning process without cutting all of the relaxed hair off at once. I’ve had people tell me that it’s an oxymoron of sorts - natural, straight hair - but as I’ve said like 15 times already, I’m not cutting. I’ll keep you updated on the progress. Laissez le bon temps rouler!