I am thinking of chopping off my relaxed hair and growing my natural hair but i am scared. I don't know what styles that i can do that would not make me look scruffy.

What products can i use that would make my hair soft and manageable and also grow. I have researched on products that some naturals use but they are not readily available in Nigeria. So i need naturals in Nigeria to let me know what products they are using, styles they are doing to protect their hair and about their journey.

Please help me before i start my natural journey.

this is starting to sound redundant.


https://www.nairaland.com/nigeria/topic-271653.0.html


hair terrorists- here's a "new" recruit.

Good luck poster.

You're braver than some of us, I stopped going natural. No be me

Bimbola26:

I am thinking of chopping off my relaxed hair and growing my natural hair but i am scared. I don't know what styles that i can do that would not make me look scruffy.

What products can i use that would make my hair soft and manageable and also grow. I have researched on products that some naturals use but they are not readily available in Nigeria. So i need naturals in Nigeria to let me know what products they are using, styles they are doing to protect their hair and about their journey.

Please help me before i start my natural journey.

how long is your new growth/unrelaxed hair? I would advice you to wear extension braids etc until your natural hair grows long enough for you to be able to twist it etc. see mohawk's links for pics of neat natural hairstyles.
mine look are scuffy to me but others seem to like it or not care. but then again i live in a different environment.

shea butter and water are the two that comes to my mind. find a spray bottle and fill it with water. use it to moisturize your hair when necessary. also use conditioner on your hair after shampooing it. always condition it and make sure to only wash your hair in braids. ie braid your hair into four parts and wash and rinse it that way to avoid tangles. also, dilute your shampoo and conditioner to prevent tangles.
when your hair is dry and you take out your braids, it'll be so much more easier to manipulate

mohawks links are helpful to look at

shea butter and water are the two that comes to my mind. find a spray bottle and fill it with water. use it to moisturize your hair when necessary. also use conditioner on your hair after shampooing it. always condition it and make sure to only wash your hair in braids. ie braid your hair into four parts and wash and rinse it that way to avoid tangles. also, dilute your shampoo and conditioner to prevent tangles.
when your hair is dry and you take out your braids, it'll be so much more easier to manipulate

True

And the thing is that in nigeria, you can get pure shea butter. .

Also i use emily millionaire

and pure olive oil, everyday.

on weekends, i mix my conditioner. . honey+egg+mayo(salad cream if u no get mayo)+overripe bananas and olive oil
depending on whats presently available

if you search google, you'd get the particular functions of each of this on the hair. .its great

i cant over emphasize Water too.

Where are you right now. that would help a lot in knowing what else to recommend.

great to know you want to go natural.it's the best decision you could ever make for you hair. i've got lots of great tips from this nigerian girl on youtube and she uses natural products like shea butter and oils.she has lots of videos on the products she uses,how she uses them on her hair and the styles she does.she's great at managing her natural hair and i think you'll learn alot from her. here's one of her videos but please watch all her videos.you'll get long healthy hair in no time.she's been natural for about 6years


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OcMQyIguvvY

tpiah:

this is starting to sound redundant.

https://www.nairaland.com/nigeria/topic-271653.0.html

hair terrorists- here's a "new" recruit.

DWL kee kee kee kee kee

Shea butter, check
Emily millionaire coconut oil and herbs, check
Emilly millionaire hair fertilizer, check
Water, check, check

P.S: Check means i have got it.

Is Soya beans oil good cause i have that?

I am trying to get other things that i need like olive oil, castor oil (heard that was very good), aloe vera gel, glycerine, apple cider vinegar.

Thanks for the help folks.

just don't get too much stuff. u're just going to accumulate them w/o using them 'cause not all the products will work 4 u.
but your list is good tho. those are stuff ppl usually recommend for natural hair

@Bimbola26

Get the Olive oil for sure and castor if it isnt too expensive.
Gylcerine, if you can get the pure jelly (iv heard people say KY jelly sef )

i used this at a point Revita crystal drops. .http://www.afrocosmetics.nl/revita_crystal_drops_hair_polisher-24000256115.aspx
hard to get here.

I was asking you where you were in Nigeria, cause there was a natural hair meet-up in Lag on saturday
you could have gone, would have been really helpful

I mixed pure natural honey and 100% olive oil over the weekend for my hair and face. .great! great!! great!!!

Gaminechic:

@Bimbola26

Get the Olive oil for sure and castor if it isnt too expensive.
Gylcerine, if you can get the pure jelly (iv heard people say KY jelly sef )

i used this at a point Revita crystal drops. .http://www.afrocosmetics.nl/revita_crystal_drops_hair_polisher-24000256115.aspx
hard to get here.

I was asking you where you were in Nigeria, cause there was a natural hair meet-up in Lag on saturday
you could have gone, would have been really helpful

I mixed pure natural honey and 100% olive oil over the weekend for my hair and face. .great! great!! great!!!

how did you apply it? steaming or did you heat the oil first

also wondered about this post below

Gaminechic:

True

And the thing is that in nigeria, you can get pure shea butter. .

Also i use emily millionaire

and pure olive oil, everyday.

on weekends, i mix my conditioner. . honey+egg+mayo(salad cream if u no get mayo)+overripe bananas and olive oil
depending on whats presently available

if you search google, you'd get the particular functions of each of this on the hair. .its great

i cant over emphasize Water too.

Where are you right now. that would help a lot in knowing what else to recommend.

how did you mix and apply it

@ Gaminechic, thanks for the info. I knew about the natural meet up in lagos (live in lag by the way) but couldn't go because of work.

@Salsera

Na. .i didnt heat the oil, i just mixed it with the honey, applied it

wrapped my hair and went about my chores.


For the conditioner ingredients, i used a blender. .because you dont want

clumps of stuff in your hair, .blend it until smoooooth.

i Applied it, like i was applying a relaxer, then wrapped the hair and went to relax lol

i use a silk scarf to wrap, sometimes i leave the hair under a shower cap, it works.


@Bimbola

ok, all the best sha

I am in desperate need of some serious advice. My cousin is getting married and i am going to be one of her bridemaids. The problem is that i might have to relax my hair for it and i don't want to.

I don't know how to tell her that i can't relax my hair and all i can do is braid my hair.

I am really in a fix.

just straighten it. lol with a flat iron or blow drier. it will revert back when u wash it.
or wear a weave lol

you don't have to relax it. natural hair is very versatile. it can be worn nappy or straight or curly or even semi nappy or straight however u want it.

I am in desperate need of some serious advice. My cousin is getting married and i am going to be one of her bridemaids. The problem is that i might have to relax my hair for it and i don't want to.

I don't know how to tell her that i can't relax my hair and all i can do is braid my hair.

I am really in a fix.

OMG, your cousin. .may be my friend!

Im gonna be a Bridesmaid next week, she knows i wont relax my hair and she wants the bridesmaid to do a side-wrap style.

Suggestions; Braid or Fix a weave.

I decided to braid, they would still be able to do the side-wrap with it.

just straighten it. lol with a flat iron

i tried the flat iron, maybe i wasnt doing it properly and my sister was laughing at me

omo, before my hair burnt i had to stop.

*

@Bimbola

Wats happening on your turf, how was the wedding

My wedding was great, even though my friend forced a weave on me, ah the things we do for friendship.lol

@ gaminechic, the wedding has not been held yet. I haven't told the bride yet cos i haven't seen her.

The problem that i am having now is that i am transitioning and my hair stylist is not helping me one bit. Today i went to the salon to get her to do my hair into twists but she refused saying 'it would not be fine'. I don't want to use any attachment. I just wanted my hair in twists so that i don't have to comb it always.

I am thinking of going to another stylist. Hopefully she would do it for me. Did you transition or did you do the big chop when you were going natural?

I can give you some tips on how to make your hair look natural, when when its not

1. Wash am with shampoo and try not to use conditioner.

2. Air dry it, dnt cover it with towel

3. After your hair is dried, apply shea butter cantu hair cream (it softens it and make it shiny without making it greasy and sticky. love it!)

4. part your hair into 4 sections, then braid each section.

5. Use scrunchies to wrap each section up to the tips (scrunch = pony tail band)

6. wrap it up, leave it till the next morning or for a few hours

7. It's going to look like a puffy curly natural hair.

8. comb it  up, not down and style away

That's as natural it can get. Trust me, that's what I did, cuz I'm not taking the option of cutting my hair and starting all over

LOL @ fl gators


as long as you dont re-touch your hair, all that relaxed part will still cut off anyway

shea butter justs keeps your hair soft anyways

@bimbola

use shea butter to steam as gamine suggested, also try coconut conditioner.

then forget the regular stylists and find a regular braider. Show her how to twist - let her try it out first. remember she's to twist from the roots

Preferably make them medium sized.

finally, if you are still transitioning you may need to trim off the straight ends so the twists will hold at the ends.

salsera:

LOL @ fl gators


as long as you dont re-touch your hair, all that relaxed part will still cut off anyway

shea butter justs keeps your hair soft anyways

Ok, but how do you know which part you wanna chop off?

FL Gators:

Ok, but how do you know which part you wanna chop off?

relaxed hair is so much different from natural hair u will definitely be able to tell the difference.
i transitioned too. I let my hair grow for almost 6mths or so before i cut the relaxer hair off little by little. i could see the clear difference between the two textures. relaxed hair is straight and thin. natural hair is puffy and coily/nappy lol.
but it's a whole new different lifestyle so if u don't know how to handle it you prolly should stick to relaxer. it's easier to be natural if u have many natural friends than be natural when all ur friends are relaxed. lol so u decide if u want to make that choice.
ex in my high school, the environment was more hostile to being natural so i hid my hair under extensions ex i saw some weaved up ghetto girls will mock a haitian girl with twists etc those ghetto girls can't stand them. so i hid my hair till i graduated
in my college, i think the environment is more hostile to relaxers. lol so the relaxed girls are turning natural and we naturals are majority. lol what a change.
so yea depends on ur environment and what ur lifestyle is to decide if it's right for you or not. don't just do it because of "versitality" other wise u might just go back to relaxing it if you can't take the pressure (even from family! my mom HATED my hair when i first went natural and we had a long fight for days. she stopped driving me places etc but now SHE's going natural and asking me for tips lol )

oyinda.:

relaxed hair is so much different from natural hair u will definitely be able to tell the difference.
i transitioned too. I let my hair grow for almost 6mths or so before i cut the relaxer hair off little by little. i could see the clear difference between the two textures. relaxed hair is straight and thin. natural hair is puffy and coily/nappy lol.
but it's a whole new different lifestyle so if u don't know how to handle it you prolly should stick to relaxer. it's easier to be natural if u have many natural friends than be natural when all ur friends are relaxed. lol so u decide if u want to make that choice.
ex in my high school, the environment was more hostile to being natural so i hid my hair under extensions ex i saw some weaved up ghetto girls will mock a haitian girl with twists etc those ghetto girls can't stand them. so i hid my hair till i graduated
in my college, i think the environment is more hostile to relaxers. lol so the relaxed girls are turning natural and we naturals are majority. lol what a change.
so yea depends on ur environment and what ur lifestyle is to decide if it's right for you or not. don't just do it because of "versitality" other wise u might just go back to relaxing it if you can't take the pressure (even from family! my mom HATED my hair when i first went natural and we had a long fight for days. she stopped driving me places etc but now SHE's going natural and asking me for tips lol )

So true. . . .puffy, coily and nappy? I like!

Ehrrrm truth b told, well maintained natural hair is much more better than relax here, but relaxed here looks more professional.

It depends on your sector, and what job you have.

yea relaxed hair usually looks more professional. unfortunately

i honestly dont really quite get all this hostility black females have against each other when it comes to hair

some natural folks make it seem as though relaxed folks are this backside licking, evil thing that doesnt have a mind of their own but to follow white ppl, blah blah. . . ., using relaxer equates to backside licking and all that. some relaxed folks make naturals seem/look as this primitive, unkept blah blah. . . looking ppl

this really piss the living hell out of me, i mean for goodness sake, IT'S JUST A FREAKING HAIR AND ONLY HAIR!

natural, relaxed or bald all that matters at last is that you freaking knows how to take good care your hair and having the latter or the former is not a gaurantee of a healthy, beautiful hair still have to work for a good hair.

~Sissy~:


some natural folks make it seem as though relaxed folks are this ass licking, evil thing that doesnt have a mind of their own but to follow white ppl, blah blah. . . ., using relaxer equates to ass licking and all that. some relaxed folks make naturals seem/look as this primitive, unkept blah blah. . . looking ppl

gosh u hit the nail on the head!

Hey! no fighting in this thread. I asked for advice not for you guys to argue.

I decided to get cornrows but i added a little attachment to my hair. It should last for 2 weeks before the wedding of my cousin.

Bimbola26:

Hey! no fighting in this thread. I asked for advice not for you guys to argue.

I decided to get cornrows but i added a little attachment to my hair. It should last for 2 weeks before the wedding of my cousin.

nobody is fighting or arguing. understand the point

@Bimbola i transitioned but i wish i did the big chop, my hair isnt growing evenly, i may still chop it all off.
You hav a personal stylist, big galz.lol. Most Nigerian hair stylists hate natural hair, i wonder if its relaxed hair that grows from their own head and like Chimamanda Adichie said, (when she went to d salon) d hair dresser was like 'aunty! Your hair is virgin hair o, ' and they charge extra. They comb it the wrong almost cutin d whole hair off.
And like Salsera suggestd get someone that braids or twists well, i twist myself, over a movie mostly and people ask where i get my hair done.
I braided my hair too b4 d wedding, i guess thats ok.

@Sissy sadly hair is not just hair anymore. Relaxed hair is not equal to natural hair. No other race permanently processes theirs to look like ours. Still, if someone wants to be relaxd, gudluck. No one should look down on anybodys choice. If its realy a bad harmful choice, one can correct with kindness not harshness and if d person decides not to listen, uve done ur part, move on.
Atleast dats wat i try to do wen i get criticsm about my hair,