Jumping into anything head first without a sense of direction is never a good idea. What happens when you fail to plan? You plan to fail. Planning is particularly important when it comes to your natural hair journey. This is one of the biggest lessons I learned. It can be the difference between looking like Esperanza Spalding when you big chop or appearing as if Edward Scissors Hands cut off your relaxer. So, how do you plan?
First, do your research. Learn from other ladies mistakes and try some of the tips and advice of successful transitioners. If you go into your transition with no education, my crystal ball tells me there will be tons of frustration and tears in your future.
Next, decide how long you are going to transition. Will it be a 6 months? A year? This will give you a goal to aspire to and you will be more likely to complete your journey instead of relapsing to the oh-so-addictive creamy crack. It is also important to map out the styles you will wear during your transition. This is perhaps the hardest part of one’s journey; discover the best styles to wear as you grow out your relaxer. You can wear braids, sew-ins and even curly styles with your own hair.
Transitioning is a tough job but there’s a determined Black woman holding her wide toothed comb ready to take on the challenge. Will it be you?
Chime Edwards is an extremely popular YouTube vlogger with over 145,000 subscribers. Chime was also featured in Nikki Walton’s (Curly Nikki) book, ‘Better Than Good Hair.’