My Teens In Between

Now that more teenagers are transitioning to natural hair, I thought I’d create a page dedicated to the subject and offer some encouragement and advice. Going natural was not something anyone was doing when I was in high school, but I can tell you now that I would not have had the confidence to do it.

So I applaud those of you who are considering or going through the journey.

Even though I have no experience with what it’s like to go through high school with transitioning or natural hair, I can tell you what I’ve learned about people that will help you stayed encouraged.

It Takes Strength and Confidence to Look Different

For the most part, teenagers just want to fit in. No one wants to be the person who stands out or gets made fun of because they are different.

Can you relate?

That’s why so many teenagers are terrified of going natural. It goes against how most young girls wear their hair — especially today when so many girls are wearing long, straight weaves.

I commend you for putting your desire to go natural and having a healthier hair regimen over trying to look like everyone else.

And let me tell you, when your natural hair is long, healthy and able to do so many funky hairstyles, I guarantee many of those people who tease you will wish their hair is as healthy as yours.

My hair journey has inspired so many people who told me they never even considered going natural. I bet this will happen to you!

So I encourage you to stay strong. Yes, some people don’t like natural hair, but it’s only because we’ve been programmed to believe that straighter hair is more beautiful. Don’t make someone else’s opinion your problem.

And if someone has something to say about your “nappy hair”, you can just casually remind them how freeing it will be to know that your hair doesn’t have to be processed for you to feel beautiful.

Don’t stoop to their level with insults, just confidently reply with a smile, remind them it’s theiropinion and keep it moving!

Transition Hairstyling Ideas

So what do you do while transitioning? After all, that’s the most challenging part of the natural hair journey because you are dealing with two different textures.

Plus, you’re probably busy with school and other activities so you don’t have enormous amounts of time to spend on your hair, and you want it to look nice. So here are some styling options.

1) Extensions/Weaves

Many teens transition by wearing braids or weave because it’s low maintenance. I don’t have an issue with this, as long as you give your hair a break for a few weeks between getting more hair sewn/braided in.Also make sure you get them done loosely and they don’t pull your edges. This can cause breakage. And if you are already losing hair because of traction alopecia (hair loss around the edges, crown, etc. from pulling) then I would strongly recommend some of the styles below.

2) Flat Twists

Flat twists are great because you can learn to do them yourself (I learned on YouTube) and it’s a good way to blend the two textures at the edges where your hair grows out first.

I wore flat twists a LOT during my transition. It took me about a month or so to learn how to do them properly, but once I learned this was my go-to style often. My favorite style was flat twisting my sides and doing a rod set on the rest of my hair.

Just like extensions, make sure you don’t put them in too tight or they can break your hair.

Source: Napturallycurly.com

#transistion #growth #length