1 Thing Every Newly Natural Should Know

First of, let me start by saying I finally did the big chop! No more transitioning, I am officially a member of the natural hair community!

After 5 long months of transitioning, I finally decided to chop my relaxed ends off.  It was a very exciting moment for me. I believe the big chop was the best decision I could have made. In my excitement as a newly natural, I thought I had covered all my bases. After all I have very little hair to manage. How hard can it be, right? I quickly realized that I was wrong. There is one major thing I did not know: my hair porosity level and how it affected me.

The truth is taking care of your newly natural hair doesn’t have to be difficult. But if you don’t have the proper knowledge to do so, it will be the most frustrating thing you’ll get to do.  That’s why I stressed in my previous post how important it is to learn about your hair especially as you’re transitioning.

Chances are you probably won’t get it right, right away. That’s ok!

You will at least a head start. That means, once you big chop you won’t have to spend your precious time trying to figure things out. [ctt template=”1″ link=”877Nq” via=”no” ]One thing I realized, it doesn’t matter how much you think you know about your natural hair, you really don’t until you actually have to deal with it first hand.[/ctt]

I noticed that my hair was always dry after the big chop. No matter what I did, it was not absorbing the moisture that I was constantly infusing in it. Unless my hair was drenched in water, I could not manipulate it. And I was walking around with dry brittle hair. It just did not look right.

So of course I took it to the internet and after some research, I realized what my problem was. My hair has a low porosity level.  And low porosity hair requires special care.

What is low porosity hair? If you hair:

• Is hard to absorb moisture.
• Takes a lot longer to get fully saturated when you wet it.
• Tends to take a long time to dry.
• Has build up rather than absorbing products right away.
• Naturals oils don’t readily penetrate but sit on your hair strands.
• Is protein sensitive.

If any of these characteristics seem familiar to you, you most likely have low porosity hair. And knowing your hair porosity level is the first step to achieving beautiful moisturized hair. To know for sure, take the hair porosity test to find out.

Rest assured, having low porosity hair is not a death sentence. You just need to use the right products. And now that you know your hair porosity level, it will be easier for you to shop the right products for your hair.

As newly natural, you will be tempted to try every product you hear good things about. Don’t!

Newly natural ladies always get tempted to buy everything that sounds good to them. Don’t become a product junkie. Most of these products will be a waste of money anyway. Do your research and only buy products that will work for your low porosity hair.

My first week as a newly natural, I made the mistake of using products that other people were raving about and that appealed to my nostrils. Unfortunately these products were not formulated with me in mind. They were not penetrating my hair and therefore leaving my hair looking and feeling extremely dry. At first I was getting frustrated not knowing what to do. But when I figured out what was going on I went and bought the right kind of products for my low porosity hair.

Remember that low porosity hair is also protein sensitive, so you want to use products containing as little protein as possible.

You will need to use products that are rich with emollients like shea butter, jojoba oil and coconut oil and humectants that attract and hold moisture. It is preferable to use products that are light and won’t sit on top of your hair strands.

As a newly natural, you might not know yet the right products to use for your low porosity hair to keep it moisturized. My suggestion to you is once you find something that works, stick to it. You can little by little experiment with more later.

To help you out here are some products that worked well with my low porosity hair and should work for you too. I promise You will see a difference after first use.

• Shea Moisture came out with a low porosity line that I immediately fell in love with. I hope they never stop making these babies. The line contains the Shampoo, conditioner and a leave-in detangler. They work wonders. (Review coming up on these products, stay tuned).
• Thank God It’s Natural (TGIN) While I was browsing around the store to figure out which deep conditioner I should buy to complement the Shea moisture products (their low porosity line does not include a deep conditioner), I stumbled upon the TGIN Honey Miracle Hair Mask that I remembered reading about and decided to pick it up as well as the daily moisturizer.

I have tried every single one of these products and I’m very happy with the results. I could feel the difference in my hair as soon as I started applying the shampoo. The result is ultra moisturized hair that I can run my fingers through with ease. That, I was unable to do when I was using the wrong products before.

If only I had taken the time to figure out my hair porosity level prior to doing the big chop, I think transitioning would’ve been a much easier process for me. And I probably would’ve held on to my relaxed ends a little bit longer than I did.

I am not by any means regretting doing the big chop, like I mentioned earlier it is the best decision I could have made for my hair. My point is when we know better, we do better. So if you are currently transitioning or you are a newly natural, do yourself a favor and learn your hair porosity level. It is the single most important factor in achieving beautiful moisturized hair day in and day out.

Nobody wants to walk around with dry, brittle hair. Do you? Dry hair is not cute.

I hope this article was able to shed some light as to why you might be dealing with consistent dry hair. If you found this article helpful, hit the share buttons. Sharing is Caring!

Do you know your hair porosity level? Have you tried any of the products mentioned above? Share with us below⇓