My Transition Lessons: My Journey is MINE & No One Else’s

A while back I said to myself that I would do a little series about what I learned while I was transitioning to natural hair. I didn't follow through on it at the time because I was super busy. However, in a few months it will be my 1 year nappiversary so I figured that I needed to stop procrastinating and do the doggone thing. So here it begins.

A surprising thing I encountered while transitioning was how much people were willing to give their opinion of what I should and shouldn’t do based on their journey.  I’m not talking about offering advice or insight into what I would encounter while transitioning, or how to deal with this or that obstacle.  I mean straight up, flat out telling me I should do this or shouldn’t do that.

The main thing people were against was my decision to transition over a long period of time. There were folks who all but berated me for opting to “deal with the pain of transitioning” instead of going with a TWA & doing my big chop immediately.  Even after me stating that I didn’t want a TWA, the response was “its just hair! It’ll grow.” Well, if it was “just hair” why are you so invested in trying to sway me from my course of action??? LOL.

So what I had to do was tell people that MY decision of how I was going to transition was just that…MY decision. And if MY decision was to transition for 1 month, 5 months or 24 months, it was MY decision to make.  And if they didn’t agree with MY decision, that was their choice, and the easiest way to get beyond it was to get over MY decision.

I say all that to say that when you choose to do anything, how you do it is totally up to you. As a friend of my mom says, as long as it’s not immoral, unethical or illegal…have at it.

Your life, your journey, your choice.

Swiiing and a Miss...Jessie's (Product Review)

The verdict is in and Miss Jessie is not for me! Thank goodness I got 2 of the 3 products I have on sale.

Let me start w/the "no one paid me for this" and "this is my own opinion" statements.

Now, with that out of the way, I can't say that I hate the products...but I don't like them. The smells are very loud.  Too loud not to be delicious. The only one I don't mind the smell of is the curly buttercreme and that is because it reminds me of vapo rub and icy hot and I love how those smell. But I wouldn't put them in my hair!  Since I started with the Curly Buttercreme, let me continue.  This is the only one of the 3 that I bought that does not leave my hair feeling super dry once it has dried with my hair, but it also provides little to no hold.  I mean, this is what my hair looked like with the Curly Buttercreme:



I have gotten that same look with just using PINK Oil Moisturizer in my hair! And that is no where near the same price point as Miss. Jessie's anything! I did like how my hair felt moisturized after using it, but like I said, for the price of Miss Jessie's, I expected more.

Then there's the curly pudding. First and foremost, I do not like the smell. And try as I might to use less and less of it to try and reduce the odor, that sucka is potent! And its potency extended beyond the initial application. I mean, when I turn my head, I could smell it. When I would spritz and re-twist at night, I could smell it. When I would wake up and untwist in the morning, I could smell it.  It was in my bonnets, my pillow cases, my pillows....UH! It was just too much. Then, the first time I used it, I used it alone and it left my hair dry and brittle. I was not a happy camper! I immediately washed it out and went back to my Shea Moisture Curl Enhancing Smoothie. That wasn't the last time I used it. I've used it a few times since then and have come to the happy medium of using an oil or other moisturizer in my hair first, then adding the curly pudding.  Having said all that, I will say that my twist out results with the product were stellar and the pudding didn't cause any build up in my hair.  But again, for something that cost as much as Miss Jessie's, I expected more. I don't have any pics of twist outs with the curly pudding because I can't tell the difference between Miss. Jessie's twist outs and the other products...again, for the cost, shouldn't I be able to?!

On to the Curly Meringue....What and why?! I used it for a flexi rod set because I had it, and there were a few people who used it for theirs and said they got really good results. Again, I didn't like the smell, but I could not smell it as much as with the curly pudding the following day.  It also gave me horrible build up. It was a glaze on my hair. I rinse a good bit of it out in the shower, and when I went for my trim, my stylist still said "what is this in your hair?" when the water hit it while she was washing me. But I will stop at just that initial review because I'm thinking as I type this that I may need to hold off on reviewing it further simply because I used it in conjuction with my EcoStyler olive oil gel and got the most ridiculous, crunchy hair ever...I mean, potato chip crunch. I know the EcoStyler didn't cause the build up because I've never had build up in my hair like that. Not even when I was new to the game. But I'm going to hold off on fully talking about the curly meringue until I use it by itself. But here's a pic of the crunchy flexi rod curls.

Seriously...get a Pringle...crunch it...that's what my hair sounded like, but it felt more like a Lay's.

For the two products I have used quite a bit, I will say that I could have saved my money.  I could have gotten the same results for my hair at a much more economical price point. The lesson I've learned from this: I don't need to spend $22+ on 8oz of hair care product. But trust and believe I'm going to use what I have bought!

Anyway, TTFN.