If you are in the process of transitioning or thinking about going back to your roots, this ‘Natural Hair Tips for Beginners Ultimate Guide‘ will hold your hand and walk you through everything that you need to know.

Transitioning back to your natural Hair can seem daunting at first, mainly due to the overwhelming amount of information available on the web: from curly girl hair methods to hair porosity and styling tools and products. 

This can be off-putting and cause you to abandon your natural hair journey before it’s even begun. We’ve put together this handy guide so that you’ve got all the information you need in one place before you start.

This way you’ll know what to expect, and which products can help you achieve healthy natural hair that looks and feels good. 

We’ll be running through the basics of all things relating to natural hair, from hair types, to how to transition to natural hair, to caring for your hair and keeping it healthy and looking its best. 

What is Natural Hair? 

In the Black community, you’ll hear women mention ‘going natural.’ Natural hair is defined as relaxer-free hair that hasn’t been chemically straightened with a relaxer – also known as a perm. Natural hair means wearing your hair in its natural state. 

However, going natural requires transitioning from relaxed hair – which has been chemically damaged – to natural hair. For some, this means cutting their hair before going natural, a process known as the ‘big chop.’ 

In recent years, more and more women are wearing their hair in its natural state, a trend that has been referred to as the ‘natural hair movement.’ 

The Stigma surrounding Black natural hair 

Black or African American natural hair is sometimes labeled as ‘nappy hair’ that needs to be corrected by a relaxer.

Many Black women feel pressured into chemically straightening their natural hair, and there have even been situations in which women have been discriminated against in the workplace due to having natural hairstyles, which some employers consider unprofessional.

Some women have even missed out on job or promotion opportunities because of their natural hair. 

These so called ‘unprofessional’ styles include dreadlocks, box braids, bantu knots, afro puffs, and wash-and-go styles.

However, this misconception stems from ignorance and institutional racism, though awareness is improving. 

You should feel comfortable embracing your natural hair, and in this guide, we aim to provide you with the information to make your transitioning journey as smooth as possible. 

What is Transitioning to Natural Hair? 

Transitioning to natural hair is a simple process of growing out your natural texture. Like we said, for some, this means cutting off all or almost all of your permed hair. The ‘big chop’ is kind of like a reset button: it allows you to start from scratch. 

By chopping off your chemically treated hair, you can start over with new, natural growth and start fresh. However, while this process can be liberating, it can also be daunting.

You’ll need to learn how to care for your natural hair, as your curl pattern and hair porosity will likely be completely different to your chemically treated hair. 

Not everyone chops off their hair, and if this isn’t for you, you shouldn’t feel pressure to do so. Trimming your ends is a good idea though – and we cover this a little bit later on. 

Understanding Hair types 

If you’ve started to research ‘natural hair’ or ‘naturally curly black hair’, one thing you’re likely to stumble upon sooner rather than later is ‘hair type.’

You’ll see lots of charts and images laying out the different hair ‘types’, which usually range from 1-4 and A-C – for example, 3c, 4a, and so forth. 

This concept was originally coined by hairstylist Andre Walker as a way to categorize the shape and texture of different strands of hair.

However, while you’ll commonly see YouTube tutorials for particular hair types, don’t be too taken in by this concept, as most of us have hair that is capable of multiple curl types.

You may also find yourself wishing you had looser curls, but looser curls don’t necessarily equal healthy hair. If your hair is healthy and growing, it’s good hair!

You should also learn what works for your hair, rather than trying to model your hair routine on your favorite YouTuber. There are many different factors that influence our hair and how it reacts to different products. 

Many women with tight or coiled hair patterns struggle with dry hair. These hair types are naturally drier because the shape of the strands makes it more difficult for the natural oil (sebum) your scalp produces to distribute from root to tip. 

Women with looser curls or straight hair will likely have to shampoo their hair more frequently as the sebum travels more quickly from the roots of their hair to the tip, resulting in greasier or oilier hair. 

Understanding Texture and Porosity 

Texture 

‘Texture’ refers to the width of each individual strand of hair, and your hair texture is usually categorized in 3 ways: fine, medium, or thick. 

Thick hair is also usually referred to as ‘coarse’, and women who fall into the 4C category usually have thick or coarse curls. At the other end of the spectrum is fine hair, which is more prone to breakage.

Density 

Density is different from hair texture because it refers to the total amount of hair strands you have. So someone with fine hair might have a lot of strands, and this allows them to achieve the illusion of thicker hair. 

An easy way to think of density is how many strands you have per square inch. Extremely dense hair can easily achieve big voluminous styles, while less dense hair appears thinner or more sparse. 

Porosity 

Porosity is the extent to which your hair absorbs moisture.  Porosity is often overlooked, but it’s actually an extremely useful thing to know about your hair, as it dictates how well oils and moisture pass in and out of your hair’s cuticles. 

There are various tests you can do to assess your hair’s porosity, and porosity is usually categorized as low, normal, or high.

Low porosity hair doesn’t absorb moisture well, medium or normal porosity is able to hold styles well, and high porosity hair absorbs moisture quickly and may even become frizzy or dry. 

Elasticity 

Elasticity means how stretchy your hair is. If your hair has a hard time stretching when wet and does not return to its natural shape after pulling, it’s likely that you have low elasticity hair. 

If your hair has low elasticity, it’s also more at risk of breaking. Elasticity requires a balance between moisture and protein. If your hair lacks one of these or is overloaded by too much, it could affect its elasticity. 

We’ll talk a little more about the moisture/protein balance a little bit later on…

Transitioning to Natural Hair 

When you make the decision to transition to your natural hair, you need to understand that it’s not an overnight process. It will take time and patience for your natural curls to take shape, but it’ll be worth the wait.

Here are some tips for the beginning of your journey: 

Be patient

One thing you should get in your head is that results will take time to appear: it usually takes at least three to four months to start to see real change, and for some, it can take as long as a year before they’re chemical-free.

It depends on how quickly your hair grows, and how well you look after it during the transition phase. 

It’ll also be a period of experimentation where you’re figuring out which products work for you, and which don’t. Try to not have too strict of an idea about what you want your hair to look like.

It’s all about embracing your natural hair, and a routine or product that works for one person isn’t necessarily going to have the same effect on your hair. 

Know when to cut 

Sometimes cutting your hair is necessary to maintain the health of your natural hair.

For some people, this is a buzz cut or big chop, but for most, gradually trimming the ends of your hair every six to eight weeks will help speed up the process for your natural curls. It will also freshen up the ends of your hair that have been damaged by chemicals. 

Deep condition often

Transitioning hair needs more moisture than usual, as it’s often very fragile from straightening chemicals.

The most compromised area of your hair will be right at the point where your new growth meets your previously straightened strands, so this area requires extra attention.

A deep conditioning treatment (which we’ll cover later on) will give your hair that much-needed TLC. 

Make use of protective styles

There are plenty of ways to style your hair during the transitioning process, from box braids to Flexi-rod sets. Setting up a schedule of style options is a good way to switch up your look in the short term, while also taking your mind off of your natural hair growth. 

Protective styles are great for allowing your hair to breathe a little, and will also cut down on breakage and promote hair growth.

It’s worth going with selective styles that keep the tension off of your hairline, temples, and nape of your neck, and you should also keep tension away from edges too, as your baby hairs will also be fragile. 

Avoid heat styling

Heat damage will stunt the growth of your hair, which is why it’s a good idea to steer clear of heat or at least reduce the amount you apply to your hair. 

It can be tempting to want to straighten your hair while it’s growing, but doing so will dry your hair out even more and cause breakage.

It may also alter the curl pattern that your hair is growing into, as the curls become stretched out and warped. If you must use heat on your hair – use a protective blow dry cream beforehand. 

Shedding is normal 

Transitioning hair offers plenty of ups and downs, and if you find that your transitioning hair is shedding a lot, know that this is normal. Our hair is meant to shed around 50-100 strands daily, so this isn’t unique to transitioning hair alone.

If you wear your hair in protective styles, when you take out those braids or twists you’ll notice some shedding as this hair wasn’t able to fall out while your hair was styled. Makes sense, right? 

You only need to be concerned if you’re seeing golf ball-sized clumps of hair daily, and in this case, you should see your dermatologist, stylist, or doctor. 

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Steer clear of drying ingredients

As you embark upon your naturally curly hair journey, you’ll start seeing plenty of buzz words for ingredients that are no friend to curly-haired folk.

Sulfate shampoos and conditioners and alcohol-based stylers can dry your hair out, and as we know, dry hair is more likely to break.

Look out for moisturizing sulfate-free formulas that are specially designed for natural hair and use deep conditioners and castor oil to hydrate the demarcation point where your new growth and relaxed hair meet – as this is the most fragile region of transitioning hair. 

You should also avoid protein products. While these are great for strengthening hair, they’re not good for moisture, and transitioning hair needs all the hydration it can get. 

Focus on scalp health 

Keeping your scalp healthy is one of the easiest ways to maximize your hair growth. You should keep your follicles and scalp free of product build-up and flaking by incorporating a vigorous scalp massage into your wash day.

Keeping your hair follicles and scalp free of product buildup and flaking will help boost hair growth. You can cleanse the scalp by using a cleansing micellar formula shampoo to remove dirt and grime without stripping away your hair’s natural oils.

Detangle carefully

As we said, transitioning hair is fragile and dry, so you need to treat it with caution even when detangling your hair. Avoid fine-tooth combs and use a wide-tooth comb to detangle from the ends of your hair to the roots. 

Use a conditioning and detangling cream when combing hair, and try to avoid brushing it – even once your curls start forming – as this can disrupt your curl pattern and ramp up frizz. 

Moisturize, moisturize, moisturize

If you take anything away from this guide, let it be this: moisture is essential for natural hair, especially transitioning hair.

If your transitioning hair is super dry, it could be a result of heat styling, leftover chemicals on the hair, or a lack of hydration in your hair care routine. 

Moisture is even more important as your curls start to grow and form, as it becomes increasingly difficult for the natural oils on your scalp to move down the hair shaft. 

You should increase your moisturizing routine so that you’re using a moisturizing lotion in the morning and gently misting your hair with water at night.

Moisturizing once or twice a week just isn’t going to cut it – natural hair needs moisturizing daily or even multiple times a day in some cases.

Transitioning to natural hair products

When you’re transitioning to your natural hair, you might need to add a few products to your collection or buy a whole new collection of products. 

However, the key to not spending hundreds of dollars is to ensure you understand exactly what products you need – and the difference between various types of products – before you purchase.

Shampoo 

When it comes to your shampoo, your main priority will be to ensure the product contains no sulfates and provides plenty of moisture.

You also want a cleansing product that will eliminate build-up and dry flakes on the scalp. Don’t forget, a healthy scalp provides the ideal environment for new hair to grow. 

As I Am Cleansing Pudding provides moisture with ingredients like castor seed oil and soothes the scalp with aloe, while also eliminating excess sebum and residue on the scalp and leaving hair and scalp in optimal condition for new hair to grow. 

Conditioner 

When choosing a conditioner, you want one that’s even more hydrating than usual. Transitioning hair still has fragile areas from prior processing and relaxing, so you need an intensive conditioner that will strengthen your hair.

I AM Hydration Elation Intensive Conditioner works to strengthen weak areas and repair split ends, which is perfect for transitioning hair.

It’s infused with pure herbal ingredients that stimulate the scalp and hair roots and provides moisture deep within the hair shaft, resulting in smoother, healthier hair that is generally more manageable. 

Deep conditioner/mask 

Kinky and coily hair types are drier due to the shape of the hair shaft, and transitioning hair is extra dry and fragile while your curl pattern is still forming.

It calls for a deep conditioning mask like this one from Sheamoisture, which is specially designed for dry, damaged, or transitioning hair. 

It offers a blend of raw shea butter and natural botanicals to help restore natural lipids to damaged hair and will help hydrate hair types 3A through 4C. It’s free of all nasties, including silicone, sulfates, parabens, phthalates, mineral oil, and petroleum. 

Hair Milk 

Hair milk is perfect for providing hydration while also smoothing and controlling frizz. Shea Moisture has a great hair milk designed for transitioning hair.

It’s packed full of organic shea butter which is rich in vitamin A, and promotes healthy growth and strengthens chemically treated hair. It’ll also restore shine and smooth frizzy, dry locks. 

Hair Moisturizer 

Moisturizer isn’t just for your face, it’s for your hair, too, and it’s an absolute essential for transitioning natural hair.

This butter cream from TGIN uses shea butter to lock in moisture from the root to the tip of every strand of hair and also contains Vitamin E oil to encourage hair growth while preventing hair loss. 

This formula is packed full of cocoa butter which works to condition the hair and make it stronger and shinier. It also helps tame frizz and smoothes the hair’s cuticle, while leaving strands feeling touchably soft.

Once your curl pattern starts to appear, you can also use it as a setting cream to create soft, smooth, and shiny two-strand twists and twist-outs.

Leave-in Conditioner 

Leave-in conditioner is applied to towel-dried hair after you’ve stepped out of the shower, and it’ll help detangle your strands and smooth the hair’s cuticle. 

This leave-in conditioner from Carol’s Daughter intensely moisturizes transitioning hair and helps to reinforce weak strands with every use. Hair is up to 15x stronger in one use, resulting in 94% less breakage, supporting your hair as it grows.

Castor oil and black seed oil strengthen the hair’s shaft between washes so that it better resists breakage and can grow longer and healthier. 

Black hair growth products

When it comes to your hair growth, one of the mistakes we make is skipping straight to the products that promise to boost growth.

However, in order for hair to grow, we also need to ensure that our scalp is healthy, and we need to repair damage and reinforce our hair’s strength as much as possible, especially when it’s been heavily processed or heat damaged in the past. 

There are several great products out there that can help provide an optimal environment for new hair to grow, and you can achieve this through products offering moisture, protection, and repairing properties. 

Shea Moisture Jamaican Black Castor Oil Combination Pack

One of the best ranges to help boost growth in Black hair is the Shea Moisture Jamaican Black Castor Oil range.

These products contain certified organic raw shea butter combined with handpicked natural ingredients to deliver nourishing hydration to dry, damaged, brittle curls and coils resulting in smoother and stronger hair. 

Peppermint invigorates the hair and scalp to stimulate blood cells and promote hair growth, while the restorative omegas found in Jamaican black castor oil help to heal damaged hair, mend split ends, and restore your natural shine.

Castor Oil USDA Organic Cold-Pressed

Castor Oil is one of the beauty industry’s best-kept secrets. The Omega-9 fatty acid content in ricinoleic acid which is found in the oil helps to promote hair growth by adding strength to each follicle, providing an extra protective barrier for the hair cuticles. 

When applied on the scalp frequently and consistently, it can also help improve blood circulation to the follicles, which then triggers growth. It also helps hydrate dry and damaged hair and helps improve moisture retention.

Basically, it’s a lifesaver for dry, damaged transitioning hair, and Black curly or coily hair types in general. 

Mielle Organics Rosemary Mint Scalp & Hair Strengthening Oil

Like we said previously, weak, damaged hair isn’t going to grow, so in order for your hair to thrive, you need to repair and strengthen it.

Created by Black-owned company Mielle, this oil moisturizes dry scalps and smoothes split ends with its nutrient-rich, intensive formula. 

The mint will help stimulate your scalp, while the herbal ingredients, castor oil, and biotin help form longer, stronger, healthier hair.

This product is also super versatile: it can be used as a scalp treatment, a split end healer, or can simply be combed through the hair daily. 

Mielle Organics Adult Healthy Hair Formula Gummy Vitamins

If you want to take extra measures to grow your naturally curly or coily Black hair, you can opt for a multivitamin. Vitamins shouldn’t be treated as a cure-all answer to transitioning hair, though.

You need to ensure you’re eating healthily and drinking plenty of water, as well as using the right hair products. However, if you really want to see results in your hair’s growth, these gummies from Mielle are great for that extra boost of goodness. 

They contain a unique blend of herbs, amino acids, and minerals, to encourage longer, stronger, and thicker hair.

They’re completely natural and contain no harmful chemicals or preservatives, plus they contain biotin – which helps maintain healthy hair growth and can help combat hair loss. 

Carol’s Daughter Goddess Strength

The Goddess Strength range from Carol’s Daughter contains ingredients such as castor oil and black cumin seed to fortify weak hair, providing it with vital moisture, and protecting it from breakage and damage. 

The products from this range keep hair strong between washes to better resist breakage, enabling it to maintain its length and promoting hair growth. 

Hair is also left 9x easier to detangle, is 15x stronger, and has up to 94% less damage. Stronger hair = less breakage and more growth, while the shampoo and conditioner gently cleanse the scalp while providing moisture. 

How to Care for Black Hair 

Wash Weekly 

Don’t wash your hair too often – the American Academy of Dermatology (AAD) recommends washing tightly coiled hair once a week or less. 

Washing your hair more frequently than this can dry out the scalp and hair and remove care products and sebum, which naturally moisturizes your hair. 

If you have a scalp condition, such as seborrheic dermatitis or dandruff, you may need to wash your hair more often. It’s best to ask your dermatologist for advice on how often, for example, they may recommend washing twice a week. 

Which shampoo you use will also play a big role in how hydrated your hair and scalp is. 

Avoid sulfates, as these are known to remove natural oils and dry out the hair, making it harder to comb through and more prone to breakage. Instead, look for a gentle, cleansing yet moisturizing shampoo – or co-wash – and a rich conditioner. 

Ensure you coat your ends in conditioner, and, while applying shampoo, gently massage your scalp to stimulate the follicles. Pat hair with a microfiber towel to dry – don’t rub. 

Deep condition

We’ve said it before, and we’ll say it again. Deep conditioning should be a big part of your hair care routine. 

You’ll need to use a conditioner with each wash but should also use a deep conditioning treatment once or twice a month to replenish the hair. 

After shampooing, apply your deep conditioner and wrap the hair in a warm towel, leaving it to soak up the moisture for around 30 minutes.

Natural oils such as jojoba, shea butter, or emu oil can also be hydrating for natural hair. 

Comb hair while it’s wet

Natural hair gets tangled easily, and brushing it will only make it more prone to breakage.  For this reason, avoid brushing or combing dry hair. 

Instead, apply a moisturizer or a leave-in conditioner while your hair is still wet, and then divide it into sections, combing through each section with a wide-toothed comb. 

Use very gentle strokes, and focus on the ends first, before progressing to the roots. You can also use a spray bottle to dampen the hair. 

Wide-tooth combs are widely available on Amazon, and you’ll also find ones specially designed for use in the shower, or on thick, dense hair. 

Reduce friction while you sleep 

Cotton pillowcases can absorb moisture and cause friction to your hair – resulting in it feeling drier and frizzier. 

A simple solution to this is to use a silk or satin pillowcase or hair wrap while you sleep, as these will reduce friction and moisture absorption, leaving your hair in better condition when you wake up. 

This 22 momme silk pillowcase is available for a reasonable price on Amazon, or if you prefer a hair wrap, this slouchy bonnet is perfect for naturally curly or coily styles.