I got my first relaxer when I was about five or six years old. I stopped and started my natural journey 3 times so I am familiar with the challenges of growing out a relaxer.

When you stop relaxing your hair any previously relaxed hair will still be relaxed. However as your hair grows, your natural texture (new growth) will continue to get longer. You will have a mixture of relaxed hair and natural textured hair.

If you are considering going natural, you will need to grow out of your relaxer. How long you grow out your relaxer is a personal choice. Some people big chop and other transition long term. Each of the three times I grew out my relaxer, I transitioned long term. The final time I relaxed my hair was in 2010, Here are some tips, and information to help you reach the goal of transitioning from relaxed to natural.

Transitioning to natural hair takes as little as two months or as long as two years. After two months of transitioning, you will have about one inch of natural hair sometimes called a TWA (Tiny Weenie Afro). After transitioning for two years, you will have at 8-10 inches of natural hair, or about should length.

Hair Two Months After A Relaxer

Two months is a normal amount of time to go between relaxers. You have approximately one inch of new growth when it is stretched. Sine naturally kinky/curly hair shrinks, it will look more like 0.5in of hair coming from your scalp. If you decided to cut your relaxed ends off at this point, your hair would shrink further, you would have a very short haircut.

Caring for Your Hair 2 Months After You Stop Relaxing Relaxer

If you are up for a change, cutting your hair would result in a tightly cropped haircut. Most people, even those with short hair, opt to grow their hair out a little further before cutting their relaxed ends. Your hair is still mostly relaxed, continue to use the products that worked for you while you were relaxed.

Most of your hair is still chemically processed. Products marketed toward natural hair tend to be light on proteins and silicones. Proteins and Silicones are important in maintaining the integrity of relaxed hair. You want to keep them in your routine if you plan to transition long term.

If you choose to heat style, be sure to use heat protectant. Work in small sections and only pass over the section once. This will prevent you from damaging your natural hair.

Around the two month mark is also when you want to consider getting a trim. Finding a stylist during a transition can be tricky. The stylist who cared for my relaxed hair did not care for natural hair. At the time there were not many natural salons in my area, so I handled my own

Hair Six Months After a Relaxer

The six-month mark is tricky, you will have A LOT of new growth. This can be an uncomfortable amount of new growth and it can get difficult to blend the two textures…hang in there. Your natural texture may feel drastically different than your relaxed texture. This is the point where if you decided to big chop, you would have a TWA. If you decide to transition longer, protective styling can be a huge relief.

Caring for Hair Six Months After a Relaxer

If you decided to big chop and are rocking a twa, congrats you made it! I transitioned and wished I had big chopped sooner! I like the idea of your routine evolving as your hair grows. If you don’t like a product or it is flaky it is much easier to re-wash and re-style than it is once your hair gets longer.

Establish a routine for washing, conditioning and styling. There are a lot of “growth hacks” on YouTube. I would stay away from the DIY hair products until you get in a good rhythm with your hair. Even then proceed with caution. Even all natural DIYs can cause set backs with your natural hair.

If you have decided to transition a little longer, protective styling is a good thing to take a break and allow your relaxer to grow out. Be careful because protective styling can go from protecting to neglect (speaking from experience). Plan to keep protective styles six weeks or less. Experiment with braid outs or rod sets in between styles so that you can get used to managing your natural texture.

I think twists and braids make a good choice for transitioning protective styles. Weaves & wigs can get expensive very quickly and are more difficult to maintain. Look up I Am Traeh on YouTube she shares horror stories and a lot of them involve wigs or weaves. If you are most comfortable with wigs and weave avoid excessive heat or relaxing your leave out. It makes it difficult to enjoy the texture of your natural hair once you are ready to wear it out.

One Year After a Relaxer

One Year after a relaxer your hair is longer than a twa and is probably somewhere between chin length and shoulder length when stretched. If you decided to cut your relaxed ends at this point your hair would be a cute kinky/coily fro depending on your hair texture.

Some People refer to this as the awkward phase. Hair is longer than a quick and easy twa, but not quite as long as they were used to when they relaxed. Especially when you account for shrinkage. You could probably pull your hair into a puff and start experimenting with braid outs, twist outs, and other fun textured sets. Two braids or two flat twists are also fun styles during this stage.

Caring for Hair One Year After a Relaxer

If you plan to transition longer, keep using products for relaxed hair…except of course the relaxer. The proteins, amino acids, silicones, in products targeted toward relaxed hair help to prevent tangles, breakage, and knots. These products won’t harm your natural texture.

Protective styling and regular trims can still be used as a tool to transition. Just make sure they are not too tight and not left in too long. Also avoid styles that require you to relax your leave out, or straighten your hair to blend it.