Traveling with transitioning hair is a complex endeavor, especially for a long duration of time. The summer after my junior year in college, I decided to study abroad in Madrid, Spain. Since transferring universities, I was two classes short of graduating on time. So, it seemed like the perfect time to fulfill my dream of studying abroad, while fulfilling my credit requirements.
Once everything was set, I had to figure out what I’d do with my hair. Since I started transitioning in June of my sophomore year, my hair was very fragile. So I had to pick a hairstyle that wouldn’t take too much time to maintain, needed limited products, and lasted long.
What is transitioning?
In the natural hair world, transitioning means you stop doing whatever got your hair in its damaged state, and letting your natural hair grow out. So if you’re getting relaxers, you stop getting touch-ups and let your natural hair grow. If you constantly straighten your hair, you transition from heat-damaged hair. Transitioning is the alternative from going natural through a big chop (BC). A BC is when you get rid of your damaged hair and start fresh with a shorter cut. In my case, I was transitioning from a relaxer.
Why transition to natural hair?
Everyone’s natural hair story is different, so I can’t speak for anyone else besides myself. I wanted to transition because I was tired of the long and tedious touch-up routine.
Every 3 months, I’d waste 5+ hours in the salon getting a relaxer in my hair dealing with:
The burning scalp sensation that came with relaxers
Sitting under a dryer indefinitely
Leaving the salon with a headache and almost $100 down the drain
And for what? I couldn’t fully enjoy life with a relaxer; Having to avoid sweating, swimming, or any other form of precipitation. Relaxers weren’t ideal for my lifestyle, limited time, and income. I also wanted to live a healthier lifestyle and knew relaxers have many health-related issues.
How long do people transition?
It varies on how long someone wants their natural hair to be after chopping off their relaxed ends. My goal was to transition for 1 year and 6 months (super specific I know); I did make it to that goal, but not without some bumps in the road.
How did I prepare my transitioning hair for traveling?
I figured a protective style would be the best idea for my transitioning hair while abroad; so I decided to get Senegalese twists. You can read more about things to consider when traveling with natural hair here. For the extensions, I packed a specific spray, oils, shampoo, conditioner, and gel (for my edges). I washed my hair weekly or bi-weekly, depending on how my hair felt; some weeks using shampoo, other weeks using a conditioner and water mix. I felt like I did everything correctly, but there were a few things I didn’t anticipate:
My experience traveling with transitioning hair
I had a lot of ups and downs when studying abroad with transitioning hair. While the senegalese twists cut down the time I needed to get ready every day, there were a few failures that I’ve learned from.
Fail #1: Never dealt with synthetic braiding hair before going abroad.
For some reason, I didn’t test how synthetic braiding hair would react with my hair. I didn’t realize my scalp would react negatively and get EXTREMELY itchy and flaky with the synthetic hair. I found myself frequently washing my hair because my scalp was itchy and the oils were creating more build-up.
Fail #2: Not bringing a deep conditioning (DC) treatment!
In hindsight, I’m unsure why I didn’t bring a DC product; seeing as I did this treatment weekly during my transitioning process. So, I didn’t DC my hair the entire time I studied abroad, which was a recipe for disaster.
Fail #3: Being impatient during the takedown process.
After studying abroad, I went straight to Miami for a few days. I couldn’t deal with the extensions any longer, so I started taking out the synthetic hair. Since I didn’t moisturize my hair underneath when taking the synthetic hair out, the relaxed ends started to break off. The same day, I went to a stylist who claimed to be knowledgeable in transitioning hair; I should’ve known she was sketchy. Once I sat in her chair she took a comb through my dry hair, essentially ripping out most of my relaxed ends.
I hope this post helps anyone who is traveling for an extensive period of time with transitioning hair. It’s possible to travel with two hair textures, as long as you probably care for it; and make sure to not make the same mistakes I did.
The only fortunate thing that came from this was that my transitioning process was almost over. I was a year and one month into my process, so my hair wasn’t really short. Once I got home, I went to my TRUSTED stylist to give me a proper trim. There were still a few strings of relaxed ends left, but at least my hair wasn’t completely ruined from the entire ordeal.
