The Best Styles for Transitioning

Congratulations! You’ve made the leap and decided to transition from relaxed hair back to your natural texture! But when it comes to styling, you may be a bit stuck. You can’t do the same styles you’ve been doing with straight hair, and you want to explore curly styles. Plus, you want to deal with your relaxed roots and straight ends in the best way possible. Mielle Organics is here to help!

Before jumping into these styles, however, we recommend that you take a look at our post on tips for transitioning. While in the transitioning phase, the best thing you can do is attempt to blend the two textures. The following styles help you do just that.

Rod Set

This has become a very popular style among the textured-haired ladies, but it is also a great way to help blend your relaxed hair with the curly, kinky hair that’s coming in. Flexi rods and perm rods are easily accessible at your local beauty supply store in a variety of sizes. If you’d like to see how your hair might look once you go completely natural, you can opt for the smaller, thinner rods. Any size you like is fine as long as you consider the length of your hair.

For the best, long-lasting results, we recommend working with damp hair, right after cleansing and conditioning. Grab a small section of hair and apply a setting lotion or a spray like Mielle’s Mongongo Oil Style Setting Spray to give you the moisture and hold you need. With your rod in hand, take the hair and wrap it around the rod, adding a little tension so that your roots will stretch to give you a flawless look.

Let your hair air dry overnight or sit under a hooded until your roots are completely dry. If you’re a more visual person, check out this flexi rod tutorial by Hey Curlie featuring our Mongongo Oil Collection!

Twist or Braid

Twist-outs and braid-outs are probably among the first styles you’ll learn to do once you’ve fully transitioned to your natural texture due to their simplicity. You twist (or braid) small sections of hair using your product of choice, let it set, and then take it down. You can either do single twists or flat twists if you can pick up the technique.

The key to the twist (or braid) and curl, however, is setting the end of the hair on a perm or flexi rod to give the hair a curly finish. The curls will seamlessly blend your relaxed ends with the rest of the hair. Take a look at this tutorial to see how Chary Jay achieves this curly do with our Pomegranate & Honey Collection! You can also read our post on how to get the perfect twist-out to learn more.

Protective Style

If you really want your hair to thrive while transitioning, then styles that require little to no manipulation are best. Protective styles like kinky twists, single braids, cornrows, or even French braids will help you keep your hands out of your hair. This decreases the chances of breakage, and you won’t have to worry about dealing with two different textures for a while.

Of course, while enjoying a protective style, you need to continue to care for your hair whether you use extensions or not. Applying an oil, like our Mint Almond Oil, to the scalp and hair before styling, and then as-needed for the duration of the style, will help keep your scalp and hair in good shape. Explore our blog for more protective style tips! For a little inspiration, watch how Jade of Lipstick n Curls creates a super cute dutch braid with a couple of our moisturizing products, and follow us on Instagram!

What styles do you like to use while transitioning?