high puff ponytail hairstyle for black hair

Top 5 Best-transitioning Hairstyles for Natural Hair

By Angela MaloneyMay 2, 2024

Embarking on the journey to embrace our natural hair after being conditioned as a community to favor perms and weaves for so long is truly a personal process. It takes a lot of unlearning to realize that our natural hair is beautiful, manageable, and deserves to be seen in all sectors of our life, whether professional, recreational, or academic. Some of us jump straight into the process with a big chop, while others decide to transition slowly into their natural hair. Both are fantastic options: while big chop allows us to start on a fresh canvas, transitioning lets us hang onto our length for a bit longer and is more versatile when it comes to styling. For those who transition, sometimes finding hairstyles that compliment both our new natural kinkier, curlier roots and our straight ends can be difficult and sometimes discouraging. That is why I have compiled my top 5 transitioning hairstyles, which are affordable and easy to do yourself.

Selecting Hairstyles When Transitioning to Natural

It is important to note that while selecting styles for transitioning, you are dealing with two different textures on your scalp, so your twists-outs or braid-outs may not look like that YouTube hair guru one yet, but that is okay. Moreover, our primary goal in this stage is to promote the growth of our natural hair to a length that we feel comfortable enough to chop off the straight ends. That is why most of my suggestions are low-maintenance styles and protective hairstyles, as they are the best when it comes to length retention.

Ponytail

This should be a go-to hairstyle for anyone who is transitioning since it is so easy to hide and blend the point your two different hair textures interact. The attached ponytails have become so much easier to do yourself. You can buy clip-in hair extensions that have been grouped together and designed to connect easily as a ponytail with a drawstring. The process is relatively simple. All you have to do is pull your hair back or to the side depending on your preference, create a bun and attach your ponytail. For a slick back look without heat, use a gel of your choice and a rigid brush to lay flat your new natural roots. Tie a silk scarf on top to ensure it lays flat. The attached ponytails are quick hairstyles that you can complete in the morning and switch up the textures. You can go for kinky straight hair, curly hair, or even yaki hair extensions. Moreover, attached ponytails do not just have to be extension hair flowing down. A braided ponytail with braiding hair from your local supply store is a cute style as well. Have fun with the versatility and ease, play with the colors or even dress it up with your favorite hair accessories.

High puff

Halo braid

It is probably the most challenging style to accomplish on this list, but its elegance and effortless look are to die for. Halo Braids extenuate our facial features and look like a halo of glorious natural hair around our face. There are several ways to do this style. You can incorporate braiding hair or yaki hair extensions if you wish to make them look more voluminous. When doing halo braids, you can start from a side part of the middle part, depending on your preference. You create a single cornrow around the perimeter of your hair. Bobby pins definitely come in handy while doing this style. They do not shy from watching hair tutorials to truly understand how to execute this hairstyle. If cornrowing is not your forte, you can still achieve the same look but with flat twists instead. Halo Braids is a perfect style for anyone transitioning, as you can tuck in those straight ends in a cornrow or flat twist.

Crochet Braids

Unfortunately, not all of us inherited our aunties’ braiding or cornrowing skills. As much as we wish it was a secret natural superpower within our community, we are not gifted with gifts. Not to worry, while you learn how to braid and cornrow, there is a simpler and relatively faster way to achieve your favorite braiding style, and that is with crochet hair. You can buy a crochet hair needle at your local hair store. To crochet, you pull the extensions underneath your hair and loop them to secure them in place. I know it sounds technical when you read it. Still, they are a bunch of YouTube videos demonstrating how easy this method truly is. The best part about crocheting is you can do it on cornrowed hair or singles or even attach it straight to the hair without a braiding pattern. Perfect for those who cannot create a single braid or cornrow to save their life. This method caters to every hairstyle and provides leeway for creative freedom. So, whether you want to install box braids, Senegalese twists, or Jamaican bounce curl as a protective style, consider using the crochet method.

Mini Twists

I know that braiding and cornrowing can be hard; that is why we can easily do and refresh the hairstyle on this list, and that is the adaptable mini twists. The beauty of this hairstyle is it gives you room to understand your natural hair better, what products it likes, how much moisture it needs, and what your curl pattern may be. Doing your first mini twists by yourself might take quite some time, so you might want to put your favorite series or podcast on standby. In addition, since your ends are straight, you can use small curl rods to curl your ends and avoid stringy ends. However, once you complete the style, refreshing them is a breeze. You can wash and condition your hair while it is still in this protective style. Moreover, while re-twisting each twist, you can detangle smaller sections, making the whole detangling process much faster and easier. This is definitely a go-to style if you do not want to deal with your hair daily and can be dressed up and hair accessories plus tied up in different ways to achieve various desired looks.

There you go, my top 5 best-transitioning hairstyles list. Are there any go-to hairstyles we missed? And how was your transitioning journey to the natural hair side? Let's chat in the comments below. Let me take a moment to remind you that your path is your own while on this journey, and no two experiences are the same since no two sets of the head are the same. Listen to your hair and enjoy the process, not just the outcome. I hope you get to that stage where you are comfortable enough to cut off the straight dead ends and fully embrace this part of you.

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