Dilemmas and Confusion

Can we just chat for a minute? Okay I'm only about 6 weeks post-relaxer, and a thought just popped into my head: Do I really need to start doing transition styles already? I mean, my new growth isn't all that noticeable yet and its nothing a little flat iron cant smooth out. But then another thought jumped in there after this: Do you really want to get in the habit of heat styling your hair now, then regret it later? Sigh... so here's my dilemma. WHAT DO I DO WITH MY HAIR???? Like on a daily basis, what do I do? I don't feel like there's alot I can do with it because of how short it is. I'm wearing a braid out right now but thats on its last leg. And I'm lost for ideas on what  to do with it when I wash it again. Help!
Weave
Never worn it in my life. I've seen it do terrible things to some girls hair and heard worse things, what with the glue, or the threads being pulled to tightly, or what have you. But on the positive side I've seen some girls hair grow beautifully underneath a sew in. When a weave is done right it can be very pretty and it allows you to try styles that you might not be able to with your own hair. I'm considering a sew in but I don't know...
Protective Styles
I don't know much about these. Are there any that look nice on short hair? Is a braid out a protective style? Can I do them myself or will I need to go to a shop? I need all the info and input I can get on this topic.

I recently was told about this thing called a Keratin blowout. Some ladies I work with have them and one of them is totally natural (I thought she was relaxed. It looks good.) I asked a follower on twitter about it and she told me theres formaldehyde in the treatment for a keratin blowout. That was a little off putting. But I don't know I'd have to do more research on that. Know anything?

Okay folks I really would like your input on this. If you're natural already tell me what styles you did during transition and now that you're totally natural. If you're transitioning, tell me how its going and what you're doing with your hair day to day. I'd really appreciate it!

Bantu Knots

I was looking up transition styles on youtube and I came across a video for bantu knots. They looked sooooo pretty. So after watching a few more videos on them I decided to try them my self. :) First I washed and deep conditioned my hair. I used Pantene's moisture control shampoo and Suave's conditioner for dry or frizzy hair. I'm lookin for a different shampoo and conditioner though. (Any suggestions?) Oh I also need a leave in conditioner. :) Here are the products I used for this style.

If you cant read the lil one its Palmer's Olive Oil Formula Gro Therapy

I put the Gro Therapy on my wet hair and scalp. Then I parted my hair into sections and took some of the pudding and twirled my hair until it started to coil up on its self, then I wrapped it into knots. (the videos explain that better lol) Since my hair wouldn't stay put I secured the knots with bobby pins. This was what it looked like:

I let my hair dry over night. As I took the knots down I ran some of the Gro Therapy over them. Now I must admit to you when I first took them down I didnt really like them lol. The curls were defined but they were everywhere and I didnt have time to play with them before church. This is the raw product

Yeah wasnt feelin that. I wore a hat lol. But when I got home I played around and styled it a lil and this is what I came up with. I smoothed down the sides with the hair pudding and left my top and back curly.

I hope you like it. And I hope you try it!

And so it begins... (Discovering my hair)

On the day I decided I was going to begin this, emotional, arduous, frustrating journey to my natural hair, I realized I have absolutely NO IDEA what my natural hair texture is. So that became my motivation. I need to know what MY hair looks like. I've always heard "OMG your hair is so pretty." Its only now that I'm thinking, "But is it really mine?"

19 yrs old in this picture. This was a time when someone else was the primary care giver for my hair. Its long, healthy, and RELAXED.

20 yrs old and dying my hair was my first act of independence with my hair. Needless to say lots of damage resulted.

21 and I cut off most of the damage. Still relaxed though.

22 and my latest cut also my LAST relaxer.
Each of the changes I made to my hair was my attempt to find my own style for my hair. Not what someone else created or suggested. Something that was strictly me. But the only way for me to truly do that is to get back to my REAL HAIR. I need to find my curl pattern, my texture, my from-the-root color. So when someone says "Whats your natural hair texture?" I'll have something better to say than "Ummm..."