Are Naturals out numbering Relaxed Heads on LHCF?

[*CherryPie*]

I had decided to transition to natural last year. But after watching my natural haired daughter spend hours doing her hair, I decided to stay relaxed. I can't see myself going through the detangling and all of the other stuff that it takes with being a natural haired woman.

I love how beautiful her hair is though!!

 

[Ms. Feliz]

I'm relaxed and I plan on being that way for a long time. As of right now I have no real want to be natural because if I were I would just wear my hair straight all the time and that would probably do more damage to my hair than just getting it relaxed every few months.

 

[DDTexlaxed]

I'm transitioning because my goal was always to be natural, but I lacked skills and patience to care for it. I'm hopeful for when I BC next, it will be my last.

 

[SherylsTresses]

Loving this thread....!!!

 

[NinasLongAmbition]

Transitioning! 7 months post and BC'ing this weekend.

 

[HauteHippie]

I don't think you'll ever know, there are so many ladies here that don't participate in polls or post at all. Some lurk for information. I'm natural and was relax and look for good hair advice from everyone.

Yep, I lurked for about a year before I joined. I don't know why it took me so long.

 

[jshor09]

Im natural and i love the versatility of it. I plan on staying natural for the time being, but i may go back to being relaxed. LHCF has such a wealth of knowledge to help in whatever you choose to do.

 

[lwilliams1922]

I went natural unintentionally. I originally just decided to take a year off from chemicals including relaxers while I was preg. I wore lace fronts during that time. After a year I noticed I had more THICK healthy hair than I had ever seen. I thought about all the money, time and heat that was involved with relaxed hair and decided to try life without all of that.

While I don't have any more relaxed hair I sill have a lot of learning to do. I spent time trying to get a decent twist out technique but I got discouraged and flat ironed too much this summer.

I'm wigging it for the winter and will go back to learning more about my natural hair this summer.

 

[ajenee]

another relaxed head checking in, although every time i get to the 3-4 month mark of stretching I consider going natural. I would like to transition but I haven't been able to get the mois/protein balance thing right to combat breakage. I am happy either way because this is the longest/healthiest my hair has ever been. Thanks LHCF

 

[lizzyb168]

I think more women are relising that having relaxed straight hair is not the be all and end all. Having and growing natural hair can be just as rewarding and i believe there is less pressure now to have relaxed hair. Also due to the recession, alot of people have had less money and decided to go natural instead of paying ridiculous prices for a touch up or to go to the salon every couple of weeks to get styled. Alot of naturals are on youtube or here and on other boards, so that would have contributed to alot of people transitions or bcing as well. I know if i didnt have the support of LHCF, i would have only stretched maybe 5 months rather than deciding to go natural by tranistioning. It was the pictures and comments of encourgement that has lead me to transition.

 

[Vonnieluvs08]

Natural for the rest of my life (or at least that's the plan).

I was natural until I was 15 but wanted to fit in at high school that I relaxed. Right after I started relaxing my mother started locking and pressuring me to go natural again. I had planned to go back natural during college but I was lazy and kept relaxing every 3-6mos.

I always had decent-good hair practices but since being on here I found a whole new game. I'm glad I found this site and finished my transition strong and was able to BC proudly. My BFF has been growing out he relaxer for the last 3yrs and spends most of her time as a straight natural or in buns. Many of my line sisters have transitioned to natural.

I feel that relaxed or natural is no biggie as long as all are treated fairly and accepted in society.

 

[cocoaluv]

Newly natural. My mom kind of inspired me because she went natural and then got dreads. I have wanted to do this for years but every time I'd get to about 3 months I'd chicken out and relax again. I just dont like SHORT hair and thats what prevented me from BC'ing for so long. I did it one night after getting my acceptance letter into nursing school and havent looked back since. I plan on PS for the next 6 months to a year with braids/weaves until my hair reaches a length I feel comfortable with. I dont think I ever see myself relaxing again. My hair was a decent length and all but the pain and money that went with getting a relaxer turned me off. Plus I was going to the dominicans and the ones I went to only cared about straight hair....not about the health. So I decided to take things into my own hands.

I really hope this will become a lifestyle and not a fad because natual hair is so beautiful....not saying relaxed hair isnt but i think everyone should know what their natural hair looks/feels like at one point in their lives. I relaxed at 8 so I remembered nothing other than people complaining on how think my hair was and how much I had...I still had the same "problem" as a relaxed head but for some reason that was ok.

 

[supermodelsonya]

Texlaxed and loving every minute of it. As you can see in the first pic of my siggy, I was relaxed bone straight and I hated giving up my thickness.

In the second picture, I transitioned to texlaxed (lightly texlaxed that is) and I'm loving my big hair when I wear it curly and love my hair when I break out the flat irons.
I still retain my thickness. It's awesome.

 

[ThickHair]

Natural in the truest form for me, since 1998. No heat, no color since 1998. I LOVE IT. Never going back.

 

[Toy]

Relaxed head checking in!!!

 

[Mdmommy99]

I've been natural since 2001 and have no intention of ever relaxing. I think seeing that there is so much versatility with natural hair is what makes me want to stay natural. When I first went natural I thought the only thing you could have was an afro or 2-strand twists. Now there are so many ways to wear your natural hair, that even women who want to wear their hair straight most of the time can have straight hair without relaxing.

 

[ceebee3]

I'm transitioning. I knew I would do it eventually, just didn't think it would be this soon.

I've only been relaxed mainly through my 20's I was natural most of my life.

 

[LiberianGirl]

A natural for life checking in!

 

[Rastafarai]

I sure hope the scale is tipping.

Natural head checking in.

 

[MrJohnsonsRib]

I am natural 100% now. I did try transitioning when I first started to preventr having too short of hair cause we have certain uniform regulations with women and their hair so after I cut I was like I'm just gonna keep going and growing.

 

[LovinLea]

haha wow, i was expecting perfectscore to be relaxed.. the BC looks beautiful

 

[jry2lnghair]

100% natural since Nov '09. I love the way my feel and look. I'm in love with my curls and the health of my hair.

 

[Filmatic]

I think it may be so many going natural. I like it. I BCed 03/09.

Funny I always wanted curly hair. I would buy weaves and wigs just to get it. It wasn't until I came here and realized that I already had it. I knew I would eventually go natural one day. I just sped it up.

 

[vainღ♥♡jane]

newly natural! just bc'd last night at 12 months post relaxer. its not a fad for me, just a personal preference. ♥

 

[knt1229]

I decided to go natural after relocating and having to find someone to do my hair. I used to self relax but after having 2 major mishaps self relaxing I vowed never to do that again. But, I can't trust my hair to just anybody. So after trying out about 4 different hair stylist, I found one that had excellent skill but she was always booked up and had a bit of an attitude. So I decided to stop with relaxers all together. My last relaxer was 12/29/08.

I started looking for info on how to grow out a relaxer. I found this site and many other hairboards. The sites were so informative and inspirational and have been a huge part of my successful transition. I am now 59 weeks post relaxer with no plans to BC.

I will never go back to a relaxer again.

 

[**SaSSy**]

In real life I seen an inflation of weaves, braids, and twist which could mean that's just a style or they are transition to natural. I haven't seen too many BW with natural hair and I live in a mecca of diversity. When I was natural I rarely seen BW then with natural hair which I kind of liked because I love being unique, but now that I'm texlaxed I still don't see more naturals walking around. I think since we are members on here we think it's the norm, but outside our little secret society we are still the minority.

 

[LynnieB]

Your poll results so far are pretty interesting.

Some ladies have to hear some ignorant, carpetbagger stuff from family, friends and icky random strangers - it's a cold, cold world out there. So many have to constantly hear how impossible it is for black women to grow their relaxed hair long but also that natural hair automatically limits us on what styles we can or cannot wear and how it will never grow long unless its in locs.

It's just so nice that there are places online where you do not to have deal with that mess and on any given day see a ton of untruths R.I.P.

The natural hair movement may be a trend, maybe not. Everything we humans do seems to go in cycles and seasons and then there are those creative companies who are always working to create the next best hair thing so who knows?

 

[LadyPBC]

I too thought ALL Black woman HAD to relax their hair if they wanted it straight.

I used to describe my hair as Kunta Kente hair (uncontrollable without the creamy crack) however I was not satisfied with the relaxer . My hair just seemed thin (I called it sheer curtain hair). My hair seemed healthiest when I was at the salon religiously every week. Lots of time and money. I eventually started caring for my own hair to save money (that didn't help cuz I didn't know what the heck I was doing ). I used weaves as a protective style but didn't do anything to my hair underneath. I finally found a stylist (not my stylist but was in the neighborhood that I worked in and I'd just drop by) who convinced me that I could have straight hair without a relaxer by showing me people in her salon with straight natural hair. That was all I needed. That somehow led me to the hair forums and blogs - who knew! I big chopped last April and I'm happy with my decision. It's not always easy but I'm learning to work with and appreciate my natural 4a coils. I don't ever like to say never but I don't plan to ever go back to the creamy crack however if I ever do I know where to get some advice for healthy relaxed hair.

 

[Neek-a-Nator]

newly natural! just bc'd last night at 12 months post relaxer. its not a fad for me, just a personal preference. ♥

OMG, you BC CONGRATULATIONS, I wanna see pics.

 

[danigurl18]

Natural since June 08 and don't plan to go back