a question for naturals regarding straight hair

[krissynick]

i was reading up on some threads about natural hair and many of you guys state perming you hair was actually too much work.. like u found it easier to do you hair without a perm... can you please elaborate on that..

another question i have is i am relaxed and if i ever decided to go natural i would still keep my hair straight cause thats the style i like .... do you think its more damage to wash and blowdry and flatiron once a week than to perm once every three months ( thats wat i do anyway )

 

[Country gal]

i was reading up on some threads about natural hair and many of you guys state perming you hair was actually too much work.. like u found it easier to do you hair without a perm... can you please elaborate on that..

another question i have is i am relaxed and if i ever decided to go natural i would still keep my hair straight cause thats the style i like .... do you think its more damage to wash and blowdry and flatiron once a week than to perm once every three months ( thats wat i do anyway )

I think you should continue to perm if you want to wear your hair mostly straight. When you transition to natural hair, you won't be able to always wear it straight unless your hair is naturally straight. There are some times you won't straighten your hair because of the humidity.

 

[DarkVictory]

i was reading up on some threads about natural hair and many of you guys state perming you hair was actually too much work.. like u found it easier to do you hair without a perm... can you please elaborate on that..

Relaxed hair was a lot of work for me. I am not good at styling, curling, rollers, etc. It would take forever to do and still not look very good. I had to be careful of all these different things (rubbing on coat collars, what my hat is made of, how to wrap it up at night, pool chemicals) and it still broke off.

So I figured if my choice was
A) expensive (salon, because relaxing myself was a disaster) - time consuming -broken off - looks raggedy
or
B) cheap - easy - healthy - how much worse is it going to look, really?

Relaxed hair is probably easier if you wear straight styles most of time.

 

[SouthernTease]

When I had a relaxer I still flatironed anyway...

I realized heat & chemicals are the two worst things

you can do to your hair... heat being the lesser of the

two evils and because it's not permanent... i decided

to eliminate the chemicals. I still rollerset & flat iron

(not often) it's really not that much harder.

 

[cclark1]

I think you should continue to perm if you want to wear your hair mostly straight. When you transition to natural hair, you won't be able to always wear it straight unless your hair is naturally straight. There are some times you won't straighten your hair because of the humidity.

I have to disagree here. I have several friends who are compleely natural and won't even think about wearing their hair in it's natural state. They are careful with the heat and their hair continues to grow long. I am transitioning now and that won't be an option for me. It's easier for me even now not to put any heat on it but to just wash and go.

 

[tatiana]

Relaxed hair is harder to me than natural hair.

For starters, my hair was never relax straight. I have had lye, no lye, home, and professional relaxers and they never got my hair straight. My relaxed was this board's texlax. I didn't realize relaxer could make one's hair 100% straight until I went to college.

My hair is fine and thin. I have flyaway hair. If the wind blows, so do my style and sometimes it will fall back in place and sometimes it didn't. My hair will frizz and curls will drop whenever its humid. My hair was difficult to keep straight and look "done". I had to pull hair back in ponytail all of the time. At times, going to a salon was a waste of money because the style will last a day or two even on freshly relaxed hair.

Natural hair gave me a sense of freedom I never had when my hair was relaxed.

 

[Crackers Phinn]

I have to disagree here. I have several friends who are compleely natural and won't even think about wearing their hair in it's natural state. They are careful with the heat and their hair continues to grow long. I am transitioning now and that won't be an option for me. It's easier for me even now not to put any heat on it but to just wash and go.

i got to ask, how long is their hair?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

To the OP, I'd say keep a perm if you're going to wear your hair straight. The one thing that folk don't take into consideration is that if your hair is thick, it's going to require a whooooooooolllllllleeeeee lot more heat in natural hair to get it to the basic straightness (air/blow dried) you get with a perm.

Yes there are people who use heat regularly and their hair becomes trained, but that doesn't happen over night and 'new growth' still has to be trained as it comes in. There aren't enough people who are disciplined enough to treat 'new growth' with higher heat and then adjust the heat down for the 'trained hair'.

I have no issue with using heat. I just wouldn't want anybody to cut off all their hair thinking that being natural is the easier of two routes, cuz it's not.

 

[dicapr]

i got to ask, how long is their hair?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

To the OP, I'd say keep a perm if you're going to wear your hair straight. The one thing that folk don't take into consideration is that if your hair is thick, it's going to require a whooooooooolllllllleeeeee lot more heat in natural hair to get it to the basic straightness (air/blow dried) you get with a perm.

Yes there are people who use heat regularly and their hair becomes trained, but that doesn't happen over night and 'new growth' still has to be trained as it comes in. There aren't enough people who are disciplined enough to treat 'new growth' with higher heat and then adjust the heat down for the 'trained hair'.

I have no issue with using heat. I just wouldn't want anybody to cut off all their hair thinking that being natural is the easier of two routes, cuz it's not.

I'll have to disagree with you here. You do not have to use alot of heat in order to get straight natural hair and you do not need to train it straight. I am 4a/4b with frizzy kinky hair and I can rollerset my hair straight without any heat. (I don't do that very often because it takes sooo long to dry). I would advise the OP to realize that she is not going to have relaxer straight hair all the time. If she can live with a pressing once every two weeks with straight hair on week one and be confined to braid outs and updos the next week, it is worth being free of the chemical. My natural hair actually requires the same amount of time as my relaxed hair.

 

[Crackers Phinn]

I'll have to disagree with you here. You do not have to use alot of heat in order to get straight natural hair and you do not need to train it straight. I am 4a/4b with frizzy kinky hair and I can rollerset my hair straight without any heat. (I don't do that very often because it takes sooo long to dry). I would advise the OP to realize that she is not going to have relaxer straight hair all the time. If she can live with a pressing once every two weeks with straight hair on week one and be confined to braid outs and updos the next week, it is worth being free of the chemical. My natural hair actually requires the same amount of time as my relaxed hair.

The bolded is basically what she's asking. She wants to blowdry and flat iron once a week. So we can agree to disagree with what I said, but for the situation the OP is describing (straight hair 100% of the time) , I think I'm pretty accurate.

 

[Shalilac]

I am 4a/4b with frizzy kinky hair and I can rollerset my hair straight without any heat.QUOTE]

Wow!!! Do you have pics?

 

[Nola Darling]

I am 4a/4b with frizzy kinky hair and I can rollerset my hair straight without any heat.QUOTE]

Wow!!! Do you have pics?

Yeah! I want to see pics of that!

 

[krissynick]

I am 4a/4b with frizzy kinky hair and I can rollerset my hair straight without any heat.QUOTE]

Wow!!! Do you have pics?

i find that hard to believe... do you have pics?

 

[glam-]

I am 4a/4b with frizzy kinky hair and I can rollerset my hair straight without any heat. (I don't do that very often because it takes sooo long to dry). .

Also, please share your technique for achieving a straight rollerset.Thanks.

 

[Tenacious]

Relaxed, there were so many limitations to what I could do with my hair. Every turn I took was a wrong one. For example, excessive combing, brushing, washing, styling, conditioning (yeah), and even touching damaged my hair. I just never understood the need to have a permanent hairstyle. Straight hair was a hairstyle for me, never meant to be an everyday thing.

As far as manageability, I don't see what was so manageable about relaxed hair I could barely pick up off my scalp. It was slick straight all the time. I could never get braids, micros, cornrows, anything! And it was always so thin and see-through.

Natural, I can do more styles, curly or straight. I can pull my hair in a ponytail without worrying about my ends breaking off. I can get straight hair with body, wear very unique hair-dos, and do some things I'd otherwise never be able to do with relaxed hair. Also, I actually have full, thick hair and it shows when I press it. Its so big!

Also, I hated being "exposed" when my natural new growth started to grow. I didn't want to have to be a slave to getting a relaxer. I thought about it and was like "What do I have to hide?" So I went natural.

But in all honesty, I dont think relaxers, hair color or perms are bad. Its just not good for me. Neither are they our only solution to having more manageable hair. I just dont think that it should be widely accepted as the standard for an entire ethnic group.

 

[Whimsy]

When I was natural I would put 4 fat braids in my hair, let it airdry into its fuzzy mess and then maxiglide it straight. It was bone straight just like it was when texlaxed. I did this maybe every other week for a while.
I don't know if it's the best thing for the health of my hair, BUT it grew at it's normal rate. I agree w/ everyone in saying that if you want to wear your hair straight all the time, the perm is probably going to be easier for you, but if you're open to textures why not transition to natural? you can always perm if you find it too hard to deal with. Good luck w/ whatever u decide.

 

[nappity]

I'll have to disagree with you here. You do not have to use alot of heat in order to get straight natural hair and you do not need to train it straight. I am 4a/4b with frizzy kinky hair and I can rollerset my hair straight without any heat. (I don't do that very often because it takes sooo long to dry). I would advise the OP to realize that she is not going to have relaxer straight hair all the time. If she can live with a pressing once every two weeks with straight hair on week one and be confined to braid outs and updos the next week, it is worth being free of the chemical. My natural hair actually requires the same amount of time as my relaxed hair.

How do you achieve this?
What products do you use?

 

[ladylibra]

well my hair was underprocessed. it did not take well to relaxers. so i used a lot of heat to get "straight" styles. too much work for me. plus the maintenance of relaxing... and the tangles of my dry heat-damaged hair...

being natural is just easier. yeah detangling is a pain in the booty but still nowhere near as bad as when i was using chems.

 

[dicapr]

I will try to borrow a camera this weekend to post pictures. I know it seems crazy but it is possible. I use alot of tension with my rollersets, because my hair can take it in its natural state. My mom has tried with less tension and I have gotten the puffy look many complain about. I leave my hair dripping wet without a towel dry. I use Nexus Humetress as a leave in alon with Paul Mitchell Super Skinny Relaxing Balm. I use small sections and large curlers. Each section is detangled with a smaller tooth comb, and I pull the section out straight with the comb as if I was going to flat iron. I make sure the ends are layed as flat as possible on the roller and roll with tention. I make sure that the hair is lying flat on the curler and make sure to maintain tension as I role. I roll the hair once around the curler, then pull up on the curler to make sure the hair is flat against the curler and their is no slack. I do this after every roll and at once done with that section of hair I give another gentle tug and then put the cover on. I have only been successful with magnetic rollers with this method. My hair is medium desity, with fine strands. This may have more to do with the ease of straightening my hair than its texture. I did this by accident while I was trying to strech my hair out and I was shocked when my hair was in straight curls and all I needed to do was finger comb and go. I does revert faster than a press, but I can easily rollerset 2x a week and still save ends. Like I said, I'll borrow a camera this weekend, because it is something you have to see to believe.

ETA-It usually takes about 9-10 hours to dry, so I usually end up sleeping in magnetic curlers.

 

[tenjoy]

Welllll as a relaxed head.......

I personally believe that heat (flat irons, hot combs) are just as damaging, if not more than relaxing. I only use a hood dryer on my hair and maybe some conair hot rollers every now and then. I don't own any other hot tools, not even a curling iron.

I am not relaxed bone straight. I still have texture and can rock big hair (i love big hair). I use a cheap relaxer that comes 2 for $5.99 ( Ultrasheen) and color my hair with dark and lovely.



My name is Tenjoy and I am Pro-relaxer

 

[PinkSkates]

How long is your hair? I'm asking 'cause I think length would be a major factor in you being able to acheive this with your natural hair.

Originally postedd by dicapr
I will try to borrow a camera this weekend to post pictures. I know it seems crazy but it is possible. I use alot of tension with my rollersets, because my hair can take it in its natural state. My mom has tried with less tension and I have gotten the puffy look many complain about. I leave my hair dripping wet without a towel dry. I use Nexus Humetress as a leave in alon with Paul Mitchell Super Skinny Relaxing Balm. I use small sections and large curlers. Each section is detangled with a smaller tooth comb, and I pull the section out straight with the comb as if I was going to flat iron. I make sure the ends are layed as flat as possible on the roller and roll with tention. I make sure that the hair is lying flat on the curler and make sure to maintain tension as I role. I roll the hair once around the curler, then pull up on the curler to make sure the hair is flat against the curler and their is no slack. I do this after every roll and at once done with that section of hair I give another gentle tug and then put the cover on. I have only been successful with magnetic rollers with this method. My hair is medium desity, with fine strands. This may have more to do with the ease of straightening my hair than its texture. I did this by accident while I was trying to strech my hair out and I was shocked when my hair was in straight curls and all I needed to do was finger comb and go. I does revert faster than a press, but I can easily rollerset 2x a week and still save ends. Like I said, I'll borrow a camera this weekend, because it is something you have to see to believe.

ETA-It usually takes about 9-10 hours to dry, so I usually end up sleeping in magnetic curlers.

 

[NuMe2004]

When I had a relaxer I still flatironed anyway...

I realized heat & chemicals are the two worst things

you can do to your hair... heat being the lesser of the

two evils and because it's not permanent... i decided

to eliminate the chemicals. I still rollerset & flat iron

(not often) it's really not that much harder.

Girl, I agree! Heat is definitely the lesser of the two evils!

I'm so glad I went natural . It is much easier to manage my hair now 'cause I can rock my natural curls when I want, and flat iron my hair when I want it straight. Lots more versatility and less damage in my opinion. Plus, you can play with color more when your hair is natural.

I str8n my hair as often as once a week with a flat iron. I think heat is okay as long as you take care of your hair and use a good heat protectant.

That's my 2 cents!

 

[PinkSkates]

Originally Posted by SouthernTease
When I had a relaxer I still flatironed anyway...

I realized heat & chemicals are the two worst things

you can do to your hair... heat being the lesser of the

two evils and because it's not permanent... i decided

to eliminate the chemicals. I still rollerset & flat iron

(not often) it's really not that much harder.

I third this motion! I've been preaching this since I've been a member here. There is more versatility and I get to keep all of my MBL hair. I don't have to sit and think,... man when I get to waist length, and want to go natural...I'm gonna' have to lose all of this long relaxed hair to transition to natural. I can never go thru transitioning ever again!

 

[JustKiya]

i was reading up on some threads about natural hair and many of you guys state perming you hair was actually too much work.. like u found it easier to do you hair without a perm... can you please elaborate on that..

There is nothing - nothing - about my hair natural that is harder to deal with than having a perm was.
Detangling? Yeah, it's a mess now, but I don't have scabs sticking my pin-straight hair to my scalp, either.
Styling? Back then, I was stuck with a straight style - if I wanted even the hint of curl, I had to use heat, and my fine hair a) wasn't feeling heat and b) without max stiffness holding spray, wouldn't hold a curl ANYHOW - so I limited myself to just straight hair - and we aren't even doing to TALK about going to sleep. Now - I can have any style I want to - ANY style.
Cost? It's almost free to take care of my hair now. The amount I spent in a month with a perm (salon, styling products, hats, etc), lasts me for at LEAST 2-3 months now - shoot, that's the salon cost at home.

Most importantly - my hair looks better, it's thicker, it's healthier, it's longer, it doesn't smell funny, and it suits me.

Can't get much easier than that.

 

[blazingthru]

I think it was easier having a relaxer somewhat. All I had to do was put the rollers in. I could maintain a style for a long time. But the nights I didnt' roll up my hair I had to curl it with the iron and that was a problem. Plus I had breakage all the time. I could never get ready in a flash and I had to remember to go get a relaxer every so often and put it in and wash and conditon and then maybe make an appointment to get a trim and a cute cut. Now I can style my hair anyway I want to and for less time. I get up get in the shower and when I get out I decide how I am going to wear it --most time its wash and go, sometimes I want more. I make fat tight twist with shea butter (cantu) of which I added the SAA and that makes it smoothier and I would leave out the door by the time I am near or at work I take them out and finger comb through them and I am ready. Thats all. Sometimes I make a side bang add some IC Gel and a cute clip and pull my hair into a ponytail with the clip on and twist the front and untwist it when I get to work. I am always ready in a flash. the thing is I like my hair the way it is. Not straight - I think people run into issues when their hair is natural and they want it straight. I don't so I don't have a problem with it. I have no interest in straight hair I had it for over 26 years, time for something new

 

[secretrose]

What I hear in this this thread from former relaxed heads is mostly caused by bad relaxer methods. I am hearing about burned scalps and see-through ends and breakage. This is all from overprocessing. Thanks to LCHF, I think we all now understand the proper way to care for relaxed hair so most relaxed heads in this forum do not have this problem anymore. My hair is super thick in it's relaxed state, even when wet. I have not had a scalp burn since I started self relaxing and my ends are healthy. Relaxed or natural, I dont think either one is easier. I just think your techniques for caring for your hair need to be very carefully tailored for whichever way you choose.

 

[dicapr]

How long is your hair? I'm asking 'cause I think length would be a major factor in you being able to acheive this with your natural hair.

I am shoulder length. Your right, I may not be able to achieve this pass APL. I'm not anti-heat, so when my rollersets stop working I'll be reaching for a pressing comb. My hair tangles and knots too much if I let it shrink up.

 

[1QTPie]

Natural is easier for me. I never went weeks without washing my hair with a relaxer, I wash my hair the same as I have since I was a child every couple of days. While I could wash n go when I was relaxed, it didn't always look that great if all of the hair didn't curl up.

I was also going to the stylist every two weeks, waiting 2-4 hours just to be seen. I HATED the process of relaxing and everything that came with it from rollersets on.

Now if I choose, I wash it and roll out. And it looks good everytime. I haven't had a bad hair day in 5 years and I haven't been to the salon in that long.

 

[nappity]

Natural allows me to rock my hair in many different styles and since i like to dye my hair- Its less damaging to my hair then with a relaxer

 

[ChocoKitty]

i was reading up on some threads about natural hair and many of you guys state perming you hair was actually too much work.. like u found it easier to do you hair without a perm... can you please elaborate on that..

-I was too lazy to keep up with the touchups.

another question i have is i am relaxed and if i ever decided to go natural i would still keep my hair straight cause thats the style i like .... do you think its more damage to wash and blowdry and flatiron once a week than to perm once every three months ( thats wat i do anyway )

-If you are responsible with your heat usage and use the right products/appliances and techniques--it is possible maintain damage free hair IMO.

 

[glamazon386]

To be honest, I don't think one is easier than the other. It's apples and oranges. It really depends on how you are choosing to style your hair. If you plan on wearing your hair straight most of the time you might as well stay relaxed. Why cut all your hair off for nothing?