Why Natural?

[ThickHair]

I woke up one Friday morning and said I no longer want relaxed hair and went to the barber shop after work and had my head shaved.

Nothing spiritually, no relaxer horror stories. I had long relaxed hair and I have long natural hair.

That was over 11 years ago and I have never looked back nor will I ever have a relaxer again.

BTW I have my own virgin hair, never any color and I have never applied heat in over 11 years.

 

[tocktick]

1) I thought my realxed hair was just doomed to breakage.

2) I thought natural hair was the solution to my issues with breakage (long hair wasn't even really a goal)

3) I had a forced BC at 15 but put in braids the same day and wore them for months. When it came time to take the braids out, I put a relaxer in the same day because I didn't know what to do with it my twa and didn't like how it looked. When I decided to transition the second time around, my relaxed hair looked chewed up and I knew I couldn't go back to relaxing.

4) When I did my research (Motown Girl was the first site I found) I came to love natural looks and wanted the same styling options

5) I haven't relaxed since going natural because despite the frustrations I've had with my hair, I like my natural hair and want to grow long hair without chemicals.

 

[tbaby_8]

I decided to transition because I had a HUGE set back with a bad relaxer job done on my by a co-worker who is a lic. stylist. I knew better, but the damage was done. My hair was shedding and coming out. I decided that to help my hair and scalp heal from the damage, no more chemicals. After awhile, I started to enjoy my natural hair texture once I learned on here and from books and searching the web how to properly care for natural hair. My last texturizer was January 2009 and I am happy to say I really don't miss the chemical that much until really super humid days, but I just had a little gel to my moisturizer and I'm good to go.

 

[tailormade84]

1)I got bored of straight hair
2) I damaged it, it was thin and when it got below APL it would ALWAYS need to be hacked off due to dry ends.

big ol' DITTO (besides the change in bold) - plus i wanted my hair to be thicker (or at least appear that way ) and i always got compliments on braidouts, so i was like...why not?

p.s. AVIAH that siggy is lovely!

 

[Southernbella.]

Natural hair is beautiful! I have been natural since birth and have never wanted to chemically alter my hair. My hair was never even blowdried until I was about 13 (against my mother's wishes).

This is the way God intended my hair to be, and I have so many options! Our hair is so versatile, why should I want to treat it with harsh chemicals it to the point of serious damage/breakage or (worst case scenario) baldness? I still struggle with my hair sometimes, but relaxed or natural who doesn't??? God willing I will raise my children in this same way.

ETA: Also the knowledge I've gleaned from this site and other naturals since I started my HHJ is amazing, my hair is reborn from the 'furry beast' into a joy that I take pleasure in nurturing! I can see why so many people have caught the BC bug lately, the question is why NOT natural?!!

I loved your whole post, but the bolded was going to be my response. Why not natural? I can do whatever I want with my hair without having to put chemicals in it. It's a no-brainer.

 

[JustKiya]

Why not natural? There's nothing that needs to be changed about my hair, as it's amazingly flexible, gorgeous, and easy to maintain just as it is. I never saw the 'simplicity' in relaxers - they stank, they burned, they had to be maintained, and even once it was done, it still wasn't a 'ready to go' hairstyle - you had to style it every morning, or sleep weird. Nope, nope, nope. Natural hair is just plain easier (and cheaper!) for me.

 

[InNeedofHairapy]

I didn't see the point in relaxing anymore, I was tired of stylists who knew about as much of hair care & health as I did (nothing!) and I liked the option of being curly & straight....plus, my hair would get about as straight with a flat iron as it did with a relaxer, so I figure the headache, expense, damage, etc; from a relaxer could be eliminated. I'm not very fussy about my hair. I don't carry an umbrella so if it rains on my wash n go, I figure "Hey...moisture" whatever lol

 

[Sharpened]

I got sick of getting my hair done, sick of the positive and negative stigmata associated with long, processed hair, sick of throwing money away--just sick of it.

I wish I would get sick of the scissors, though...

 

[SweetSpirit86]

-The chemicals. I was tired of doing that to myself.
-Tired of my straight hair.
-Tired of not knowing what my natural hair looked like.
-Tired in general. xD
-I felt like a slave to the relaxer. Always worrying about my hair being straight and the ends matching the hair close to the scalp. The constant flat ironing and wrapping to keep something that obviously isn't characteristic of my hair from going "bad." If it was supposed to be that way, it wouldn't have fought me so much!
-I also refuse to give my daughter a relaxer. I'm not big on being a hypocrite...how am I going to tell her no, and turn around and do it myself? Adult > Child or not, that's not cool in this case. I felt the best way to show her that being herself in her natural state is beautiful is to lead by example.

 

[PerplexingComplex]

I think straight hair is boring and I never wanted a relaxer in the first place.

 

[chiprecious]

I'm 6.5 months into my transition.
My reasons:
1. Thinking of having kids and wouldn't want them getting extra chemicals from me.
2. Would want my kids to see that their natural texture can be beautiful and lead by example.
3. Trying to overall lower the number of chemicals in my household and personal products.
4. I never could get beyond grazing shoulder length with a relaxer.
5. I realized all other races have it easier as far as length and moisture because the majority have "natural" hair. Not including color, but that relaxer/perm is a strong chemical. They don't spend hours "doing" their hair on the weekends. They wash, detangle, and go! I'd like to be that free. It's prevented me from learning to swim AND exercising daily.

 

[vainღ♥♡jane]

I'm 6.5 months into my transition.
My reasons:
1. Thinking of having kids and wouldn't want them getting extra chemicals from me.
2. Would want my kids to see that their natural texture can be beautiful and lead by example.
3. Trying to overall lower the number of chemicals in my household and personal products.
4. I never could get beyond grazing shoulder length with a relaxer.
5. I realized all other races have it easier as far as length and moisture because the majority have "natural" hair. Not including color, but that relaxer/perm is a strong chemical. They don't spend hours "doing" their hair on the weekends. They wash, detangle, and go! I'd like to be that free. It's prevented me from learning to swim AND exercising daily.

i think so many black women overlook that when they see other races of women with long hair and wonder why there's doesn't get that long.​

 

[silvergirl]

i think so many black women overlook that when they see other races of women with long hair and wonder why there's doesn't get that long.​

^thats it right there.

 

[Sha76]

I went natural mainly because of my kids needed a good example and I was tired of getting a relxer put in.

 

[sky_blu]

Plain and simple, I was killing my scalp. I have really dry skin and everytime I would get a relaxer it would further irritate the situation leaving me with sores in my head. My mom went natural (she has the same type of sensitive, dry skin so she had no choice after an allergic reaction to hair products). Plus I was tired of sitting in salons for hours on end, paying ALOT of money to have someone do mediocre styles.

 

[Soliel185]

When I tally it all up - I've been natural for far many more years of my life than relaxed. I never liked salons or having stylists try to break me down so I'd let them do whatever they wanted to my hair. It was expensive and time consuming and smelly. And it made me feel "high maintenance"

About 3.5 years ago I relaxed after 2.5 years natural because "I wanted a change". I BC'd the summer before I left for college, and the whole time I was natural I wore it in box braids with no extensions. I took each braid down one by one when it got fuzzy and redid it. Never saw my fro, never DC'd, never experienced it. When I got to the board and started learning about natural hair I realized that I could have it, and not have to wear it strapped down for the rest of my life. I could learn to really understand it, and style it and rock it.

I was and still am a little self-conscious. I don't see many naturals, and I've never seen one in AZ with a fro the size of mine...certainly not "out" and floppy in the wind. I was shopping, and I saw some naturals, but they were short, one woman had dreads. I sort of expected the "nod" you know, but instead they kinda looked at me crazy. I think maybe b/c they were all short, or wearing a protective style so when they looked at me they were like "WTF are YOU doing?" Maybe they were just surprised to see me.

In any case, with LHCF I know now I can wear it straight, curly, crimped, kinky, stretched, shrunken, coiled, up, down, sideways... and I can do all of it myself. My hair is unique - why am I going to spend so much time, money, and heartache to try to make it look like everybody elses?

 

[nikz24]

Hi all, newbie here. Finally decided to stop lurking and join I decided to go natural because my hair was badly damaged. It looked like a bird's nest and I had not choice but to cut all off. Let me tell you I am loving my twa and this time around I know my hair will be long and strong. Thanks to all the advice and tips here I will be enjoying my natural hair.

 

[Pooks]

^^Amen Sista Solie, amen! I still have a ways to go with rocking more wowzer styles when my hair is loose, but I expect I will only do this on occasion (too many days loose would end in setbacks for me). Again, there are so many options as a natural head.

I love all the mothers that are going/went natural to be great examples of natural being beautiful for their children...

 

[Soliel185]

Amen Sista Solie, amen! I still have a ways to go with

I also hated feeling like a punk. Like I was so afraid of what strangers would say or think about me that I was too scared to wear my "real" hair or I'd cling to damaged length just to say I had some. erplexed

I got to the point where I was like "Bump this, I'm gonna do what I wanna do and you all can kiss my natural black booty -- mmkay?"

Not gonna lie - it's hard sometimes when you're out and people look at you. Or talk about you in spanish (I don't speak spanish but I know enough to know you're talking about me!) not to feel self-conscious. But when I find a mirror and do the self-check it's like "they're crazy. I look ridiculously hot right now!"

 

[Pooks]

I also hated feeling like a punk. Like I was so afraid of what strangers would say or think about me that I was too scared to wear my "real" hair or I'd cling to damaged length just to say I had some. erplexed

I got to the point where I was like "Bump this, I'm gonna do what I wanna do and you all can kiss my natural black booty -- mmkay?"

Not gonna lie - it's hard sometimes when you're out and people look at you. Or talk about you in spanish (I don't speak spanish but I know enough to know you're talking about me!) not to feel self-conscious. But when I find a mirror and do the self-check it's like "they're crazy. I look ridiculously hot right now!"

Girl you always look lovely, and that's the truth, you got them good genes, lol

 

[finickyone]

I have always loved the styles that naturals are able to achieve. I love BIG hair & have never been able to get that look with a relaxer. I found myself in awe & literally drooling over some of the beautiful & kinky hair that I have come across on this site & other hair boards. The biggest motivator was my 8 yr old daughter. She has a head full of very thick 4a/b hair. As I have learned to take care of her hair, my desire to be natural is even stronger. As I did my research & got great tips, I watched my daughter's hair thrive & figured that I could do the same for myself. Here I am, 10 months into my transition & it has gotten easier. I'm loving my hair & will love it even more when I gain a little more length & cut the rest of these relaxed ends!

 

[MonPetite]

I was tired of making my hair do something it clearly didn't want to.

 

[FindingMe]

I went natural mainly because of my kids needed a good example and I was tired of getting a relxer put in.

I agree. I also have a myriad of other reasons...

I have a 3 year old daughter and she's at the point now where she says "mom, I like your pretty hair." Melts my heart. I don't want her to grow up with primarily a European ideal/standard of beauty. She has finer hair than mine, but her coils are tinier. So her hair will lay flatter and smoother than mine when stretched but has more shrinkage when loose. I don't want her to think she has to wear her hair straight to look pretty. We live in a primarily white suburban neighborhood and she will have different hair than everyone else. I want her to know that's ABSOLUTELY OK. Sometimes I will wear my natural hair straight, no question, but I want her to know that it's simply another style and not what should be considered the beauty ideal.

My son is 10 and I encourage the same thing in him. Last year he decided he wanted to grow his hair long, so we experimented with Fro's, braids and cornrows. Sometimes we got some flack from some people (like "what are you doing with his hair?!") but we didn't care bc it was important to him to establish his own little identity and I supported that 110%. I would then in turn make those folks feel like they had the issues bc my little African American son wanted to wear traditional African American hairstyles. When he decided to cut his SL hair off into a low fade this summer, it was no biggie for either of us. He now likes to go to the barbershop with other black men and I think this is also something that's important for him to experience culturally.

I also got tired of "fighting" with my hair. I decided to make peace and for the most part try to conform to what my hair wants to do naturally.

It bugs me if/when people think I am not as pretty or socially acceptabe bc I am now choosing to wear my hair natural. Whatever. My husband and I see eye to eye on this and he thinks I am flyy. I wore some chunky two-strand twists yesterday and today and was turning heads...woot woot!


Can't wait til I have a head full of this fluffy stuff hanging down my back!

 

[Skiggle]

Why natural?

Tired of breakage,
tired of burns, tired of split ends,
tired of spending 50 bucks,
tired of having to hide my hair when it rains,
tired of the straight hair, tired of society's beauty standards,
tired of being the same...

After 13years of relaxed hair I was
ready to embrace me, the real me
and that started my transition.

 

[Jewell]

I originally wanted to go natural because:

1) I adore the texture and "life" of natural hair

2) Got tired of the chore of TU's every 8-10 wks/going to the
salon and sitting up in there all day for an over-priced half-done
TU.

3) I didn't know my natural texture except through pics at age 7 and
younger.

4) I wanted to embrace the hair God gave me and "learn" it.

5) I figured my hair would grow EVEN LONGER w/o a relaxer than it did with
one.
-------------------
sidebar:

1) I texlaxed because I didn't have the time to devote to the upkeep of my
natural hair, but still wanted to maintain some thickness and texture.

***I reserve the right to transition again in the future and stay natural! That is, once my baby grows up and I have a little more "me" time to deal with my hair.

 

[Truth]

I went natural cause... I got tired of long relaxed hair.... my hair didn't hold a bump...a curl.. a wrap nothing... plus I told myself once I reached a goal of bsl hair ..i'd wanna do something different...And that's what I did....and clearly i would't change it ...I'm so inlove with my natural hair

 

[Misshairdiva]

At first I went natural to see if I could retain length. In the last two years I have grew and retained more length then when my mom first put a relaxer in my hair at 9 years old. Now I will stay natural because my hair is healthier and I like the fact that I can rock it straight one day and curly the next!

 

[chebaby]

i went natural for many reasons.
1) i've always wanted to be natural but didnt know how to go about it
2) i know its healthier without all the heat, bad products ect.
3) tired of looking like everyone else
4) i love all natural products so why not have natural hair.
5)once i understood why we as black women started relaxing our hair in the first place, and then understanding that many(if not all) of us were only continuing to do it out of habit, i knoew it wasnt for me.
6) i've always loved the huge big twists and curls of the women who seemed to stand out and be so different when all they really did was just embrace who they are.

 

[ebaby]

To free the beautiful new growth that would come in at least 2-3 weeks after a fresh relaxer. By the time it came around for a touch-up, It looked natural.

I love it. The girl that had to have the super straight, no kink, no curl, no wave loooooooooooovvvvvvvvvvvvvveeeeeeeeeeees her natural hair. It is simply beautiful. I have in extra hair right now and I can't wait to get back to my natural hair.

 

[Black Hoya Chick]

- i had been relaxed so long that i had no clue what my natural texture was
- the straight look was getting REALLY old
- the thinness and damage couldn't be masked anymore
- i wanted to see if i could do it
- curly hair is FIERCE lol