2+ Years of Natural Hair Growth. Now what do I do with it??

[caltron]

I hope you natural or texturized ladies can help me out with this. I have been wearing my hair in sew in weaves for the past two years. It's been nice not having to spend so much time on my hair, worrying about bad hair days and stuff, but I am now officially sick of weaves, lol, and looking to do something with my own hair. I have thick 4a hair but it is really fine and flyaway. It doesn't hold a style well and has a mind of it's own.

Before I started weaving, I used to press and curl. This did not break my hair off as much as the relaxers did, but it still was hard to maintain, and my hair would never get longer than about 8-10 inches. I know I don't want to go back to pressing and curling it, especially since I exercise regularly now.

In a couple of weeks, I'll be going in for a consultation with a Jazma Wash and Wear specialist in Atlanta. Supposedly, she's really good with natural hair. At the consultation, she's going to take out my weave and tell me if I'm a good candidate for a texturizer. She has recommended that either way, that I give my hair a break before I put any chems in.

I have only seen my hair during the past couple of years when I have gotten my weave redone, but there is quite a bit of growth. I don't know if it is healthy or what, but I need to figure out what to do with it. I'd rather not press and curl it, but that's all I know to do with my natural hair. I'm pretty clumsy when it comes to styling hair. I tried wearing my hair natural when it was shorter, and I had trouble, so I'm worried I'll be overwhelmed with longer natural hair.

I was thinking I could get one of those cornrow or flattwist buns for something low maintenance. I also really like the puffs that natural ladies wear, but I'm not sure if I'd be able to keep it looking good. I like twists too, but I think that would take too long. The lady I'm going to came highly recommended when it comes to dealing with natural hair, so sky's the limit I guess.

What do you all think I should do? I've pretty much committed to texturizing if it's feasible, but I'm still open to staying natural if I can figure out what to do with my hair. Just really confused right now. I guess if worse came to worse, I could just go back to wearing the weave I'm so sick of, lol.

Thanks for any help, ladies.

 

[Carefree]

I think you should give your natural hair a try. Try the styles you mentioned: flat-twists into the bun, twists, puffs - it's worth a shot! If/when you texturize hair - if texturized "properly" (where most of your natural texture is retained) you may end up wearing these same styles anyway. Good luck

 

[Healthb4Length]

I hope you natural or texturized ladies can help me out with this. I have been wearing my hair in sew in weaves for the past two years. It's been nice not having to spend so much time on my hair, worrying about bad hair days and stuff, but I am now officially sick of weaves, lol, and looking to do something with my own hair. I have thick 4a hair but it is really fine and flyaway. It doesn't hold a style well and has a mind of it's own.

Before I started weaving, I used to press and curl. This did not break my hair off as much as the relaxers did, but it still was hard to maintain, and my hair would never get longer than about 8-10 inches. I know I don't want to go back to pressing and curling it, especially since I exercise regularly now.

In a couple of weeks, I'll be going in for a consultation with a Jazma Wash and Wear specialist in Atlanta. Supposedly, she's really good with natural hair. At the consultation, she's going to take out my weave and tell me if I'm a good candidate for a texturizer. She has recommended that either way, that I give my hair a break before I put any chems in.

I have only seen my hair during the past couple of years when I have gotten my weave redone, but there is quite a bit of growth. I don't know if it is healthy or what, but I need to figure out what to do with it. I'd rather not press and curl it, but that's all I know to do with my natural hair. I'm pretty clumsy when it comes to styling hair. I tried wearing my hair natural when it was shorter, and I had trouble, so I'm worried I'll be overwhelmed with longer natural hair.

I was thinking I could get one of those cornrow or flattwist buns for something low maintenance. I also really like the puffs that natural ladies wear, but I'm not sure if I'd be able to keep it looking good. I like twists too, but I think that would take too long. The lady I'm going to came highly recommended when it comes to dealing with natural hair, so sky's the limit I guess.

What do you all think I should do? I've pretty much committed to texturizing if it's feasible, but I'm still open to staying natural if I can figure out what to do with my hair. Just really confused right now. I guess if worse came to worse, I could just go back to wearing the weave I'm so sick of, lol.

Thanks for any help, ladies.

The jazma stylist sounds knowledgeable. I think that you should let your hair "breathe" before you get the texturizer. I also have a wash and wear and there are definite pros and cons. If you decide to go the natural route you can always do flat twists as you suggested or do styles that are low maintenance like braidouts, knotouts and my favorite twistouts!

Here's a sample of my favorite style I use to help stretch my texturizers.

Here is an example of my jazma wash and go hair. It's versatile, I like that but I do have to put in so effort to get it straight. Also I CHOOSE to keep my straight ends ( I regret) when I wear my wash and gos my ends just stick straight up and my curls limp...one of these days I will cut off those suckers so that I can see nice curly ringlets!

 

[Carefree]

Cute pics Ally

 

[morehairplease]

Cute pics Ally

Carefree your hair is BEAUTIFUL!

 

[morehairplease]

Alli77 your hair is BEAUTIFUL as well! Is that you in the avatar pic? If so, it is a stunning pic!

 

[thickness]

What's your stylist's name and what salon is she at? Have you seen any work that she's done? I want to pass the info to my sister. You can PM me if you want to.

But to answer your question, please be very careful if you decide to texturize. Try your natural hair first since you've had weaves for so long. Give it a chance to just be! My texturized hair was a disaster. The stylist left it on for too long and I had straight ends every where. I transisitioned for two years and have not looked back. Just give it some careful thought before you make a decision that you might regret.

 

[caltron]

Beautiful hair ladies!!

Yeah, I think it's best that I stay completely natural for at least a few weeks. I think I'm leaning toward cornrows.

Alli, would you texturize again if you could do it all over again?? What are the cons? What was your hair type before texturizing? Do you think it's going to work well once you cut off the straight end?

Thickness, the lady I'm going to is KayC at Divine Perfections Salon at College Park. I haven't seen her work, but I got a recommendation from a natural sister who said that she seemed very knowledgeable and trustworthy. This stylist wore her hair natural for many years.

Thanks again ladies!

 

[Healthb4Length]

Alli77 your hair is BEAUTIFUL as well! Is that you in the avatar pic? If so, it is a stunning pic!

Thanks Carefree! I like your twists too!

Tishee, thanks for the compliment! No that's not me in the Avatar but it's funny you mentioned that because my BF taught it was me in the Avatar too!

 

[Healthb4Length]

Beautiful hair ladies!!

Yeah, I think it's best that I stay completely natural for at least a few weeks. I think I'm leaning toward cornrows.

Alli, would you texturize again if you could do it all over again?? What are the cons? What was your hair type before texturizing? Do you think it's going to work well once you cut off the straight end?


I still continue to texturize, it's just that I stretch for long periods of times (6 months or more). The Cons of texturizing for me is that if I want to wear my hair straight I have to put a lot of effort into it. I have to blow it out straight and then run a flat iron over it. I still have to deal with tangles especially when the NG kicks in and at first I had a hard time finding products other than Jazma products that worked well for me. MY hair type prior to texturizing was and still is 4a with 3c in the very back. I KNOW my texturized hair would look great once I cut off the straight ends...my stylist cut off some ends before and you should have seen how it boosted my curls. I need to let go of the couple of inches but it's emotional...

 

[kiyaj]

Does anyone know of anymore stylists in Atlanta that specialize in texturizing or that texturize that use other relaxers besides Jazma? I'm interested in texturizing but have heard mixed reviews about Jazma, and wanted more alternatives. I do not want to texturize myself and many stylist that do not regularly do texturizers are bound to mess it up as well.

 

[caltron]

Thanks Alli!!

kiyaj, I'm sure there must be others in ATL that do it. I think you can call the Jazma salon in Toronto to get referrals.

 

[blessed]

Carefree,
I must say your hair is very beautiful!

 

[Country gal]

It sounds like you have never given your hair a chance to shine on it's own. I would wait before putting in a texturizer. At least learn what your natural hair can do first. It sounds like you may be challenged because you are more experienced with styling weaves.