Any lifetime naturals relaxing or considering?

[Serenity K]

I have been natural my entire life, and for the past 2 years, I have been debating texlaxing. I feel like it will be easier to have styles. I cover my hair and have to wash it frequently, so keeping natural styles is hard. And I have frizzy hair.(4a, or 3c, but probably 4a). I feel guilty about relaxing, which is why I haven't done it yet. If you have relaxed, and not regretted it, please share your story, and post pics. Thanx.

 

[Serenity K]

bumping...

 

[hopeful]

I'm not a lifetime natural, just 2 years now, but I know how you feel. You think you want to do it, but you like being natural, but you get tired of how long it takes to style the way you want, you don't want to ruin your hair either. I completely understand. Good luck with whatever choice you make.

I've come to the conclusion that no matter what we will have some frustration no matter what we do. I think you have to go with the choice that makes you happiest and causes you the least amount of frustration. We also have to cut ourselves some slack, if we make a mistake or make the wrong choice, it can be fixed in most cases. You know how people always say being natural is a journey? I think the whole hair thing is a journey in general, whether you are natural, texturized or relaxed.

 

[trevprit]

I'm not a lifetime natural, just 2 years now, but I know how you feel. You think you want to do it, but you like being natural, but you get tired of how long it takes to style the way you want, you don't want to ruin your hair either. I completely understand. Good luck with whatever choice you make.

I've come to the conclusion that no matter what we will have some frustration no matter what we do. I think you have to go with the choice that makes you happiest and causes you the least amount of frustration. We also have to cut ourselves some slack, if we make a mistake or make the wrong choice, it can be fixed in most cases. You know how people always say being natural is a journey? I think the whole hair thing is a journey in general, whether you are natural, texturized or relaxed.

at the bolded: you ain't neva lied! ITA!!! i am not a lifetime natural either, but I have spent the past 5 years natural, and before that went back and forth between relaxed and natural quite frequently. The longest and healthiest my hair was was when I was texlaxed. I am tired of fighting with the tangles and it seems like certain parts of my hair are not growing because the manipulation is causing so much breakage. I usually wear cornrows alone or half-cornrows with a bun or half-cornrows with two-strand twists. said all that to say that I am doing the same as the OP: wanting to relax (like I am sooooo close to doing it), but my fear comes from the fact that if I relax (actually, I want to texlax) and I start getting breakage, I am going to want to slap myself silly. BTW I think I am a 4a also, OP. So I am subscribing, and let us know what you decide.

 

[trevprit]

 

[Nefertiti0906]

OP, don't feel bad.

Like the other ladies have posted, it's a journey which allows us to explore a variety of styling options; that, IMO, is the beautry of our hair.

Besides if you do not like it, you can always cut your hair or transition back to being natural

 

[azucar]

I'm a 4a/b lifetime natural also and having I'm having the same debate, so I completely understand. I've read several natural and texlaxed threads to help in my decision. I think I'm gonna try something new and texlax.

 

[luckiestdestiny]

lala talked me out of it. She's relaxed, but I thank her for telling me to give the sabino MB a try. Search for the Sabino thread with the youtube pics. You said you're having trouble with frizz? It will so help. Also I think on pg 9 I have pics of how mine came out. At least try it before you get a relaxer or texlax. If you don't like it, at least you tried everything before you gave into the creamy crack. And believe me it was knocking on my door, taunting me with it's siren song!!!!!

 

[anon123]

I'm not a life time natural, but I only had a relaxer for 4-5 years of my life, and not very regularly even then. I am a straight 4b. Being on this board sometimes makes me give textlaxing a thought because it has helped many people with their tangling issues, which make up my worst problem. They cause me to spend more time than I want on my hair. But I think I would be unsuccessful in both getting a texlax that looks how I want (since I personally dislike the look of about 90% of texlaxes I see) and maintaining it at that exact level with each reapplication of the chemicals and I don't want to relax because I'm just not interested in having straight hair. So I struggle on. Sorry I can't offer suggestions about the frizz as my hair is 100% frizz. But if it's curl definition you're going for, seems like there are methods for that. Maybe think about specific problems you have and how applying chemicals would address those specific problems. Would they? What exactly would you be doing every day? Is there anything you can do differently now?