Can You Tell the Difference Between Relaxed and Natural Straightened?

Can You Tell the Difference Between Relaxed and Natural Straightened Hair

  • Yes I can almost always tell the difference

    Votes: 79 27.2%

  • No I can't really tell most of the time

    Votes: 83 28.6%

  • I can sometimes tell.

    Votes: 128 44.1%
  • Total voters
    290
  • Poll closed .
BlackMasterPiece said:
You know who's a good example of that sylver? GabannaGirl, she's a straight natural 4a from what I recall. It said she was natural in her siggy and I STILL had to ask to double check if she still was natural because she presses PIN straight and its sooooo silky. She started that popular thread on caruso rollers.
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i don't think she is a type 4. i browsed her fotki and i definitely think she is a type 3.

http://public.fotki.com/gabbanagirl/texture-209/
 
Irresistible said:
BM.....girl

little mice wash your dishes?? (just laughing at the randomness of that one)


But , dang, I need to get me some of that!!!:lachen:

@Crackers Phinn, gurl you kilt it ! :lachen:
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Sorry! I had visions of Cinderella at the window sill, except with 3c hair

cinderella-dancing-with-prince-charming.jpg
 
BlackMasterPiece said:
Hey Vain!:wave: When I saw her thread and saw her blowout pics when you look at her roots she really resembled a heat trained type 4 to me, I thought the fotki pix could just be heat trained ends and not her true texture but I could be wrong *shrugs*
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That's what I was thinking, he hair seems like it's been loosened by heat. But who knows I'm horrible at hairtyping.
 
sylver2 said:
well to answer original question,,im not sure. with me it depends on type. I can't tell the difference between type 3 hair relaxed or natural w/press or flat iron. when its straight it always seems silky, shiny, bouncy.
is there a natural type 4 with straight hair on here?(not talking about pinkskates..imo shes a 3)anyone else. I don't see many natural type 4's straaaight!

and SB i can tell the difference between your natural and your relaxed hair.but mayvbe because i know already:lachen: either way its goregeous!!
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I'm a Type 4 and I can get my hair straight with a flat iron. I don't let pressing combs come near my hair.

I cannot tell the difference either. If your hair is thick, thin, dense, fine in it's natural straight it will more than likely be the same way relaxed.
 
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sylver2 said:
well to answer original question,,im not sure. with me it depends on type. I can't tell the difference between type 3 hair relaxed or natural w/press or flat iron. when its straight it always seems silky, shiny, bouncy.
is there a natural type 4 with straight hair on here?(not talking about pinkskates..imo shes a 3)anyone else. I don't see many natural type 4's straaaight!

and SB i can tell the difference between your natural and your relaxed hair.but mayvbe because i know already:lachen: either way its goregeous!!
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I used to be a press and curl girl, meaning I never wore my hair kinky. My hair was trained and it did not revert. I lived in southern california. It could be made very straight. It was always straightened with a pressing comb. A real one, too, not one of those plug in ones. Unfortunately I don't have any pics on me of that time in my life. The best I have is this picture from a press after I had started wearing my hair's real texture more often. I still was regularly using heat because I blow dried my hair after most washes still for a blown out puff. Sorry it's not a particularly good picture. I just had it done because my mother wanted "nice" pictures of me. :rolleyes:

pressedhair-vi.jpg


Anyway, my natural hair back then was a totally different beast than it is now. So yeah, I can see what people are saying about how you care for it makes a difference.
 
loulou82 said:
I'm a Type 4 and I can get my hair straight with a flat iron. I don't let pressing combs come near my hair.

I cannot tell the difference either. If your hair is thick, thin, dense, fine in it's natural straight it will more than likely be the same way relaxed.
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I think we could possibly be hair twins.
 
Thanks Nayna, I thought so too considering I have first hand experience as a heat trained natural and her hair looked really similar to mine in that state.
 
I actually think that natural hair straightened well looks a bit silkier and has blow-in-the-wind bounce more so than relaxed hair. At least the hair that I've seen has that. In the end it really boils down to the technique. I've seen a few stylist from Atlanta make dvds on the technique to get natural hair straight as or straighter than relaxed hair. Majority of it involves a 9 row demnan brush and afterwards going over with a comb. Its so amazing how the hair just smooths out.
 
gymfreak336 said:
Onejami....what products are you using?
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BlackMasterPiece said:
^^^Onejamifan Have you tried the maxiglide/miniglide?

ETA: Your hair looks spectacular!!!:blush:


Word!

Sidenote: Hey miss gymfreak I know your the resident chemist/ingredient guru do you have a hair pix somewhere? I wanna see!:grin:
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I have a babyliss pro something or other flat iron. I use some lacio lacio to roller set and NTM serum or IC heat protectant. I think I am just afraid of applying too much heat to the NG and causing damage. The picture on my avatar is after a fresh relaxer 6 months ago. I guess I should update it with a more recent pic :)
 
Thanks MJ! Its nice to know my hair looks natural no matter how I wear it:love2:

Hey onejamifan either way, you're clearly doing something right because your hair looks flawless:yep:
 
onejamifan said:
I have a babyliss pro something or other flat iron. I use some lacio lacio to roller set and NTM serum or IC heat protectant. I think I am just afraid of applying too much heat to the NG and causing damage. The picture on my avatar is after a fresh relaxer 6 months ago. I guess I should update it with a more recent pic :)
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Jami, you can also try using a shampoo and conditioner more designed for straightening. Lanza has one called Healing smooth, Redken has something and I personally really like the mizani thermasmooth line. In terms of damage, as long as you doing it one good time on freshly washed and conditioned hair with protectant, you will probably be fine. Experiment with different temps and techniques to find what works best for you without compromising the quality of your hair.
 
Southernbella. said:
Thank you, and you just reminded me of my point! :lol:

I think there are too many factors to generalize. I think flat ironed type 4 hair always has some texture, but pressed type 4s do look similar to relaxed hair (I think it's the marcels. Ceramic irons don't get type 4 hair bone straight. I've never seen it.)

Just like the girl I posted...her hair looked like it could be either relaxed or a marcel press. The only thing that stands out to me is her reversion, because it looks a lot like mine.:yep:

ETA: Region is also a factor. In LA, you can't tell them apart because there's no humidity. Here in GA, where it's humid even in the dead of winter :lol:, you can tell.
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you speak the truth! when i lived in alabama during undergrad, the humidity was killer!!! but now, in southern cali, there's absolutely no humidity!
 
i used to think you could. but i just saw bronzeq's hair in her caruso rollers and her hair looks dense! and she is relaxed. so idk...depends
 
I can sometimes tell. In my experience, though, relaxed hair tends to be shinier, and natural hair tends to be thicker/fuller.
 
Now that i read this thread with calm, last year when i was visiting the States, some ppl asked me if was relaxed, by that time i didnt realize the potential of natural hair, but i guess they confused my relaxed hair with natural flat ironed hair
 
I have very thick relaxed hair that usually looks thicker in the summer months with all the humidity. I was out in a restaurant once and was asked immediately by a girl about my hair and how I keep it healthy. She had very straight hair (much straighter than mine) but the ends appeared damaged which made it hard for her to retain length. We talked about our regimen's for a few minutes and both of us were surprised. She was surprised that I was relaxed. I was surprised that she was natural.

I guess the moral of the story is that all we desire is beautiful hair. That's all.....
 
i think that natural hair straitend looks bouncy and full. usually i see relaxed hair look very see through. most of the ladies on this board have bouncy hair. but ova here in the street, on most girls its see through. when i straighten my hair, i dont like it becuase i feel bad that i put heat on it,(flat iron) and to me it doesnt look thick anymore.
 
AdoraAdora24 said:
i think that natural hair straitend looks bouncy and full. usually i see relaxed hair look very see through. most of the ladies on this board have bouncy hair. but ova here in the street, on most girls its see through. when i straighten my hair, i dont like it becuase i feel bad that i put heat on it,(flat iron) and to me it doesnt look thick anymore.
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Your post suggests that all natural hair, straightened is healthy, bouncy and full; whereas relaxed hair is thin and see through; which is why you can tell the difference. But that's just not true.

I think the question is more geared to, all else being equal, (healthy natural to healthy relaxed) can you tell which is relaxed and which is a press.
 
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I normally can't tell the difference if the hair is healthy but I've had people be able to tell that my hair was natural when I had it straightened. IDK how they knew.
 
It depends really.

It's harder for me to tell with type 3 hair, because their hair looks silky and shiny both relaxed and straightened.

I guess "natural" hair may look more textured depending on how straight it's straightened. lol
 
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