Can you "train" natural hair??

HAIRapy

HAIRapy

SuperDuper Member
Hey ladies! So I was in the BSS today in the mall. I bought a half wig "Jessica" by Outre. Anyway, while doing so, the lady who was helping me asked me why I needed a wig because my hair was already long. I told her that I was relaxing on Fri and that I needed this to wear for the week. She asked me why I was perming and told me I can train my natural hair. She said that through using certain products and pressing my hair, I can train my hair to lay down. She even said that I can even workout and not get much shrinkage at the roots. I asked her if she meant using curling wax or something, she said no. This wasn't a Korean BSS either, the ladies that work in there are all Black and they're working on commission, so they love to make a sale. I'm wondering was she just trying to get me to buy more stuff. I spent $20 on my wig and rolled out:grin:

I say all that to ask, is this true? Can you train your natural hair to be straighter? I don't believe it. TIA:yep:
 
Yes, I have seen this happen but it is due to damage. With enough successive presses, the hair will stop reverting fully and will start to hang. However, on the naturals I have noticed this with, the hair is thin. I have yet to see a natural whose hair has suffered press damage and is still thick and full. Personally, I hate the long, thin, see-through-ends look.
 
sonce said:
Yes, I have seen this happen but it is due to damage. With enough successive presses, the hair will stop reverting fully and will start to hang. However, on the naturals I have noticed this with, the hair is thin. I have yet to see a natural whose hair has suffered press damage and is still thick and full. Personally, I hate the long, thin, see-through-ends look.
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Okay then, I thought that would be kinda damaging. I'm going to go ahead and get my relaxer then... I thought there was some hope.:grin: I tell you... it's a shame; I'll be jacked up if I press a lot if I was natural and I'll be jacked up if I perm:lachen:
 
I would say no- if naturally curly or kinky hair ends up straight over time it is from heat damage. :ohwell:

ETA: I will say that as my hair gets longer it does tend to hang a little straighter (i.e. less shrinkage) but I would say that is from the weight of the hair and it is by no means straight.
 
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sonce said:
Yes, I have seen this happen but it is due to damage. With enough successive presses, the hair will stop reverting fully and will start to hang. However, on the naturals I have noticed this with, the hair is thin. I have yet to see a natural whose hair has suffered press damage and is still thick and full. Personally, I hate the long, thin, see-through-ends look.
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this is EXACTLY what happened to me. As a result of "training my natural hair," I was forced to get a dark cesaer/bald fade cut two Friday's ago...there was just no saving my hair.:wallbash::wallbash::wallbash::wallbash:
 
MtAiryHoney said:
She said that through using certain products and pressing my hair, I can train my hair to lay down. She even said that I can even workout and not get much shrinkage at the roots. I
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Yeah if you burn it straight. Heat damage will make it stay straight!
 
Yes, you can, and yes it is from damage. If you have extemely thick hair, it might not be as bad as if you have thinner hair. I also know this from experience and from having thick hair myself. You damage it to the point that it won't revert fully. My hair is pretty thick, so it never looked terrible, but it definitely didn't look as thick as it does now. Whether you like that or not, and whether you want to take the risk of having your hair be in the majority that will not look 1/2way decent with that kind of damage, is a personal preference/choice.
 
op thanks for starting this thread. i've been trying to figure this out too. i have texlaxed hair and was considering going natural and "training" my hair to be st8. i guess i'll pass now... but is this "training" the same thing as getting your hair pressed?
 
MtAiryHoney said:
Hey ladies! So I was in the BSS today in the mall. I bought a half wig "Jessica" by Outre. Anyway, while doing so, the lady who was helping me asked me why I needed a wig because my hair was already long. I told her that I was relaxing on Fri and that I needed this to wear for the week. She asked me why I was perming and told me I can train my natural hair. She said that through using certain products and pressing my hair, I can train my hair to lay down. She even said that I can even workout and not get much shrinkage at the roots. I asked her if she meant using curling wax or something, she said no. This wasn't a Korean BSS either, the ladies that work in there are all Black and they're working on commission, so they love to make a sale. I'm wondering was she just trying to get me to buy more stuff. I spent $20 on my wig and rolled out:grin:

I say all that to ask, is this true? Can you train your natural hair to be straighter? I don't believe it. TIA:yep:
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MtAiry you've decided not to transition anymore?!?! I'm still in 2 minds about this. Can I ask why you are if you don't mind
 
You can train your hair to do anything. It's just fiber. If you tie a rope in a knot every day for years, guess what? It will be easier to tie in a knot. It's not damaged. That's just a property of fiber. Although you can damage your hair with heat just because it's trained doesn't mean it's damaged. My cousin has silky almost APL length hair that she has pressed every week. She's been doing it for years. She's never had a relaxer because her hair is trained. It's just shy of APL because she trims it to that length not because it's broken off. She has full thick ends.

BTW, it takes years and years of the same thing to train your hair, but it works for pressing, twistouts, braids, tying down edges... whatever you do repeatedly. If you do the same thing over and over you're training your hair like it or not.
 
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My hair was trained before comming to LHCF.
I was natural but pressed every two weeks. Most of my hair was straight. It looked really strange because some parts were still nappy but others looked like I had a perm (this is if I let it air dry).
people convinced me this was a good thing...now I know better
 
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I agree with everyone who mentioned that the hair will be trained to be damaged. I am from the school of, I don't want to train my natural hair, it isn't some misbehaving dog.
 
ThickHair said:
I agree with everyone who mentioned that the hair will be trained to be damaged. I am from the school of, I don't want to train my natural hair, it isn't some misbehaving dog.
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Basically. My hair doesn't have to be wrestled into submission.
 
I transitioned 14 months by bunning my hair and have worn a puff as my daily style for the last year and a half. The hair along the perimeter of my head is wavy as opposed to coily because it's been stretched nonstop for almost 3 years. So I think it is possible to train the hair with or without heat. I will say that if you do use heat, you gotta be extra on point with a healthy hair care regimen.
 
Training your hair by pressing is doing nothing but burning it straight and into submission. You are damaging your natural texture.
 
I've successfully trained my hair through frequent deep conditioning and flat ironing, and now my hair gets really straight and stays straight. I can also wear my natural curls whenever I wish.

Although I do think you can damage your hair with straightening, I must say that my hair is very healthy and looks healthier than it has in a long time. You just have to find the right products for your hair.
 
I have the exact same thing with some of my pices and I have seen this with my own eyes. The girls at the salon I go to have pressed healthy hair and when its wet it looks like a texlax. If done properly you don't have to burn the hair into submission. But like Sareca said, hair is a fiber, if you staighten it often it will eventually be that way. The pressing is definitely a technique.

ps... I think the products will only help condition the hair so its easier to press and in the end you will need less heat. that's how it was explained to me
 
NuMe2004 said:
I've successfully trained my hair through frequent deep conditioning and flat ironing, and now my hair gets really straight and stays straight. I can also wear my natural curls whenever I wish.
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I couldn't even tell from your avatar that you're natural, that's a helluva press. i do think that people with thick hair have an advantage when it comes to using heat.
 
NuMe2004 said:
I've successfully trained my hair through frequent deep conditioning and flat ironing, and now my hair gets really straight and stays straight. I can also wear my natural curls whenever I wish.

Although I do think you can damage your hair with straightening, I must say that my hair is very healthy and looks healthier than it has in a long time. You just have to find the right products for your hair.
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A friend of mine with thick 4a MBL hair has trained her hair via hard presses. She lives by deep conditioning twice a week and frequent apohogee treatments. Her hair is healthy looking like yours.:yep:
 
I can't see trying to train my hair to do anything, too scared of the aftermath should I NOT know what I'm doing. LOL

ETA: I'm transitioning, but I still can't see doing it once I am natural.
 
sareca said:
You can train your hair to do anything. It's just fiber. If you tie a rope in a knot every day for years, guess what? It will be easier to tie in a knot. It's not damaged. That's just a property of fiber. Although you can damage your hair with heat just because it's trained doesn't mean it's damaged. My cousin has silky almost APL length hair that she has pressed every week. She's been doing it for years. She's never had a relaxer because her hair is trained. It's just shy of APL because she trims it to that length not because it's broken off. She has full thick ends.

BTW, it takes years and years of the same thing to train your hair, but it works for pressing, twistouts, braids, tying down edges... whatever you do repeatedly. If you do the same thing over and over you're training your hair like it or not.
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yeah but when ur cousin works out or gets real sweaty does it still stay straight...cause if so that would be due to heat damage right? Because it is no longer reverting. I have never heard of anyone training their hair that much unless it was heat damaged. I'm not saying damaged like the hair looking bad. I mean that heat ruins the natural texture.


ETA: It doesn't take years to get the hair to be straight if it's heat damaged. Trust me. I have a section of my hair that proves that. ONE time and it was permanent! (no amount of sweating, water, etc...made it go back) :sad:
 
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Actually I don't really know. I believe I trained my hair in the front by constantly putting it into a ponytail and tying it down. Now the very front portion is has gotten wavier at the root. But it has always been considerably looser.

It appears that the more I do rollerset, my hair is taking on a similar property (I usually air-dry, but since its winter I sit under the dryer on cool). It has gotten to the point that when I do them and comb my hair out-it looks flat-ironed and doesn't really revert unless I wash it. My hair has also been trained to middle part because I do it so often:ohwell:
 
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My best friend's hair is like this. She's been pressing her hair straight once a week, or once every two weeks (whenever she washes) for over 10 years. She has thick SL-APL hair. It would be longer, but she doesn't like long hair, so she cuts it once-in-awhile back to chin length and lets it grow, then cuts it.

Anyways, her hair is most definitely damaged. When she washes it, like someone says, it looks texlaxed. It can't hold twists or braids well. While I've never seen her never pressed hair (and she probably hasn't either), I'm willing to bet it has a different curl pattern than what's on her head now.

All this to say, if you press your hair, and the texture is looser when you wash it, it has been trained/damaged somewhat.

Lys
 
I GOTTA WRITE THIS ONE IN CAPS AND BOLD.... MY BEST FREN IS INTO HAIR CARE AND HAS HER LICENSE. I LEARNED FROM HER THAT YOU CAN TRAIN YOUR HAIR TO STAY STRAIGHT WHEN U ARE A NATURAL. BUT... AND THERE IS ALWAYS A BUT..... YOU ARENT ACTUALLY GIVING YOUR HAIR A MAGICAL MEDICINE THAT WILL ONE DAY ALLOW YOU TO THINK YOU DONT NEED TO RELAX EVER AGAIN. YOU ARE ACTUALLY BURNING YOUR HAIR TO THE POINT THAT YOUR NATURAL CURL PATTERN IS DESTROYED. THINK OF IT LIKE THIS.... WHEN SOMEONE BURNS THEIRSELVES THEIR SKIN GETS REALLY SMOOTH. WELL THAT IS WAT U ARE DOING TO YOUR HAIR. IT IS BURNED TO THE POINT THAT UR HAIR CANT REVERT BACK TO THE NATURAL CURL.

now I can lower the caps... I experienced this when I was natural and I use to wear weaves. the section of hair I left out to cover the tracks would be pressed every day, maybe even 3 times a day depending on the whether. By the time I would take out the tracks and wash my hair... that section I left out would be straight as a bone while the rest of my hair was bushy. I was thinking... heyyyyyy if I do this to my whole head then I will never NEED a relaxer... WRONG!! Thats when I asked my fren and she told me what I was really about to attempt. Think about it... *muah*:grin:
 
I haven't read all the posts, but I did have very dense, shrunken, wirey, coarse, dry hair after my transition and now I can get my hair to lie down beautifully without heat. I have gotten it to lie down through moisture retention, tension from elastic band, sleeping in a satin or silk scarf and using certain products like a good leave-in and sealer (also things like yogurt, aloe vera, lotion). I use heat about twice a year. After my transition, my hair was very unruly and I was pressing it daily for awhile trying to tame that mess and all I did was more damage to it. Getting moisture into my strands and retaining the moisture was the key -- and first (gigantic) step. The rest just came pretty easily, naturally after that.
 
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