Considering transitioning: help!!

[hnntrr]

Hi all, I have a dilema. I have thought about transitioning last yeah before i came to this forum and i decided not too ause i thought my NG was unmanageable... now that I have learned how better to take care of my hair at 8 weeks post my hair is more manageble than i have ever imagined.
I did try to do a check for NG last night, and it was weird. I know I have ng because my hair is way more fluffy/bigger than when I usually am post relaxer. I just cant see it, like the texture growing out of my head looks almost exactly like my texlaxed hair. I dont know if its because I have trained my hair to lay very flat and my curl pattern is gone?(from wrapping and flat ironing so much previously). The new growth now doesn't curl, it just waves a little bit but it doesn't seem to coil out of my head, it like grows straight out then waves. I guess this is confusing because I have no idea what my hair texture is. Every time I relax my hair it stays on for 10 minutes (with application and everything) and its almost bone straight (especially if I comb it), so I am back to contemplating if i really need to continue relaxers. I think the problem I was having before was that my hair wasn't moisturized so my NG was always thick and hard to manage, so I was thinking I needed relaxers because it was too hard to deal with. Now that I have been understanding how to deal with my hair its way more manageable and my ng is acting completely different. And it straigtens straight if not straighter than my relaxed hair. Not sure what to do. . I am also having some edge issues but I think its because my bantu knots were a little too tight. So thinking of doing a braid out tonight instead...or just wrapping and wearing it in a straight bun tomorrow. Anyway...

Not sure what to do at this point. I am about 8 weeks post, I think I might wait till I am closer to my touch up date to decide if I wanna try and stretch longer or if I wanna just go ahead and go natural. I dont want to cut off all my hair so I would just be in extremely long term transition but. What do you guys think? I dont know what ny natural texture is, but my mom finally found my baby book and i plan on snooping through there to see what the deal is. How hard do you think it will be for me to transition from this point? Id rather not BC again if I dont have to.

sorry about typos on iphone at work

 

[Channy31]

Sounds like hair in the 3 region, maybe 3b or c. Have you thought about using weaves to transition. I used weaves to transition and had good results!

 

[karenjoe]

Ive been there.
I've gone 40 weeks........ I've gone 24 weeks........
I'm positive, I'm not a natural girl.... 12 or 14 weeks will be as close to natural as I want to get.
In order to go 40 & 24 weeks, I would go into those stretches a little at a time......

adding a few weeks

 

[whiteoleander91]

with all the resources here and on youtube, I don't think you will have much trouble transitioning. try stretching for 6 months and go from there. at 6 months post I had a lot of new growth to play in and a better idea of my texture. if it isn't for you, you can always go back to relaxed, no big deal. if you really don't want to use chemicals anymore, you can wear your natural hair straight--->roller sets, flat iroing, etc. a lot of ppl transition wearing their hair straight, so it can be done that way if it makes you feel more comfortable. whatever is easiest for you. it's only as complicated as you make it.

 

[hnntrr]

so i found out that my mom is 3b and my sister is 3c. my mom said she is pretty sure my hair falls in that range (cause she dealt with it a lot when i was younger) which would also explain what you guys said about it possibly being in the 3 range. which would also explain why relaxers straighten my hair so quickly. so i think im gonna try to stretch and see what happens

 

[whiteoleander91]

hnntrr best of luck! I hope that you do end up giving natural hair a try, even if just for a little while.

 

[hnntrr]

I posted this on the transitioning post but I wanted to give you guys an update:

I found my baby book and from the baby pictures my mom thinks its high density fine 3c (i think its high density medium/coarse, so hopefully will find out during my transition. I googled pictures of 3c hair and it seems to match how my roots grow in. Not sure how its going to look while transitioning but I am really going to try. The main issue I have is keeping it moisturized while its curly. I find its a lot dryer when i dont wrap it (i think it might be cause im low porosity), so I have to figure out how to keep my ng and ends super moisturized while its curly. I can get away with 3 times a week if its straight but I may have to up it to every night when its curly so I make sure the moisture stays in. I dont wanna hit a set back by going natural and then messing it up so any tips would be great.

 

[whiteoleander91]

does your hair like glycerin? my hair looooves glycerin and it's my staple moisturizer, so I buy products that contain high amounts of it (activator gel!!). basically if something has a lot of glycerin in it there is a good chance that my hair will love it.

 

[hnntrr]

does your hair like glycerin? my hair looooves glycerin and it's my staple moisturizer, so I buy products that contain high amounts of it (activator gel!!). basically if something has a lot of glycerin in it there is a good chance that my hair will love it.

I have never tried glycerin, right now I have elasta eq mango butter, coconut oil S curl and baby butter creme...which all works fine on my wrapped/flat ironed hair but whenever I wear it in knot outs it always looks really dry.

I saw some at the store a little while ago but I heard somewhere that glycerin in cold weather may cause it dry out? Maybe ill buy some and see what happens with it. All i know is I cant use straight water, it dries my hair out so bad.

 

[whiteoleander91]

I have never tried glycerin, right now I have elasta eq mango butter, coconut oil S curl and baby butter creme...which all works fine on my wrapped/flat ironed hair but whenever I wear it in knot outs it always looks really dry.

I saw some at the store a little while ago but I heard somewhere that glycerin in cold weather may cause it dry out? Maybe ill buy some and see what happens with it. All i know is I cant use straight water, it dries my hair out so bad.

Yeah, ppl say that using glycerin in cold weather dries their hair out, but that hasn't been the case for me. My hair loves glycerin all year long. Maybe my location has something to do with it, though. I live in Texas, so it doesn't get super cold here.

 

[hnntrr]

Hm! Maybe ill try and get some today while I am out. Tonight is a wash day so I can see if it works Thanks

 

[whiteoleander91]

Hm! Maybe ill try and get some today while I am out. Tonight is a wash day so I can see if it works Thanks

no problem :3 I hope it works out for you!

 

[hnntrr]

So I did my sister's hair tonight and her hair looks almost exactly like my roots, wavy into ring coils (i guess cause I still have relaxed ends it stretches the coil out but its still really wavy going into the relaxed hair so its not coily at all), her hair was like small ringlets (like straw sized ringlets). It was so cute and thick and unf. I should have taken a picture of it when it was still wet but, it seems very similar to how my roots grow in. So I showed her how to section and twist her hair and then pinned them around her head to stretch them out (when I stretched her hair she is between SL and BSB) and right now she is sitting under a dryer. (she didnt wanna wear her natural hair out cause it shrinks like 80%).

So hopefully it will help teach her how to do her hair and also give me a frame as to how my hair might potentially be. I am really excited it was so pretty. I think my hair is more coarse than her's but we will see.

I also got some rosewater & glycerin and mixed that in with some tea tree, argan oil and the elasta eq mango butter and spritzed that on both of our hair. I used too many new things tonight so hopefully everything will be okay. I ended up having to use my sister's conditioner so it wasn't just fully moisturizing, the rosewater & glycerin and the eco styler argan oil for my stretched twists.

Looking forward to tomorrow.

 

[whiteoleander91]

^^how exciting! and I wish my hair was more coarse. I have mostly medium to fine strands. The areas on my head that are coarse seem to retain better. The thicker the strand, the more wear and tear it can take it seems.