Everybody's opinion...please

[NAY007]

Everybody\'s opinion...please

as i already posted i will probably go natural. i kept thinking about this more and more. my touch up would have been this thursday but now i will just go and have her wash+deep condition+trim+rollerset my hair.

i would really appreciate everybody's opinion on this question though. what if after 6 months i realize that i want to go back to relaxing??? is that possible without any problems or will i experience breakage or other damage???
thanks, nay. /images/graemlins/tongue.gif

 

[Robin41]

Re: Everybody\'s opinion...please

I thought about going natural for about two weeks last summer but couldn't deal with the new growth and wasn't interested in cutting off the relaxed part. I'm type 4A and my new growth was very coarse and hard to work with.

You have a different grade of hair than mine so you might have an easier time of it. Since your beginning with a healthy head of hair, maybe you won't have to cut off your relaxed portions, especially if you're wearing protective styles in the meantime. I don't think the damage would come from going back to relaxers; the damage comes from not properly caring for two different degrees of straightness. Good luck with whatever you decide.

 

[notsomebody]

Re: Everybody\'s opinion...please

I think there are several women here who have either transitioned or are transitioning now. They can tell you the best ways to prevent breakage while you transition to your natural state.

As for changing your mind down the line. My opinion is that your natural hair will be much healthier than your relaxed hair and if you have cut off all of the relaxed hair, it would be the same as doing a processing on virgin hair. However, from what I have read of the natural ladies, chances are you will love your natural curls and not want to go back to relaxing.
Its so ironic. I went natural a few years ago. I was natural for a year and could do nothing with my hair. It was actually starting to dread loc on its own. SO, I relaxed. The week after I relaxed I found the hair boards. I was so mad, but after making the investment in processing my hair, I decided I would learn as much as I could about keeping my relaxed hair healthy. I am contemplating going natural after I reach my waistlength goal. I think by then I will be ready for a change, and I will have you ladies and all of the knowledge here to help me through.

 

[L.A. Woman]

Re: Everybody\'s opinion...please

I agree. Damage can come from trying to maintain 2 different hair textures. With good conditioners, gentle handling, rollersets and trims, you'll be ok. Blunt ends makes for easy stress-free combing.

 

[Honi]

Re: Everybody\'s opinion...please

Funny...I was just thinking about it this morning looking at my newgrowth. I have no idea how to care for it. I also sometimes wonder what my hair would look like as an adult. As a kid it was thick and had a looser wave than it has now. I envy folks that have gone natural. I think what i'm scared of most is the pain in the [censored] trial and error to find out what works best.
Whatever you decide to do. Good luck to you and please keep us posted.

 

[beana3]

Re: Everybody\'s opinion...please

nay 007 your hair is gorgeous, and i'm sure it will be (If) when you transition. I would advise TONS of moisturization during the transitioning period, like misting every night with a water/leave-in combo.
I'm a big advocate of braid outs, so maybe you may want to try this style to hide the difference in textures,. it will blend perfectly.

Good luck on whatever you decide

 

[AliMarie]

Re: Everybody\'s opinion...please

Hi Nay007 -
I spent 5 years natural and just went back to relaxed hair last month. What I think is important for you to decide is how you wear your hair. Do you prefer your hair straight or curly? My natural hair is 3c and I have LOTS of hair & a BIG head. I never could master all that hair & curls, expecially since I prefer to wear my hair straight most of the time. While I was natural I was getting my hair blowdried, pressed and curled at the salon every 1.5 - 2 weeks. Turns out all that heat is just as damaging as a relaxer....
If (when) I go natural again, I will keep the pressing comb away from my head and just stick with the curlies - maybe my head will shrink by then too!
No matter what you decide, the key is to have healthy hair!
Peace!

 

[adrienne0914]

Re: Everybody\'s opinion...please

i do this all the time. lol! the last time, i went seven months between touchups with no problem. you just have to make sure that you don't go for your retouch wearing a wavy style, which makes it harder to see where the texture changes. i learned that one the hard way. i went in with a braid out once... /images/graemlins/smirk.gif

adrienne

 

[VALLEYGIRL]

Re: Everybody\'s opinion...please

</font><blockquote><font class="small">In reply to:</font><hr />
What I think is important for you to decide is how you wear your hair. Do you prefer your hair straight or curly?

[/ QUOTE ]
This is very important b/c sometimes a lot of ladies get very frustrated after transitioning and then chopping off the relaxed ends only to battle with their hair trying to get it straight.
My advice to you is to transition without doing a 'big chop'.
Then if you are not liking your new growth after it gets to about 3-4 inches you can always relax again without sacrificing any length.
Moisturize your hair like crazy so you can minimize the difference between the two textures. (I used lots of leave ins and curl activators and did n't have a lot of breakage at all)

I will write more but I have to run right now.
I transitioned w/ out chopping off a huge amount of hair myself.
But I think like someone said in the quote above you should decide how you want to style your hair the majority of the time b/c too much heat is just as damaging if not worse than the relaxer. Straightening my hair takes the same amount of heat it took to straighten when I had a relaxer.
You can always email me at [email protected] if you have any questions and can't find me on this board.

Valleygirl

 

[NAY007]

Re: Everybody\'s opinion...please

THANK YOU GUYS SOO MUCH,

y'all are real help, thanks valleygirl for your address!
i was thinking while i was reading and i think i like my hair to be more straight/wavy with body and shine. i do like curls too but not ALL the time. i mean that was the reason why i started relaxing my hair. cause those suckers really got on my last nerve. i think i just keep relaxing it and try to keep it as healthy as possible.
i wonder if the stylist will see where my new grow is. cause i can only see it when my hair is freshly washed and then air dried. otherwise i can't see it. and i wonder how she will apply the relaxer. she will probably mess it up. i like her though.
i will keep you guys posted on how the motions oil (mild) relaxer turned out on my hair.
and then i will let you guys also know how my first roller set turned out.
i feel sooo happy that i joined this board /images/graemlins/tongue.gif!!!
thanks again.

 

[BlkMane]

Re: Everybody\'s opinion...please

Nay007,

Regarding your hairstylist knowing where your new growth ends, you might want to determine EXACTLY how much new growth you have at home and measure it (1 inch, 1 1/2 inch etc.) then tell the hairstylist how much of your hair is new growth. Then she can only apply the relaxer to that 1 inch, for example instead of trying to "determine" what's new and old hair and messing up.

My hair is the same way, it grows out fairly straight in a lot of sections, sometimes the only way to tell my new growth from the relaxed hair is by the color: the new growth is always darker. So, I tell the hairstylist how far down to go with the relaxer.

 

[Mahalialee4]

Re: Everybody\'s opinion...please

I agree about the "radical chopping."Why chop off years of growth if you are intending to "GROW IT OUT?." It sounds counter productive to me and in 95% of the cases totally unnecessary. Some say their hair was damaged so they cut all the relaxer off because they decided to "go natural." So if you decide that you do NOT want to be natural and want to STAY RELAXED, do you chop all your (damaged) RELAXED hair off to a couple of inches on your head....and just keep on relaxing those 2 inches and grow it out again from there????? To me that would only make sense if you planned to keep it in a teeny weenie afro or a short Halle or a short slick and go!. I think you know what I am saying. Think about it. lol. Now I realize that some really believe that you have to "amputate" the relaxed hair...( the black version of the Maury Show...)...but ladies there has got to be a more humane way to get to long natural hair... there is no sacred route you have to take...to arrive at being nappy....is yo BIRTHRIGHT SISTAHS! (big toothy smile) Now you all know Mahalialee tends to see the irony and likes to get her chuckle on...hehee... lolol Bonjour.

 

[adrienne0914]

Re: Everybody\'s opinion...please

i agree about radical chopping. unless it's breaking really bad where the two textures meet, and you're not able to get that under control, i would avoid the big chop too!

adrienne

 

[Brownie]

Re: Everybody\'s opinion...please

I agree with what everyone else said. I wouldn't cut all the relaxed hair off. I've known people who have went from relaxed to natural, and they didn't cut their relaxed hair off. They just kept their hair in protective styes, until they got a handle on taking care of it.

 

[pebbles]

Re: Everybody\'s opinion...please

Try to deep condition as much as possible. Avoid cutting your hair, if possible. You may not need to if you don't experience a lot of breakage. /images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

[sweetcocoa]

Re: Everybody\'s opinion...please

I did it by transitioning. I don't feel you need to chop it all off. I did mostly rollersets and rinsing then wearing my hair up. The key for me was keeping the 2 textures 'similar'. I use a temporary straigthening balm on the unrelaxed part and kept that part very, very moisturized. I did one big chop of 4 inches last Thanksgiving(I had alot of overprocessed sections and I was trying to get rid of my layers. Then 3 months later I cut off 2 more inches. Once I got rid of the really damaged sections and once I got past the 16 week mark I seem to have less breakage.

 

[Premierepearl08]

Re: Everybody\'s opinion...please

Robin, I have the same hair type you do. I got so frustrated with the two different textures, I was either going to relax or get the relaxed ends cut. If I hadn't cut, I'd probably still be relaxed. I wasn't that good with styling my hair in any intricate styles, I would just blow dry and curl. Case in point, after 3 years of being natural, I just did a twist-out 3 weeks ago..for the 1st time. /images/graemlins/crazy.gif I didn't know of any folks here in SC that were transitioning nor any naturalists, so I wouldn't have had the know-how to transition like some of the others.

My hair was soft when first cut but progressively became harder and unhealthy due to using all of the wrong products and not knowing many of the things that I know from some of the naturals on nappturality.com. Now I wear a shake-and-go,with the help of World of Curls, IC Fantasia Gel, and some Shea Butter, which gives me bunches of wild, tiny curliques that I adore.

Another reason that I got the ends cut was to get used to *my* hair. I didn't want to have a lot of natural hair that I wouldn't know how to take care of. I'm still surprised that I wasn't bald when I had a relaxer! I'm glad I went for "the big chop", because my impatience would have kept me from the dream. (Still praying for God to deliver me! /images/graemlins/grin.gif) Nay, there are different ways to grow your natural hair. The path doesn't matter as long as it's the one that <font color="green"> YOU </font color> want to take.

 

[skegeesmb]

Re: Everybody\'s opinion...please

As a person that did a semi big chop, I would honestly say wait. My hair was 2 inches away from my brastrap and (after I transitioned for 4 months) I cut it to 2-3 inches on the top, and I shaved it all off in the back right up to my ears. Now 8 months later my hair is 2 inches away from chin length, and 1 inch past cheek length.

At first I hated my hair short (for 4 months). But I knew I wasn't going to go back to the relaxed look anytime soon. My mother is natural, my cousins are natural. So, I don't have the urge to relax at the moment.

But if I was doing a trail period for 6 months to see if I like it, I would have transitioned. I did for four months, but I just didn't want to deal with the straight and the wavy (which was because my long hair stretched the newgrowth) so I cut it off.

By August, my hair will be collar bone length, and by December of this time, my hair will be past shouldlength. I'm glad I cut it. This way I can never say I've never had a short hair cut, and I will no longer wonder what I would have looked like.

If I relaxed, and decided to go natural again, I would probably go VALLEYGIRL's route. I've seen my hair short, and I don't need to do that again.

The bottom line is, if you love your long hair, and can't bear to be without it, don't cut it. If not, go for it. Just make sure what ever you do, you can deal with the consequences.