For those that are texturized-- Hair Typing

[jainygirl]

Hey everyone

i've been seeing lots of beautiful hair on the site natural as well as relaxed. This question is for those that are texturized. I have been seeing some very nice pics of those who texturize and i wanted to ask a question. When you list your hair type do you list the state of your texturized hair or your natural hair. I know that us relaxed heads list the state of our natural hair (new growth) as our hair type, but i had noticed that some who texturize list the state of their texturized hair instead.

Since being texturized is sort of in between, do most of you type your hair by the natural state of your hair or the result of it after it's texturized since that's what you deal with on a daily basis?? Also, do you list your hair as texturized or consider it natural since it's not all the way relaxed. I know that anything that alters the bonds of the hair means its not natural but i'm curious to know how those who texturize classify their hair. TIA -- jainygirl

 

[itismehmmkay]

Good question.

Also, could you all report your natural hair texture and then what hair type you consider your texturized hair to be.

For instance, I'd said I'm a 4a/b and I plan to get my hair texturized to a 3b or so. I've done it before and I think the texture was right at a 3b.

 

[zoya_j]

TBH i stopped typing my hair because there are so many different textures of hair on my head. I know one thing though my hair is thick and dense but not coarse. But I'll oblige you ladies and say I would consider my self 4a/b.
I texturized and I still consider myself a 4a/b, but alot easier to handle

 

[model_chick717]

Hey--I type my hair as it is in its natural state (4a/3c). My hair is texturized to about a 3b(???)...

Edited to add: Actually I think my hair is texturized to a 3b/3c mix...

 

[sengschick]

I type my hair based on my natural texture, 3c-4a mix. I consider myself relaxed (texturized). Meaning relaxed, but not straight. Certainly not natural, eventhough my first process left my hair very close to it's natural state. That process left me as a complete 3c-3b. After a salon mishap I'm multi-textured, ranging from 2b-4a! Probably 2b-3c, but next to this straight hair it seems real 'natural'

.

 

[model_chick717]

Oh, yeah--I don't consider myself relaxed or natural...I'm texturized--to me, all three are three different things...

 

[Tracy]

Can you texturize to a 3B????

I would think you can either release your natural curl to a slightly looser texture, or if you leave the solution on long enough your hair goes straight...

In other words I don't think you can change the SIZE of your curls with a texturizer - I thought you could only loosen the curl you already have....

I wouldn't think you could texturize your hair into a whole 'nother texture....

A 3b to me is like naturally curly says - a straight texture with a curl the size of sidewalk chalk all down the strand.

Now I'm REALLY confused.

I'm a 3c and I feel like I'm still a 3c when I texturize...but my curls are just loosened.

 

[model_chick717]

All I know is that my natural hair in places has a distinctive S-shaped pattern that after being texturized has the same S-shape, but larger...like the size of of sidewalk chalk or whatever...which is 3b...

 

[jainygirl]

[ QUOTE ]
sengschick said:
I type my hair based on my natural texture, 3c-4a mix. I consider myself relaxed (texturized). Meaning relaxed, but not straight. Certainly not natural, eventhough my first process left my hair very close to it's natural state. That process left me as a complete 3c-3b. After a salon mishap I'm multi-textured, ranging from 2b-4a! Probably 2b-3c, but next to this straight hair it seems real 'natural'

.

[/ QUOTE ]

Your hair looks great Seng

That's what i was always thinking -- how do they get the hair to come out to look the exact same as the hair that was previously texturized. You know what i mean?? since it's not a full relaxer and youre trying to loosen and not straighten the hair completely. I wondered if there were ever any problems or mishaps. If i was texturized i think i would be ready to strangle somebody if the rest of my texturized hair was looking cool and then they just jacked up my touch up by getting the newgrowth super straight.

but everyones hair i've seen looks good.

-- jainygirl

 

[model_chick717]

[ QUOTE ]
jainygirl said:
[ QUOTE ]
sengschick said:
I type my hair based on my natural texture, 3c-4a mix. I consider myself relaxed (texturized). Meaning relaxed, but not straight. Certainly not natural, eventhough my first process left my hair very close to it's natural state. That process left me as a complete 3c-3b. After a salon mishap I'm multi-textured, ranging from 2b-4a! Probably 2b-3c, but next to this straight hair it seems real 'natural'

.

[/ QUOTE ]

Your hair looks great Seng.

That's what i was always thinking -- how do they get the hair to come out to look the exact same as the hair that was previously texturized. You know what i mean?? since it's not a full relaxer and youre trying to loosen and not straighten the hair completely. I wondered if there were ever any problems or mishaps. If i was texturized i think i would be ready to strangle somebody if the rest of my texturized hair was looking cool and then they just jacked up my touch up by getting the newgrowth super straight.

but everyones hair i've seen looks good.

-- jainygirl

[/ QUOTE ]

That is the one hazard with texturizing, IMO. I usually re-touch my hair about every 3-4 months, usually have to go over it again after about 6-8 months to get it exactly at the texture that I like. For me, I tend to underprocess, so at some point I go over it again.

 

[cutebajangirl]

See I have texturized so that my curls are the size of a sidewalk chalk. And yes you can mess it up in a minute. The last time I used dudleys and I have 2.5 inches of straight (2b looking) hair from where I overlaps.

 

[Tai]

I was natural before and my natural texture is a 3b/c. My texturized hair type didn't change. It just made my hair thinner and my curls less resistant. If I comb my hair texturized, all the curls leave and my hair turns straight.

 

[sengschick]

Thanks Jainy. I was in the scenario you just mentioned. Ready to strangle that heifer.

I differ to Tracy's superior knowledge. She's right, your texture doesn't change, the curl just loosens up. So my curls match the pattern of 3a or 2b maybe (is 2b Ananda or Amerie looking?

) in route to just being regular straight relaxed hair. But the majority lies in the 3 range, where my hair was anyway. Texture is still soft and spongy. And I could see the curls before, but they shrunk and got crazy when dried w/o being texturized. Is this as confusing as it seems to me as I'm writing it?

 

[Tai]

Ananda has 2b/c waves/curls.

I don't mean to hijack but how is your hair recovering Sengschick?

 

[sengschick]

[ QUOTE ]
Tai said:
Ananda has 2b/c waves/curls.

I don't mean to hijack but how is your hair recovering Sengschick?

[/ QUOTE ]
It's better I took pics. I'll post here so y'all can see what happens when it goes wrong.

But you all helped me so much in trying to encourage some curl. The last pic is out of order, it was when I 'over softened' the curls

. I'm not walking around looking like that. Let me get the link. BRB

Okay this is time sensitive, b/c I'm not ready to 'unveil' my progress yet. So I'm going to make the album private again later. Skip forward to the pics after Jada P-Smith. When It All Falls Down....

Okay, I'm a drama queen!!!

 

[Tracy]

[ QUOTE ]
sengschick said:

Thanks Jainy. I was in the scenario you just mentioned. Ready to strangle that heifer.

I differ to Tracy's superior knowledge. She's right, your texture doesn't change, the curl just loosens up. So my curls match the pattern of 3a or 2b maybe (is 2b Ananda or Amerie looking?

) in route to just being regular straight relaxed hair. But the majority lies in the 3 range, where my hair was anyway. Texture is still soft and spongy. And I could see the curls before, but they shrunk and got crazy when dried w/o being texturized. Is this as confusing as it seems to me as I'm writing it?

[/ QUOTE ]

No don't defer to me! I have no idea! I just always call myself a 3c because all I consider my hair with a texturizer to be an altered version of the same 3c hair.

You're making sense, Sengs.

 

[LittleMissScientist]

[ QUOTE ]
jainygirl said:
Hey everyone

i've been seeing lots of beautiful hair on the site natural as well as relaxed. This question is for those that are texturized. I have been seeing some very nice pics of those who texturize and i wanted to ask a question. When you list your hair type do you list the state of your texturized hair or your natural hair. I know that us relaxed heads list the state of our natural hair (new growth) as our hair type, but i had noticed that some who texturize list the state of their texturized hair instead.

Since being texturized is sort of in between, do most of you type your hair by the natural state of your hair or the result of it after it's texturized since that's what you deal with on a daily basis?? Also, do you list your hair as texturized or consider it natural since it's not all the way relaxed. I know that anything that alters the bonds of the hair means its not natural but i'm curious to know how those who texturize classify their hair. TIA -- jainygirl

[/ QUOTE ]

I try to avoid hairtyping because I am not very comfortable with the categories, but I lean towards using my curl pattern post-texturizer, as this is what I have to work with on a regular basis. I don't consider texturized hair to be natural, but it can be EXTREMELY natural-looking (although depending on how long the relaxer was left on certain parts of the head can still be completely natural- they may have been able to "resist" the chemical).

I think that texturizers change curl pattern, but not hair texture, which is a critical aspect of hair that the Andre system fails miserably to consider. So you can have "wavy" 3a/b hair with the cottony-softness typically (although at times erroneously) associated with 4a/b hair- I know because this is exactly what I think I have!

 

[deborah11]

I do not consider myself natural since I have a chemical (mild relaxer /texturizer) in my hair. My natural hair is 4 something, wavey, cottony soft, dense. i consider my texturied to be 4 something as well but the curl pattern is definitely looser but very natural looking as oppossed to relaxed look, if this makes sense.

 

[Jaelin]

I still consider myself natural even though I use a texturizer because the texturizer I use, does not have chemicals and does not break the bonds. The only thing it does is loosen the curl pattern. My hair is pretty much the same, just a bit easier to comb.

If I was using a regular chemical relaxer to texturize with then it would be different to me because the bonds would be broken.

 

[renee_n_3000]

[ QUOTE ]
model_chick717 said:
All I know is that my natural hair in places has a distinctive S-shaped pattern that after being texturized has the same S-shape, but larger...like the size of of sidewalk chalk or whatever...

[/ QUOTE ]

[ QUOTE ]
Tai said:
My texturized hair type didn't change. It just made my hair thinner and my curls less resistant. If I comb my hair texturized, all the curls leave and my hair turns straight.

[/ QUOTE ]

The quoted statements above describe my hair. I texturize my hair to make it look like I have less hair in terms of volume, but it doesn't change the way my hair looks in terms of waviness and it still has a lot of body. I don't use Andre's hair typing system to describe my hair because I don't like it, so I just call my hair "wavy" because it looks like ocean waves. A good gel and some scrunching can get it to curl up nicely though.

Since I use a relaxer to texturize my hair, I do consider it a form of relaxer that's just not bone straight.

 

[Tai]

[ QUOTE ]
Jaelin said:
I still consider myself natural even though I use a texturizer because the texturizer I use, does not have chemicals and does not break the bonds. The only thing it does is loosen the curl pattern. My hair is pretty much the same, just a bit easier to comb.

If I was using a regular chemical relaxer to texturize with then it would be different to me because the bonds would be broken.

[/ QUOTE ]

Jaelin, what do you use to texturize that's not a chemical? Is it the naturalaxer I heard about?

 

[model_chick717]

I'm wondering the same thing...even that "naturalaxer" has chemicals...

 

[itismehmmkay]

MODELCHICK:
you and your hair are sooo adoreable....I can't wait until I get my hair texed.

TRACY:
you can tex to a different hairtype...I did it. My hair is 4a/b and I have tiny, tiny definite curls. When I tex it, it loosens the curl to look like a a 3b hair type. I think the key is to make sure that everything is done evenly

....still looking at ya'lls albums...

 

[Ginsana]

My natural hair is 4a/b...I texturized for the first time ever about six weeks ago and it was underprocessed, so now its about a 3c 4a. I'm hoping that the next time I texturized it will be more loose curls.

 

[adrienne0914]

my natural hair is 4A/3C. i believe my texturized hair is more in the 3B range because (even with looser curls) the curl pattern is different. i thought that A, B, C was a reference to the degree of curl. now i'm not sure.

i consider my hair relaxed.

 

[Jaelin]

[ QUOTE ]
Tai said:

Jaelin, what do you use to texturize that's not a chemical? Is it the naturalaxer I heard about?

[/ QUOTE ]

Yes it's the "naturalaxer."

[ QUOTE ]
model_chick717 said:
I'm wondering the same thing...even that "naturalaxer" has chemicals...

[/ QUOTE ]

They claim to be natural, which I guess doesn't mean no chemicals.

[ QUOTE ]
Is the Naturalaxer 100% chemical free?

The Naturalaxer is 92-98% natural depending on the hair type formula. The synthetic ingredients are fillers and emulsifiers for a smooth application. The active ingredients are natural.

[/ QUOTE ]

I don't use it often. When I first discovered it back in 2002, I would apply it every few weeks but by the time I found LHCF my hair was dry and I had lots of split ends. The posts that I read, in the fall of 2002, complained that it could dry the hair out (the other complaint people have about it is that it doesn't straighten as much as they expected. I'm okay with it). So I stopped, learned more about taking care of my hair and started using it again last year (I had joined the club so I had about three jars left over and I decided to use them up). I am taking much better care of my hair now so I am not experiencing the problems I had back then. I have only used it once this year and I have one more jar of it that I guess I'll use next year if it doesn't expire by the time I'm ready. Planning to try the lime/coconut milk recipe since I figure I'll get the same results with it as naturalaxer, if not, I might order more.

 

[Tai]

[ QUOTE ]
adrienne0914 said:
my natural hair is 4A/3C. i believe my texturized hair is more in the 3B range because (even with looser curls) the curl pattern is different. i thought that A, B, C was a reference to the degree of curl. now i'm not sure.

i consider my hair relaxed.

[/ QUOTE ]

The letters, to my knowledge, refer to the size of the curls. A's have the largest curls, B's are medium sized like marker size, sidewalk chalk, etc, and C's are pencil size, etc. Most curlies have a few different types going on.

 

[hiza]

I type my hair based on my natural texture, 3c-4a.
Since I use a relaxer to texturize my hair, I do consider it a form of relaxer that's just not bone straight.

hiza...

 

[ms_kenesha]

[ QUOTE ]
OshunCurls said:
I try to avoid hairtyping because I am not very comfortable with the categories, but I lean towards using my curl pattern post-texturizer, as this is what I have to work with on a regular basis. I don't consider texturized hair to be natural, but it can be EXTREMELY natural-looking (although depending on how long the relaxer was left on certain parts of the head can still be completely natural- they may have been able to "resist" the chemical).

I think that texturizers change curl pattern, but not hair texture, which is a critical aspect of hair that the Andre system fails miserably to consider. So you can have "wavy" 3a/b hair with the cottony-softness typically (although at times erroneously) associated with 4a/b hair- I know because this is exactly what I think I have!

[/ QUOTE ]

I LOVE your hair!

ETA: Whoever did your texturizer is AWESOME. How long had you been natural before you texturized? What did they use to texturize your hair, how long was it left on? *sorry to hijack the thread*

 

[jainygirl]

Wow, there are ALOT of ladies on the forum that are texturized . We have all kinds of different stuff going on here relaxed, natural, texturized, transitioners; everyone is here. No wonder people who come here for the first time get addicted to this site. There is really something for everybody

-- jainygirl