Going Natural Decision Wasn't That Deep

princessnad

princessnad

New Member
I know many people have different reasons for going natural. For me, it was simply because I like the look of highly textured hair. I also like the versatility that non-chemically straightened hair offers. Some people are confused when I don't have a deep, emotional reason for going natural. I don't have any horrible chemical experiences and I don't have a deep need to get "closer to my roots" through my hair.

Did anyone else chose to go natural for "superficial" reasons such as myself (ie liking the look of it)? Sometimes I feel like a lone wolf. :ohwell:

I have been transitioning for 20 months :)
 
i just never saw the point in relaxers. i just kept getting them out of habbit because thats all i knew but even then i would lie to my stylists and tell her "oh, you just gave me a relaxer last month" so i would only get one 2-3 times a year. i always wanted natural hair because i love the fact that it was so big and full and it seemed like the women who wore natural hair stood our and seemed so strong and different. i just didnt know how to go about it until i found this site.
 
Me...I didn't like super straight hair on me. A blow dry w/ a comb attachment is enough straightness for my tastes. I prefer my hair full and big. Frankly, I feel bald when my hair is very straight. :lachen:

It's an aesthethic thing for me really. I like both the texture and color of my hair as is.
 
Definitely wasn't that serious for me... I went natural many years ago before I ever heard of hair boards or new there were whole sites and forums dedicated to the care of natural hair. I remember I'd gotten a couple of bad hair cuts when I was 17, back to back. I decided I was sick of stylists not doing as I asked. To grow out each cut (I was wearing short cuts, at the time) I would wave my hair with water and gel. As my hair grew out, I saw that it would curl but I had a some straight peices at the ends... cut em off and continued to rock my TWA that kept getting long too fast for me, at the time. I kept chopping it off until I finally started braiding it up. After while, I realized I just hadn't had a relaxer in a long time. I started picking out my fro, from time to time and I thought it was pretty. I remember tucking flowers behind my ears and my Mom just shaking her head... but no one asked when I would relax again; or even when I would press. It's not until recently that I've become so attracted to straighter styles. I almost relaxed! But I found other ways to straighten if I wanted to and decided to stick with the versatility that comes with natural hair. Gotta love it.
 
I never wore my hair down and straight when it was relaxed, it was always put up in a bun so I saw no point in keeping it relaxed and I always liked my big Angela Davis fro on me more than any straight style.
 
You know for me it's kinda the same way. I didn't really have any bad experiences with my relaxer. I just got tired of having bone straight thin limp hair. More texture offers more fullness for thin hair. So yeah, I like the curly textured look as well. Plus I felt it was time for me to take control of my own hair care. That and I was tired of having to depend on a relaxer to make my hair behave a certain way. I finally feel free from having to schedule my events/vacations around my hair appts.!!:grin:
 
princessnad said:
I know many people have different reasons for going natural. For me, it was simply because I like the look of highly textured hair. I also like the versatility that non-chemically straightened hair offers. Some people are confused when I don't have a deep, emotional reason for going natural. I don't have any horrible chemical experiences and I don't have a deep need to get "closer to my roots" through my hair.

Did anyone else chose to go natural for "superficial" reasons such as myself (ie liking the look of it)? Sometimes I feel like a lone wolf. :ohwell:

I have been transitioning for 20 months :)
Click to expand...
Yep, me
First, necause down here in Mexico, they don't know how to apply a relaxer and i'm very lazy to do it myself. Second, because i also love the versatility my hair offers, and i love curls!!! (That i difficultly got with relaxed hair)

I never had a bad experience with relaxers either, not hair loss, not problems growing my hair. I like the look, now i'm loving beeing natural, but at the begining it was just that.
 
Oh yes, I forgot to say that I could never joust w/ some hairdresser about MY hair. Too many relaxed women find themselves battling their beautician on how often they get relaxed, how long their stylist ALLOWS their hair to grow (more convenient for the stylist if short), and then shelling out $$$$$$$ to get what you DON'T want (relaxed too often, hair too short, 'tude, and long waits). No thanks
 
I did like straight styles -- but only because it showed off the lil bit of length that I had! Otherwise -- I am definitely a big hair girl. Volume and thickness are my #1 love! BIG CURLS BIG WAVES BIG PONYTAILS BIG HAIR PERIOD. I LOVE IT! I am such the 80's baby! Lol! Thanks to LHCF I will be a BIG HAIR GIRL TOO!
 
You are not the only one! I figured I stretched my texlaxing anywhere from 4-7 months so that meant some years I was only texlaxing one time. After learning what products and techniques kept my hair manageable, I said later for the relaxers. That's it! I'm not trying to find myself, I know who I am and I'm more than comfortable with it; not trying to make a statement or prove a point, and I don't care what anyone else thinks about me and my hair. I didn't have any bad experiences, didn't have to battle with a hairdresser. The same way I decided to transition is the same way I can decide to slap a relaxer in this head if I so choose.
 
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I was tired of getting relaxers that 'didn't take' or I'd have wavy roots at 4 weeks so it was 'time for a touch up.' I had no concept of waiting longer periods. It was straight hair or nothing. And with my extra, extra thick hair, it was almost never bone straight like I wanted. Oh, did I mention that I can't do hair? Not for the life of me. I'd be in a salon faithfully every 2 weeks for someone to do something to this head. Then I moved to braids. Those were easy to maintain. Ponytail city. Anywho, I've been relaxer free since 1996 and loc'd for almost 5 years. People sometimes ask me why I decided to loc. Because I wanted to and it was cheaper and less time consuming than getting braids every few months. :lachen:
 
I basically decided to do go natural on the spare of the moment:

I took out my micros after a long session, had a lot of new growth. The stylist and I were preparing to relax my hair and put micros back in. I liked the strong feel and look of all my few inches of new growth (my relaxed hair didn't stand a chance next to the natural hair!)- and the stylist encouraged it 100%, "it'll be cute, let's do it". I told her to cut it- she did and I have been natural since!

After about 10 minutes of thought process and discussion, I went natural. It was completely unplanned. I didn't put time to second guess; or add a deep meaning until later!
 
I'm so glad you started this thread. I'm happy with my hair and am not really looking to go back to the chemicals. It just isn't that deep to me. Certainly not enough to go natural because of someone else's social/political agenda.
 
Pretty much. I seem to have written this story 1000 times on here, lol. I was in college. I couldn't afford relaxers anymore. I fell in love with my new growth and decided to just chop off my relaxed ends. Nothing deep there.
 
sheba1 said:
Definitely wasn't that serious for me... I went natural many years ago before I ever heard of hair boards or new there were whole sites and forums dedicated to the care of natural hair. I remember I'd gotten a couple of bad hair cuts when I was 17, back to back. I decided I was sick of stylists not doing as I asked. To grow out each cut (I was wearing short cuts, at the time) I would wave my hair with water and gel. As my hair grew out, I saw that it would curl but I had a some straight peices at the ends... cut em off and continued to rock my TWA that kept getting long too fast for me, at the time. I kept chopping it off until I finally started braiding it up. After while, I realized I just hadn't had a relaxer in a long time. I started picking out my fro, from time to time and I thought it was pretty. I remember tucking flowers behind my ears and my Mom just shaking her head... but no one asked when I would relax again; or even when I would press. It's not until recently that I've become so attracted to straighter styles. I almost relaxed! But I found other ways to straighten if I wanted to and decided to stick with the versatility that comes with natural hair. Gotta love it.
Click to expand...

Wow! You got such great results from flat ironing! Is there any particular product you like the most? I'm natural now too (last relaxer was 6/17/08).
 
same here! glad i wasnt the only one
i did it for the health of my hair.and my hair was breaking off badly with a relaxer
 
natural_one said:
me either...i just like big hair and I hated how flat my hair was.
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it's for these 2 reasons that i'd want to be natural :yep:

relaxing makes my hair flat and lifeless. + nowadays i just bun everyday, so it's not like i can see my length. i don't think i'd mind the shrinkage. i definitely see myself going natural within the next 2 years or so.:yep:
 
went natural for the health of my hair loooong before hair boards and what not 15-16 years ago

I still remember the shock coming into contact with the newly overly zealous anti-straight naturals with 'deeper' reason for being natural

ahhhh good times! :lachen:
 
great thread
If I ever do go natural, it won't be for some deep reason either, now will I connect it to the progress of black americans or getting in touch with my roots anything like that
I don't think you're a lone wolf, it's just that people who attached a deep meaning to their going natural are more vocal about it online with blogging etc... which is fine of course.
 
same here. Relaxers burned and i dont like my scalp being on fire. It was a pretty simple decision. Plus I would get the look of a relaxer anytime with a flat iron.
 
I'm not going natural for any deep reason. My reasons are i don't like relaxing my hair and i want my natural texture back, i've missed it and i know what to do with it now.
 
I wasn't that deep for me either. When I was lurking I came across Southernbella's fotki and I was like, "word?!...OUR hair can look like that!!" After seeing her hair (and others) I knew natural hair was for me. I had absolutely no social or political agenda.
 
I started transitioning when I kept seeing women with big beautiful natural hair. I wanted that, cause I've never had it (had relaxers/straight hair since I was 5). I fell in love with my coils and I haven't looked back.
 
:yep: me too. My only reason for going natural is that I’ve always had a healthy lifestyle in that I workout regularly, eat well and always try to find healthier non chemical 'hippy' alternatives and going natural was just another extension of my lifestyle. I used a relaxer out of habit and I fancied a change :look:.
 
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It's not a big deal for me, I actually probably will still wear my hair straight like it's relaxed. I recently moved to Germany and can't seem to trust another stylist with my hair due to a bad trim ( 4 inch difference on my sides). I would love to be able to wear wash in gos but i'm not getting my hopes high. One side of my hair is wavy/curly and the other is straight and I thinks it's because of the direction I wrapped my hair for the past 10 years! the same dag on way :(
 
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