Going Natural Decision Wasn't That Deep

[Rei]

Since we're being real in this thread, I went natural because my hair wasn't retaining with relaxers and I wanted LENGTH. length length length and I was willing to sacrifice some straightness to get it. I figured I could always straighten when I wanted the sleek look.

Until one day I saw this girl with a beautiful head of natural hair running for the bus, and it was just flop flop flopping everywhere and I fell in love with the idea of big floppy stretchy hair, so now my focus is volume and not so much length

Of course length is directly proportionate to the size of your fro so I guess I'm equally obsessed

Now of course I see the underlying political messages and whatnot of relaxed/straightened hair, but I'm not going to throw stones at other people in my glass house considering I BCed because of just looks and nothing deeper. I don't care about the health of things because I have a bad habit of smoking when I get stressed so I can't really inhale toxins one day and then the next be on the lookout for the most back-to-earth-way of living, lol, it makes no sense.

The only reason why I will never relax again is because it was messing up my length game. (and because transitioning is hell)

 

[Zaz]

I relaxed out of habit because I got my first relaxer at 5, I just really really love big hair and never particularly liked my hair bone straight. In fact I often wear my hair in a relaxed afro (my avatar pic)

 

[BostonMaria]

My reasons were "deep" to me, not necessarily deep to anybody else. I honestly just missed my real hair. That was it. I thought about it for years and felt hopeless. One day I decided that this was the year and I stuck to it. I really loved my long, thick hair as a child and I wanted my hair back. I didn't want to feel the hopelessness in the situation so I took matters into my own hands.

I wasn't soul searching, but what I did find was that it became just that. I don't knock my friends/family that relax their hair. I try not to get caught up in what other people are doing. I hated running from the rain, I hated trying to figure out what I was going to do with my hair if I took a vacation and it involved a pool, I hated the wasted hours at the salon, I hate the way relaxers smell, I ENVIED every curly/coily head from 2a to 4c I saw on the street. I love the versatility of natural hair and the fact that I personally retain all my length in its natural state.

 

[Nayna]

I dunno. The relaxers were getting tired to me but I don't consider that deep. They sucked quite frankly and I was considering letting them go for a while. They were horrid on my scalp and my hair is naturally already fine and it was starting to piss me off.

Then one day my friend that has always had MBL hair wet it for the first time in front of me and she had perfect 4a curls. I was like 'how the heck did your hair do that?' she was like 'girl I ain't got no perm.' Lol. I think that was it for me. All that long hair and she doesn't relax it? I was sold lol. I didn't care nothing about what my curls would look like or any of the other stuff that people tend to associate with it.

I do however respect people that go natural with "deep" intentions. I think I unintentionally learned a lot about myself during the process and it was pretty cool.

 

[Duchesse]

The first time I went natural I was 17, and yes I did it for political reasons...see, I thought I was "conscious".

But now, going on the gazillionth time transitioning from a relaxer, I'm doing it for aesthetic and health reasons. My hair really does not do well with any form of relaxer, it's taken me 2 years to realize this, and inches of breakage later, I want long and big hair by any means, and going natural will do it.

 

[misschee]

My reasons weren't deep either. I simply got bored with straight hair. That's it. Just boredom, so I grew it out and then got bored with the transition and cut it all off at 5 months. Two years later, I decided I wanted straight hair again and the blow dryer and flat iron weren't cutting it for me in the humid GA summer so I relaxed. A month later I decided straight hair wasn't cutting it, because it was too much work to maintain. I had completely forgotten how to take care of relaxed hair. My fro was so much easier, condition in the shower, shake out the water and go. It was no fuss and it looked good. So I began my transition again. And after 3 1/2 months got tired of the two textures so I BCed, but in the Chicago fall weather, the TWA wasn't gonna work. So I plan on keeping my hair in braids until about March when it gets longer and spring comes around. My major hair changes are about boredom and ease of styling, no real deep thinking political-cultural agendas.

 

[honeybuni84]

LOVE THIS THREAD

 

[RedVelvet310]

Yep me too ... I remember when I found this board I was about 6..7 months post relaxer. The stylist burnt the ISH out of me and I just thought to myself I am never relaxing my hair again. I didn't even know I was transitioning I just knew you couldn't PAY me to have that stuff burn me again ! One day I was just looking at my hair and I just thought "ew" at my thick kinky roots and the straggly piece of relaxed hair scattered on my head and my cousin just just it off. I didn't even thick I was BC-ing that day.. it was literally a 5 second decision (and a 10 minute argument for my cousin to JUST DO IT!). *sigh* The best 5 second decision I've ever made

 

[plastic]

im going natural because i want to to .. that is as "undeep" as you can get

 

[BeetleBug]

I originally went natural b/c I stopped liking the look of relaxed hair and I like big hair.

 

[yaya24]

I went natural for the versatility and because I got tired of spending $80.00 for a relaxer

 

[NerdSauce]

My sisters and my mother have been natural for far longer than me. My younger sister was natural all through highschool, my youngest sister had locs from elementary straight through middle school--she just cut them off last year.

I actually LIKE straight hair, though not quite as much as I like the curly stuff :] I just got bored, and I think I always felt I'd go natural eventually--I just didn't want to have to wait for length... not that my hair was particularly long relaxed.. (ironically, even though I chopped pretty early, part of me wishes I had chopped after say, a month. The other part of me wishes i transitioned for two years. )

I just wish I had done it sooner... but as you can see my reasoning was basically aesthetic. The fact that i haaate salons and hate having anyone else do my hair didn't hurt either.

 

[kasey]

All the females in my immediate family are natural heads. I don't think my mom, who is a natural red head, has ever had a perm. My older sister never has relaxed. My younger sister relaxed for a year or two during college, but for the last few years she's been all natural. She is APL and doesn't do anything to take care of her hair--no silk scarf, protective styling, vits, DCing. Nothing!!! I got a relaxer once several years ago and never went back for the touch-up. We grew up broke, so relaxers and salon visits weren't in our family budget.

 

[bablou00]

Deep or not I think everyone has their reasons as to why they stayed or go back to their natural roots! It annoys me at times having to explain myself to people as to why I choose to cut my relaxed hair. Some people want it to be based on a spiritual or political reason. Yah I had a rough yr last yr w/my hair and it lead me to think otherwise...thats my choice! What was deep for me was cutting my hair short and having short hair that I was not used to. I think for whatever reason people decide to go natural is their own personal choice and it shouldnt be judged on whether its deep or not.

 

[Lyoness]

my reasons weren't deep either... I like the way natural hair looks... I could look at it and play with it more often if I had my own..

 

[vivEz daNs lamouR]

Yeh, it wasn't a life changing experience for me either. I definitely didn't think I was gonna be more 'Black' by doing it.

For me, my Mother had to transition to natural after a horrible salon experience which left her bald, and then I saw my best friend transition and realized "I can get straight hair WITHOUT having to relax."

For me, I also knew that eventually, I wanted to stop the dependency I had on relaxers. One day I woke up, and decided that I wasn't going to use them anymore. That day was March 3, 2008. Haven't looked back since!

 

[TemiLnd]

Ive always loved my natural hair. I was natural for 20 years, it was the pier pressure of university that made me relax my hair. 5 years later i returned to my natural hair.
Love big hair and my curls. Didn't enjoy my hair straight!!!

 

[Ramya]

I went natural on a whim. I was bored with the way my relaxed hair looked and the lack of quick styling options, plus I had a love of heat so I up and decided to cut all of my hair off. Relaxed to natural in 10 minutes

 

[Patricia]

good thread, I went natural and stayed natural for 15yrs cause I just got tired of relaxing. after doing the relaxer thing a little over a year I'm doing it again just because. no reason really. thats just me. I smoked cigarettes for 20something yrs and stopped a couple years ago, not because of health reason, I just got tired....I see a pattern here.

 

[1QTPie]

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.

I have been transitioning for 20 months

That's me kinda. I had "political" reasons too. But yeah, I never wanted to relax my hair in the first place. So one day I just had it chopped off.

 

[GodivaChocolate]

I just felt that not having chemicals in my hair was a better option for me. It's not a political statement or anything like that. Relaxers aren't my cup of tea anymore and I wanted thicker, healthier hair...that's all

 

[R4L]

I did it because my cousin had natural hair and I liked how she could go from curly to straight so easily.

 

[LovinLea]

i went natural because there was always something going on with my hair (breakage, shedding, thinness etc.) that i felt could be blamed on the relaxer so i wanted to try it without the relaxer.

 

[MrJohnsonsRib]

I went natural because I couldn't take care of a relaxer worth a darn and so after seeing a bunch of folks natural I began pondering it for like 2 years while looking at motowngirl.com for inspiration every now and then. Right when I get the nerve to try I just kept relaxing because I didn't have a clue what I was gonna do with natural hair in the military....I had been on LHCF lurking for some months and then I just said enough is enough. I hadn't seen my natural hair since i was 7. never got the chance to really enjoy it so I just said "Now is my time" I wanted that gorgous big fluffy hair down my back. I wanted to rock my natural coif and have healthy hair too. It was a good idea. I am glad I decided to do it.

 

[DDTexlaxed]

Being natural is a goal that I wanted to reach. Now that I am able to do strait styles, there really is no need for a relaxer, really. The only thing that relaxers do help me with is maintaining my roller set.

 

[cocoaluv]

I LOVE big hair, I dont like straight hair on me and I'm tired of spending so much money every 8-10 weeks on a hair style I dont like.

 

[mstar]

I went natural for the health of my hair. My last relaxer (after 18 months without one) left my hair so disgustingly thin, limp, dry, and lifeless that I said NO MORE. This time around, I'm committed to being natural, and I'm just really loving my texture...I'm dreaming about all the things I'll be able to do once it gets longer.

I've actually been either natural or transitioning (off and on) for most of the past 10 years. I'd grow out my hair for 2 or 2.5 years, simply because I loved the feel of my natural texture, and I couldn't bear to part with it. But I never knew what to do with it once it grew past the TWA stage, so I'd end up relaxing, with much sadness. Now that I've found the board, I can stay natural with confidence.

Being natural IS a big deal for me, because I grew up feeling that I had the "bad hair." But I'm very much opposed those in the natural community who go around disrespecting relaxed heads.

 

[Aviah]

Me! (kinda) I love big hair.

 

[labelfree]

I've been natural my whole life like I mentioned in another thread I didn't know what a perm was until I was out of high school which wasn't to long ago . But deciding to wear my hair in it's natural state (giving up the heat) was kind of a big deal since I didn't even know there where natural hairstyles outside of fros . I felt like a kid in a candy store watching all the tutorials on ways to style twist etc Plus I learned that my hair wasn't doomed to be stuck at SL

 

[Stella B.]

Yea, its not that serious for me either. Some years ago, I got tired of permed hair, and decided to wear my hair pressed just to give it a break. Of course, this was way before I knew anything about hair boards, and would whip out the hot comb, or the flat iron every other day! Needless to say, my hair was fried, and I didn't have a clue as to why!?! Now I know better, and here I am again thinking about switching over to natural soon. I really like my natural texture, now that I'm learning how to take care of it. I appreciate it, and enjoy it much more than I did a few years ago.