How did you make your decision to go natural?

[AllyMD]

Well, I've just decided to go natural for the second time in my hair career. The first time was when I entered medical school. I gave myself a perm and over the next week, my hair began falling out in clumps. So one day, I said screw it and cut off all of my permed hair---I gave myself the big chop and put myself in braids straight for 5 years. Unfortunately, I come from a family in which long natural hair meant "you don't get a man", so I took my braids out and got it permed. My bra strap length (true bra strap...on a well fitting bra with the clasp underneath my blades ) hair lasted for about a year...and then it began breaking off.

Now, I have been trying to grow out my hair for another 3 years with NO success. My hair will not grow beyond my shoulders. So, I had been playing with the idea to chop again, but hadn't made that final step until 2 days ago. I had even gone to my beautician and begged her to chop it for me! She convinced me that it was growing to to wait. I found this hair board and was following it religiously...then I saw that my hair had broken off at the demarcation line (my last perm was June 3, and i have about 1.5 inches of new growth currently) on my crown. That was it!! I told my husband, "hope you like natural hair 'cuz the perm is no more!" The only reason I am not doing the big chop again is that my husband asked me to take it slow. But my goal is to have ALL of my perm gone by the end of June..my graduation from my residency program. So wish me luck!!!

 

[Soleado]

I'm new here, but I have lurked for a number of months. When I began lurking, I never really considering going natural, but now I am.

I haven't had a relaxer since early April, and I have a quite bit of new growth. To be honest, I really like the texture of my new growth. I'm considering going completely natural and skipping my touch-up in August. But I also don't want to do a big chop.

My family, particuarly my mother--who had more than her share of natural hairstyles in the 70's--thinks I'm crazy. But after lurking here for a couple of months, I've learned that I can have mangeble, healthy, natural hair. Already I think my hair is becoming more healthy and I've only been lurking since early June, so I know it can become even healthier now that I know how to care for it.

How did you make your decision to go natural and what did you do when you
had regrets? And how on earth did you handle the naysayers?

I wanted to get my hair back to the way it was when I was a child. A very skilled hairstylist told me back in '94 that other stylists were over straightening my hair because of the texture and they did not understand it. At the time I really did not understand what she was saying, because I have had a relaxer since I was about 9 or 10 so I really didn't remember what my hair looked like at all. So although my hair LOOKED very healthy from the outside, I knew from my standards it wasn't where it needed to be. So, I started transitioning in 2000 and did the big chop in Feb 2001.

I have learned so much about my hair since going natural. First being that I have fine and fragile hair which does not like a lot of manipulation. Second, that although it can take color, I do not have the type of hair that can take frequent color changes. I need to pick one and stick with it until I decide to grow it out.

 

[Syrah]

I'm gonna "keep it real". A lot of ladies transitioned to natural hair as part of a spiritual journey - ya know "the dependence on relaxers" - which is great.

I actually was scared into going natural. I was living in Paris and it was "about that time" 12 weeks and I needed a touchup. A) I didn't speak a lot of french....which is a problem when you're trying to communicate what you want done but don't speak the language. Blah blah blah - I went to Strausborg/St.Denis and got my hair done.

1. I walked into the shop. EVERYONE in the shop was getting weaves. Not to mention the two girls who were doing my hair were wearing straight up wigs. That should have been my first indication, but nooooo.

2. They took my hair out the ponytail holder, fluffed it with their fingers. New scalp protector. No vaseline. No parting. No nothing. She stuck her gloved hands into the tub of relaxer, got a glob, and then stuck that mess on my head. Glob. Head. Glob. Head. Glob. Head. Thats it.

3. She mashed that mess done with her fingers. At this point I was doing everything I could to keep from crying. The mess is burning my head, I'm having visions of walking out of this place lookin like Darth Vader without the mask, and the two are off doing someone else's hair while my head is marinating.

Lucky for me, when they washed it out, none of my hair fell out. They proceeded to give me the HARDEST CRUNCHIEST lookin roller set I have ever seen in my life. At which point I decided, there has got to be a better way. Let's just experiment with what God gave me HAHA.

I'm not like the other ladies who say I would never go back. I might. And I don't see anything wrong with relaxing your hair. A lot of folks turn the relaxed vs natural debate into something it doesn't need to be. Because for me, finding ways to where my hair for special occasions that don't involve updo's has been difficult, because my hair LOVES humidity. I could be in the damn desert and my hair will manage to attract and absorb what little moisture is to be found. So I'm one of those natural sisters, who starts out with "aww her hair is cute" and within hours "damn, her hair is big". HAHA.

But yea, I might go back to relaxing. I'm really interested in the ORS Olive Oil Relaxer and the Phyto Specific... but I'm also enjoying playing with MY hair and learning how to do it. I Just miss rollersetting - and that is something that DOES NOT work with my 3C/4A/4B/4D head.

 

[Syrah]

I wanted more hair independence and found going natural to be more appealing than learning to self-relax. My mom had always done my touchups, and she was going to help me learn to do my own, but I was inspired by the naturals on LHCF to just stop relaxing all together. It turned out to be a great decision for me. I personally haven't had any negative responses to my hair. Everyone seems to like it

Who's the puppy?!?????

I want a dog!!!

 

[Priss Pot]

Although I'm not natural (hopefully you ladies don't mind a relaxed head posting on this thread), I know that if I do go natural, I'll miss rollersetting the most (like MsNadi). I love that style. It's easy to do and it comes out great. ::sigh:: decisions, decisions. I want to try the natural hair route, but at the same time I love my relaxed hair.

 

[prettywhitty]

I always wondered what my natural hair looked like. Then my hair was starting to thin on one side of my head, and I was afraid that the chemicals were killing my scalp. So now I am transitioning. And even though it definitely has its ups and downs, it's totally worth it.

 

[gbaby]

I was tired of having to press my hair every morning just so it could "go back" almost as soon as I would get to work. It is very hot where I live and I wanted to start taking better care of my hair and stay out of the salon.

 

[cneal]

same with me. my hair tends to sweat out so easily. fresh perm or no perm. i couldn't wear straight styles if i went out with my girls. at the end of the night, i'd look a h.a.m. if i attempted to. putting all that heat on my head trying to achieve the straight look again wasn't worth it. so now, i'm trying to make that transition as well.

Actually, my hair made the decision for me, lol. Either my hair has gotten curlier over the years, resistant to relaxing, or a combination of both. My hair never got remotely straight from relaxers in those last days. I workout all the time, I sweat like a man, so I was always obsessing over what would become of my hair. I could not wrap it while it was part damp fom sweat because it would dry a huge frizzball, if I let it airdry it would get all puffy and curly at the roots, so I found myself wearing ponytails and claw clips in winter and wash n gos and pony puffs in the summer.

With that said, it wasn't until I found this site, nc.com, and np.com that I truely understood the unlimited potential wearing my natural hair could yield.

 

[Blackbird77]

I had been thinking about going natural for years. I had big, thick hair as a child and I remember losing all that after my mom relaxed it when I was eleven. The clincher for me was when I had my freshly relaxed hair done for a formal I was attending and while running my hands thru my hair I panicked. It had never felt so thin my entire life! I realized that if I didn't go ahead and go natural, I would have no hair the same time the following year. My intentions were to let my hair grow back healthy and thick and then relax again. During my transition, I developed hand-in-fro disease. I could not stop touching my new growth and fantasizing on how thick my hair would be again after a few years. I hadn't seen my natural hair in years and I could not wait to see it. I was anticipating a head full of 4z hair because I had no idea what type of hair I had. I figured that would be better than the stuff I had on my head then. I did the big chop six months later and felt liberated. Come to find out, I'm more like a 3C and going natural helped me learn why my relaxers never looked the way I wanted them to. My hair was simply too soft and cottony and a relaxer was never going to make it look thick and full while getting it straight. I was content with what I had and 7 years later I'm happy to say I'm still natural and have a head full of hair.