How easy or hard is it to take care of natural 4a/b hair?

Go head cherrycherryboomboom! I have been natural about 9 times LOL!!! I only relaxed because I had a twa for so long and I grew tired of it, but to me natural is easier for me, my mom relaxed my hair when I was like 9 for managability, she knew about natural hair but didn't want to spend much time dealing with it and she wasn't lazy at all. but I don't fault her for the past and how haircare practices was then for most, They was only doing what they thought was the norm. But we have way more better information & products now that we are making that change in the way we care for our hair either relaxed or natural.

So you can do it CCBB!!!! I will be cheering for you!!
 
SignatureBeauty said:
Go head cherrycherryboomboom! I have been natural about 9 times LOL!!! I only relaxed because I had a twa for so long and I grew tired of it, but to me natural is easier for me, my mom relaxed my hair when I was like 9 for managability, she knew about natural hair but didn't want to spend much time dealing with it and she wasn't lazy at all. but I don't fault her for the past and how haircare practices was then for most, They was only doing what they thought was the norm. But we have way more better information & products now that we are making that change in the way we care for our hair either relaxed or natural.

So you can do it CCBB!!!! I will be cheering for you!!
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Aww, lovely post, thanks for the support. I hate how long it's gonna take to grow long natural hair, but I may as well start somewhere, eh? :)
 
angenoir said:
This is an interesting thread.

Speedstick, could you clarify soemthing for me?

What do you mean when you say you don't have to worry about rain? Wouldn't rain shrink up the hair or ruin the style?

I thought relaxed ladies would be the ones who would not worry about rain or swimming as the hair would dry more or less straight and not need too much to get back a style.
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The first time I was natural, I did a lot of twists, twist outs and bantu outs (or whatever they're called). I never had a problem. If it's a crazy torrential downpour, I've running with my umbrella regardless. But as far as regular rain and misty rain, no problem. I never had a problem with it ruining a style. When I had relaxed hair, I didn't do super bone straight. Unless I had it covered in hair grease, it reverted a bit. That's when the style would mess up for me. YMMV.




Chaosbutterfly said:
...that's not what I heard. :lachen:
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What did you hear? *being nosey*
 
My natural hair takes more time to do than my relaxed hair did. I never spent alot of time doing my relaxed hair. My natural hair takes hours to twist and because my hair is fine relaxed or natural my styles don't last. I can spend 3-4 hours over the weekend twisting only to have to redo the twist the following weekend. So I wouldn't say it is harder to take care of-detangling and washing times are the same. However styling takes alot of time and the results don't last for me. I am transitioning now but I plan to blowdry and bun. I am hoping that this will reduce my styling time to about an hour or so. I don't want to deal with chemicals anymore. Unfortunately, I am not one of those naturals who can wash and go or twist and braid and have it last. I have to put in more work and effort to be natural than I ever did being relaxed.
 
I have had a relaxer and have never liked the idea of relaxer since I was a child, the burning was just too much for me. I love being natural, there is sooooo much versatility, twist, braid out, afros, and if you want it straight just get a press or the BKT. My only problem was detangling, but I solved that by washing in 6 sections, and using the Jilbere Shower Comb and the Denman Brush. I will never go back to relaxers!!!
 
4b'er for life

I dont find relaxed hair or natural hair easier to deal with, my nautral is super duper dry and so i keep it weaved up :/ making it more dry.
 
CherryCherryBoomBoom said:
You know what, I think I will just go ahead with this transition to natural hair. I need good change in my life and this might be it. My journey in growing long relaxed hair hasn't worked out so far, so I'm gonna go ahead and just turn in this new direction. I've ordered a half wig which will help me kill two birds with one stone, by satisfying my long hair desire whilst protecting my hair and waiting for it to grow. Thank you all so much for your responses, you've given me more confidence that I can do this. Yay :D
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If you start your transition (or even complete it) and decide it's not for you, it's no thang to go back to relaxed hair. It could just be a long stretch if that's all you decide you want it to be. :grin:

Don't feel pressured to make a snap decision either way. Just start your journey, and take it one day at a time. :yep:

ETA: My hair was never relaxed bone straight so rain = frizzy mess. I was constantly putting heat on my roots and using a curling iron to bump my ends. I never felt I could just "go" with my relaxed hair - it always had to be styled. As a natural I spritz with my moisture mix and throw it in a puff if I don't have time. My updos look more interesting with texture, which is nice. I don't wear a lot of stretched styles so if it rains I shake and keep it moving. My hair is so thick I can't feel the water hit my scalp most of the time anyway! :grin:
 
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To me its easy except during the winter and pregnancy (my whole texture seems to have changed). It seems to have made having moisturized hair actually impossible compared to previous winters I spent natural. It was hard in the beginning when I was learning (I was on my own for a couple of months before finding some of the hair forums) but the longer I'm natural the easier it gets.
 
They both are kind of equal to me in terms of difficulty. When I was relaxed my hair was very fragile and I had to do some work to get it to look nice, and now that I'm natural it is still fragile and I still have to do some work to get it to look nice, just different kinds of work, lol
 
Its all on what you consider hard or easy. For me being natural is 50x better for me then being relaxed. I can keep my hair in a twist for wks at a time and not worry about how my hair is going to look after a work, washing or running thru the rain. I could never do that with relaxed hair. I had to worry constantly how I was going to style it after a workout or schedule when my next wash would be. Someone at work scolded me because I said my hair was lot easier to take care of now that Im natural and she was like yah its because you keep it in twist all the time. I said of course I can work out an hour before work, jump in the shower rinse my hair off, put on some conditioner, throw and cap on take my a#$ to work!!! When I was relaxed I would look like who did it and why when I tried that...lol!!
I hope you find what works best for you. Its not all peachy day in and day out. You will run into rough times just like you might have being relaxed. As of right now all I can say its the best thing Ive could of done for myself and wish I would of done it sooner!!
 
I find natural hair easier to take care of than relaxed hair. I do keep my hair in braids 95% of the time because I am a very low maintenance person when it comes to hair and hate to be hassled by it. If you like styling your hair, however, you'll have a lot of fun. Your biggest hurdles will always be getting the right moisture, tangles and single strand knots. You will overcome the moisture issue by DC-ing regularly, and the tangles and single strand knots by making sure that you braid your hair at night (as opposed to sleeping on loose hair) and making sure you detangle regularly and kindly.

Try not to place "relaxed" demands on your natural hair. It won't work, and you will only get frustrated. I find that the longer my hair gets, the easier it becomes for me, because I can just pull it back in to a pony-puff and go. I've been natural for 4 years (yesterday was my 4-year-anniversary :)), and I haven't looked back since.

Good luck with whatever you choose to do :).
 
This isn't so easy for me to answer. I have to think back to being relaxed. As another poster stated the TWA stage was easy but after that things became more difficult. This is more of a length issue but I would have had the same issue relaxed. Its that in between stage where to have a style that I feel is flattering requires more work. My cleansing regimen, relaxed or natural is easy. The styling between EL and APL requires a lot of time. Whether relaxed or natural between EL and SL, I can't pull my hair up quickly, so I have to spend some time styling it.

I don't think it is so much difficult, but its more that at certain lengths styling it is more time consuming. But I can tell that when my hair reaches and passes APL not only will my regimen be simple, but I will have more styling options so I can choose whether I want to put it up in 30 minutes or spend more time doing something more elaborate.

Relaxed or natural, I don't have the prettiest looking head of hair in the world. Don't get a lot of oohs or ahhs. But my hair is much healthier than it was relaxed. And I think with length it gets better.

Going natural, you have to be willing to make a long term commitment. Then you can make it through the difficult times.
 
I've been natural for 2 month now and I find it pretty easy. My hair is around NL and I'm able to wash/wet more often (2-3 per week) which is something I wanted to do as relaxed but couldn't. The process is easier too and styling is fairly quick. Much quicker than my roller setting or flat ironing ever was.

Really, it depends on what you want to do with your hair and what you consider hard/easy. To me it's easier to care for healthy hair and although my relaxed hair was as healthy as it could be (considering the harsh chemicals) my natural hair is completely different and more manageable than I would have imagined.

Lastly, I've been a DIYer since middle school so I've had years of experience in styling my hair. If your styling skills are lacking you may find it a bit more difficult to get the looks you want but you can always learn.
 
Hard = No
Different = Yes

I don't have any issues with wash days, detangling or styling. I pretty much just wash, condition, twist for twist out, where the twist out or put it in a puff. When it gets longer I'll start experimenting with other styles but I don't think I'll have any major issues in terms of difficulty.

I'm eternally grateful for You Tube and this site. I wouldn't be able to handle my hair without the countless tutorials, product recommendations and general information.

Please note that I've only been natural for a year. I may change my mind as it gets longer.
 
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Once you figure out what works for your hair, its pretty easy (to take care of 4B hair).

Having a system/solid regimen in place in KEY. Sure you'll have your OMG hair moments.. but that happened to me with my relaxed hair too.

I've learned my perfect KISS regimen and I'm sticking with it:

  • Keep manipulation to the max of 2Xs a week (this includes both washing and "refresh" styling)
  • Moisturize and seal AS NEEDED
  • Tie down hair at night
  • IF needed, baggy ends
Most importantly - Handle your hair gently. As long as you are not ill, hair will grow regardless. Retention is where its at.
 
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I agree with you OP. Despite how many people believe that we relax our heads because we want to 'look white' is dumb. Majority of us relax because its easier to maintain. I went an entire year w/ no relaxer once, trying to decide if I should go natural because I too love the big curl look. But OMGEE...I did so much damage to my hair during detangling sessions. :( If my hair is extremely thick while relaxed, can you imagine the thickness and coarseness I had to deal w/ trying to transition?! Noooo. Natural was not for me so I just rock my kinky curly wigs & pretend to be part of the natural crowd. LOL!!!
 
Op,
I'm not going to lie it is difficult for me to maintain my hair. I guess everyone is different but my hair isn't easy to maintain at all.
 
@ yaya24

I am salivating over your bun in your siggy. Time cannot fly by fast enough for me to be able to do all of that. Lovely!
 
with my lazy self i'll say easy. being able to go two weeks w/o styling is right up my alley. i'm gonna put in some mini twists soon and that'll be a MONTH of no hair styling :yay:

i use a comb 2 times a month and detangling takes 2 hours out of my day twice a month. it could be a lot more complicated but i ain't into all that steaming and weekly styling stuff right now. plus i get about 100% retention this way.

easy, breezy, beautiful covergirl is my name. yes, m'am. :yep:
 
I'm actually looking forward to being fully natural...i have my confused moments but I'm def gonna continue transitioning. My newgrowth is actually softer and shinier than my relaxed/texlaxed hair...and its darker..maybe jet black...I'm excited.
 
If I been on this site before I started growing my hair out from a twa, I don't think my journey would have been hard at all. I was CLUELESS when I first started. I was clueless for all of 2009 and most of 2010. So I wasted 2 years. But once I stopped fooling around it took me less than a year to get my head full of the right info and my hair back on track. It gets easier and easier each quarter.
 
My hair is mostly 4a. It's not hard to take care of unless you want it to do what it's not meant to do. If you're someone who wants perfectly sleek, shiny hair all the time then it might be hard for you.
 
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Thank you to whoever bumped this old thread up again. I'd been unsubbed for while, but I came back and it was nice to read over these old posts again, as well as read some new ones :)

Now, since starting this thread I have stayed natural and never touched a relaxer, not since 2009. But I have to admit, I am finding it a bit difficult to manage my hair and style it into flattering styles. My hair is still in that awkward stage where my afro isn't very big, and it just looks a bit :ohwell:. I think I'll put a weave in soon to help me rest from my hair for a while :yep:
 
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