How long did it take you to transition from relaxed to natural?

FrazzledFraggle
I transitioned for 3 1/2 years (42 months) by bunning and also wearing my hair straight. I started my transition at collar-bone (fully relaxed) and when I cut the last few inches in January, my natural hair was MBL (fully natural).

There was NO WAY I was going to cut my hair short - I'm way too hair and makeup-lazy for that.
 
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I transitioned for just shy of 9 months. I was anxious to see my natural hair and was sick of the relaxer. It was unnerving at first -- I went from APL to having about 5-6" of hair -- but I loved my curls and could care less about what anyone thought! :-)
 
FrazzledFraggle said:
Ann0804

Currently, it is hovering right above MBL. I may transition back...I just don't know yet. I don't know why it's so difficult to make a decision. :lol:
Click to expand...

I'm 48 weeks (I had to check my calendar, I'm not even thinking about it anymore) post relaxer and I'm still not 100% sure if I'm going to transition to natural. :lol: I was just bored of my texlaxed hair so I started stretching longer, waiting for the urge to relax. Even when the urge came I just wasn't in the mood or lacked the time. Part of me wants to just transition, a part of me is curious to see how long my hair would hang if I just texlaxed right now. :look:



I was hoping to make MBL this year, so I have quite a bit of hair to cut off if I were to BC right now. I want my natural hair to be APL unstretched before I cut, and with this shrinkage that's going to be a while.
 
I transitioned for 17 months, planning to hold out until the end of the year at 20 months post but, my relaxed ends looked so pitiful when wet, I had to cut. I had been trimming an inch a month at hip length but, it wasn't worth the trouble to have hip length hair and not want to wear it out because my relaxed ends looked so crazy--mainly when wet.

I was happy with the length that I had when I BC'd and am glad that I did it.
 
I transitioned for 13 months. The original plan was for 15 months, of which I expected to have had at least 6 inches of growth but when I cut at 13 months I had 5 inches. I was glad the transition was over because I cut off about 10-12 inches of relaxed hair, but short hair was so foreign to me I just had to suck it up. If I were to ever transition again I would long term transition for 24 months, but that's not happening because I wouldn't relax my hair again.

Sent from my iPhone using LHCF
 
Amarilles I have been looking for a post like this for weeks! lol I am transitioning (again) and dont want to BC, but I did cut 6" week before last. I am still past by shoulder, but not willing to go any shorter right now. Looking at your absolutely beautiful dual-texture hair is very encouraging! I have been looking for styling options to use once I have equal amounts of texture and needed a resource..can I use you? :lachen:

Thanks so much for the phooto..its my future :)

Amarilles said:
I'm 12 months in, new growth (pic below) almost touches my shoulders. It would shrink if I were to cut it here though so I'm keeping on truckin...

I don't wear weaves/braids or use heat, I just do braidouts (rod the ends) and style that differently throughout my week.
Click to expand...
 
I transitioned for a year the first time, and a week shy of 15 months the second time. I cut my ends gradually both times, and wore twistouts and braidouts to mask the differing textures. My hair was short to me when I chopped both times, but I made the best of it, because when I looked at some others, my 6 inches/7 inches was pretty long.
 
AudraChanell

Aw thanks! I'm only doing braidouts, keeping it simple...for the most part I'll wear the braidout loose or tied back in the front (like my avatar) or tucked up a hairband (like so). I also like wearing the braidout clipped at base of my neck (piccie) or split down the middle with 2 low side-braids...I love the flexibility braidouts give.

Hit me if you need more transitioning pics! God knows I take way too many :nono:
 
sipp100 said:
FrazzledFraggle
I transitioned for 3 1/2 years (42 months) by bunning and also wearing my hair straight. I started my transition at collar-bone and when I cut the last few inches in January, my natural hair was MBL.

There was NO WAY I was going to cut my hair short - I'm way too hair and makeup-lazy for that.
Click to expand...

sipp100

3.5 years! That's amazing! Would you consider yourself having a short or long torso, and how tall are you? What is your hair type? Sorry, I'm super curious haha.

I'm thinking of transitioning for at least 3 years - though 4 years is more of my true goal. I'm 23 months in and my natural hair is at my shoulders and collar bone. It takes me forever to reach milestones because of my long neck and overall long body proportions. I think my growth rate is about 1/3 of an inch a month anyway. Everything is against me it seems, lol. But it's so encouraging to see someone transition for that long!
 
LOL yes, I do! Im so new at this and I love how you've transitioned with the BC!

Amarilles said:
AudraChanell

Aw thanks! I'm only doing braidouts, keeping it simple...for the most part I'll wear the braidout loose or tied back in the front (like my avatar) or tucked up a hairband (like so). I also like wearing the braidout clipped at base of my neck (piccie) or split down the middle with 2 low side-braids...I love the flexibility braidouts give.

Hit me if you need more transitioning pics! God knows I take way too many :nono:
Click to expand...
 
FrazzledFraggle said:
Big decision because I'm almost 7 months post relaxer. Big chopping is not an option for me. DH would not approve. Has anyone transitioned from relaxed to natural and only cut your hair gradually as it grew out so that your hair was never shorter than when you started your transition. Does that make sense? :lol:
Click to expand...

@FrazzledFraggle, I did. I had just started a healthy hair journey I learned from Brenda of www.blackwomenrejoice.com and it involved trimming 1/4 inch of hair every 6-8 weeks using the sharpest scissors available so that's how gradually I trimmed my hair till all the relaxed hair was gone.

My relaxed hair was badly overprocessed and in the past, I would just braid it with extensions and let the relaxed hair break off on its own whenever it did. But this time, while I did braid it up as usual, I would undo one braid at a time and dust before rebraiding and do that till all were dusted. I could tell which braid sections still needed dusting as they would have some growth and be looser at the base. So that's how I was able to ensure I dusted each sections.

I put my braids in my shoulder length relaxed hair with 1 inch new growth in August 2001 and by August 2002 I had 5-6 inches of fully natural hair.
 
It took me a hair to grow out my relaxer and cut off the last inch of hair. I was maybe an inch or 2 from APL at that point.

I just washed, conditioned, & twisted my hair & wig'd it out something serious:lachen:
 
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