As some of you may know, I put up a thread about wanting to relax and or cut my hair etc. Well 2 nights ago I made the decision to try the relaxer again after 1yr and 5 months of being natural.
The experience: I did my first self relaxer. I didn't leave it on any longer than I was supposed to. I neutralized and based my scalp. It was so weird seeing my hair straight like that. I had a sad feeling (but that was the same feeling I had when I first went natural or the 5 times I cut my hair short lol)
Afterthoughts: I don't regret doing it, but I do feel like I betrayed the natural world (even though i know its not that serious! lol) I have 2 ladies at work that are natural and we just talked about being natural the day before. The next day I went in with a bun and bangs and they both complimented my hair, and asked did I flat iron. I told them no and the one said, "You gave up the good fight." I felt bad... like she really was upset with me or something!
My initial reason to go natural was to start off with healthy hair. I never was a die hard natural. I was never the one to knock relaxers, or talk down on people who did use them. I honestly felt like the only way to get my hair long was to go natural. I was so naive to healthy hair practices PERIOD. But coming on LHCF has let me know that there are plenty of healthy long haired relaxed heads.
My decision was try the relaxer again was due to:
TIME
MANAGEABILITY
NEED FOR CHANGE
I know that many naturals will say that if I wanted a straight look then just flat iron. But honestly that was not a realistic option for my lifestyle. I know that everybody is different, but for my situation I wasn't able to get this done as often as I'd like. Also, it takes way too much time to do anything to my hair. Hours upon Hours that I really don't have. I won't say that I gave up, because I was not FED UP with my hair necessarily. I just made a conscious decision for my life.
Also, I know that many people say that our hair is so versatile in it's natural state... and it IS. But so is relaxed hair. You can obtain curls, waves, twists etc as well. So it's all versatile IMO.
But the moral of this is to let everybody know that I did decide to try the relaxed life again. It's a new challenge for me and I'm now stalking relaxed youtubers and LHC members. lol It's not bone straight, but it's straight enough to now manage! I will stretch for as long as I can and if I decide to go natural again, I'll just CHOP IT OFF. I need to not stress myself over it.
And YES, I'm going to change my user name to a more versatile name lol.
I realized one thing about life: Live in the moment and don't take life too seriously.
Thank you ALL for the support!