"I would never have touched a relaxer if I had pretty hair like that!?"

i think the same thing OP, but its because of what i observed as a child. little girls that had those type 3 silky, shiny, ringlet hair, were allowed to keep their hair in its natural state, while type 4 hair like mine just got perms. i never understood why or even paid it any attention til i found hair forums. so when i see a type 3 bc or transitioning to natural, i always wonder why they even had a relaxer in the first place. ♥
 
I spent my entire childhood, teens and 20's wanting jasmine guy, chili, michael michelle, jennifer freeman hair. beautiful, shiny ringlets that i can just wet and go. i was ashamed of my big, poofy, nappy hair and was teased about it. it wasn't until i found the hair forums and learned how to care for my hair and what i can get it to do that i started appreciating what i have as a relaxed type 4. who knows if i knew then what i know now i may have never relaxed.
 
I relaxed for the first time because I thought it would make my thick hair easier to comb. It did but I now realize that it made it easier to comb because I (and my mom) didn't know how to care for it. Also, I think I explained this in my back in da day post, I was a teen in the 80's-90's and the look was sophisticated styles that required straight styles. The blowouts and rollersets I got didn't cut for those styles.

In the end, relaxers didn't really help me. My hair didn't take to them very well and I ended up wearing my hair curly 90% of the time. I found products that worked and I never relaxed again.

The products are so much better now and IMO staying natural would be easier. I hope I can keep my dd's natural but I have to say, even the 3ab one will probably succumb to peer pressure when she gets from under my roof. I hope not but you never know.
 
LaFemmeNaturelle said:
Ya'll keep sayin ya'll jealous of the fros....what kinda fros do you mean? Cause I've never been able to get my hair into a fro and I'm type 4. So is my mother and the only way she can get a fro is after braiding and curling the ends. I used to think it was my length but my brothers hair was just as long as mine and he had a HUGE fro.

What counts as a fro these days? This: http://www.naturallycurly.com/curly-photos/view/beautiful-length-5905

or this
http://www.naturallycurly.com/curly-photos/view/monique-coleman-4808
Click to expand...


I want one of these!! These are fabulous fros to me..maybe they are called something else...But whatever they are...I want one..

es.jpg

natural-afro-hairstyles-1.jpg
afro-curlz.jpg

huge62312001.jpg
 
It's funny how this works. I remember when I was younger, while most of the other black girls had relaxers, I was teased and called jherri curl and pubes.

It was weird. It was like my hair wasn't loose enough to not be made fun of, but on the other hand, it wasn't "nappy" enough to "need" a relaxer.

OP, I could definitely relate to where you're coming from. I used to think that people with a looser curl pattern than mine had it easier, all around.
 
yamilee21 said:
Oh, I forgot to mention the shrinkage. My so-called type 3 hair shrinks, from tailbone to APL, sometimes shorter.

I have asked this before, and I will ask it again, if type 3 hair is supposed to be so darn "easy" what the heck are all the type 3 heads doing on this forum in the first place?
Click to expand...

lol. Are you complaining that you're TAIL BONE long hair shrinks to APL?:yawn:

I've been on this board for 4 years and just got my 4b hair to kinda reach APL if I stretch it really hard and bend my head a little. Wanna trade?:lachen:
 
Mystic said:
I totally get what the OP is saying and agree. Doesn't even have to be 3C...., I drool over those 4-something heads that can get beautiful defined curls with minimal products, and effort. The best hair experience I have ever had all these years was when I used to do brazilian treatment; I had the best curls ever! It was soft, manageable and daily wash&go was the coolest thing. At that time I used to wonder why would anyone want to relax with this hair type when they can get straight hair easily by rollersetting or passing the flat iron one time. Unfortunately, my curly days didn't last too long since the BTK damaged and thinned my hair out. Having wash-&-go curls at the time with minimal effort was truly AWESOME. I sometimes wish I had 4s curly hair that grew out of my scalp, lol.
Click to expand...

Again we see this desire for the look that is most familiar (hence viewed as most normal/acceptable) to many in this country and way "natural hair" ought to look: defined curls. Something that comes so naturally to type 3 hair because of the size of the coils but due to simple physics, just isn't so easy with kinky hair.

That's like the Latina lady with straight hair who is frustrated that she has do a braid-out after applying 19732397297 products and maybe sitting under a dryer just to get waves, while all say Joss Stone needs to do is a WNG and voila, waves galore.

Your hair may not grow in S shapes but it does grow in C's. Looking at your BC pic, I see little circles. Manipulation--as is necessary with type 4 hair--keeps them from ever making their scene. But you do have those coils. You just may never be able to show them off, except at the ends of small braids or twists. But you can showcase other things about your hair as BMP stated.
 
pinkopulence said:
IMO - I would not touch a relaxer if I had hair like this:

http://www.youtube.com/user/maneandchic#p/u/3/96d29Fga9a4 or this

http://www.youtube.com/user/richeau#p/u/111/WllE5NDXn6M or this

http://www.youtube.com/user/supaxkawaii#p/u/4/4AhLzUMUXTo or this

http://www.youtube.com/user/Mariamparker#p/u/138/h3qXX6DvrAo
Click to expand...


Thanks for those videos! I didn't know maneandchic was on youtube although I've read her blog

ETA: Yes I did. I saw her channel BEFORE I read her blog and never made the connection. Thanks anyway!
 
Last edited:
BelindaLuz said:
... What I got out of the original post was the people with "silky" 3a/b/c I have seen cottony and spongy 2a's on down but I think she ment the people with the silky strands. I know my spongy and cottony friends/family have just as much of a problem as I have sometimes. ...
Click to expand...

Yes, strand type is just as significant, maybe more so than curl size. My son is "type 4+" and much of what I do and use for my hair works just fine for him, but does not work at all on my super-fine strand "type 3" daughter.

AfroKink said:
lol. Are you complaining that you're TAIL BONE long hair shrinks to APL? ...
Click to expand...

Nah, I don't complain about shrinkage much. But since there seem to be many misconceptions about "type 3" hair, I thought I should mention that type 3 hair can shrink A LOT too. And I was "stuck" around APL stretched for years; it took me much longer than four years to reach this length.
 
/\ She looks to be 3a/b.

Maybe if you comb your hair out alot? Or lightly blowdry to encourage frizz? I've never really had to make an effort to achieve a fro.....its just like bam! Here I am!:giggle:
 
I would think you could just do bantu knots and get that look. I got that on my relaxed hair with bantu knots (accidentally) so I'm sure a natural 3c should be able to do it.
 
JustSimplyTish said:
... I'm gonna have a fro if it kills me
Click to expand...

I bet you could have a fro if you use a clarifying shampoo or baking soda and nothing else - do not condition, do not use any leave-in products whatsoever, and be sure to shake your head heavy metal rock star style while it is drying.

But it *will* kill you, because it will take forever to detangle when the next wash time comes, and you may lose about 25% of your strands. ;)
 
/\ lol the process doesn't have to be that extreme to achieve a fro lol. I'm pretty sure she could just wash condition comb her hair out.......alot and just allow to dry.
 
I didn't even KNOW my hair was in the 3's until after I was natural! I decided that when I stopped getting relaxers, I didn't care WHAT texture my hair was. My mother hotcombed my hair as a child, and then I started getting relaxers.

One of my best friends has been natural for 5 years, and she is 4b with a TWA (shrinkage). The first thing that I love about her hair is that when she styles it, it STAYS! It stays until she decides she wants to do something new. Secondly, she has all kinds of braids and twists styles that don't hold on all my many hair textures. The back of my hair twists wonderfully (3bc) and the top doesn't (3a). When I sleep, it's almost like my hair resets itself at night and gets matted, and I gotta co-wash it! I don't feel right going more than 2 days without some type of conditioner in my hair! We laugh at the good/bad points of our hair all the time!

We need to all "love the hair we're in."
 
I just wanted to say I'm a 4, and the only thing that kept me away from perm my whole life was that my styles lasted for so long
i have friends that permed just to keep their styles longer, and they were silky silky 3s. i get it. everyone has their reasons for everything
 
i'm a 3b (though with more length the curls are starting to stretch) and i used to relax. i find that the same reasons why i relaxed was the same reason plenty of 4's relax.

my mom had i would say 2b/3a silky fine hair. her wash and goes required not products and she had well defined curls (unless it was humid). she had no clue what to do with my head of hair and i, to this day, still have the "kinkiest" hair on that side of the family. i grew up hearing that i had "pelo malo" meaning bad hair in spanish.

then in school, EVERY black girl had a relaxer. all of their pony tails were slicked and shinny. where as i had the infamous halo and was called several names like don king, grazing bush, light socket (as in i stuck my finger in one) and so on. my hair was usually dry because my mom didnt know what type of moisturizing products to use. she would wash my hair with harsh sulfate poos multiple times and then use a conditioner that was anything but conditioning. no moisturizer, no leave in.

then i got a little older and my mom decided to start using "black" products in my hair... we then got a big tub of blue magic and some pink oil. finally at like 13 (i think) i cried and begged for a relaxer and she finally gave in.

i didnt learn how to do a wash and go until about a year ago. i wasnt using the right products until about a year ago. i was doing everything to "tame" my hair instead of working with it.

so i dont think our stories are that far apart. the grass is always greener on the other side. but if you've never experienced another hair type, then you never really know how good or bad you have it. i remember wishing i had kinkier hair because relaxers didnt do the same thing to my hair that it did to the girls with coarser kinkier hair. i was still a hot mess with a relaxer so its a good thing i stopped lol

sorry so long guys. had to get this out. and nonie, as usual... you always say the right stuff :D
 
BlackMasterPiece said:
I think so....I have friend thats a 3c and she can achieve a fro so I see no reason why you couldn't as well....even if it does flop down a bit its still pretty:yep:
Click to expand...

know what i dont understand... in the 70's my mom was able to have a fro with her hair type... while mine is curlier and coarser than hers and cant do one at all!!!

maybe cause her hair was short when she had a fro?
 
Mz.MoMo5235 said:
know what i dont understand... in the 70's my mom was able to have a fro with her hair type... while mine is curlier and coarser than hers and cant do one at all!!!

maybe cause her hair was short when she had a fro?
Click to expand...
Yea, I've noticed shorter curly hair can have the appearance of a fro...but once it gets longer it sometimes loses that ability and will have more of a tendency to "hang" (especially A's and B's)....whereas people with hairtypes like me and RusticBeauty will be able to have a 360 fro even when we achieve waistlength:yep:
 
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