If You Got a Texture Softener...

[aloof one]

... or put a relaxer in for... lets say about 2 min or less. (no more... seriously like a minute and a half). Didn't even smooth, just glopped it on a big ole section, counted a few seconds and rinsed it out, then did the same thing to all the other sections. Like if you got frustrated and thought you'd made your mind up and went and bought some relaxer and tossed it on only to realize you made a mistake :::s tops to breathe::: after you put it on a section of hair... then decided to just do it to all of your hair just in case it came out looking differentlly...: What if you tried sooo hard to undo it immediately, and rinsed it out ASAP... Would that make you texturized? Texlaxed?

Would you still call that hair natural if it was only touching for a minute or two and you still can't tell the difference?

What if the hair looked the same (same curl pattern, same shape, same texture, same color, same shrinkage when dry)... just hung down a little more when wet and was easier to detangle. I am talking hair that airdries in the same amount of time, is just as healthy, and is not straight at all. You know, like when people give their kids texture softeners.

What if you were transitioning and now you wish you hadn't? Would you start over? Stay this way? (for example.. hypothetically speaking, if you were 10 months post... would you wait another 10 months and do it again...) Would you start your transition over from that point (another 16 months on top of that) more determined than ever to be natural?




I'll explain later.

 

[ladylibra]

yes, texturized. this is exactly what my sis did with JFM texture softener. except the front of her hair came out straighter than she wanted, so now she's trying to do natural all the way.

 

[justNikki]

The hair is now chemically processed, no matter how long the relaxer/softner/texturizer was on it....it's not natural hair anymore. If you're ok with it, what does it really matter what anyone else says?

 

[aloof one]

The hair is now chemically processed, no matter how long the relaxer/softner/texturizer was on it....it's not natural hair anymore. If you're ok with it, what does it really matter what anyone else says?

The problem is... my *friend (aka myself ) wants to know if she can treat the hair the same way she did before. She is thinking about continuing to transition, and cutting off the fully relaxed hair when she does the BC in November... and just keeping the texlaxed hair until she is ready to get rid of it. Since it looks the same.

I don't care what folks think (about her) its more so... should she treat the hair the same? And if folks have done this before and decided to keep on with the transition even though this is a big setback. I guess labels shouldn't really matter anyway though.

 

[glamazon386]

No... the chemical touched it. It's not natural anymore. Also, you may not be able to tell right away visually but a lot of times when you're due for a touch up 3 months down the road there is a visible difference between the new growth and the chemically treated hair.

 

[glamazon386]

The problem is... my *friend (aka myself ) wants to know if she can treat the hair the same way she did before. She is thinking about continuing to transition, and cutting off the fully relaxed hair when she does the BC in November... and just keeping the texlaxed hair until she is ready to get rid of it. Since it looks the same.

I don't care what folks think (about her) its more so... should she treat the hair the same? And if folks have done this before and decided to keep on with the transition even though this is a big setback. I guess labels shouldn't really matter anyway though.

She can hang onto it until she's ready to cut it. She might find out that she doesn't want to once she starts cutting. But I would pay more attention to the chemically treated hair. I planned on doing this when I initially bced bc I wanted to still be able to pull my hair back if I needed to. I had some underprocessed hair with my last relaxer but when it actually came down to it my natural hair started to look different from the underprocessed/texturized hair after a while. It didn't look different at first but as it started to grow out (maybe around month 4 or 5) I started to see the difference. So I had to chop. It just didn't look right.

 

[aloof one]

No... the chemical touched it. It's not natural anymore. Also, you may not be able to tell right away visually but a lot of times when you're due for a touch up 3 months down the road there is a visible difference between the new growth and the chemically treated hair.

So I will be able to tell by the end of the year so I'll know where to cut. That's good. I am thinking about BCing the same time anyway (cutting it all off in November) and just having a short do.

I think my frustration came because my natural hair was already a little heat damaged (as far as the 4b hair because I as so harsh when straightening it) and I never knew whether my hair was going to revert when I went out. It was getting so big. It was ridiculously big. I wanted thicker hair, but I didn't expect it over night. I decided I could either BC or just texturize. Then I realized I would have rather just stuck it out than do either and was just too frustrated.

I wonder if it will be easier to transition to natural from texlaxed hair?

 

[aloof one]

She can hang onto it until she's ready to cut it. She might find out that she doesn't want to once she starts cutting. But I would pay more attention to the chemically treated hair. I planned on doing this when I initially bced bc I wanted to still be able to pull my hair back if I needed to. I had some underprocessed hair with my last relaxer but when it actually came down to it my natural hair started to look different from the underprocessed/texturized hair after a while. It didn't look different at first but as it started to grow out (maybe around month 4 or 5) I started to see the difference. So I had to chop. It just didn't look right.

Lol I need to quit playin and admit it was me I was talkin about

Did you find it easier to transition/chop when you had texlaxed ends as opposd to having fully relaxed ends? I feel like the transition would be easier now since I don't have such a difference in texture and bulk, like maybe I will get used to it better?

 

[hopeful]

If I were you I'd pretend it was still natural until and unless it began to behave differently. If it gets along smashingly with your natural new growth, who cares that relaxer touched it? And yes, I'd call myself natural. Just wait it out and see how it goes.

 

[aloof one]

If I were you I'd pretend it was still natural until and unless it began to behave differently. If it gets along smashingly with your natural new growth, who cares that relaxer touched it? And yes, I'd call myself natural. Just wait it out and see how it goes.

Yea... I would never lie to LHCF I know some of these heifas would spot a fake from a mile away from the screen, cause I'm one of em.

But as far as my roomies and friends and acquaintences... you can't explain what texturizing, texture softeners, etc. is to them anyway. They see "nappy" hair and assume you're militant, or need a perm, or whatever they want to think. I don't plan on telling anyone because they won't understand. They don't even understand transitioning. I am going to keep transitioning (indefinitely now..) until I can get rid of the bone strait hair. Then eventually the texturized hair will go when I tell a difference. I think I got tired of having natural curly hair, relaxed curly hair, natural kinky hair, and relaxed kinky hair all on my head. I was using different products on different parts of my hair. It was getting to be too much.

I did it yesterday and nobody in my apartment has noticed. They never will, I bet my friend will keep making comments about how I should relax. My hair doesn't look/feel any different. I didn't even put the relaxer on half of it (the whole front). I started in the 4b part (wanting to process it longer than the 3b-4a parts) and wound up stopping because I felt so guilty and bad about it halfway to the front. I got some of the curls though.. They still look the same but when wet you can see them hanging a little more downward. They dried the same as usual though.

 

[glamazon386]

Lol I need to quit playin and admit it was me I was talkin about

Did you find it easier to transition/chop when you had texlaxed ends as opposd to having fully relaxed ends? I feel like the transition would be easier now since I don't have such a difference in texture and bulk, like maybe I will get used to it better?

Not really. It had just gotten to the point where the texlaxed hair looked really thin compared to the new growth. You usually dont start to see it until you end up with half and half or more new growth then permed hair. Its like it starts to take over.

 

[hopeful]

Right! No I didn't mean lie to LHCF, but I think you understand what I mean. You couldn't lie to us anyway cuz like you said we probably could tell...and because of this thread. Good luck to you with your indefinite transition, pm somebody next time you're dying to relax.

 

[aloof one]

Not really. It had just gotten to the point where the texlaxed hair looked really thin compared to the new growth. You usually dont start to see it until you end up with half and half or more new growth then permed hair. Its like it starts to take over.

Yea I was at a halfway point. 5 inches of NG and like 5-6 inches of relaxed hair. I will learn from this, seriously. I want to be natural so bad still. I still like my hair now, but I want to be free of relaxed hair. I know it would have helped to just BC... but I wanted length too. I think there is a huge diff b/w my natural nad relaxed hair because I used to be bone straight. I will transition from texlaxed. If I get to the half point and can't take it anymore I am promising myself I will just BC.

 

[aloof one]

Right! No I didn't mean lie to LHCF, but I think you understand what I mean. You couldn't lie to us anyway cuz like you said we probably could tell...and because of this thread. Good luck to you with your indefinite transition, pm somebody next time you're dying to relax.

Lol I shouldnta told nobody! JK.
I think this was a very good lesson for me. My first time transitioning I accomplished the following:

Learned how to go without trimming
Learned how to balance moisture/protein
Learned how to take care of my natural hair (for the most part)
Regrew my kithen
Grew out my bad hilights
Grew some edges I never knew I had
Got thicker hair

So all in all I think there was more positive than negative, even though I regret the hasty decision. I can't wait for these next 10 months to go byerplexed

 

[ladylibra]

as far as transitioning is concerned... i'd say treat the texturized hair like it's "natural" hair. if your products still work for it, great. if not, we got lots of recs for ya. i'd keep trimming off the relaxed hair and take it from there. if the texturized hair starts acting up you can gradually trim it off too.

don't sweat it, we have all different hair types here and we all choose to deal with it differently. if you like texturizing for 2 minutes and it makes your hair easier to detangle, do what works best for you!

 

[glamazon386]

Lol I shouldnta told nobody! JK.
I think this was a very good lesson for me. My first time transitioning I accomplished the following:

Learned how to go without trimming
Learned how to balance moisture/protein
Learned how to take care of my natural hair (for the most part)
Regrew my kithen
Grew out my bad hilights
Grew some edges I never knew I had
Got thicker hair

So all in all I think there was more positive than negative, even though I regret the hasty decision. I can't wait for these next 10 months to go byerplexed

That happened to me too after I stopped perming my hair. I never had a problem with my edges coming out or breaking off but I grew new little hairs all along my hairline. IDK where they came from. It seems like they're starting to grow down the sides of my face and neck too. If it gets any worse I'm gonna wax them all off.

 

[aloof one]

That happened to me too after I stopped perming my hair. I never had a problem with my edges coming out or breaking off but I grew new little hairs all along my hairline. IDK where they came from. It seems like they're starting to grow down the sides of my face and neck too. If it gets any worse I'm gonna wax them all off.

Tell me why I just pictured myself puttin some nair on my hairline?

My neck has shown its true colors, and its not even cute. My sideburns are taking over my face too. My edges are full... but the shape is just awkward. I know if I get rid of them theyll be back. And I am terrible at doing my eyebrows so I know I would jack it up some way.erplexed

 

[lovelymissyoli]

Do you have any pics or your transitioning hair vs. your now texturized hair?

 

[aloof one]

Do you have any pics or your transitioning hair vs. your now texturized hair?

I'll take some either during this week or next week during Spring Break. I'll try to get a shot of all the diff textures (even though thats impossible, lol)

the first one is a shot of my texture on Oct 31 2007, about 4 months ago when I had like 3 inches of NG. this is the front part of my hair that isn't 4b. I don't know/care what it is but it doesn't curl but it isn'lt kinky either.
the second one is a shot I took like a month ago (the last week of jan) of the back of my neck. I hadn't realized it was curly until this year:

yea... it was pretty much a frizzy mess that wants to be curly. Some of the relaxed ends had broken off and the ends wound up curling. Otherwise it was making these freaky waves.

I'll take pics and add them to this thread later. I think my hair still looks like the above though.

 

[aloof one]

I took this with my cell phone after I straightened yesterday.

Im mad that I paid 50 dollars for a camera that only works in certain lighting and my cell phone took this clear as day under a bathroom light that is missing a few bulbs.. Anyway, this is the hair in the back, above my nape. I think it is close, but maybe it did change a little. erplexed

Oh well. At least its still on my head.