Natural or continue Relaxed?

[Lusa]

Hello Ladies,

I am still cutting my LHCF teeth here so please bear with me.


I am facing a little dilemma with my hair right, and I would appreciate all the help I can get from people that have gone through or are going through the same. My hair is currently relaxed, and my last retouch was October 16, 2005. I have been sporting a ‘halle’ cut for about two years now and recently decided to grow it out. To aid my retouch stretch, I have had my hair braided for about a month now. With my hair being so short in the back, the braids have not stayed in long, and I have had to re-braid them. In doing this, I have noticed that I kind of like the feel of my natural hair.


I haven’t had my hair natural since 2002 when I had to chop it off because of a bad bleach job. Anyways, as much as I may be toying with the idea of going natural, I can’t help but think how coarse my natural hair is. I have 4 a/b hair, and when I have had natural hair, it’s almost impossible to comb when it gets to a certain length. However, this was in my pre-LHCF days and things could be different this time around.


Part of the reason why I would like to go natural is I will save a lot of money on relaxers, and I want my hair to be healthy with as little chemical manipulation as possible. Also, wtih my hair being not so-long it might be easier to go natural now than later when my hair is much longer.

Anyways to cut a long story short, does anyone have any insight to make my journey a little less daunting?

 

[onepraying]

Read, read, read, learn, learn, learn all you can!

There are products and techniques that allow one to manage their natural hair with ease....Blessing to you on your decision.

 

[~*~ShopAholic~*~]

It will be much easier for you to go natural now since it wouldn't be such a long transition and BC involved later down the road. I would say give it a try, and maybe to stay focused joing the April fools stretch challenge, that should help you remain strong while trying to transition. In the meantime do as Onepraying advised, and read all you can trying diffenrent techniques to make dealing w/your natural hair easier than back in the day. HTH's and HHG

 

[ayoung]

I agree--I think it will be much easier to BC now than later.
I like BWE's idea of focusing on the April Fools stretch challange--and then you could join the TWA grow out challange etc... challanges may help you stay strong and focused!

In the meantime--yep---read up on natural hair care etc..and look at natural's albums etc..

 

[caligirl]

It seems like you're worried about having coarse hair. The only thing that works for me is wetting my hair everyday and leaving conditioner in. I know a lot of women with coarse hair that do this. Plus, I think my hair has softened up and become more manageable with consistent weekly deep conditioning. Oh, and setting natural hair really helps it to feel soft. I do braidouts and rollersets. Let the hair dry completely for the best effect.

 

[kristina]

Well whether you decided to stretch or go natural, here's one bit of advice specific to dealing with "hard to manage" hair: detangler. A detangler makes such a huge difference, it's insane. My hair tangles easy and I swore my hair required two hours to detangle without ripping when I first started. Detanglers cut the time down to a half hour. My favorites are Biolage Detangling Solution and Pantene Light Conditioning Spray. Best of Luck!