Natural to Relaxed..... WHY?

[BeautifulFlower]

Explain your story....

 

[Energist]

I did, because my natural hair is very very thick, wild and unruly if untamed. I had no knowledge of a site like this lol. I didn't know of any hair dressers who dealt with natural hair and it was very discouraging. A lot of people commented on how nice my hair was, but had no idea of the tears and stress I went through with it! It just got to be too much for me, so I went to the Dominicans, who relaxed it. I saw that my hair was pretty long, but was severely damaged, because I didn't properly take care of my natural hair, so I allowed them to cut it all off and start from scratch!

I am happy with my decision, but had I known about a site like this I would have most likely stayed natural!

 

[locabouthair]

styling my natural hair was too much work. I couldnt do wahs n go's. i usually wore conrows and I always had to depend someone to braid my hair. Plus I was starting grad school and I knew I couldnt spend hours on my hair all the time. So I relaxed.

 

[babygirl_00]

I went from natural to relax for a few reasons.
1) My hair was so thick, I couldn't rock the natural styles
2) I got tired of wearing my hair up in buns, and pony tailserplexed
3) I like wearing my hair down but because of the weather in Florida that was impossible during the summer months
4) It's mush easer to manage now that my hair is relax
....I owe so much thanks to LHCF

 

[aurora3140]

I went from natural to relax for a few reasons.
1) My hair was so thick, I couldn't rock the natural styles
2) I got tired of wearing my hair up in buns, and pony tailserplexed
3) I like wearing my hair down but because of the weather in Florida that was impossible during the summer months
4) It's mush easer to manage now that my hair is relax
....I owe so much thanks to LHCF

I just when through your fotki and I have to say that your hair is lovely natural and relaxed .

 

[ncglenn]

I relaxed my hair because although I was taking hair of my natural hair, the ends would always split and knot; which made me have to cut my hair a lot and prevented me from attaining my desired lenght. I am texurized now, and I can still wear curly styles and style my hair in a fraction of the time and most importantly, I am retaining lenght!!

 

[sareca]

It looked so short! It drank whole bottles of product. It required a lot of manipulation to get it to look "right."

 

[DDTexlaxed]

I transitioned 7 times because I thought I was better off natural. I think my hair responds better texlaxed. I use less products and it takes less stress to style. My texlax problem started when I kept switching relaxers at touch up time. I'm still natural now, but I will probably texlax in the future. I have to pay someone to take care of my natural hair. It's not too expensive, but I much rather do my own hair.

 

[RosesBlack]

I relaxed after being natural because my hair was very short and I have about 4 different textures of hair naturally on my head. It was very difficult to take care of for me and I did more damage to it than I did good.

Also texlaxing/relaxing has made it far easier for me to care for all the hair on my head and I retain a lot more growth.

 

[godsflowerrr]

I did it because it would take me a whole 8 hours to detangle, wash and detangle my hair again after washing. then i had to braid it up or blast it with heat...i loved my natural hair but it took waaaay too much time to do because my hair was soooo thick.

 

[pisceschica]

In addition to what everyone said I prefer to wear my hair straight and feel that it compliments my face better than the volume of my natural hair. Its pointless for me to maintain natural hair when ALWAYS wear it straight.

BTW: I'm still natural but once my layers grow out I'm relaxing my hair. . I can't wait.

 

[AllAboutTheHair]

I couldn't wear my hair loose without some form of heat because my hair would shrink up into itself and tangle and tangle and tangle some more. The braided ponytail bun got old, it was too much length to keep twisting. Honestly, I didn't have the time anymore it required to nuture and maintain the length I had so I cut it. Then on top of all that I got bored, and since I am still a heat freak, I texlaxed. I stretch 6 months at a time. It's working so far.

 

[DDTexlaxed]

Can you please tell me your texlax technique and how you stretch so long? That is my ultimate hair goal!

 

[lipyt]

It was too thick. Took too long to style. So I just permed last weekend.

 

[BklynHeart]

Bump......

 

[tess1913]

Too thick and hard to maintain. I live in a small town there are not natural hairstylists. It ended up requiring more of time to maintaqin that my relaxed hair. I have 4 kids time is precious.

 

[BklynHeart]

doin' the bump.....

 

[Incredible1ne]

I relaxed my hair because although I was taking hair of my natural hair, the ends would always split and knot; which made me have to cut my hair a lot and prevented me from attaining my desired lenght. I am texurized now, and I can still wear curly styles and style my hair in a fraction of the time and most importantly, I am retaining lenght!!

I am having this problem right now.

 

[prettypuff1]

i got tired of knots and ripping them out.....

 

[Nature'sWay]

I went natural and I relaxed back because It took too much time to moisturize and with a natural I had to spend much time preparing for my next style so that my hair will not be dry and wild. I just did not have the time to spend hours every day after work preparing for the next day's style. With a natural I had to prepare for the next day because if I sleep with a loose fro, my hair was matted down when I awoke and I had to spend hours in the morning trying to make something of my hair before I went to work. My hair was only about three inches all around too so I didn't have very many styling choices and I got tired of it and relaxed.

 

[Connie]

Many of you stated some of the very reasons why my attempt to transition from relaxed to natural a couple of years ago failed. Caring for our hair in it's natural state takes patience and time, and I'm short of patience when it comes to caring for my relaxed hair. If I ever go natural, you'll see me with a short 'fro; that's all I have time and patience for.

 

[DayStar]

Sigh...never relaxed my hair till i turned 21. I loced my hair at 19 and cut it off after 2 years....i wanted a different look...so i decided to relax despite my mother telling me my hair would fall out....it didnt...i have been a DIY for almost 2years (in january).....i was tired of natural hair not because it was hard to maintain, because my hair was very managable, i was just tired of my hair disappearing as soon as moisture hit it.....plus there are only so much cornrows and clips a GROWN WOMAN can wear...i was tired of looking like a kid. Relaxers have been worth it...i love..love...LOVE my hair, and i take great care of it.

 

[Glitter]

Too many knots/tangles + too little time = way too much damage.

I also look better with straight hair. I fought against this for a long time but then I saw pictures of myself and I had to admit it. Straightening natural hair is too time consuming and way too damaging so I said hello to the crack!

 

[Traycee]

I'm relaxed b/c it takes a lot of effort to keep up my hair in natural state....to me natural is high main..

 

[BillyJay]

I was natural this time around for 2 years.

I loved being natural and had no problems with detangling. My issue was that I wanted my hair straight ALL the time. Because of this, I would flatiron or press my hair more than I should have.

The last time I used an electric pressing comb and I damaged my hair. It fried.

My rationale:
Why not get a relaxer and use absolutely NO heat???!!!

I was doing more harm than good using heat on my natural hair. I had to cut off nearly 2.5 inches to get rid ogf the heat damage.

Now my hair is thriving. I dont have to use any heat to obtain straight styles.

 

[MizAvalon]

I went back to relaxed after being natural because it just got to be too difficult. All I knew about were braids and puffs. That gets really old and juvenile looking after a while, so I just went back to relaxed.

Now I know that there are so many things that you can do with natural hair so I will be better off when I go natural again. No time soon though.

 

[MizAvalon]

Sigh...never relaxed my hair till i turned 21. I loced my hair at 19 and cut it off after 2 years....i wanted a different look...so i decided to relax despite my mother telling me my hair would fall out....it didnt...i have been a DIY for almost 2years (in january).....i was tired of natural hair not because it was hard to maintain, because my hair was very managable, i was just tired of my hair disappearing as soon as moisture hit it.....plus there are only so much cornrows and clips a GROWN WOMAN can wear...i was tired of looking like a kid. Relaxers have been worth it...i love..love...LOVE my hair, and i take great care of it.

Agreed. The styles I was wearing were too childish.

It's like, there are only so many conrows and little puffs that a grown woman can wear before she begins to look ridiculous.

 

[ichephren]

Well, considering that my transition is about to fail(I bought 2 phytorelaxers today ), imma tell you why I may not be going natural again afterall. 1) I want to wear my hair straight all the time. 2) the only way that I can get away with using heat on my natural hair is to rollerset first...rollersetting natural hair might just be a special room in hell. I did a rollerset this weekend and I could hardly fit all the rollers on my head, and I'm just 8mths post relaxer! 3) natural hair takes a lot more effort than relaxed hair. I've had both, and trust me, my APL natural hair took far more time to style than my past BSL relaxed hair. The thickness of natural hair might not be a plus for me. 4)so many more people have the skills to style relaxed hair 5)considering that I want straight hair, being natural and exercising do not mix

IMHO, natural hair works best for people with either a looser texture who want to wear their hair straight all the time(they usually have an easier time rollersetting) or anyone if they're fine wearing a bun, puff or twists all the time.

 

[tt8]

I relaxed my hair because although I was taking hair of my natural hair, the ends would always split and knot; which made me have to cut my hair a lot and prevented me from attaining my desired lenght. I am texurized now, and I can still wear curly styles and style my hair in a fraction of the time and most importantly, I am retaining lenght!!

This is the exact reason that I am debating texlaxing my hairerplexed.

 

[Empress Yahudah]

I wanted a change
I went from liking my hair in all its Scary Spiceness 80% of the time to wanting to wear my hair in straight styles and rollersets 80% of the time so It was easier for me to get a relaxer and less stress achieving the styles I want in this time in my life.