I was natural until about my sophomore year of high school. I begged my mom to let me get a relaxer, and she finally relented sophomore year. My hair was below BSL when I first relaxed, and that was even with some pretty heavy abuse. I stayed relaxed for about 15 years before I started to realize that I was having a hard time getting my hair to the length it was pre-relaxer. It would start to grow and then I'd have a setback, usually due to over- or under-processing (my natural hair is low porosity and resistant to relaxers). After my last relaxer in August 2012, my hair stylist suggested that I try a sixth month stretch. Then I came across the transitioning with BC board and Youtube, and I was inspired to officially start my transition. On March 23, 2013, I cut off my relaxed ends after 7 months of transitioning. Now, I'm just over a year post-relaxer. My goal is to try being relaxer-free for at least 3 years to see if it thrives now that I know more about how to take care of natural hair.
I'm not anti-relaxer or other chemicals. I just want to see if refraining from relaxing works better for me. I know it's cheaper because I don't self-relax (I had some really bad setbacks when I tried), but I will take care of my natural hair at home.
Now that I'm a year post, I'm going to try straightening. I have a few heat protectants and I bought a new hatchet blow dryer. I just haven't straightened yet because I'm afraid of heat damage, but I just need to go ahead and try it.
My regimen
Currently, I wash once per week. I deep condition overnight first, then I shampoo and condition/detangle. During my transition, I did the same, I just used more protein deep conditioners than I do now.
When I was relaxed and finally figured out my regimen, I used the Keracare line almost exclusively. The only exception was that I used Aphogee 2-min reconstructor, which I used weekly. Right now, I'm trying to figure out what my natural hair likes. It seems to like certain Aubrey Organics, Curl Junkie, Oyin and Camille Rose products, but we'll see. I want to start branching out to some cheaper, still quality products that I can get on the ground, like Aussie; but I'm also a recovering PJ, so I have to do it in an organized way.
Any setbacks and how you overcame them as a natural or relaxed head. (you never know who you can help with this information) - No setbacks as a natural so far.
Your goals as a natural, especially length goals - I want my hair to be at least shoulder length in its natural state, and WL straightened. I don't know if WL will be too heavy, but I want to at least reach it and cut later if need be.