Naturals why do you choose NOT to relax?

[missann]

- I didn't think it was fair that everyone else could be carefree (wash and go) with their hair, but I was expected to continually alter mine

- I too wanted the thick long hair I had pre-perm

- I hated the fragile, "see-through" appearance of my permed hair

- I finally realized that nothing was "wrong" with my hair so it didn't need to be "fixed"

 

[babyblue]

1. Mainly I wanted to wear my hair the way nature intended.We're the only people who act like wearing our hair the way it naturally grows is unacceptable. Yeah yeah, i know other races alter their hair too BUT they dont subject their children to it at a young age nor do they refer to their natural hair in negative terms the way "we" do.
2. Relaxer is a caustic chemical.
3. can causes dryness, breakage and thinning
4. With the right care natural hair is much stronger and can be very versatile

 

[carameldiva]

i agree with alot of you ladies here. I wanted wash and go- flexibility and to be true to myself. I needed to see what was underneath and bond with it. I want to attain the length that i had as a child- pre-perm.

 

[Divastate]

1. I could easily grow my hair to midback length by wearing braids for months at a time- only to have it all break off again as soon as I got a relaxer
2. At the time when i big chopped my husband and I were planning to start having children- I decided that if I ever have a daughter I don't ever want her to feel that her hair is ugly, not straight enough or needs to be chemically altered to be beautiful as I felt most of my childhood.
3. Though I didn't realize it until I went natural I had actually lost quite a bit of my hairline and a ton of thickness in my hair- it just can't handle the chemicals period.
4. I no longer wanted to feel like I *had* to relax my hair for it to be mangeable or presentable. My hair is far easier and more manageable natural than it ever was relaxed.
5. I love the water- swimming, rain, rafting, etc. and I'm finally free to enjoy it without worrying about ruining my hair.

 

[Ayeshia]

- tired of worried about being burned
- Love my curly hair (that I never knew was curly b4)
-Im going to a mainly caucasian campus, so their will be no black haircare services available
-Never wore my hair str8 anyway

 

[TastesLikeMusic]

i'm not natural...yet, but here are the reasons i've decided to transition to natural..

1) chemicals have eaten my hair...like crazy
2) i've been getting relaxers since...i'm not ever sure how old i got my first relaxer, but i hardly even know my natural hair...i want to get to know my natural hair...what it looks like to have a full head of natural hair...what it feels like, etc...

those are the simple and basic answers

 

[NapturalGlory]

*sigh* i remember getting ponytail weaves. my "stylist to the stars", gina, would give me a touchup and then take my lil snatch of hair at the top of my head and knot it into one "bun" as big as ONE of my bantu knots. then she would wrap the track of silky straight around and around and secure it with a big ole bobby pin. the silky straight didn't match my fuzzy edges. my hair never got straight enough. the service cost me like $50. unbelievably weavable. now i'm waiting for the day when my flat ironed ponytail will be long enough to be mistaken for weave... it's actually a possibility now. i can actually dare to dream of growing my hair out to my maximum without worrying about losing sections of my hair to chemicals. healthy growing hair is mine at last! i have learned so much from you folks on the web it's amazing. i never would have imagined this would be me 4 or 5 years ago. i just wanna say thanks to all the ladies that participate on hair boards cuz without you this journey would be too much to believe!

 

[bellydancer]

[ QUOTE ]
queeny20 said:
I hated being like a crackhead thinking ooh I need a touch up. Then spending all of that time and money getting it done.
Queneesha

[/ QUOTE ]
lol there was this girl who lived next to me in my dorm room and she was hilarious. Every month you would hear her screaming through the walls "I get to go home and get a perm and my nails did!!!" lol every single month I just knew i'd be hearing that.

 

[LittleMissScientist]

This IS an interesting thread...

Although I am no longer natural, I chose not to relax for many years because a) I learned how to successfully take care of and enjoy my hair in its natural state and b) to style it to my satisfaction.

 

[PhonyBaloney500]

1-I had a couple of relaxers (mild I guess) when I was a kid and some of my hair fell out--just broke off. One day it was almost up to my sholders and the next it was up to my chin.
2-My mom used to relax her own hair and it would last for like a few days lol....then it wouldn't look so hot. It also did not grow at all!
3-I would hate the idea of being STUCK with a certain style. I want that versatility of having an afro puff, twists, curls, straight hair, etc.
4-I think straight hair looks BETTER when it's natural and then blow dried. I discovered the great Domican Blow Out last year and my hair looks very bouncy and sleek, as does many I've seen with blow out's as opposed to perms.
5-I know it can be difficult to going back to natural.
6-Perms can be quite damaging.

 

[hotshot]

its as simple as the fact that i like my texture. theres nothing wrong with my natural hair. if it aint broke, why fix it?

 

[gogo]

Newbie here! After relaxing my hair for almost 30 yrs (my best friend gave me a French Perm for my senior prom back in 1974!)I finally had enough bad hair drama. I never felt my hair looked it's best even after all day salon visits. I've spent a fortune & tried countless stylists searching in vain for the one who would magically persuade my fine, limp, uncooperative and overprocessed hair to perform the way i always hoped it would....all to no avail. It's been a little over 2 yrs since my last touch up & I currently have a head full of completely natural hair for the first time since Richard Nixon was prez! I absolutely love my curly, baby-soft, nearly dime-size coils that hang almost to my shoulders when dripping wet. (who knew such great texture was hiding under all those chemicals!!) Now I know I'll finally see the HEALTHY, strong length I've always dreamed of and look forward to a multitude of attractive new styles & techniques with help form this board. THANK YOU LHCF!!!

 

[MrsQueeny]

Wow gogo, I think you might have the record for the longest time with relaxed hair. Congrats on finally getting the hair you deserve.
Queneesha

 

[coolbreeze]

At this point, I'm so used to being natural (9 years) that I stick with it out of familiarity. I can't say whether I will ever perm again or not, but for now, I love my curly texture, and the fact that my hair is the healthiest that it has ever been since I was a small child. I grew my hair to its longest length ever (brastrap) while natural. Also, I still remember why I went natural in the first place: a relaxer and permanent color applied to closely together caused my entire hairline to fall out. I couldn't cover this up, so I had to shave my hair off. Looking back, this was a good thing.

 

[FlowerHair]

My main reasons are time, health and beauty.

I've only relaxed my hair twice in my 33 years. The first time (at 19) I was stupid enough to do it myself, and I colored my hair the same day with a permanent color. Needless to say, my hair started breaking after a short while.
The second time (at 22 or 23) my hair turned out beautiful, but after 4 months it was time for a touchup (even though I really didn't see the difference between the two textures after blow drying) and I decided I was fed up with spending every Saturday blow drying my hair for an hour. It was just tiresome. I'm used to spending no more than 10 minutes on my hair in the morning. So I cut off *all* of my hair, which was then about bra strap length. After that I've never relaxed my hair again. I don't see the beauty in it, not in my hair I mean. There are others with nice perms, even though I've never seen one in Sweden or anywhere else for that matter. Only here on the internet have I seen hair that looks nice with a relaxer.

I like my hair the way it is, and nowadays I know how to straighten my hair with a flat iron in 45-60 minutes if I want to, but I've only done that twice.

Nowadays I am also concerned with the health factor. I try to eat as healthy as possible, mainly ecologically grown food and I don't even use commercial hair colors anymore because I'm scared of the chemicals in them. I only use henna to cover my grey hair.

I love natural hair, I love curls, coils, waves and frizz! I love being able to wear my hair super big and curly, sleek and wavy or even straight, combed out to a big fro, twisted or braided. I love playing with my hair. All of my friends wear their hair natural, and I love looking at everyone's hair and comparing how they look. They are all beautiful.

 

[CharUK]

The reason I want to go back to being natural is that i'm fed up of all the stress chemically processed hair has caused me, yes, some of it was self inflicted, but still.

I have never worked with my natural hair, so I don't know what potentials it has, i'd like the opportunity to find out.

I am 23 years old and have permed my hair since the age of 13 (although I have a total of 4 year break with braid extensions)

I'm tired, my hair is tired, i'm going to give it a try.

 

[nurseN98]

Everything you all said....

 

[Karonica]

I'm tired of worrying how my hair will take to the perm. If my left side will be too stringy compared to the right side, since I wear my hair curly a lot.

I'd also rather just color my hair, and not have to worry about being double processed.

 

[kandyland]

It was being on this hair board and NP that made me make the decision not to relax anymore. I was doing a stretch out relaxer challenge...and I don't know, I can't explain it, during the 10th, 11th, 12the week of the stretch out....I could actually see and feel my new growth and I fell in love with it...it was all she wrote from there....that 12th week relaxer stretchout turned into a transitioning to natural phase....

Through the years my hair kept getting thinner and thinner and thinner, it was growing long just thin....Now my hair can grow grow grow with all its thickness....

I love it...

 

[SilkyandSmooth]

I've stopped relaxing because:

1. I'm just tired of relaxed hair. I love my natural texture and want it back.

2. I'm tired of sitting in the salon for hours on end just to get a touch up.

3. I no longer want to put chemicals in my hair.

 

[pReCioUsLil1]

I didnt have ne major problems wit relaxers, jus a lil breakage in d front, but dat was from pullin my hair back 2 much n brushin 2 aggressively. The main reason i went natural was caz i like my texture, or am learnin 2 luv it, n caz i believe dat d best beauty is natural beauty. n wur um from (Bermuda, halla!) evry1 except 4 d mixed gurls or wateva have permed hair, so i wanna look different caz relaxed hair is d same, except 4 length.

 

[Karonica]

[ QUOTE ]
SilkyandSmooth said:
I've stopped relaxing because:

1. I'm just tired of relaxed hair. I love my natural texture and want it back.

2. I'm tired of sitting in the salon for hours on end just to get a touch up.

3. I no longer want to put chemicals in my hair.

[/ QUOTE ]

Hey, our last relaxer was on the same day. May 7.

 

[missykeyana]

I love my hair too much, not to mention:

1. I don't miss the smell
2. I don't miss the salon
3. I don't miss the (occaisional) scabs
4. I don't miss being pissed off at MISTY, HUMID days
5. I don't miss all the heat
6. I don't miss the sameness....I wore the same styles ALL THE TIME

And the main reason.....I don't NEED one.

Missykeyana

 

[SilkyandSmooth]

[ QUOTE ]
Karonica said:
[ QUOTE ]
SilkyandSmooth said:
I've stopped relaxing because:

1. I'm just tired of relaxed hair. I love my natural texture and want it back.

2. I'm tired of sitting in the salon for hours on end just to get a touch up.

3. I no longer want to put chemicals in my hair.

[/ QUOTE ]

Hey, our last relaxer was on the same day. May 7.

[/ QUOTE ]

Cool!

How is it going so far? We're approaching the three month mark, ya know? Transitioning hasn't been as difficult as I thought it would be. Let's hope it stays that way.

 

[Karonica]

The longest I've gone before is 4 months. My hair is much shorter now...I think it will be a breeze before I'm hacking the rest of the permed parts off.

 

[Aisha81]

Good question. Mainly because I believe routinely changing anything about your body for the sake of 'beauty' is a waste of time. I don't pluck my eyebrows, I trim my nails but I never put polish on, and I wax mainly for cleanliness, but also because I wear more clothing than the average American, and being hairy makes you HOT!

I just love my hair. Even when it gets on my nerves I still love it. Touch ups and worrying about certain products reacting badly to your hair because of the perm is not worth it, IMO. God doesn't make mistakes. I just don't think he intended me to get touch ups every 6 weeks for the rest of my life.

 

[TastesLikeMusic]

it's funny because...i told my mother that i decided to transition and she looked at me with this slight confused, 'oooooooooooooook?' type of look. it was cute...i wasn't bothered by it, but you can see what some people's reaction to the whole natural hair thing is.

 

[Mahalialee4]

I am skeered of the perm.....frightfully sk-eer--ed! ai am not willing to risk it===at this time but if technology advances to where there is absolutely no risk guraranteed...maybee...and I hope I do not go and do something impulsive or regrettable in between. For real. If it didn't shrink...I would never even dream of it, because it is naturally wavy and I love waves. Bonjour.

 

[browncrownQt]

I too choose to remain relaxer free because it wrecks havoc on my scalp! I develop tiny sores that itch. I decided to go to a dermatologist. She told me that I could have over time developed a chemical allergy to the caustic ingredients in the relaxers. She confided in me as a black woman that relaxers and texturizers are probably the worst thing that we do to our hair. I decided to do the big chop March 03, and I have not looked back since. I love my natural texture!!

 

[mermaid]

I hate to waste the time and money, and to me it really is a waste; there are no benefits in my opinion. The damage it does to the hair and scalp isn't worth it, and if I want to wear my hair straight I can do it just as easy as with a relaxer- it just seemed like I had to do the same stuff to my hair as with a relaxer, so what was the point?? Plus, I don't have to run for shelter when it rains- I do get frizzy and poofy, but it's not like I ruined the relaxer!