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.