New and need your help!

[Savgal]

Hey, y'all!! I've been lurking on this board for about a week or two and have learned so much. Everyone here seems really cool about helpingone another achieve their hair goals and the tone is so much more welcoming than other Black hair boards.

Right now my 4a/b hair is relaxed, and I'm thinking about going natural. I like the look of straight hair, but I'm just fed up with perms. I'm not doing it for any political reason or anything like that. I've had a relaxer since I was 13, about 10 years, and I want a change. But the thing is, I'm so scared to do it. My new growth does not feel like my hair as a 13 year old before I stared relaxing. I have coarse 4a hair that has a crinkly pattern to it. But this hair growing out of my head feels not coarse and crinkly, but plain rough and damaged! That's why I'm so scared to go ahead and chop my hair off. What can I do to soften my new growth and make the switch from relaxer to natural an easier one?

 

[adrienne0914]

welcome, savgal!

curl activator is great for softening new growth. that's what i use to manage my hair between touchups. as for the big chop, i think you should hold off on that until you become accustomed to dealing with your own hair. try the curl activator first. good luck! /images/graemlins/smile.gif /images/graemlins/smile.gif

adrienne

 

[pebbles]

Hi Savgal,

Welcome to the board! /images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

[zoya_j]

Ditto to what Adrienne said. I transitioned for 6 months before my big chop. The curl activator worked for me. Since you aren't sure yet, why don't you wait a while longer before doing the big chop or perm. Since you're considering going natural you could check these websites out if you haven't done so already:
Nappturality.com
OurHair.net

But I must admit you struck gold when you found this site.
Oh and welcome to the boards! /images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

[sweetcocoa]

</font><blockquote><font class="small">In reply to:</font><hr />
Savgal said:
My new growth does not feel like my hair as a 13 year old before I stared relaxing. I have coarse 4a hair that has a crinkly pattern to it. But this hair growing out of my head feels not coarse and crinkly, but plain rough and damaged!

[/ QUOTE ]
Welcome! Adrienne's suggestion of curl activator is a good one. Also have you ever hear of 'scab hair'? That's the hair that first grows out after you've had a relaxer. I believe it's the body's way of purging the chemical left in the scalp. I had that for about 6 months, then my hair became softer and more like what I had when I was a child. There was a thread on this a while back. I'll see if I can find this and post it. /images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

[sweetcocoa]

Here's the thread. See Brighteyes's post(the 2nd one down)..
http://www.longhaircareforum.com/showflat.php?Cat=&amp;Board=Women&amp;Number=13749&amp;Forum=Women&amp;Words=scab%20hair&amp;Match=Entire%20Phrase&amp;Searchpage=0&amp;Limit=25&amp;Old=allposts&amp;Main=13746&amp;Search=true#Post13749

 

[Titansgirl]

Welcome to the board, Savgal /images/graemlins/drunk.gif

 

[AZJeepgurl]

Hello, Savgal! Welcome to this wonderful board of ours!

I just want to relay a little story of mine! I had about 26 weeks when I went to my hair stylist 2 weeks ago. She herself is natural and in locs. I told her that I wasnt sure that I wanted a touch up, that i might decide to transition.

At which point, she was going to press my roots! Then I changed my mind again right there in the hair salon and thought, maybe I'm not ready yet! Cause I too am sick of the chemical dependency.

My hair stylist recommended that I wait until I was ready (i.e. Adrienne's statment above). She told me that it is a huge commitment/decision that I should think through because my regime would change drastically.

Sweetcocoa is definitely a natural inspiration and you might want to check out her website along with all the other natural beauties who belong to this board.

But in the meantime, I found that the S-Curl No Drip Activator (recommended by Miss Adrienne) helped me manage my new growth tremendously. Plus, I just caught a glimpse of a post that mentioned how Castor oil helps, as well.

Good luck! We're here to help!
AZ
/images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

[skegeesmb]

Hi, welcome to the board. I agree with what everyone else has said about going natural. I also believe in scab hair. I had hard hair for about 6 months, but after I clipped that hair off, my hair is so much softer and combing after washing and conditioning has never been easier.

I must say this, if you plan to transistion make sure you are ready to embrace your choice no matter how your journey turns out. You might regret cutting early if you aren't ready. But if you're like me, I had to cut my ends. I would have gotten a touch up because I had long relaxed hair before I cut. For me, the chop was a good thing. I didn't do an even big chop, but I did cut my hair into a stylish short cut which allowed me to cut off my relaxed hair, but have an up to date chic cut.

Whatever your decision is though, good luck.

Skegeesmb