Opinions Needed Please :)

[Faith]

I'm seriously thinking of going back to my natural hair (I got the BEST flatiron if I ever want it striaght and I found great products as well to help with that).

The bottom 4-6" of my hair is basically afroish (relaxers weren't taking..coul dbe the Brewers Yeast). Another 6" looks semi relaxed and the last 4" or so is straight.

SO last night I blowdried the bottom 3-4"(on low heat..hardly any heat) and then flatironed (on low heat). Just running it down the length 1x.

My hair looks better and it's really healthy BUT can I continue doing this while I transition?

I would do it every 10-14 days. If I airdry the two textures will tangle and we know which one will lose out and then I may reach out for a relaxer and the transition would be over.

My hairline can't take any braids, weaves, whatever either. And note, I'm not flatironing to wear it down. It's in a bun..I'm flatironing to try and deal with the 2 textures. Is this smart or should I keep relaxing (which I don't want to do). I'm thinking maybe do it this way and slowly trim the ends?? And the heat isn;t excessive.

 

[Brownie]

I'm seriously thinking of going back to my natural hair (I got the BEST flatiron if I ever want it striaght and I found great products as well to help with that).

The bottom 4-6" of my hair is basically afroish (relaxers weren't taking..coul dbe the Brewers Yeast). Another 6" looks semi relaxed and the last 4" or so is straight.

SO last night I blowdried the bottom 3-4"(on low heat..hardly any heat) and then flatironed (on low heat). Just running it down the length 1x.

My hair looks better and it's really healthy BUT can I continue doing this while I transition?

I would do it every 10-14 days. If I airdry the two textures will tangle and we know which one will lose out and then I may reach out for a relaxer and the transition would be over.

My hairline can't take any braids, weaves, whatever either. And note, I'm not flatironing to wear it down. It's in a bun..I'm flatironing to try and deal with the 2 textures. Is this smart or should I keep relaxing (which I don't want to do). I'm thinking maybe do it this way and slowly trim the ends?? And the heat isn;t excessive.

Sounds like you're just having issues with the various textures. Could you just get a corrective relaxer to make your hair all the same straightness? As for the one part of your hair not getting straight, perhaps that had to do with the technique, or the relaxer. I'm all for natural hair; however, you initially relaxed, after being natural, for a reason. What was that reason? If you want to be natural, and yet, you want your hair to be straight all the time then you might run into conflict because you'd have to constantly use heat and then you're going to run into humidity issues (swelling/big hair). That flat iron you have might be working so well because it is not as humid or hot right now. It might not work so well in the middle of the scorching summer. If you want to wear your hair straight most of the time, you're probably better off with a relaxer, and you might just need to find some better techniques for getting your hair straight such as roller setting or the ponytail method, and you might want to change relaxers. As for that funny section that won't get straight, I would do a strand test on it to find out what you would need to do to get it to look like the other part of your hair.

Lastly, if you want to be natural because you are tired of relaxers and you miss your natural hair, that's a different story, and a corrective relaxer won't fix that problem. I'm just saying think about your options before you start cutting. If you don't, you'll be natural again talking about wanting to relax again, and then, the cycle will start all over again, except your hair will be a lot shorter. Also transitioning is not for the faint of heart. If you decide to go that route, you might run into big time tangling and knotting when washing and detangling your hair, and that might thin your ends to the point where you would basically have to start trimming big time. I'm just saying weigh your options and think about what you really want to do and why. Do you want to have straight hair most of the time, or are you okay with having textured hair most of the time?

Good luck in whatever you decide to do.

 

[kitchen_tician]

Hi Faith!

We're in the same boat. I'm 6 months post relaxer and I blowdry my hair every 2 weeks for manageability. Then I wear a bun, pin-up or braids. I'm using limited heat because I don't want to damage my natural hair.

I tangle and lose more hair if I airdry completely with no heat. So for now, totally eliminating heat is not an option for me.

 

[ThursdayGirl]

I am transitioning and curious to know which flat iron you're using and what are the products that you're using?

 

[Faith]

Good luck in whatever you decide to do.

Wow,Brownie. You really got me thinking...lol. I guess my issue is different textures. And it's not different textures in different sections. It's different textures on the same strand of hair. LOL! Thanks to hair dresser. I'm back to doingit myself. If anything I'll keep the more afroish texture instead of the straighter texture on the ends. Which means cutting 3-4" off slowly (the hair dresser over processed it seems..I can tell my hair goes reddish). I'll just keep to Affirm mild 20 minutes at home. Thanks for your suggestions. I appreciate it

And I think the Motions Silk Protein was starting to affect my hair. I hardly relax and my hair is very healthy and was relatively soft considering the nature of my hair but lately was feeling really dry and FRIZZY.
2 differences I found were Motions Silk Protein and the fact that I used to do preshampoo treatments (I had stopped for a while but started again 2 weeks ago). Already my hair feels softer. Hm! I still don't know if it's the motions and I should stop all together or not? Has anybody else had a "negative" reaction to Silk Protein after an initial good period?



HI KT LONG TIME How have you been? I'm still not 100% about transitioning and I'm not 100% about staying relaxed. All I know is I don't want to start over. My hair grows too slowly for that AND my hair is too TIGHT for an effortless transition. LOL! I'll keep thinking about it.


ThursdayGirl, I used Redken Smooth Down Butter Treat as a leave in (LOVE IT) and Redken SO long heat treat (purple bottle). Then flatironed using a Gisele ionic flatiron. It cost me $300 CAD but you may be able to get it for about $250-275 USD.

 

[Brownie]

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