Question For Naturals

[kbragg]

How much do you have to grow out your hair before you see your true texture? I have 1 3/4 inches of new growth and I think I have zig zags, but my edges are growing in kind ofcurly. Right now it's just all poof all over. I've over processed and under processed so many times that I'm thinking of just being done with the relaxer all together. I mean I can always flat iron or use the curling iron if I want a straight style right? Would my natural hair grow out to where it eventually causes the striaight hair to curl? When you flat iron natural hair does it come out straight similar to relaxed?

Kind of torn again (I swear I get this way whenever it's around touch up time LOL!) Both my daughters are mixed and have curls not waves so since it obviously had to come from MY side I wonder if it's any indication that I too may have curls. All you ladies have such pretty natural hair that you've inspired me! Please excuse my late night rambling

 

[kbragg]

Anybody?



.

 

[londonjakki]

I had a virgin perm...six years ago and within 3 months decided to go natural ( I met a hairdresser who told me she could press my new growth). So I started going to her and another hairdresser and they would flat iron the new growth. With regular trims I eventually had all natural hair.I'm not sure how long it took..but I never did the BC....
No..if you hair is permed it will not revert as the natural hair grows out...as you get more new growth you will see the difference in the two textures....Yes, when I had my hair pressed it was GoRgEoUs (If I do say so myself)..... you could not tell it wasn't permed..it had body and shine and would bounce..People could not believe it was pressed and you know they ask... ....it would shine and swing...I have no idea what products they used..(They put their products in unmarked bottles ) ...Have to go back to work..I'll write more later

 

[londonjakki]

Oh...me again.. I never did the BC because I never did my own hair ..I was a regular at the hairdresser...One thing about being natural..if you like it straight..when you sweat or workout or it gets wet..rain etc..(at least with my hair..it would go back to an afro)....and lastly... .be careful if you go natural of overpressing... because if that happens your hair will stay straight and from what I understand it will not go back to its natural state ...also it could just happen in certain places mainly at the ends...well good luck whatever you decide to do........

 

[lsubabiedee]

How much do you have to grow out your hair before you see your true texture? I have 1 3/4 inches of new growth and I think I have zig zags, but my edges are growing in kind ofcurly. Right now it's just all poof all over. I've over processed and under processed so many times that I'm thinking of just being done with the relaxer all together. I mean I can always flat iron or use the curling iron if I want a straight style right? Would my natural hair grow out to where it eventually causes the striaight hair to curl? When you flat iron natural hair does it come out straight similar to relaxed?

Kind of torn again (I swear I get this way whenever it's around touch up time LOL!) Both my daughters are mixed and have curls not waves so since it obviously had to come from MY side I wonder if it's any indication that I too may have curls. All you ladies have such pretty natural hair that you've inspired me! Please excuse my late night rambling

hello. It's hard to say how much new growth you need to be able to see your true texture because it seems that a lot of the time, the hair can look totally different when not connected to relaxed ends. But IMO you have enough to be able to tell somewhat.
When you ask if it will cause the straight hair to curl, what do u mean? The relaxed hair will stay relaxed, but you could try styles that blend the two textures.
HTH

 

[MsBttrfly23]

Good question Kbragg...there are lots of ladies on this site who have a wealth of info in relation to your question! I'm sure they will pop in and give you the 411.

Sorry I could not be of help...I'm still a newbie but thought this was a good question!

Good luck whatever you decide to do!

 

[Brownie]

Your hair is at a length that you probably can see some of your texture; however, IMO, you can only see your real texture when the processed ends are gone because then your hair will hang naturally without being pulled downward---and then you can see how your curls/waves/zigzags hang. Also it's still hard to tell when you are transitioning because more than likely you probably have more than 1 texture, so even if you determine your hair type in one area, your hair type might be different at the crown or the back. In a nutshell, do what works for you. If you're tired of relaxers, transition. If you still like straight hair, look at other options.

 

[kbragg]

When I say "curl" I meant I've seen some photos of transitioning women where the NG somehow cause the relaxed hair to "wave" a little bit when wet ( dunno, it was late last night so who knows what I was thinking)

Ok, well I'm going for it! I am so done with perms. Ever since African Pride made my hair fall out (I mean ALL my hair too) 4 years ago, I've gotten that paranoid jiggly feeling in my guy every time I put one in. I recently switched to lye but I think I'm just going to give the rest of this Motions away. With the growth I'm getting fro MTG and the fact that my lo lye hair is so dmamged from over processing that it's breaking off anyway, I might as well go natural. I can flat iron if I want straight hair and not risk my health (hubby doesn't like the relaxer anyway...he's really concerned about putting chemicals on the hair, especially since the scalp is so thin, and so close to the brain He even switched to all natural shampoo himself! Trying to get the boy to use conditioner but his response is, "I'm a guy")

Ok, so I guess I'm transitioning! Can't tell my family that for sure! Isn't it so sad that whites are more loving of our natural texture than we are?erplexed

 

[LynnieB]

Ok, so I guess I'm transitioning! Can't tell my family that for sure! Isn't it so sad that whites are more loving of our natural texture than we are?erplexed

May i first to say CONGRATS on your decision!!!!!

For some (myself included) relaxing was a nobrainer. You start doing them and never give them a second thought until either something happens, you start contemplating why you go through this mess (touchups) while going down the relaxer aisles or you start dragging your feet and making excuses to put off going to the salon.

for me, something happened after years and years of no problems. to this day i'm not sure if it was because of the relaxer or because our house was destroyed AND we nearly died in a fire nearly 1 year ago (stress baby stress!). but it literally scared the hair off me in patches.

whichever or however you come to your decision - it's really for the best - there's tons of info out there and soooo many women here and over @ NP who'd be so happy to help.

i believe if in your heart that you've come to the conclusion that you're "done", then you will enjoy what you've been blessed with (through good and bad and thick and thin!).