Questions for Naturals

[NikkiGirl]

Hi,

I apologize in advance if this is long. But have questions for the natural ladies. I have been natural before. I cut my hair from about bsl to a shorter bob and really loved it. I grew it out to natural and cut off all the relaxed ends. This was year before last. Anyway, I live in Texas and it is humid and hot most of the year. So my first question is, how do you style your natural hair in hot climates.

My second question is when my hair grew out, there is a spot in the front (bangs) that really didn't get curly. I find that wierd, espcially since hair grows from the scalp and the relaxer shouldn't stop it from growing in curly right? It gets curly, just not like the rest of my hair.

I started this journey trying to acheive longer hair and now I am confused because I like my natural hair and I feel like with all I know now I could do it. I didn't know about LHCF when I was natural. But I am scared. Hope that doesn't sound too stupid. The crazy thing is I am more afraid of what others will think of my natural hair. I know that sounds crazy. Any sugesstions or advice would be really helpful. Oh, I found one picture of my hair natural. It was washed and not conditioned.

Thanks for all your help.

 

[Ms Lala]

Hi,

I apologize in advance if this is long. But have questions for the natural ladies. I have been natural before. I cut my hair from about bsl to a shorter bob and really loved it. I grew it out to natural and cut off all the relaxed ends. This was year before last. Anyway, I live in Texas and it is humid and hot most of the year. So my first question is, how do you style your natural hair in hot climates.

I just moved to TX. I mostly wear 2 strand twists and twist outs. When it is very hot I stick to the twists. Sometimes I wear braided styles but I prefer twists. You have a pretty defined curl pattern so you probably can do wash n go's w/the right products.

My second question is when my hair grew out, there is a spot in the front (bangs) that really didn't get curly. I find that wierd, espcially since hair grows from the scalp and the relaxer shouldn't stop it from growing in curly right? It gets curly, just not like the rest of my hair.

My hair has multiple textures. That is common w/natural hair. I have about 3 different textures of hair on my head. My hair in the front is much straighter and finer than the rest.

I started this journey trying to acheive longer hair and now I am confused because I like my natural hair and I feel like with all I know now I could do it. I didn't know about LHCF when I was natural. But I am scared. Hope that doesn't sound too stupid. The crazy thing is I am more afraid of what others will think of my natural hair. I know that sounds crazy. Any sugesstions or advice would be really helpful. Oh, I found one picture of my hair natural. It was washed and not conditioned.

You have alot of info right here at your fingertips. Visit fotki's and check out the thread on waistlength hair, alot of natural members posted their regimens and it has great tips.

http://www.longhaircareforum.com/showthread.php?t=321851

Thanks for all your help.

answers are in purple

 

[Sweet_Tea31]

I enjoy wearing wash n go's when it gets hot.

Sounds like the hair in the front my be a different texture from the rest of your hair.

 

[NikkiGirl]

Did you ladies Transition or do a Big Chop?

 

[Sweet_Tea31]

I did the Big Chop but keep sew-in weaves until I got a some length.

 

[testimony777]

Hi =)

I live in Chicago and we have really hot and humid summers. In the summer I wear wash and gos most of the time (like it is in my avatar). I like big hair so I actually prefer the way my hair looks when it is humid. I started using Kinky Curly Curling Custard (KCCC) and Kinky Curly Knot Today (KCKT) this past summer and I really like both.

As far as your bangs having a different curl pattern (or lack there of) I don't really have anything to share. I agree with you, it is strange. Could it be heat damaged?

 

[NikkiGirl]

Hi =)

I live in Chicago and we have really hot and humid summers. In the summer I wear wash and gos most of the time (like it is in my avatar). I like big hair so I actually prefer the way my hair looks when it is humid. I started using Kinky Curly Curling Custard (KCCC) and Kinky Curly Knot Today (KCKT) this past summer and I really like both.

As far as your bangs having a different curl pattern (or lack there of) I don't really have anything to share. I agree with you, it is strange. Could it be heat damaged?

The heat damage may be an idea. I had gone natural because I was relaxing and decided to highlight and my hair fell out around the front. Like down to a couple of inches. I was mortified. Anyway, I decided not to relax at that point until it grew in. But I did learn that I cannot double process. Some people can, I can't

 

[Ms_CoCo37]

You have very beautiful hair!

This past summer was my first time in a long time as a natural. I live in Atlanta, and summers here can be rough, especially with the humidity. Since I still had a little bit of perm on my ends (prior to my bc in August) I mostly wore my hair in buns, braidouts and finally after my bc, wash n go styles (you can check the albums in my profile to see some of my styles).

Products that became staples for me were:

Kinky Curly Knot Today
Kinky Curly Custard
Cantu Shea Butter Leave In Conditioner
Coconut Oil
Amla Oil
Brahmi Oil
V05 Conditioners for Cowashing

Twists have become my best friend. I'll likely continue to wear them throughout the summer.

 

[lilsparkle825]

i did a year long transition and finally went natural in june of 2008. i really liked the fact that i was going into summer as a natural since i really fell in love with the look of wash and goes as i was transitioning. i utilized that style almost exclusively that summer, being that my hair was short and i couldn't do much else with it (other than kinky twists, which i did myself once i learned how, and a few rollersets that i ended up pulling back). last summer, i tried a little harder to be versatile and went with not only senegalese twists, but also puffs, ponytails and twistouts when i wanted big hair. this upcoming summer, i plan on installing a curly sew-in to mimic the length i want, but also to give my ends a break since i found that cowashing every day/every other day was too much manipulation for my strands. i will also style my hair in wet buns, chunky two-strand twists, and maybe even the occasional straw set.

regarding your different textured bangs, i too had that issue. my bangs were nearly straight for the longest time, while the crown was very coarse and the driest section and my nape has always been very loosely textured and silky. i just chalk it up to the versatility of natural hair and keep it moving. i will say that after about a year of being natural, my bangs started to "act right" and now they have a bit more curl to them.

i will tell you that no matter your texture, people are probably going to judge you or wonder why you made this decision, which is why a MENTAL transition is more important for you to undergo before you start the actual transition from relaxed to natural. once YOU are comfortable with your decision, you will be able to brush off some pretty hateful comments. heck, i know of quite a few close friends who have decided to try out the natural thing just because they have seen how confident and carefree i am. i have never tried to make anyone transition, and i definitely don't subscribe to the "relaxers are the devil" school of thought...they just saw that my hair was thriving and i seemed to be happier because of it, and now they are transitioning and calling me for product recommendations! it is truly YOUR decision, so if you want it, i say go for it! HHG!

 

[westNDNbeauty]

i live in atl and in the spring/summer humidity is ridiculous. i wear my hair in styles that require it to be big since its going to get big from the humidity anyway. pretty much twist n curls, braid n curls, braid outs or twist outs. or if i just don't want to deal with hair, i'll braid it back in about 8 large cornrows.

 

[NikkiGirl]

Thanks lilsparkle. That makes so much sense. The mental transition. I just wonder why people not in your immediate life (co-workers and such) are so vocal about hair not on their head.

 

[MissBCurly]

Hi,

I apologize in advance if this is long. But have questions for the natural ladies. I have been natural before. I cut my hair from about bsl to a shorter bob and really loved it. I grew it out to natural and cut off all the relaxed ends. This was year before last. Anyway, I live in Texas and it is humid and hot most of the year. So my first question is, how do you style your natural hair in hot climates.

I wear my natural hair in its natural state when its hot usually in a high puff if its really hot, or in a weave.

My second question is when my hair grew out, there is a spot in the front (bangs) that really didn't get curly. I find that wierd, espcially since hair grows from the scalp and the relaxer shouldn't stop it from growing in curly right? It gets curly, just not like the rest of my hair.

this is alot of naturals problem including mine, ive just come to accept it, you can finger coil it.

I started this journey trying to acheive longer hair and now I am confused because I like my natural hair and I feel like with all I know now I could do it. I didn't know about LHCF when I was natural. But I am scared. Hope that doesn't sound too stupid. The crazy thing is I am more afraid of what others will think of my natural hair. I know that sounds crazy. Any sugesstions or advice would be really helpful. Oh, I found one picture of my hair natural. It was washed and not conditioned.

Thanks for all your help.

its okay to be scared, alot of people are at some point, the most important thing to keep in mind if if your happy with the outcome in the end, if your not comfortable with your natural texture, try finger coils, or twist outs or braid out or roller sets, experiement but as far as other being comfortable with your hair in its natural state there are always going to be people who you can not please, but its not there hair its yours! and aslong as your confident with it, you enjoy it and it makes you smile thats all that matter, and if ppl really care about you, what makes you happy will make them happy.

none the less I wish you all the best and Im sure you will make the best choice for you whatever you decide =)

 

[dynamic1]

Hi,

I apologize in advance if this is long. But have questions for the natural ladies. I have been natural before. I cut my hair from about bsl to a shorter bob and really loved it. I grew it out to natural and cut off all the relaxed ends. This was year before last. Anyway, I live in Texas and it is humid and hot most of the year. So my first question is, how do you style your natural hair in hot climates.
I wear my hair in it's natural state during the hot & humid months (TX, GA) primarily in puffs and a wash&go. My hair loves the humidty. I can also get away with a rod set or flat twist out. I accept the inevitable swell.

My second question is when my hair grew out, there is a spot in the front (bangs) that really didn't get curly. I find that wierd, espcially since hair grows from the scalp and the relaxer shouldn't stop it from growing in curly right? It gets curly, just not like the rest of my hair. It could be a looser texture. I have several as well. It could be heat damage or if you pull it back a lot, it could be "trained". The longer I go without the slick back puff, the more my hair coils back up in the front.

I started this journey trying to acheive longer hair and now I am confused because I like my natural hair and I feel like with all I know now I could do it. I didn't know about LHCF when I was natural. But I am scared. Hope that doesn't sound too stupid. The crazy thing is I am more afraid of what others will think of my natural hair. I know that sounds crazy. Any sugesstions or advice would be really helpful. Oh, I found one picture of my hair natural. It was washed and not conditioned.

Thanks for all your help.

One thing is for certain...when you choose to wear your hair natural, you can't give a flying flip about what others think of your natural hair. You need to like it, bump everyone else. I was a long term transitioner (3+ yrs).

Good luck with your decision.

 

[doriannc]

I live in San Antonio, very humid. I like to keep it simple. I do wash n go's and buns. Where my bangs or the top of my head, it is very wavy/almost straight. I think that is common with a lot of naturals to have more than one texture. If I wear my hair out, I usually put the top half of my hair up in a little bun and then the bottom part in another bun to elongate the curls, and once they are mostly dry, let the buns down and my hair on top mimics the hair on bottom or vice versa.

 

[tmrskltn]

Hi, just wanted 2 comment about the 2 different textures, when I was transitioning 2 natural my texture in the very front always felt different no matter what, and I kept cutting it beacause I thought maybe it was scab hair or something , left over perm whatever, but than I realized that it was just a different texture than the rest, but by this time I had cut it so much that even now it's shorter in the front, but I said all this 2 say don't make the mistake of cutting perfectly healthy hair , u just have 2 learn 2 work with it. I hope this helps . goodluck and happy hair growing!!

 

[Rocky91]

Hi =)

I live in Chicago and we have really hot and humid summers. In the summer I wear wash and gos most of the time (like it is in my avatar). I like big hair so I actually prefer the way my hair looks when it is humid. I started using Kinky Curly Curling Custard (KCCC) and Kinky Curly Knot Today (KCKT) this past summer and I really like both.

woot woot! Chi-town stand up!!
So it was YOU who decided to block my view with all that big hair of yours at the Ne-yo concert at the Taste last year??

just messing around.
sorry for the sidetrack.

 

[LynnieB]

Hi, just wanted 2 comment about the 2 different textures, when I was transitioning 2 natural my texture in the very front always felt different no matter what, and I kept cutting it beacause I thought maybe it was scab hair or something , left over perm whatever, but than I realized that it was just a different texture than the rest, but by this time I had cut it so much that even now it's shorter in the front, but I said all this 2 say don't make the mistake of cutting perfectly healthy hair , u just have 2 learn 2 work with it. I hope this helps . goodluck and happy hair growing!!

ITA w/tmrskltn.

It's probably just the way your hair grows in the front and there's not much you can do about it. Your natural hair is so pretty!!

I also have a couple different textures and instead of worrying about it, I just do twist or braid outs to make all the textures uniform in appearance.

It works sis - try not worry about it.

Keep your chin up!!

 

[darlingdiva]

Firstly, you have beautiful hair.

I think that you could wear wash n' gos, twists, and buns. You can also do twistouts and braidouts, since you accept the swell from humidity. The style that you have in the picture is also very pretty.

I do twistouts all year long.

In regards to the different textures, most naturals have different textures all over their head. Most of my hair is 4a, but I have some 4b on the right side of my head and 3c at the very bottom.

 

[Lola Laughs]

i live in atl and in the spring/summer humidity is ridiculous. i wear my hair in styles that require it to be big since its going to get big from the humidity anyway. pretty much twist n curls, braid n curls, braid outs or twist outs. or if i just don't want to deal with hair, i'll braid it back in about 8 large cornrows.

Co-signing from atl--it's best to embrace the humidity and style around it. I wore mostly WNDs last summer but the single strand knots were crazy. This summer I'll be sticking to braid and twist outs.

On textures, I feel you. The hair from my nape up to the tops of my ears and also around my forehead is a noticibly looser curl that everywhere else. I have to manipulate those areas a bit more so that I don't look like old school Salt N' Pepa with the "stacks".

 

[BostonMaria]

I've had natural hair for almost 3 years and in the summer time it gets really humid here in Mass so I usually co-wash in the morning and leave my hair in a curly ponytail. I do wash and go's sometimes, but since it takes my hair some time to dry I usually leave those to the weekends. I sometimes rollerset in the summer, but its in vain because my hair poofs up very quickly.

I have wavy hair in the very front of my hair, like 2 inches of it. The rest is very curly. Then my nape area is very wavy. So you're not the only person with this dilemma. If anything I think going natural and having more than one texture comes with the territory.

If you are embarrassed to wear your hair out then take small steps. I had no clue how to style in the beginning so I first did puffs, then ponytails, side pony's, buns, then as I found products that made my hair look nice I ventured out and did wash and go's, braid outs, etc. I found that nobody looked at me funny, but the more confident I felt the more compliments I got. Its all about how you present yourself. I have MBL hair when straightened and if I walk out the house looking a HAM then people will look at me the same way I feel LOL It takes a while for that confidence to come up so don't beat yourself up for it. Just enjoy your hair and have fun with it!

 

[SummerSolstice]

your hair is very pretty

 

[Mdmommy99]

I live in Maryland and it can get very hot and humid in summer. I wear mostly wash-and-gos in summer and twists/twist outs on occasion.
I have different hair textures all over my head. My bangs are fairly straight with just a little wave to them. The rest of my hair is very curly but the tightness of the curl varies throughout. I've just learned how to blend it enough for it to look nice in a WNG.

I understand being scared. I went natural almost 10 years ago when it was a lot less popular and I didn't transition. I just chopped it down to a twa about 8 weeks post relaxer. I didn't really know how to style it or take care of it so I ended up locking a year or so later. You have an advantage in that you can look to sites like LHCF for guidance.
A
nd don't worry about other folks. When I chopped some people loved it and some people hated it but when you get comfortable enough that you love it you wont care what anyone else thinks.

 

[Whimsy]

Your hair is lovely.

I'd suggest wash n gos for the humid climate.

The less curly part of your hair is probably just a different texture than the rest. If you do braidouts (another humid friendly style) you can make all the hair look the same amount of curliness.

HTH

 

[Qurlyqt]

Hey OP, I'm also in the DFW metroplex and this Texas heat is no joke! When it's blazing hot, I wear a bun. When it's JUST hot, I wear braidouts, twistouts, wash & go, etc.

Sorry I didn't read all of the replies so my answer may be redundant. Sounds like you either have different textures on your head (so do I) or you have heat damage. If it's the latter, there's nothing you can do but let it grow it, trimming gradually. As far as what people will say about your natural texture, they betta' not say nothin' because it's gorgeous! Seriously, you have to like what you see in the mirror. If you love your curly hair, you will exude confidence that will make others take notice! If you're embarrassed by your curly hair, that will also show. Wear your hair in a way that makes YOU feel good, whether curly or straight.

 

[ladyKT]

I am in the fort worth, Texas area also and the humidity is crazy. I have 100% shinkage!!! LOL

 

[tada1]

just popping by to say that your hair is beautiful!

 

[NikkiGirl]

Thanks for all the advice. I see we have ladies in DFW. That's great. I am always wondering when I see a lady in a bun if she knows of LHCF. Anyway, I think I am going to transition and see how I like it. I think the first time I went for a big cut and it was too short to do anything with. So I will not cut until my natural hair is past shoulder.