Spin off to why did you go natural....

[SimplyBlessed]

Why did you get a perm?!?

As a natural (who has never had a perm) I hear many reasons as to why ppl get perms and ppl would say I never had to b/c supposedly I have that "good hair" ....So i'm jut curious as to why many ppl get a perm...

Was it you just like straight hair better, or u just wanted to, was it for society/image reasons, easier managablility, or even the weather in ur area(living in Florida I hear that reason a lot), etc...

Just trying to see both views...we always hear why ppl go natural so just thought I would see why some don't....

If you got a perm not by choice (i.e. as a little girl, b/c of your mom) just vote other in the poll!! Feel free to still comment and explain what made you keep your perm....

**I believe all hair is beautiful permed or natural as long as its healthy!!**

 

[Determined22]

I didn't have an option, I got my first relaxer when I was 4 or 5 years old.

I went natural in April (BC'ed) and I love it, but I can't say that I will be relaxer free for the rest of my life. Its a choice, like anything else, and the way I wear my hair isn't a political statement or an indication of my Blackness, its just the way I want to wear my hair at that particular time.

 

[SimplyBlessed]

Girl ain't nothing wrong with that....just trying to see why some ppl like natural and why some ppl like permed hair....to me all hair is beautiful when its healthy!!!

 

[vainღ♥♡jane]

i started missing my length once i got to that awkward stage between twa and baa, and because i felt pressured since someone i used to like preferred longer hair like what i used to have. bad, i know. but i won't do it again.​

 

[Neith]

The pic in my siggy is over 4 inches long stretched.

Looks like it's under 2 inches

Yeah... it's my shrinkage that made me go for the relaxer/texturizer. I have some of the worst shrinkage I've seen on anyone.

I still don't like it, but I learned how to work with it and be ok with it.

 

[LunadeMiel]

Because I wanted to fit in (when I was 11).

 

[Ronnieaj]

I begged my mom for one when I was 7. Had it for 20 years. I preferred my hair straight and I liked the "white girls' hair" comments I always received. I knew it wasn't true, but who cared? When my hair started thinning in law school I started to rethink the decision, and it was ultimately best for me to go natural. I know how Neith feels though, my hair is grazing SL straightened but shrinks to EL for a wash n go, mid-NL if twisted. I don't mind it actually, I think my shrinkage is kinda cool. People are always shocked when it's straightened.

 

[Nonie]

SimplyBlessed, I just came in here to for making the dumbest poll ever.

Silly rabbit!

 

[yaya24]

My mom said it was eaiser than all my crying when she tried combing my hair (I was around 6)... First I got a jherri curl.. then later on down the line a relaxer..erplexed

 

[silvergirl]

when i was relaxed, i didnt even think about getting a perm, it was just something i did automatically time after time like clockwork. there was no reason, it wasnt to have straight hair, or to have good hair or to have swinging hair , or to be white, none of that. it just happened. i cant explain it. i had been relaxed since i was 4 yrs old, so relaxing was all i knew. and natural hair.... i didnt even know it as an option.

 

[Optimistic]

I voted other because I had no choice. I remember one afternoon I came home from kindergarten and they put it in my hair while I watched seaseme street. I wasn't allowed to eat candy, but that day they gave me lots of it.

My sister said that I use to cry a lot when I got my hair pressed so that's why I got a relaxer.

 

[Chromia]

I got a relaxer when I was about 12 years old. My mom decided on that for me, I guess because it was easier for her. At that point I had spent my life either getting my hair straightened with a hot comb or getting braid extensions. What made me keep getting a relaxer through my teens and 20's was that I didn't think there were other options besides braid extensions, an afro, or dreadlocks. My last relaxer was 2 years ago and I don't miss it.

 

[RainbowCurls]

I got my first relaxer at about 13. I hated my 'frizzy hair' (of course, combing out curly hair is going to make a mess isn't it?)
My aunt had relaxed her hair and told my mum about it, who told me, I decided straight hair was for me, maybe because, like LunadeMiel said, I wanted to fit in.

Woah. What a let down.

Stayed relaxed til my 20s because I literally didn't know there was an alternative

 

[Kneechay]

my aunt did it while she baby sat us when my parents went to work. she said me and my sisters had too much hair for her to handle. we had been natural all our lives, straight from Nigeria. My mom was pissed.

 

[cutiebe2]

When I was 9 I kept begging my mom to let me get a perm. I think I just wanted to be like everyone else. Now I know she was trying to save me from the same trauma she went through (My mom's hair has been permanently damaged my perms). The front of my head went bald after my first touch up and I never got another touchup after that, I have been natural ever sicne

ETA: Even after I went back to natural I still had that "straight is better" mentality. I got my hair pressed every two weeks for the next 8 years after that.

 

[SimplyBlessed]

SimplyBlessed, I just came in here to for making the dumbest poll ever.

Silly rabbit!

I didn't really want 2 make a poll but post a place where ppl could just say other b/c I know there would have soooo many posts about geting perms as a child and it not being by choice....

I just wanted 2 see those that choose willingly to get relaxers....

 

[SimplyBlessed]

my aunt did it while she baby sat us when my parents went to work. she said me and my sisters had too much hair for her to handle. we had been natural all our lives, straight from Nigeria. My mom was pissed.

OMG I know ur mom was soooooooo pissed....did she and ur aunt get along after that?? wow I have a daughter so I could imagine how ur mom felt

 

[Taina]

Ok i've been natural two times. three with this new big chop. The first time i was relaxed b/c my mom i was 11 and nobody wanted to control my hair i wanted to do it to, because as a child i really love straight hair, I was young and inocent xD

The second time i did it because i was looking for a job in Dominican Republic and people interveiwing me lokked at my hair like : What that hel*? and nobody wanted to give me a job. Found a job in AA and they did not matter so i went natural again, but i got tired of the same look, and because it was too much. I had to drive 2 hours going and 2 hours comingo from my job, i got bored and i did'nt had the time to do anything in my head. I was out of my house 14 hours a day. I could'nt handle it.

 

[PerplexingComplex]

My little cousin cried when I said I didn't want my hair like her's. She was relaxed and I did it to make her feel better.

Did it again when I moved with my father. He believes in the jiggaboo concept.

 

[Kneechay]

OMG I know ur mom was soooooooo pissed....did she and ur aunt get along after that?? wow I have a daughter so I could imagine how ur mom felt

yeah they got along after, and still do to this day, my mom was just furious because she didnt ask her and my mom didn't plan on ever relaxing our hair. I remember her being upset and telling her that now we'd feel the need to keep up the relaxer and she was right.