Texturized transitioners

[Lucia]

why did you decide to go back to natural? esp. if being text is suposed the best of both worlds. Was it curiousity about your natural texture, not wanting to get touch ups anymore, dryness/breakage/hair just doesn't like chems, etc...

 

[LynnieB]

hi lucia....

here's my story....(gonna shorten it up nice and tidy for those that care to read through it).

on november 25th, 2005 our house was for the most part, destroyed by fire. i woke up, for no other reason that i can explain (except through God's infinite grace), @ 1:30am to the smell of smoke. at first i thought one of my kids had left a pot on the stove but after halfway falling down the steps to the kitchen, i saw there was no pot but smoke coming from our den and pouring into the kitchen (then up the stairs).

i woke up my husband who in turn told my mom our house was afire and call 911. by then the entire rear of our home was destroyed taking nearly the entire 2nd floor with it as well as the kitchen, front room, etc. What the fire didn't destroy, the fire department did while trying to put it out.

my son thank GOD had gone with my oldest (Black Friday shopping) and was not home. He loves to sleep in the rec room watching tv and as hard has he sleeps, he surely would have been killed if he were back there when it started.

i believe the fire was my fault as i had lit a candle and forgotten to make sure it was out before retiring.

we lost our cat, 2 birds, an entire aquarium filled with fish, all all our worldly possessions and nearly our lives.

fast forward to february, 2006....

my daughter and i usually do our perms together. just to try to get back some sense of normalcy and routines we decided i'd go ahead and perm my hair.

i honestly can't remember that actual day i noticed my first bald patch but i do know it was sometime before March.

it started as a tiny spot and at first i thought i'd just parted my hair weird but the spot grew from a penny size to a silver dollar size within 3 weeks - i'd comb my hair and strands would pull out, i'd shower and the bottom of the shower was filled with long strands of hair. besides the fire itself, it was one of the more horrifying things i've ever experienced and i honestly thought i'd go completely bald.

i've said it a few times here and on NP that i don't know if it was a sort of posttraumatic stress reaction that caused my hair to fall out and i don't know if the relaxer was a catalyst or not, but since the last major thing i did to my hair was to relax it..........letting it go was the easiest decision i've ever made in my life.

so, probably so much more than you asked for but that's my story of why i decided to go natural.

i haven't looked back.

 

[toniy]

I am sitting here waiting for answers to this question because my last relaxer was in Sept. Since the boards, my hair has been in such great shape that I have not had that weird urge to relax. I too have a shiny spot on top, but I also have these little hairs that are growing in that spot and I am scared I wont be able to see them if I relax.

 

[leleepop]

I started off with bone str8 hair that I relaxed every 4 to 5 weeks. I found the hair boards and started stretching my relaxers to about 11 to 12 weeks. My intial goal was for length,thickness,and I wanted to acheive a wash and go.(or at least a wash and puff) It been almost a year and I realize that my hair is either overprocessed or underprocessed no in between or I cant get it to do right w/chemicals. It is very healthy though and I've learned alot about it. I always looked at stretching my relaxers a closer way to being natural, and I new once I learn how to manage my newgrowth a bit I would want to see how my hair would be natural.(mom always kept our hair str8)Didnt know I would start this early though

Well I bought the Curly girl book because I wanted to read about co washes. Her book actually inspired me to embrace my inner curly hair.lol I started buying more books:Good Hair,Braided Glory,Lisa Akarba(sp) and now I'm pretty much brainwashed lol. I even go to nappturality, but not to often, because for some reason I get tempted to do the Big chop(so many beautiful natural heads of hair) when I go there and my hair is too healthy and I think I would regret it.I also been having a itchy scalp when I shampoo, and I feel if I cant even use shampoo than relaxers are even worse. I dont want to deal w/newgrowth, burns,shampoos,chemical,period. I know my hair will grow and I dont want it to get too long and then decide I want to stop relaxing it also. I want to know for once how my hair looks in its natural state and I want the challenge of working w/ my own hair and finding out what makes it look good. I have alot of reasons.

 

[IrisDaVirus]

I've been natural for a while but I transitioned out of a texturizer. I planned to be natural again and the day came when I said the hell with texturizers and I just stopped getting them. I never had a major problem with texturizers in terms of overprocessing, etc. The only issue I had is they made the hair on the top of my head look like a Jerri Curl. But that's because the hair on the top of my head is full blown curly. When I texturized that part, it made the hair up there look super loose-curly, hence the Jerri Curl vibe.

Overall I enjoyed my texturized hair but I can't see myself going back to it. I've grown to enjoy my natural hair and the care that comes with it. My hair is even easier to take care in its natural state than it was when it was texturized. Plus my natural hair is very similar in appearance than my old texturized tresses. People I haven't seen in a while are quite surprised because they think I still texturize my hair. It's been 3 1/2 years since my last one.

 

[divya]

I just decided to give myself - let God give me - a makeover all around. Texturizing works very well for me and my hair has been growing. However, I just would like to see myself at my best. So I figure that is an entire process includes my spiritual condition/character, diet, exercise, and even hair care. My thought was, along with my other changes why not completely leave the chemicals alone, at least for awhile? So here I am transitioning....

 

[leleepop]

Bump Bump Bump

 

[malachi74]

I had been natural for almost ten years, and just started feeling the need for more versatility in styling. I wanted to start seeing the length in my hair and I let a stylist talk me in to getting a texturizer. My hair was in good health before the salon visit. I got a texurizer and color in the same visit. I was pleased with the results, but after my second texurizer and color in May2006 I noticed major breakage. I am still battling with breakage now. This is the reason I decided to quit the texturizers. I can't think of any other reason why my hair would break non-stop.

My natural hair is soft and kinky-curly. It tends to grow horizontally though, and I thought that the texturizer would make it easier to see my length instead of me having to put clumps of oil moist and gel after every wash. Lots of ladies on longhair have texurizers and I'd like to ask how you manage to keep the length and avoid breakage while having a texurizer. I want ur exact routine.

I've been trimming the ends off every 3 weeks b/c I can't stand the bits and pieces in my hand when I touch my hair or cond-rinse in the shower. I think it may have been over processed and the shampoo girl didn't rinse out all the chemicals. Whatever the case, I know my hair is jacked up now, in a way that I've never experienced and I NEED HELP!

I joined this website in search of answers or tips on how to get the health back into my hair and to put a stop to the breakage.

 

[Lucia]

Thanks for the responses,
Malachi, there are ladies on here who have healthy thick, texturized hair, it can be done, although chems don't work right for everyone some do make it work.