Transitioning without BC'ing Support Thread

[almond eyes]

I totally agree with this. @southerncitygirl and I were talking about this and it's been my observation from those who've gone natural. I don't know the 'science' behind it but I believe this. I most definitely see this when I look at naturals who big chopped as opposed to long term transitioners. For example, looking at a natural who bc early on -- by the time they are say close to 2 years w/o a relaxer and you take a transitioner that's just cutting at 2 years... the hair looks different imo. I don't think holding on to relaxed ends for a realllly long time helps anything. I think natural hair seems to flourish more after the relaxed ends are removed. I can see why some big chop earlier on and then wear braids or something until they get their desired length.

I am beginning to think that too. I have a feeling that I am just going to chop off all my relaxed ends instead of holding on to them. My hair was only between SL and APL so it's not a terrible deal. I hate the difference between my relaxed and natural hair.

 

[Britt]

I am beginning to think that too. I have a feeling that I am just going to chop off all my relaxed ends instead of holding on to them. My hair was only between SL and APL so it's not a terrible deal. I hate the difference between my relaxed and natural hair.

I understand. I plan to chop and then the following day go get some braids

 

[almond eyes]

I understand. I plan to chop and then the following day go get some braids

Yep, I am going to chop off for my next braid's cycle.

Best,
Almond Eyes

 

[Cattypus1]

Been a long time since I posted anything of substance anywhere...I have a question for you ladies who do twist outs/braid outs. How do you maintain them over night. My relaxed/texlaxed hair was long enough to pineapple but I've been doing mini chops and that is not an option. Every morning is a surprise...sometimes not very pleasant either. What's your technique?

 

[coolsista-paris]

Yep, I am going to chop off for my next braid's cycle. Best, Almond Eyes

i didnt you were transitionning

 

[Britt]

Been a long time since I posted anything of substance anywhere...I have a question for you ladies who do twist outs/braid outs. How do you maintain them over night. My relaxed/texlaxed hair was long enough to pineapple but I've been doing mini chops and that is not an option. Every morning is a surprise...sometimes not very pleasant either. What's your technique?

If I want to wear a twist out/braid out the following day I redo them. I don't like how stale to/bo look on me. I think they prob hold up better on fully natural hair and you're able to sleep on it and prob fluff it out the following day. But yeahhhh, I just sucked it up and redid it nightly. I even tried the lazy way and just make big parts with my hands and do big cornrows without really combing through the hair... well, the end result looks like the effort I put in lol. If I don't feel like rebraiding/retwisting nightly the following day I'll just pull the old bo/to into a low loose bun or pin it up somehow.

 

[almond eyes]

i didnt you were transitionning

Remember Coolsista, I talked about it. I was doing well with my relaxer even though it made my hair finer and one bad relaxer job in December 2013 caused me a major set back. I have not relaxed since 12 December. And there were other sections in the back of my hair I had not relaxed since October 2013.

I was thinking of texlaxing and then I was so jealous looking at what my hair used to look like in it's natural state and other natural heads that I decided to transition. I don't like the transition period so I am just going to cut off the relaxed ends and end the agony. Doesn't matter, my relaxed ends didn't look that great anyhow.

Best,
Almond Eyes

 

[Mische]

Been a long time since I posted anything of substance anywhere...I have a question for you ladies who do twist outs/braid outs. How do you maintain them over night. My relaxed/texlaxed hair was long enough to pineapple but I've been doing mini chops and that is not an option. Every morning is a surprise...sometimes not very pleasant either. What's your technique?

Like Britt said, if you don't rebraid they end up a bit mashed. I personally can't rebraid each night or put perm rods back on the ends because my relaxed ends are much too fragile (I have really fine strands). I sort of pretend I'm about to gather it into a low pony, and I tuck the ends under. Then I throw my scarf on top to make it stay put. I ended up with slightly flatter curls in the morning, but it is what it is. I do hope to rebraid nightly when I'm fully natural. But it is too much manipulation for my transitioning hair.

Does anyone else find that people assume you are already a natural? I've had people come up to me asking how long I've been natural. They look disappointed when I explain I'm transitioning. Whoops.

 

[Britt]

Like @Britt said, if you don't rebraid they end up a bit mashed. I personally can't rebraid each night or put perm rods back on the ends because my relaxed ends are much too fragile (I have really fine strands). I sort of pretend I'm about to gather it into a low pony, and I tuck the ends under. Then I throw my scarf on top to make it stay put. I ended up with slightly flatter curls in the morning, but it is what it is. I do hope to rebraid nightly when I'm fully natural. But it is too much manipulation for my transitioning hair.

Does anyone else find that people assume you are already a natural? I've had people come up to me asking how long I've been natural. They look disappointed when I explain I'm transitioning. Whoops.

perfect description. If you don't rebraid the hair looks kinda mashed down, it's best to do a pin up or bun or something especially if you have longer hair.

LOL! I could picture their faces when you tell them you're transitioning. I've only been asked that question once so far. It was much earlier on in my transition and a lady stopped me on the train and told me she is sooo happy to see us (black women) starting to stop with the relaxer and I told her I'm transitioning and she encouraged me to keep on going.

 

[coolsista-paris]

Like Britt said, if you don't rebraid they end up a bit mashed. I personally can't rebraid each night or put perm rods back on the ends because my relaxed ends are much too fragile (I have really fine strands). I sort of pretend I'm about to gather it into a low pony, and I tuck the ends under. Then I throw my scarf on top to make it stay put. I ended up with slightly flatter curls in the morning, but it is what it is. I do hope to rebraid nightly when I'm fully natural. But it is too much manipulation for my transitioning hair. Does anyone else find that people assume you are already a natural? I've had people come up to me asking how long I've been natural. They look disappointed when I explain I'm transitioning. Whoops.

when i was natural i used to section my hair in 4, i used a very soft hair band (it never broke my hair), i never put it on tight (jusy enough to hold the sections. i then twisted each section and tucked jt away for bed then added my scarf.
hair was soft and silky in the morning . i have fine hair too

 

[coolsista-paris]

Remember Coolsista, I talked about it. I was doing well with my relaxer even though it made my hair finer and one bad relaxer job in December 2013 caused me a major set back. I have not relaxed since 12 December. And there were other sections in the back of my hair I had not relaxed since October 2013. I was thinking of texlaxing and then I was so jealous looking at what my hair used to look like in it's natural state and other natural heads that I decided to transition. I don't like the transition period so I am just going to cut off the relaxed ends and end the agony. Doesn't matter, my relaxed ends didn't look that great anyhow. Best, Almond Eyes

oh wow. we will then be folloWing eachother. my virgin relaxer was end of november . im 5 months post now.
my hair is fine and.... its even more fine as the stylisy mostly got be to bone straight which i didnt want. i thought about reclaxing too then just though i will get messed up or screw my self touch up... thought of how my natural hair seemed more full i was like "just stretch,transition and see)..... here i am

 

[coolsista-paris]

perfect description. If you don't rebraid the hair looks kinda mashed down, it's best to do a pin up or bun or something especially if you have longer hair. LOL! I could picture their faces when you tell them you're transitioning. I've only been asked that question once so far. It was much earlier on in my transition and a lady stopped me on the train and told me she is sooo happy to see us (black women) starting to stop with the relaxer and I told her I'm transitioning and she encouraged me to keep on going.

when i was natural i had a white woman come to me at the metro station and said " i could tell your puff is real, its beautiful,black people should embrace their hair, its so lovely"

that was nice, and kinda wieird lol , she was so into it

 

[HappyAtLast]

15
15

I say 15 months post relaxer!​

Can y'all tell I'm excited!

What does the future hold for my hair? IDK, but I'm pretty sure it includes being a natural who blow dries straight every 2 weeks. Working on perfecting that...

 

[EnExitStageLeft]

HappyAtLast

I cannot wait to get there!

 

[Misseyl]

Can't do the transition thing because the hair in the back of my head was breaking something bad. My last texlax was in October and I intended to texlax in February but my new growth felt very soft so I rolled with it and finally in April, I chopped off the relaxed ends in the back and will follow up in the front when I have more new growth. All I can say what took me so long? I feel very liberated. I guess I'm feeling that I don't need a relaxer to have hair on my head because for me, relaxing was not about style, it was about convenience and since there are a lot of information out there on how to grow healthy, natural hair, I'm convinced that I'm on my way.

 

[AnjelLuvs]

This is most recent picture. Currently 14.75/64 weeks post relaxer. Did a flat twist out on an old twist out... I lightly watered, and did LOC method. Detangled during leave in step

Sent from my Galaxy

 

[ScorpioLove]

@ScorpioLove , believe it Or not . My hair is the same way you described yours. The only time it looks ok is after a wash and that only , probably last halve a day. Have you tried curl formers or the knock offs I'm hearing they are great for transitioning. I'm gonna use mines toNight for the first time, I also have some breakage as well, I just try to seal with castor oil and dust a little, it had helPed a bunch.

your hair looks so thick in comparison to me. The thing with "out styles" is that my hair has such a huge difference in thickness it just looks weird. Make sure post pics though, I like to see other peoples hair transitioning. I have a bun on my head add day erryday :-(

This week I have two special events so i wanted a weave minus the cost of one...

 

[baddison]

15
15

I say 15 months post relaxer!​

Can y'all tell I'm excited!

What does the future hold for my hair? IDK, but I'm pretty sure it includes being a natural who blow dries straight every 2 weeks. Working on perfecting that...

congratulations!!! Can't wait to be there myself!!

 

[PlainJane]

I've been reading threads and reviews on the denman brush for the past hour. I've been using the denman brush (with only three rows) for the past month and I'm not understanding what's so bad about it. I finally thought I found something to help me detangle but I don't want to regret it in a few months!!
Does anyone use this?
How has it caused so many setbacks?
I guess I should go to the other thread to learn more about other detangling tools.

 

[Mische]

AnjelLuvsUBabe your hair looks so thiiiiick. Gimme!

 

[tapioca_pudding]

I had a dream I was fully natural and BSL, APL when curly. I woke up smiling. I can't WAIT to be done with this transition, even though I just started.

 

[shyekiera]

I had a dream I was fully natural and BSL, APL when curly. I woke up smiling. I can't WAIT to be done with this transition, even though I just started.

I was looking at my daughter's hair yesterday and was thinking how I would love to have the same texture she has...I don't remember how my texture was as child but my sister confirmed that my natural hair is like my daughter's. it's funny because I couldnt stand how my new growth looked when I was relaxing. I can't wait and am getting the urge to bc too, even though I just started transitioning.

 

[Britt]

AnjelLuvsUBabe when do you plan on chopping? My hair looks very similar to that when wet.

 

[freckledface]

So update time. I'll be 7 months post tomorrow! I ended up wearing y hair straight for a month. I did curlformers and blow dryed and flat iron once. When I did flat iron my hair looked great. I went about 16 weeks between my last flat iron and my ends looked great. I'd usually relax at that time and need a trim from thinning in the middle. I'm surprised it looks so good because I have had some breakage but it's not noticeable.
I've also found out I'm pregnant with my first child!! Yay!! Scary!! Exciting!! Lol. I don't know where that leaves me and my hair though. I'm past the tired all the time phase. (That's how my straight hair lasted so long lol) I've thought of relaxing again but after washing that's out of the question! So I may BC after I have my baby. I'll be 13 months post. I seriously doubt I'll want to transition anymore but who knows. I really hope I get 12 inches between now and then (yea right but I can wish right!) I have noticed though I have next to no shedding. We will see how this goes though.

 

[tapioca_pudding]

freckledface congrats to you!!!!!!

 

[freckledface]

tapioca_pudding thank you we are very excited!

 

[AnjelLuvs]

@Britt, I plan to trim this upcoming weekend and/or even later today, trying to get to a full low pony tail, so just snipping when feeling antsy, Lol... erplexed.. These ends are really getting on nerves though, messing up styles, Lol...

I haven't straightened in about 2months or more, which is when I trim...

Note to Ladies: Oh Sorry dont post final results, usual just post them to social media accounts... check me out on instagram: "awall_glam"

 

[rileypak]

freckledface congratulations!!!

 

[Britt]

@Britt, I plan to trim this upcoming weekend and/or even later today, trying to get to a full low pony tail, so just snipping when feeling antsy, Lol... erplexed.. These ends are really getting on nerves though, messing up styles, Lol...

I haven't straightened in about 2months or more, which is when I trim...

Note to Ladies: Oh Sorry dont post final results, usual just post them to social media accounts... check me out on instagram: "awall_glam"

AnjelLuvsUBabe I know, your styles will look better with the ends gone. Are you just going to keep trimming slowly? I'd also like to be able to pull all my hair into a low ponytail so I can be able to attach some fake hair and make a bun.

 

[coolsista-paris]

I had a dream I was fully natural and BSL, APL when curly. I woke up smiling. I can't WAIT to be done with this transition, even though I just started.

i just started too... im seeing myself with bsl. although i was natural bsb 5 months ago. :-/

starting again, oh well.... lets go!

i saw a girl today with natural straightened hair. it was soooooo nice and lush! i wanted to ask how she straightened, but, too many people in the train so i just quit asking.