Why I will not be relaxing my hair

[luvhair]

i decided to really see if relaxing was damaging and thinning my hair so I plucked out a single strand from the crown area. I bent the hair in half and made a comparison between my new growth and the relaxed end-- the new growth looked huge compared to the relaxed. So I took another 3 hairs and put them together and compared it to the new growth and it was the same size as the new growth.

The moral of the story is: The relaxer has thinned 75 percent of my hair. My really hair is 4 times thicker than it is.

So its offical-- i'm transitioning!

 

[brittanynic16]

How often do you relaxer?

 

[Height]

 

[Junebug D]

Wow, that's a lot of thinning!

 

[inthepink]

congrats and welcome to the transitioners club!

 

[gvsugirl]

I was just doing this same thing, only I took a strand and snapped the bottom relaxed hair and then the top natural hair and my natural hair was soooo much stronger! I am seriously debating joining the transitioners club. I have to learn to not be afraid of my new growth!

 

[luvhair]

gvsu-- you are not allowed to post anymore. Everytime you do I see your signature with JT and I get all hot and bothered!

 

[kerplunky]

[ QUOTE ]
luvhair said:
gvsu-- you are not allowed to post anymore. Everytime you do I see your signature with JT and I get all hot and bothered!

[/ QUOTE ]

lol. Girl, I was thinking the same thing! Whoo! I love me some Timberlick

That’s my 14 year old fantasy. But shoot, I’m grown now. Let him bring his behind over my way … he might get hurt.

 

[aikaa71]

Thats also one of the reasons that i decided to transition. My relaxed hair was growing but thin. My new growth is rather thick and its healthy.

 

[asummertyme]

good luck ladies, one day i will be joining yall......until then, happy trans.

 

[luvhair]

Oh you haven't heard-- older women younger men are in now!! Go for it!

 

[silvergirl]

i wish i couldve done a comparson like that, but the last time i relaxed my hair is also the last time i had permmy color put in an as we all know , color treatment coats the hair an makes it thicker, so my relaxed hair strand actually looks thicker but my natural hair is much thicker as a whole.

 

[nbcgurl22]

Woo hoo - good luck on your transistion

 

[loverofnaps71]

Yea!!! Let's all learn to love our God-given naps!!! Hurray to you!!! I, too, had the same problem. I've always had very fine hair and still do, even as a natural. However, my hair was sooooo very thin when I had a relaxer. Thinness and finess is not cool...unless it describes your body (LOL!). Anyway, I applaud your decision to transition. The journey will be well worth it. Not always easy because you'll have to endure some ignorant comments, but TRUST me, it'll be well worth it and you'll love your hair in the process.

Good luck and God bless,

LON71

 

[Miosy]

I use to relax every 6-8 weeks (4a/b) and my hair dresser used to comb the relaxer through so she really was breaking down the bonds of my hair. My hair was so thin that you could clearly see my scalp. So, I decided to learn how to relax my own her w. Motions w/ oil mild. I leave it on for about 13-17 minutes w/o combing every 16 weeks. I sometimes smooth with my finger but I still have my curl texture so I guess you could say my hair is texturized about 4 inches and the rest is bone straight. The texturized hair is 100% stronger and thicker.
Good luck in your transition

 

[Ebony]

[ QUOTE ]
asummertyme said:
good luck ladies, one day i will be joining yall......until then, happy trans.

[/ QUOTE ]

asummertyme, i agree with you

. i know that it is inevitable that one day i will be transitioning. i haven't been completely natural since i was 19..10 yrs ago. i perm every 4-5 mths and find myself deep in debate

everytime it's time to retouch. by that time, my new growth is so thick, it's unbelieveable

! I could barely get a comb thru it last month.

 

[GodMadeMePretty]

That's what I want to do. Texturize with the relaxer. My hair is so thick that I actually like the fact that the relaxer thins it out a little. But I'm really digging the curly look and want to go with that, but it's going to look really funny with straight ends and texturized roots. Oooops! That's how I look now.

And the ignorant comments will come. One of my friends actualy liked my braidout but she asked me what was I going to do with the front because it wasn't smoothed down. I told her absolutely nothing. If I wanted it smooth I would not have opted for the braidout style. I would have it like I have it today - in a ponytail with smoothed down edges. Happy transitioning. I'm on the fence about it right now. If any of ya'll know about a good salon here in Jacksonville, let a sistah know. I'm tired of perming my own hair but I'm not going to go to somebody who thinks they know my hair better than me.

 

[sithembile]

I would like to transition, but I don't know how I'll style my hair. Its 4b and thick, and when it's natural, it sticks straight out, it won't fall and its not curly, just bushy. So I don't have that many styling options, especially since I hate the shape of my head and don't like tying it back.

 

[Trinity1]

I think if you just texturize your hair with a relaxer then you are not breaking down the bonds as much,which leads to the thinning everyone is speaking about. I have seen people who relax their hair bone straight over time become really thinned out. Personally I texturize my new growth using Motions Lye w/oil,the regular strength. My hair after being texturized is still with a natural wave and thickness,never straight and I do it simply so I can comb through my hair without breakage. With that being said I dont really feel that worried about thinning hair,other than the normal thinning that comes with getting older.

 

[ChasingBliss]

I plan to attempt that journey again...soon.

 

[Maestradiva77]

Congrats on your decision!!! Yayyy!!!

 

[Faith]

Luvhair,

I totally agree with you. Happy Transitioning

I noticed the same thing with my hair. It occured to me one day that my relaxed hair breaks easier than my natural cause the relaxed one had a thinner diameter compared to the natural. Don't relaxers strip the cuticle layer or something like that? Whatever it is, it's much thinner relaxed than not. WTG

 

[miss_brown]

[ QUOTE ]
Faith said:
Luvhair,

I totally agree with you. Happy Transitioning

I noticed the same thing with my hair. It occured to me one day that my relaxed hair breaks easier than my natural cause the relaxed one had a thinner diameter compared to the natural. Don't relaxers strip the cuticle layer or something like that? Whatever it is, it's much thinner relaxed than not. WTG

[/ QUOTE ]

Ditto. I too had the same hair realization and that was the straw that broke the camel's back. I haven't relaxed in about 4 years and my hair hasn't been this thick and gorgeous since I was a little kid (also pre-perm). Anyway, Luvhair, congrats on your decision to transition

PS. Faith, your hair is looking good. You're definitely one of naptural inspirations

 

[Faith]

Thanks miss_brown. I'm actually going to update those picks in 5 weeks time. I'm so excited because my hair is about 1-2" longer than in those pics even with my 1-2" trim in September. Plus I found a way to flatiron that gets my hair relaxer straight to show the length more. In that May pic about 2" of my roots wouldn't straighten properly. I was bummed.

Anywho, thsi new flatironing method makes it look more "relaxed' than when it actually was relaxed.

 

[jd_bdfly]

What is "this new flatironing method"?

 

[missykeyana]

Yaaaaaay!!!

 

[gvsugirl]

[ QUOTE ]
kerplunky said:
[ QUOTE ]
luvhair said:
gvsu-- you are not allowed to post anymore. Everytime you do I see your signature with JT and I get all hot and bothered!

[/ QUOTE ]

lol. Girl, I was thinking the same thing! Whoo! I love me some Timberlick

That’s my 14 year old fantasy. But shoot, I’m grown now. Let him bring his behind over my way … he might get hurt.

[/ QUOTE ]
LOOLL

Watch it now!

 

[sterry]

I was upset to see MY HUSBAND had his pictures on the internet.
I should have known....I should have known that all those extra copies were for someone else.

 

[gvsugirl]

I called my mom to ask her about my natural hair texture since she would be the one who'd remember and she told me that I wouldnt like it. I cant decide what i want to do

Then again she didnt know how to take care of hair anyway. So its worth a try

 

[inthepink]

Darn, I just typed up this long reply to you gvusgirl and *poof* gone! Arggh!!!

Anyways, the jist is that there are more products and more importantly more knowledge about natural hair than there was when your mother did your hair. I think if you were to transition, you could end up being pleasantly surprised with how manageable your hair texture is.

If I hadn't been forced to transition, I would have always had in my head hearing my mother say "what am i going ot do with her hair" after getting in the pool one day. But now, I know it's from the lack of proper hair care that it was such a pain to deal with back then.

Good luck with making a decision!