Naturals that went back to relaxing, any regrets?

almond eyes · Oct 3, 2014

SunRai Naturals said:
I have fine strands & at first I was concerned about breakage but now Im not. I'm going to make sure my hair is kept moisturized & I will keep protein in it. My strategy for length retention of relaxed hair is going to be similar to my regimen now as a natural. Protect with a cornrow base (crochet, wigs, weaves) for 10-12 weeks & then relax again. Im sure Ill have to trim more than I do now just for aesthetics when I wear my hair out. Im not going for bone straight but I dont want texlaxed either.

I have grown my fine hair naturally on many occasions and got my hair relaxed only to have my hair break despite my meticulous care that is why I am never relaxing my hair again. I think that fine and hi po hair is very difficult for the relaxer to penetrate the bonds and so hair comes out with a very uneven process and when the hair is smoothed with the relaxer cream it creates damage for fine haired afro women. I would always end up with hair that didn't look relaxed unless it was over processed. The problem is that the parts of my hair that were curlier and less coarser in texture relaxed differently than the coarser parts of my hair always ending up damaged in the end.

Good luck on your hair journey. As long as you keep the protein treatments up because relaxers break down the bonds of the protein and you also don't use too much because fine relaxed hair cannot take too much protein over load and you can find a balance you may end up with a successful relaxer regiment.

I have never been able to find that balance so I stopped trying to figure out and realised no more relaxers for me.

Best,
Almond Eyes

mz.rae · Oct 31, 2014

Bump! Would like to hear more experiences!

Spongebob · Oct 31, 2014

I texlaxed and shaved my head all in 1 day.

I grew my hair out for 3 years, and got it to a thick and healthy APL. I decided to texlax, and took a regular relaxer and kept it on for 5 minutes and washed it off. It turned into a nice curly texture. I quickly regretted my actions and shaved my head within a few hours of texlaxing it. A friend who relaxed her hair for years told me my hair would eventually break off, because it's relaxed. I believed her, and shaved it all off, cos I'd seen it happen to her ear length hair which never seemed to pass that length. maybe she was doing something wrong

Would never relax my hair in the future though. Done it twice after growing my hair out, and that's enough experimenting and learning from it.

H0tPinkButtafly · Nov 6, 2014

mz.rae said:
Bump! Would like to hear more experiences!

Me too! Bumping

Kiana30 · Nov 7, 2014

I have no regrets so far. I was natural for 6 years, and I started with a big chop. I always wore weaves and for the last 3 years wore u part wigs or closure wigs. I wore my hair out a lot maybe 3 years into me cutting my hair, and it was beautiful but a lot of work. I just relaxed two months ago and I am not having any issues. I feel like it is all in how you take care of your hair. You should be able to grow your hair with or without a relaxer. I was so tired of the single strand knots that I would get with my natural hair, which would always cause breakage. My hair is now below bra strap length but very thin at the ends because of all of the single strand knots.

I really think that I can nurture my ends back now by having this relaxer. I am not fully relaxed, I am taxlaxed my hair is still really curly but much looser then what it was. I think I want to do a corrective relaxer though because I wan't my hair a little less curly, but still texlaxed if you understand what I am saying. Also shrinkage was my worst nightmare, I thought the more my hair grow the shrinkage would get better, but it actually got worse. I hated the way my hair fell on my face, it was at a weird length when in it's natural state. This is because my hair grows in a V and the back is much longer then the top. I love being relaxed and I hope to be at full mid-back length by this time next year.

H0tPinkButtafly · Nov 7, 2014

Kiana30 said:
I have no regrets so far. I was natural for 6 years, and I started with a big chop. I always wore weaves and for the last 3 years wore u part wigs or closure wigs. I wore my hair out a lot maybe 3 years into me cutting my hair, and it was beautiful but a lot of work. I just relaxed two months ago and I am not having any issues. I feel like it is all in how you take care of your hair. You should be able to grow your hair with or without a relaxer. I was so tired of the single strand knots that I would get with my natural hair, which would always cause breakage. My hair is now below bra strap length but very thin at the ends because of all of the single strand knots.

I really think that I can nurture my ends back now by having this relaxer. I am not fully relaxed, I am taxlaxed my hair is still really curly but much looser then what it was. I think I want to do a corrective relaxer though because I wan't my hair a little less curly, but still texlaxed if you understand what I am saying. Also shrinkage was my worst nightmare, I thought the more my hair grow the shrinkage would get better, but it actually got worse. I hated the way my hair fell on my face, it was at a weird length when in it's natural state. This is because my hair grows in a V and the back is much longer then the top. I love being relaxed and I hope to be at full mid-back length by this time next year.

Kiana30
Which relaxer did u use and how long did u leave it on? The single strand knots are the same problem I had when I was Natural also which lead me to texlax

mz.rae · May 27, 2015

Bumping again! I really am at a crossroads, I've been looking at old pictures of my relaxed hair and seeing how pretty, long, and healthy it was. Then I look at my natural hair which isn't doing much of anything no matter how hard I try. I'm pretty much over it and stopped caring for it. At the same time I don't want to make any hasty decisions, but it is something I have contemplated for a year now.

Bubblingbrownshuga · May 27, 2015

Nope.
Getting another full relaxer soon to break down these bonds even more.

yaya24 · May 27, 2015

Initial application was a dream. No regrets... and then came those retouches

. Totally forgot about lines of demarcation etc. Even with the texlaxed section being full of texture, my NG was fighting it. Tangles on tangles on tangles.

I REGRET falling back to the chemicals because of retouches.

Chemicals like that are not for me.

discodumpling · May 27, 2015

Hmmmmm there seems to be a common theme in this thread.

Nayeli · May 27, 2015

No regrets whatsoever. Transitioned to natural and remained that way for close to two years, if I remember correctly. Then chopped it all off and did a relaxed pixie cut. Now I'm growing it long again. I'm pretty sure I'll be a natural again down the road. As for right now though, I thoroughly enjoy my relaxed hair.

Qtee · May 27, 2015

I was natural MBL which hit right about shoulder length curly... I relaxed n missed the ease of my curls... The health of my hair... Just being different... So now I'm back to natural ... did several mini BCs.. Now I'm a little below APL... Can't wait for it to grow long again..

Nazaneen · May 28, 2015

Bubblingbrownshuga said:
Nope.
Getting another full relaxer soon to break down these bonds even more.

are you serious? why?
does that cause breakage?

relaxers leave my hair quite curly but i'd be afraid to reapply over most of my head. i have done it in the back areas. i think it still remained or reverted to curly :lol:

Nightingale · May 28, 2015

I don't have regrets, even though I'm transitioning again now. When I initially went natural I was still learning about my hair and didn't have the right mindset because I wanted frizz free, curly hair, not coily hair.

When I texturized, I got the look I wanted, but it was not easier to care for. I experimented a lot with techniques and products, which led to me learning more. After years texturized, I was near MBL with thinning ends and I wasn't satisfied with my hair anymore. I hated touching up my hair because I had to get the timing exactly right for consistent results, I hated that my hair was weakened by chemicals, and I especially hated that my hair still required "natural" hair care, but with "relaxed" weaknesses. I needed to either relax it straight or go natural. I decided I'd rather be natural since I'm not a big fan of straight hair.

I wouldn't have learned as much as I did or have as much appreciation for my natural hair if I hadn't texturized it. So no regrets.

TwistedRoots · May 28, 2015

I did and I hated it. I missed the versatility of my natural hair. The styles period.... Even though I'm bald now lol I'm very happy to start my natural hair journey over. :yep:

Also, ITA...touch ups do suck.

ClassyJSP · May 28, 2015

The BEST thing I did during my journey was go back to relaxers. I was natural for about a year and I could never get my hair together, never get the style right, and wash days took me all day. I literally would have to block out time to do my hair and for me that wasn't working.

Now that I'm relaxed my wash days start to finish literally take less than an hr (sometimes an hr but I normally am doing something else) it's basically like night and day.

KiSseS03 · May 28, 2015

I regretted going back to a relaxer, just over 2 years ago, but I'm also glad I did it because it cured my curiosity. For me the grass wasn't greener on the other side. My natural hair is thicker and healthier and I don't have to put as much care into it in order for it to grow and flourish. The upside of relaxed hair for me was that it was easier and faster to style. Length trumps style for me so it was no contest. I'm fully natural again as of 2 weeks ago.

jbwphoto1 · May 28, 2015

mz.rae said:
Bumping again! I really am at a crossroads, I've been looking at old pictures of my relaxed hair and seeing how pretty, long, and healthy it was. Then I look at my natural hair which isn't doing much of anything no matter how hard I try. I'm pretty much over it and stopped caring for it. At the same time I don't want to make any hasty decisions, but it is something I have contemplated for a year now.

@mz.rae, were you doing your own relaxers or having them done by someone else? I think what's missing with my natural hair is having it done on a regular basis by another person who's watching it and noticing the changes before I have a setback. The problem is finding a place to do natural hair that doesn't depend on direct heat for everything they do.

mz.rae · May 28, 2015

jbwphoto1 said:
@mz.rae, were you doing your own relaxers or having them done by someone else? I think what's missing with my natural hair is having it done on a regular basis by another person who's watching it and noticing the changes before I have a setback. The problem is finding a place to do natural hair that doesn't depend on direct heat for everything they do.

I would go to the salon to get my touch ups done. To me it use to be fun during retouch time because I got to see how much length I retained over the past months. Frankly I'm not even sure why I went natural in the first place, because it is doing now exactly what it did back in the day when I was natural and depended heavily on stylists in that it would just stay the same length and not get any longer.

ajargon02 · May 29, 2015

Don't know if you went back to relaxing since I didn't read the whole thread, but stretching the hair will keep knots and tangles at bay.hth

BEAUTYU2U · Jul 9, 2015

It's been six years. The first three were amazing. The last three have been no growth due to SSKs. I went natural cause I was curious, it was low maintenance, and healthier. Now I'm thinking of texlaxing for aesthetics and length. It could be a phase. I'll flat iron then see how I feel.

TopShelf · Jul 9, 2015

So far, so good. I had some breakage from box braids when I was natural and I am still trying to get rid of my ssk's w/o doing a deep hair cut.

mz.rae · Jul 14, 2015

Got my hair texlaxed two weeks ago, loving every moment of it! Only regret is that I didn't do it sooner!! Now to get my hair back to waist length!

Guinan · Jul 14, 2015

mz.rae said:
Got my hair texlaxed two weeks ago, loving every moment of it! Only regret is that I didn't do it sooner!! Now to get my hair back to waist length!

What brand did the salon use? Congrats!

mz.rae · Jul 14, 2015

pelohello said:
What brand did the salon use? Congrats!

Thank you! I don't remember the exact name I want to Impress or Prestige, it's a lesser known relaxer I know.

SunRai Naturals · Jul 14, 2015

I relaxed and have no regrets about it BUT I only stayed relaxed for 18 days. Lol. My hair looked okay but I really did like being natural better. It was hard for me to get used to straight hair. I wanted a change with my natural hair and I think I just needed a new cut which I ultimately ended up doing when I cut the relaxer off. I shaved it bald. Now I am letting it grow back and just enjoying the ease of short hair. I am embarking on a lock journey so I am excited about that.

Naturals that went back to relaxing, any regrets?

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