Transitioning: 17 months with questions *Pics*

1. Look - What is this????

Pic taken January, 2010
Do you see it? The hair between my relaxed ends and natural texture is wavy. I texlaxed in between those two textures but I didn't have that much new growth when I texlaxed. There's about 2 inches of wavy hair. Anyone else have that to happen? What is it? Scab hair? Heat damage? I would blame it on BKTing but I would expect the hair above it to react the same and not just that section. Or is that what my hair is going to do more of as it continues to grow out? What do you think?

2. What's my hair type?

Pic taken March, 2010

Pick taken April, 2010
Can you see the coils? Disregarding question #1, would these itty, bitty rings/coils put me in the 4b category or push me over into the newly created 4c?

3. My initial goal was to go 24 months but I think I'm ready for the BC. I'm tired of the 2-3 different hair textures. I'm trying to wear my hair up for the next 40 days and I want to work out more without having to worry about keeping the different textures blended. What questions should I ask myself to make sure I'm really ready?

Because of face shots, please log-in to fotki to see the following picture of my hair shrunken:
Pics taken yesterday - September 2010
PW in profile
http://public.fotki.com/TexasSweet/hair-progress/my-4th-year-of-hair/2010-9/

My hair is fine not coarse. Currently, with my relaxed ends I'm between SL and APL. BCing will bring me up to neck length or losing around 4-5 inches. I've been actively caring for my hair for 4 full years and this is the most progress I've made length-wise. See: http://public.fotki.com/TexasSweet/hair-progress/my-4th-year-of-hair/2010-7/
The end of this month will be my 5th year and I'm ready for something new.

TIA for your comments and support!

You're hair looks great. It actually reminds my of my hair, and I have not idead what my hair type is some days. I go with 4B.
Its up to you and how you want to wear our hair after the BC. I personally want to be able to wear my usually high bun so I will have a long transition. I undersand that the multiple texture can be tiring. I recently had a very frustrating wash day that had me wonderin what the effee am I doing??!
Either way you have done a great job thus far. Why are you want to BC is the question?

Your hair is very pretty. I have no idea what's going on with that wavy section, but it is quite odd. I transitioned for 17.5 months and I was able to put my hair is a (fairly small) wet bun and I have watched it grow with amazing quickness these last few months. I think that you'll know when you're ready to chop. Good luck!

Bun Mistress said:

...I go with 4B....I understand that the multiple texture can be tiring. I recently had a very frustrating wash day that had me wondering what the effee am I doing??! Either way you have done a great job thus far. Why are you want to BC is the question?

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Beautiful hair! and thanks for the compliment!
The multi-textures are definitely tiring me out. I think that having one texture all over is going to make styling and maintaining my hair a lot easier but I could be wrong. I'm looking forward to wash and go's (maybe not for the winter months) and still having the option of wearing my hair straight with some tweaking to my flat ironing regimen. I'm beginning to feel trapped by my hair and its taking up too much brain power. I think I'm just ready to end my transition but I fear what lies on the other side after the BC.

cch24 said:

Your hair is very pretty. I have no idea what's going on with that wavy section, but it is quite odd. I transitioned for 17.5 months and I was able to put my hair is a (fairly small) wet bun and I have watched it grow with amazing quickness these last few months. I think that you'll know when you're ready to chop. Good luck!

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Thanks for the compliment and I love the pic of your bun! How long have you been natural? I was wondering if I'd still be able to pull it into a bun or something after only 17 months. It's in a bun now with the help of my relaxed ends. I'll have about 4 inches of unprocessed hair and I'm not certain if my fotki pic shows what it will look like after it has completely shrunken since it was wet with conditioner in it.

I'm going to sleep on it and wash it in the morning and go from there. :-/

Your hair looks just like mine, I've been transitioning also for 11 months and have been told im 4a/b anyways, good luck with your bc! Im still too nervous to do mine but i feel your pain about all these textures :/

Your hair looks great. Jealous of the new growth to me it always means that the hair care is good. Wish you well on your bc. I'm stretching until December not for a bc but because I love the excitement of getting a relaxer after a long stretch and seeing how far I've come.

texasqt said:

Thanks for the compliment and I love the pic of your bun! How long have you been natural? I was wondering if I'd still be able to pull it into a bun or something after only 17 months. It's in a bun now with the help of my relaxed ends. I'll have about 4 inches of unprocessed hair and I'm not certain if my fotki pic shows what it will look like after it has completely shrunken since it was wet with conditioner in it.

I'm going to sleep on it and wash it in the morning and go from there. :-/

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Thanks! I'm actually about the change my avatar to a picture of my natural bun. In a week I will be 23 months post, and almost 6 months post BC. I was able to make a bun post BC largely due to the fact that my hair straightens significantly while wet, but as the months have gone by it's become much easier to bun, and now I can even do it on dry hair.

The spirals are so random, I am really not sure. Your hair looks really healthy, so I'm wondering if transitioning with heat can be the way for me to make it through a long transition.

DDTexlaxed said:

The spirals are so random, I am really not sure. Your hair looks really healthy, so I'm wondering if transitioning with heat can be the way for me to make it through a long transition.

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I clarified this morning and it seems to be making a tighter curl in that spiral area. When I BC I'm going to start out with cutting below that section and see what happens. I am pleased with the overall health of my hair since I stopped relaxing and using heat definitely worked for me. Pointers - always deep condition, use a leave-in and heat protectant spray (Nioxin Thermal Bliss has covered both for me), invest in a good blow dryer (Conair Professional) and flatiron (Sedu), and figure out what your lowest heat setting will be to get the job done (360 for me). After I BC I will continue to use heat every now and then.