Relaxed who were natural, what gives?

[1QTPie]

Re: Relaxed-->Natural-->Relaxed again, what gives?

Are there any relaxed-->natural-->relaxed again heads who acheived length when natural and then relaxed? If so, what were your challenges/decision that prompted you to be relaxed again?

In a nutshell, tired of dealing with the limited styles/shrinkage of midback length natural hair. I wanted to wear my hair straight, without all of the time that a biweekly press and curl with reversion issues/maintainance in between requires.



Do you regret your decision and do you think you will go natural again?

Nope. No regrets at all. This is the first relaxer in my life that my hair has consistently done well. I know what I am doing now. I know eventually I will grow out the relaxer but it will be a long time from now. No more BCs. Thanks to LHCF I even know how to successfully transition. Right now I am loving every minute of the relaxed life.

TRAITOR !

 

[1QTPie]

This is interesting question as I am in midst of changing my mind about chemicals and haircare. I have been natural for years because of sensitivity to chemicals and I learned to love my twists, coils etc. If I was not allergic, I would probably texlax.

Recently been having major time with my niece's hair and considered texturizing it to ease her tangles and pain. All of my sisters are successfully relaxed and growing (with tips I share with them from this board) so I know it can be done. Especially with the examples at this site. Right now I am GRATEFUL for that PRESSING COMB!. If your natural hair is tangling and causing more stress and issues....rethink some things-. I will be lightly pressing my hair and hers every 2 weeks during this winter to see how it goes. I think it's helping both of us.

I recognize both sides of the angle now and just think chemicals and pressing combs are simply a hair management tools.

I hope I wasn't a nappy nazi, but could have beenerplexed.

Just be sure to do a patch test on you and her before you go all the way. I would hate to read about chemical burns on you and that baby.

 

[DDTexlaxed]

I've done so many times and I chocked it up to me not being able to style my natural hair. That led to me getting mad and texlaxing it. My hair does well natural, but I am the type of person that hates to pay others to do something that I want to do myself. I will go back to natural some day. When, I can't say for sure.

 

[remnant]

Thank you! i think those who are on the fence really need to read these responses. Being natural is not all a fairy tale of perfectly shaped coils, there are hardships whichever route you choose!

soo true....

 

[SmartyPants]

I did this. I went natural because I was frustrated with the breakage and lack of growth while I was relaxed. Now that I've found this board, I am relaxed again and my hair is as healthy as it was while I was in college. Knowing what I know now, I do not anticipate going natural again any time soon. I prefer my hair long and straight.

 

[CurleeDST]

Ladies, I have gone back and forth a few times mainly due to style boredom and am natural right now again. I big chopped last October 2006 (out of boredom) and decided to grow it back out but I just finished washing it this evening and MAN...............I am close to wacking it off again! The longer it gets the more tangled and harder it is to wash and detangle! I can't imagine what it is going to be like once it hits BSL. I do not comb through it daily or every time I cowash so I can see how someone could decide to at least texturize just so the detangling process isn't so arduous.

Also, my girl is natural and had MBL and wacked it all off to about 2 inches. It is growing out so nice and looks so good. She gels it down to where it looks like natural finger waves soft and pretty.

Man oh man I am coming REAL close!

 

[secretrose]

Ladies, I have gone back and forth a few times mainly due to style boredom and am natural right now again. I big chopped last October 2006 (out of boredom) and decided to grow it back out but I just finished washing it this evening and MAN...............I am close to wacking it off again! The longer it gets the more tangled and harder it is to wash and detangle! I can't imagine what it is going to be like once it hits BSL. I do not comb through it daily or every time I cowash so I can see how someone could decide to at least texturize just so the detangling process isn't so arduous.

Also, my girl is natural and had MBL and wacked it all off to about 2 inches. It is growing out so nice and looks so good. She gels it down to where it looks like natural finger waves soft and pretty.

Man oh man I am coming REAL close!

Ur hair is too cute! But I sympathize with you about the tangling. Girl, I dont think I could handle being natural for this reason. But texlaxing is a good possibility.

 

[beautifulreality]

Re: Relaxed-->Natural-->Relaxed again, what gives?

I was relaxed since I was in around 1st or 2nd grade until the age of 23. During that time, I really didn't know that being natural was an option. I just considered getting a relaxer was something black women had to do. My hair was extremely thin and I thought that's just the way my hair was, but instead a huge factor was that I would relax every 4 weeks.
Then I saw a classmate with a really cute puff and one day I just decided to ask her about her hair. She gave me a lot of information and I said that I was going to go natural. I transitioned for around 4-5 months and did the BC. I wore my natural hair for around 1 1/2 years and then decided to texlax.
There were many reasons why I decided to relax again but some of the main reasons were that I was tired of spending all day twisting my hair, I was having really bad dryness issues that even Qhemet's Heavy Cream couldn't cure, I felt like I was experiencing more breakage trying to get rid of knots, and I was just tired of dealing with it all.
As of this moment I definitely do not regret my decision. Reading the forums here have made me realize that you can grow long healthy hair while being relaxed. I spend a lot less time doing my hair now and the breakage and dryness are slowly going away. Relaxed is just a lot easier for ME to handle right now.
I do think that I'll go natural again, but I'll keep it a little shorter next time. There was a time that my natural hair was at the perfect length as far as manageability goes. It wasn't real short, but long enough to put in a puff or wear a really cute twistout. I definitely wouldn't mind being at that point again.

 

[turnergirl]

I am newly texlaxed and I thought I would never relax again not because I want to be a nazi but because I love the way my natural hair looked so much but detangling was a mess and I just couldn't take it anymore. I had never cared about the length of my hair because it always grew for me with no problem, but when it came down to texturizing or chopping my hair off I chose texturizing. I love the massiveness that is my hair so I tried to process it the minimum amount in hopes that it would not look too different but would be easier to comb out.

I think it worked but I am not sure. If not I will process more.