To those who were natural 3 years or more and then relaxed...

No regrets so far..

My daily routine is fairly simple, wash days go quicker, and my styles are cute - that was all I wanted to get from relaxing.

Not saying I'll never go natural in the future, who knows how my preferences will change, but for right now relaxing works for me :yep:
 
Well I was natural for several years.. I think 4+ and what I found was my 4b hair wasn't retaining length and I wanted healthy long hair.

So I Texlaxed (after researching every step on LHCF) and I have never regretted it. Since I prefer to wear my hair straightened and swinging, this was the best answer to my hair question.

The only thing I would have changed is that I would have used a LYE relaxer from the get go. I have learned that LYE relaxer helps me retain length whereas no-lye led to dryness and breakage over time. I started Texlaxing with Lye and my hair hit BSL...now I'm on the way to midback length hair...say what?!

Going natural taught me about my hair, my texture and so many other things.
Going with a Texlaxed head of hair, lets me have salon results at home without paying anyone else to do it. I even do my own trims.

Both options were wonderful, but I am Texlaxed for now.

I have a lot of texture and often get mistaken for a natural head - the only difference for me is my styling time and breakage have been greatly reduced. But that's just my story.

I now have the hair of my dreams! So...you could say that I'm pretty happy.
 
lana said:
Going natural taught me about my hair, my texture and so many other things.
Click to expand...

Same here. This really can't be overstated.. going natural was a very gratifying and beneficial experience. :yep:

I'm also very grateful to have all the knowledge of LHCF at my fingertips because I've been able to avoid common mistakes and setbacks with my relaxed hair by learning so much from others.
 
I was natural for four years, I relaxed October 2011. My hair was mid-back wet, but when it dried is shrank to just above the shoulders. I wanted to wear my hair down, but couldn't without flat ironing. Plus, the longer my hair got the more difficult it got to detangle.

I do miss my natural hair, but the trouble to taking care of it was not worth it.
 
Nope! Being natural for 3 years gave me a great head start on length rentention and hair care knowledge. Once I got all the info I went back to being Relaxed but with the mindest of still being natural and its been all good since.

ETA: Will I ever go back natural. Yes! But only when I no longer care about having long hair. When I go natural I plan to be shoulder length and stay at that length.
 
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I turned 30 in November and just relaxed my hair for my 30th birthday. I am loving my relaxed hair. Its a welcome change from the shrinking and detangling and twisting. I got bored with my hair styles and decided that I wanted a change. I am so happy I went for it!

My hair is growing, my retention is great and I am achieving thickness thanks to LHCF.

Would I go back natural? There is a saying of 'never say never!'. But right now, I sure dont think so!
 
MsBoinglicious said:
Nope! Being natural for 3 years gave me a great head start on length rentention and hair care knowledge. Once I got all the info I went back to being Relaxed but with the mindest of still being natural and its been all good since.

ETA: Will I ever go back natural. Yes! But only when I no longer care about having long hair. When I go natural I plan to be shoulder length and stay at that length.
Click to expand...

This post sums it up for me. i was natural for about 7 to 9 years before
I started relaxing again. After a horrible experience at a dominican salon, i bc'd and shaved my head and started from scratch. I remained natural for about another 3 years before I started self-texlaxing with lye relaxer and following the priceless LHCF advice I've received over the years. I'm almost APL, not long by LHCF standards, but the longest my hair has ever been.

now if i can just figure out how to stop the winter breakage without having to cowash and bun every other day, i'll be good to go.

eta: i had winter breakage as a natural too, coupled with ssks
 
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I was natural for 2 years and I've been relaxed since October 2010. I relaxed because I became ill and I thought it would be easier to relax my hair because my natural hair at the time required lots of maintenance. I have no regrets. I think maybe one day I will go back to being natural, but for now I am enjoying my APL relaxed state.
 
I'm a 4z natural. . I was texlaxed prior to that because of alopecia areata I transitioned back in August 2009 . I've reached WSL when texlaxed, but don't think that will ever be possible at this rate natural. especially with the midshaft splits, I'm thinking about texlaxing, but I know I would have to chop a lot of hair off just from those splits. Never had this problem when texlaxed, split ends were rare. It just doesn't seem like it's growing in this state, nor am I achieving length.
 
I'm not really the aim of this thread, but I figured that I could share anyway. I transitioned without a BC for over 2 years (almost 3) no braids (except twice, with my own hair only). I textlaxed because at the time I could do anything I wanted with my hair and I worked out a lot. That was last June.

I have only relaxed once since then in December. I don't know if I will relax again or not. I probably will, I can wear my hair the way I want and it is a little easier to handle. Sorry to hijack the thread.
 
I'm the opposite audience I believe but I'm gonna post anyway. I was natural for 2 years before I relaxed again (May '06-May '08). I had fallen prey to the relaxers in BMT thinking my hair would be easier to take care of. It WAS, but my natural hair wasn't that difficult to begin with. I stayed relaxed for 10 months, transitioned for 5 and have been natural again for 2 1/2 years as of yesterday. Will I relax again? Never. I will cut it shorter if I can't deal, but relaxers are no longer in the cards for me.
 
zzirvingj said:
...any regrets? Do you plan to go back natural?
Click to expand...

I was relaxed for many years. Then in 2005, I went natural for 3 years. I came here and learned that it actually IS possibly to have healthy relaxed hair and care for it properly. I did a lot of research, and then went back to relaxed in 2008 armed with my newfound knowledge. I can say its been a tremendous journey. My relaxed hair is flourishing. I certainly did learn alot about myself and my hair when I was natural...but the best thing I learned is that no matter what state choose to wear my hair, I now know how to best take care of it. Its truly lack of knowledge why some women have horrid-looking hair. Any, and all, hair can be cared for, if you search and seek out the proper products and techniques that work for you.:spinning:

Hope this helps.
 
Umm... I don't know if I'd use the word regret, but yeah I sometimes do feel some type of remorse over it lol. I was approaching MBL when I decided to highlight and cut my hair (avi pic) then less than a month later I relaxed it-- July 1, 2011 (The date isn't etched into my memory, I just remember because it was Canada Day :lol:.) Anyway, I don't know why I had the urge to do all that, but surprisingly my hair wasn't too damaged and looked pretty decent. The only thing was, most times I found myself wearing my hair curly, as in relaxed curly, and I didn't even flat iron my hair. Eventually, I just wanted my natural curls back, which were obviously much tighter. Less than 2 months later I BC'd :ohwell: Never again! I'da been WL by now :lick::wallbash: but I try not to think like that...
 
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