Pros and Cons of Being Natural

[Ms. Feliz]

I'm currently relaxed, my last perm was sometime around late November (like the 20th or something) and since then i've got almost an inch of new growth and I really like it. I noticed it's a lot thicker than my relaxed hair and I love looking at some of the small curls that started to form. There's a lot of pictures of people with natural hair that really just make me drool.

When I was like 6 or 7 my grandma decided to perm my hair because she said it was too much for her to deal with when it got humid..she did the same thing with my mom when she was little. So around the time when I got to high school I reeeeally reeeeally wanted curly hair and I just didn't understand why my mom's hair would still curl even though she had a perm. Well at the time I was ignorant and always told my mom that "my hair texture will change one day" and I didn't mean it would change by not perming it anymore..I meant that it would just magically happen.

So eventually I just started to think that black people didn't have curly hair, only the mixed people did or some people just got lucky and had "good hair". After I found LHCF I realized that we all have some type of curl pattern..if you don't perm it. So now I'm trying to debate whether or not I should go natural. My only obstacle that I think i'd have would be humidity..my home is in South Florida and the air there is NEVER dry.

I was wondering if anyone could tell me some of the pros and cons of being natural. Also, I haven't experienced any balding or excessive hair loss from getting relaxers. Although my hair does break , but I'm not sure if that's from poor hair care (i've just started taking care of it recently) or the relaxer.

 

[Jazala]

There are many who go through the same dilemma. Here's a link to one such thread discussing the pros and cons. You may be able to find more by searching.

http://www.longhaircareforum.com/showthread.php?t=313175

Be back with a few pros and cons from my point of view. Fair warning: This topic may become heated.

 

[Jazala]

Ok the pros of being natural to me are:

Stronger hair as the hair shaft has not been compromised
The beauty of the natural coils
You can use color without worrying about being double processed
You hair will APPEAR to be thicker because of the curls
Wash n gos will look better than on a relaxed head.

Cons:
Shrinkage!
Shrinkage! (sorry this is a big one for me )
Single strand knots on the ends (this prevents progress for some)
Excessive tangling if you are not careful

That's all I can think of right now.

 

[LunadeMiel]

Pros
Versatility
No more exposure to harsh chemicals in relaxers
No more having to go to the salon
Ease of styling
No more fear of my hair getting wet
No more weak hair from relaxers

Cons
Single strand knots

 

[PrincessLinzz]

Pros
Healthier hair (In MY opinion)
Stronger and thicker (Again MY opinion)
Option to wear curly (wash n go) or straight (when you flat iron or blow dry)
Can change the color of your hair without trying to remember when you had your last touch-up to prevent breakage
Spend less money on your hair (touch ups)


Cons
Having your hair get jacked up after working out (not staying straight especially the roots!)
Having to flat iron/blow dry your hair to get it straight for special occasions (takes a little longer than having your hair relaxed)

 

[Lola Laughs]

Pros
Being unique--a couple of days ago my 2 DDs and I went to the mall. The three of us were all rocking big lovely twist-outs. If I had a dime for every compliment and head that turned...I was on cloud nine.

Cons
Detangling
SINGLE STRAND KNOTS!!!

 

[asubeauty]

Wow... looks like the list of pros are longer than cons.

 

[mj11051]

For me there are no cons, I love being natural.

 

[BostonMaria]

Hopefully this thread won't get ugly, but most of these types of threads do LOL

With that being said, lemme add my 2 centavos:

Pros
I personally retain more length this way
I don't have to worry about rainy days anymore
I jump in a pool and as long as I have some conditioner I'm all set
When I straighten my hair I have thicker hair. My (let me stress MY) relaxed hair was very dull and flat.
I can alternate between curly and straight at the drop of a hat (or drop of water)

Cons
I am addicted to twirling my hair

 

[Eluv]

Pros
No more relaxer issues (over-processing)
Good bye to hair salons
Hair appears thicker (I have really fine/thin hair)

Cons
Shrinkage
single strand knots
Other people opinions about getting a relaxer if you don't have a true curl pattern
having to use more of a product
spending alot more time on hair (unless its in braids/twist)

Personally I think there are more cons than pros with being natural. It's more of a preference. I personally prefer relaxers, however my scalp doesn't.

I have very a sensitive scalp and can only use mild relaxers for a short period of time even with a base I would get a burn somewhere. So relaxers really isn't in my best interest, so I went natural among other reasons.

 

[yaya24]

Pros-
Everything except:

Cons-
Single Strand Knots

 

[Auburn]

I agree with all of the above but I want to add that my natural hair is WAAAAY thicker when I flatiron as opposed to my relaxed hair. That's what I was aiming for

Dealing with all that hair can be seen as a con but seeing thick lush silky straight hair is DEFINITELY a pro!

 

[Eritreladiee]

PROS
I like my texture, so I like how my hair looks "natural"
I can exercise whenever I feel like it
I don't have to worry about rain as much
I'm able/it's easier for me to retain more length
I can get away with less trims
I have little to no desire to use heat now
I can wash n go
I don't gotta deal or pay *****es with stank attitude at the salon
Now my hair is thicker/appears more voluminous and healthier
My hair looks better straight, when I'm using my natural hair instead of relaxed

CONS
Umm, shrinkage doesn't bug me...
Single strand knots do happen, but not enough to concern me.

 

[Kranbery]

Pros:
No need to style, the curls provide natural styling
Big hair (I love big hair)
When straightened, it is thick and bouncy
Compliments
Being proud that you know how to take care of your hair properly (I take great pride in my hair)
Unique hair

Cons:
Tangling
Single strand knots
Ignorant individuals (but, you stop caring and just feel sorry for them after a while)
Shrinkage

Do it! You'll fall in love!

 

[tash85]

I LOOVE my natural hair, i'd pretty much echo the pros and cons given by the posters
I wouldnt put a relaxer on my hair for all the money in the world now

 

[BeetleBug]

Pros
Everything

Cons
Hand in Hair disease ( It's not really a con but eh)

 

[Nonie]

Pros:

• Independence galore. I don't think I could ever trust myself to touch up my new growth with relaxers without some overlap occurring or else under-processing at the demarcation point, so I would have to depend on a stylist for my touch ups
  
  
• Versatility and never boring. I love that I can enjoy any and every hairstyle I want. I can go from short to long, straight to coily, wear braids/twists etc without worrying about unraveling.
  
  
• Inexpensive hair. Besides shampoo, conditioner, ACV and plastic caps, I really don't spend a lot of money on my hair. S Curl is used when I wear my hair out and if I'm not wearing it straight. I last used it in March and so a bottle lasts me forever.
  
  
• Soft, touchable hair. OK, if HIH disease is not your thing, then this would be a con but for me, I love the way my hair feels. When it was straight, I hardly cared to play with it. Now, you can hardly keep my fingers out of it. It feels so nice to touch.
  

I honestly can't think of anything I don't like about my hair. I don't even get SSKs that I can think of. I don't spend hours detangling. My hair never feels like a chore to me at all. I think a lot of it has to do with being so self-centered that I took time to get to know my hair--not to make it do what other hair does--but to get to see what it alone can do. I've been natural for more years of my life than relaxed, but it wasn't until 2003 or 2004, that I really took notice of my hair and really started to see what it looked like and learned how to handle it. I finger-comb a lot (that HIH disease thing is serious I tell ya!), and love to feel and see it go ping! I dunno, I'm Nonie and I'm addicted to my hair.

 

[Eclass215]

For me:

Pros:
Versatility to switch between straight, curly, twisted, etc.
Not being afraid of getting natural hair wet in rain or with swimming
Thicker
Stronger


Cons:
Single strand knots
More maintenance (natural hair has been more work for me than when I was relaxed)
Humidity KILLS my straight styles - I hate it more than SSK's

That's pretty much it for me. But as long as I can maintain my natural hair nicely, I will never relax again. I love it too much.

 

[Tene]

Pros
Healthier hair
Retain more length
Don't have to be bothered with stylists and them taking out your hair
Thicker hair
Don't have to pay a salon to do your hair
Accepting yourself how GOD made you
Versatility
Not being afraid of getting hair wet

Cons
Tangles and Knots

 

[BostonMaria]

Ms Feliz, I'm going to post a few cons that some people (not me) have that probably won't be posted here:

Some people go natural and then end up hating their hair texture. They end up getting frustrated and going back to relaxers because their hair is not curly. I've seen it, maybe they were not ready to accept their hair the way God gave it to them. You will have to transition your mind, which in my opinion is harder to transition than your hair.

The only other "con" I can think of is that going back to your natural hair texture that you've never seen before can take years of practice as far as trying to style it. I've been natural for 2 1/2 years and it wasn't until the second year that I finally got a regimen down. It took me a while to figure out how to style my curly hair and use the correct products. Its fun trying new products. Anything I thought I knew about my hair was out the door the second I put the scissors to my hair. I had to change almost all of my products because stuff that my relaxed hair liked my natural hair laughed at it LOL

 

[BeetleBug]

Ms Feliz, I'm going to post a few cons that some people (not me) have that probably won't be posted here:

Some people go natural and then end up hating their hair texture. They end up getting frustrated and going back to relaxers because their hair is not curly. I've seen it, maybe they were not ready to accept their hair the way God gave it to them. You will have to transition your mind, which in my opinion is harder to transition than your hair.

The only other "con" I can think of is that going back to your natural hair texture that you've never seen before can take years of practice as far as trying to style it. I've been natural for 2 1/2 years and it wasn't until the second year that I finally got a regimen down. It took me a while to figure out how to style my curly hair and use the correct products. Its fun trying new products. Anything I thought I knew about my hair was out the door the second I put the scissors to my hair. I had to change almost all of my products because stuff that my relaxed hair liked my natural hair laughed at it LOL

This is true too.

 

[Foufie]

Pros:
I freaking love my natural. I change hair like every 5 days on average without having to wait in a salon for hours. I get tons of compliments. My hair is always unique and I LOVE big hair which I can wear now since my fine hair is flat and limp. I love having thick, soft, healthy hair

Cons:
Ends need more attention
People are stupid but that is not so much a con for me as for them...LOL
SHRINKAGE

 

[Nonie]

This is true too.

And the reason they hate their texture is they decided before they transitioned what they wanted their hair to look like and behave like. You cannot do that. Your really have to ignore other textures and focus on your own. Indeed, it helps to have an idea of what your hair looks like. If you've always been relaxed, that can be hard to do, but if you have photos of back when you were natural and hopefully pics of hair that isn't pressed, and you were not an infant, then that sort of gives you an idea.

I knew my hair was 4B just from its general appearance and Andre's weird description which seemed to describe hair that looked like this:

See the enlarged photo here: http://www.travelblog.org/Photos/1999852

I grew up around people with hair like that, which resembled mine. I knew when you washed it, it shrunk and looked like this:

And I knew that if I didn't keep it braided, it'd turn into a compact mass that could not be combed. (Think of those doormats you scrape mud on.) This foreknowledge from years of having natural hair helped me when I transitioned to know that things like WNGs were clearly so foreign to my hair that I didn't even want to do them. I grew up seeing how my hair was worn (braided, in a pulled back puff/pony) and those styles were beautiful to me. My type of hair was most beautiful when combed and styled, not left to do it's own thang. My type of hair was most versatile when long coz it could be shaped into so many different looks. I knew it coz I'd seen it in people with long hair. And I dreamed of one day being able to wear elaborate styles like them because I'd one day have hair longer than 3 inches.

What I didn't know about my hair was that its strands actually had a uniform pattern. Years of wearing it stretched to keep it from turning into a compact mass (the smartest thing I ever learned, BTW!) kept me from seeing the uniform, spirally coils that form this beautiful mane:

So Andre's definition went out the window as far as I was concerned in terms of describing my true texture once I found that out. What Andre's 4B describes for me is the state you're most likely to find my type of hair on any head that is trying to grow long hair. Keeping it stretched keeps tangles and knots at bay. So I wear it mostly like that. But when I give it free, and wash it allowing it to return to rest, watch it coil back to its natural mass of coily awesomeness. Learning of this coily state also taught me how to handle it so that I don't ever yank a comb through it without first stretching out the coils with one hand to open them up, even when drenched in conditioner. Yes conditioner does make a comb glide through without the stretching, but it's likely the coils will hug and contract above the comb and you'll hit a snag. So the image of springs stretched out, creates for me the image of a comb gliding through and proves true to form when I do it.

Trust me, get to know YOUR hair and yours alone. Don't believe the hype about products that others swear do wonders to their hair if you already have something that is working for you. I don't use any of them or buy into it because I listened to my hair and found what it liked. And I couldn't be happier for that. People ask me why I don't do WNGs when they see the cute spirals from wetting my hair.

It's simply because I know what is "normal" for my hair and WNG isn't it. Why would I do WNGs if I'd only end up dealing with hours of detangling and single strand knots later? Just to pull off a style that isn't "normal" to me? A style that doesn't even look right from afar? A WNG looks like uncombed hair on me, which I find not cute at all:

I'd rather have a nicely combed out puff coz that looks good on my hair IMO:

When you know your hair so well that no one can tell you what is good for your hair and be surer about it than you, and so that you're not fighting it, but just seem to have this wonderful marriage with it where you just get it, then you will be truly happy with it.

 

[Auburn]

Excellent post Nonie!
I like that you always break it down

 

[IrisDaVirus]

PROS

My wallet looks good thanks to not being dependent on frequent visits to the salon to maintain my hair.
It's a breeze to style.
Shrinkage. Yeah I said it. I love my shrinkage. Every last bit of it.
Humidity is my best friend. I don't have to worry about it reverting a straight hair style.
My hair grows like wildfire in the warmer months. I can't say that for my relaxed and texturized days.

CONS

Products. Good products for natural hair can be a challenge to find depending where you are.

 

[jetbeauty09]

Well I’ll add my 2 cents. For my 3C, 4A, 4B & CNAPP textured hair:

PRO- I love that my look is usually different than most ladies I run into. I love the different styles that I can pull off while others w/relaxed hair are stuck w/the same straight style. When I was relaxed, I didn’t know anything about braid outs and twist outs and almost all the relaxed ladies I see, don’t wear these styles either.

CONS: If you have highly textured hair (deep like a forest w/no scalp showing! LOL) get ready for knots and tangles. I didn’t know my hair (for the most part) would require so much care to avoid a lot of tangles. My hair naturally forms knots (they look like little dark spots near the ends of your hair and feel like little itty bitty balls near the ends) and I’ve learned to just deal with them. I can’t get around it and I love my hair too much to relax ever again.

***I SEE SINGLE STRAND KNOTS ARE THE MAJORITY OF OTHER'S CONS TOO! HA!***

Rocking a twistout is my usual style and my hair rarely gets a chance to knot up or tangle when I wear this style.

HTH!

 

[I Am So Blessed]

the pros for me is having nice big hair, its kinky/curly and thick, and eveyonce loves the thickness of it wich actually makes it look longer. i like it because it makes me feel like im not conforming to what people think "beauty" is. i know natural hair is beautiful. and the cons for me is if you dont detangle like every other day, your hair will get matted or really tangled to the point of dreads, this happend to me so many times, not lately tho. another con for me is im scared of heat damage and can never get a good rollerset or flat iron results so i dont try anymore becuase im scared of the heat. mmmmm thats all i can think of at the moment.

 

[hopeful]

BostonMaria & Nonie,
I could just kiss both of you! Thank you, thank you, thank you for your thoughtful and intelligent responses.

 

[BlackMasterPiece]

Pros:

- WAY stronger, more resilient hair that can handle vastly more and still retain length

- Thicker hair, my pressed natural hair is WAY thicker then my chemically processed hair

- Low maintenence hair. When I was relaxed every time I went to the salon I needed a reconstructer or I needed a deep moisturizing DC or I needed a DC for my scalp and my ends, my hair was so delicate it was a never ending cycle, now that I'm natural my strands are very strong, it requires much less things are much simpler, and way less involved. I save a whole lotta money by doing it myself.

- Now that I'm no longer irritating my scalp with chemical cremes, I no longer have dandruff. Dandruff was an issue that came directly from the relaxer, once I cut that out, the issue disappeared. I also noticed my scalp is healthier overall.

- Standing apart from the crowd. When you go natural it means that you are an exception to the rule, therefore you will stand apart from the masses. When you dare to be exceptional and rock your own unique texture proudly for the world to see, people instinctively take notice and often cant stop staring....especially when it gets big.

- Men will approach you with much more respect, speak properly and politely, it is as if your afro textured hair helps them recognize the queen in you. Its a wonderful experience.

- Versatility in styling, coils are capable of doing a myriad of styles, it really keeps things fresh, allows you to switch things up much more.

- The freedom of no longer fighting against your hairs nature but rather embracing it.

Cons: .............there are really no cons for me, my hair is longer then its ever been and I did it with my own hair maintaining my own texture. I'm elated and proud to say that.

 

[Nonie]

CONS

Products. Good products for natural hair can be a challenge to find depending where you are.

^^ IrisDaVirus, not sure what products you believe are good for natural hair, but a friend of mine when I first joined this forum, told me that the best sources for good conditioners, shampoos for natural hair are relaxed heads. She told me that's why she reads their posts for...good ideas on products to use. She said they knew the most moisturizing products, best strengthening products, etc. I gave it a shot and I have not been disappointed. All the products I use on my hair I can get at CVS or the Vitamin Shoppe. I don't like using products that aren't easy to come by.

A lot of the products that natural heads recommended would feel good on my hair initially and then harden it up. I used to have hair that was hell to deal when I tried to keep up with what natural heads said was good. Not so since I listened to my friend stopped believing only what natural folks use can work on my hair.