newbeginnings2010
Well-Known Member
Yup, that's me. I knew which of my family members went natural and when they went natural, but after seeing everyone at my baby shower this weekend, I realized....I'm the ONLY relaxed girl left! And I literally mean the ONLY one. My in-laws came into town and they are all natural (hubby has nine sisters, so it's a LOT of people). While they were putting box plaits in my hair (they all grew up natural for many years before becoming relaxed...box plaits in 5 hours! 
), they were having discussions about cowashing, moisturizing, and styling (BTW, I think some of them may be lurkers on here by their topics and hair products 
) their natural hair. I'm just sitting there in the middle of four of the nine women silently with nothing to contribute.
Then when we all went to my baby shower the next day, I saw my side of my family and my friends and realized...they are all natural too! Not one relaxed lock of hair! The connection between my in-laws, family, and friends was instant because they all had something in common. They all had different hairstyles and types and couldn't wait to share hair tips. I have to admit...I was a lil jealous. I love my relaxed hair because it's easy for me to manage, but everyone (my family and friends) says once you learn to manage natural hair, it takes just as much time and energy as relaxed hair.
Seeing them all working so well with their hair is starting to take away my fear of being natural. I've always been afraid that I'd NEVER learn how to style it properly and I'd walk around in Celie braids for the rest of my life (which is the only natural style I know how to do, hence the braidouts being my only hairstyle during my brief 5 month rendezvous with transitioning back in 2010
).
I may give transitioning another try anyway since I don't plan on relaxing until after I have the baby and finish breast-feeding, and I want to do that for 9 months. I'm not making any definite plans until February 2013--the scheduled month of my next relaxer. This could just be a phase because of the wealth of natural hair amongst my family and peers, so no final decisions. I don't want to make a decision based on what others are doing and regret it. Until I get to 2013, I'll still officially be calling myself relaxed (which will be interesting with almost a year-and-a-half's worth of NG).
If anyone has any similar tales, feel free to share! I just wanted to share my tale with the understanding ladies of LHCF!
), they were having discussions about cowashing, moisturizing, and styling (BTW, I think some of them may be lurkers on here by their topics and hair products ) their natural hair. I'm just sitting there in the middle of four of the nine women silently with nothing to contribute. Then when we all went to my baby shower the next day, I saw my side of my family and my friends and realized...they are all natural too! Not one relaxed lock of hair! The connection between my in-laws, family, and friends was instant because they all had something in common. They all had different hairstyles and types and couldn't wait to share hair tips. I have to admit...I was a lil jealous. I love my relaxed hair because it's easy for me to manage, but everyone (my family and friends) says once you learn to manage natural hair, it takes just as much time and energy as relaxed hair.
Seeing them all working so well with their hair is starting to take away my fear of being natural. I've always been afraid that I'd NEVER learn how to style it properly and I'd walk around in Celie braids for the rest of my life (which is the only natural style I know how to do, hence the braidouts being my only hairstyle during my brief 5 month rendezvous with transitioning back in 2010
).I may give transitioning another try anyway since I don't plan on relaxing until after I have the baby and finish breast-feeding, and I want to do that for 9 months. I'm not making any definite plans until February 2013--the scheduled month of my next relaxer. This could just be a phase because of the wealth of natural hair amongst my family and peers, so no final decisions. I don't want to make a decision based on what others are doing and regret it. Until I get to 2013, I'll still officially be calling myself relaxed (which will be interesting with almost a year-and-a-half's worth of NG
).If anyone has any similar tales, feel free to share! I just wanted to share my tale with the understanding ladies of LHCF!
; I had color damage from bleaching my hair NEVER again!) I feel like relaxed hair is slowing become "outdated". My mother used to always tell me that the main reason why Black women relaxed their hair at high rates because it was the trend, just like Jerri Curls or Afros but I never really took that to heart completely but she was right! Natural hair is a new trend just like Afros were in the 1970s, but I hope it's one that stays because now we as Black women are finally understanding the beauty of our hair in it's natural state and how to properly take care of it without such the heavy reliance on chemicals. 
While i do like natural and relaxed hair people are like sheep when one goes west so do the rest ....
