Transitioning & Buns

[mahogany_horizons]

Britt has inspired me to create a new thread. I rely on buns a lot as a styling option. I am currently transitioning and I am only 17 weeks post.

For those of you who are transitioning, at what point did you have to stop bunning your hair.

OMG I am short if I cannot bun my hair, it's like my primary style.

Can you bun your way through a transition, or not?

Does it cause breakage? Matting?

 

[toaster]

I bunned all the way through my 19 month transition. I know I didn't have any breakage or matting because my transitioning hair grew past waist length before I cut off the relaxed ends. I was relaxed bone straight with no texture left, as I had no idea about healthy practices before I began my transition. I'm not sure why you would ever have to stop bunning your hair, as long as the bunning doesn't cause you any problems.

I wasn't particularly concerned with looking "cute" while I was transitioning, I just wanted my hair to grow long enough that I could cut the permed ends off and be "natural". For me, it was a literal transition, and I didn't try a lot of styles to blend the two textures. If I did it over again I probably would be more creative, but my hair grew pretty fast and I retained all of my length so I won't complain.

Here was my transitioning regimen, I'm sure the products changed but the idea was the same:
once a week:
put hair in 4 braids with coconut oil applied to each braid
prepoo with Mane n Tail Original Conditioner- 20 mins with heat. cool for 10
rinse
wash scalp with Hair One Cleansing Conditioner
rinse
apply Pantene deep conditioner- 45 mins with heat. cool for 10
rinse (i clip all the braids to my scalp at this point. take one down at a time, detangle under water, rebraid and clip. repeat until all four braids are detangled)
put on turbie twist towel for like 10 minutes to soak up excess water.
apply HE LTR leave-in to each section (2 pumps)
apply a quarter size amount of Aussie Moist to each section
bun

daily:
apply shea butter and coconut oil
bun

nightly: take bun out
put hair in two twists and put on prettywrap

 

[ElevatedEnergy]

I am 26 months post with about 6-7 inches of relaxed ends and buns are def possible to do during the duration of growing out a relaxer. The are not my "staple" style, but they do give me a nice break when I can't be bothered with my hair. Buns do not give me breakage or matting because I don't do them tight and I stretch my hair beforehand 90% of the time if I do them.

I roller set after washing and will do one big bantu knot type bun sometimes to maintain my curls and stretch my roots. This will normally last 2-3 days until my edges start acting up as I don't use gel for my edges just Hicks Edge control (Pic 1)

When my roller sets gets old, I'll do high buns (Pic 2) This can last a few days with me just misting the outside with water. It does frizz out but I like the look. (Pic 3)

Sometimes I'll put my hair in 2 goddess braids for a few days, then high bun it when I take them down. (Pic 4)

When I don't feel like roller setting after washing (normally in the late spring/early summer) I'll do a wash and go curly bun. They last the longest out of all my buns but my hair feels like a helmet with the gel used so I rarely do them. lol
They can last up to 7 days with me just using coconut oil daily. (Pic 5&6)

There's also a recent thread around here showing transitioning/natural buns. I'll try and find and bump for you.

 

[mahogany_horizons]

Thank you so much for your input so far ladies.

Would you say that wet bunning is safe?

 

[ElevatedEnergy]

Thank you so much for your input so far ladies. Would you say that wet bunning is safe?

Personally, I don't wet bun. Early on, I could get away with it but as my natural hair started to take over....it was just taking too long to dry. But, I'm sure there are plenty ladies who do it successfully. I think as long as you don't use too much tension, you should be ok

 

[mahogany_horizons]

Personally, I don't wet bun. Early on, I could get away with it but as my natural hair started to take over....it was just taking too long to dry. But, I'm sure there are plenty ladies who do it successfully. I think as long as you don't use too much tension, you should be ok

Lulu, thank you so much.

Yes, my buns are always loose, much to the chagrin of my family lol!

but I love it that way!!

 

[Britt]

I couldn't keep wet bunning. My hair would get matted up in the back after the wet bun fully dried. I could bun my hair if it were stretched, but to keep wet bunning and allowing my hair to air dry --- nahh, that didn't work for me at all.

 

[mahogany_horizons]

I'm going to keep wet bunning for now. I will be alert to matts and other issues, and keep ladies posted in this thread.

 

[whiteoleander91]

I wore buns for my entire transition (I transitioned for a year). It worked great for me.

 

[ChristmasCarol]

mahogany_horizons

I bunned through a 3 1/2 year transition without issues. I usually bunned on blow-dried hair. Wet-bunning can lead to serious breakage, so I rarely did it.

Buns can be fabulous! I wore over 30 styles during my transition. Most are documented in my LHCF Albums.

Good Luck!

 

[toaster]

I wet bunned! It took forever to dry but it worked. However my strands are super thick, almost like string.

 

[mahogany_horizons]

Thanks ladies. I'm starting to see a pattern here. The ladies who have issues with wet bunning seem to be those with thinner strands. Uh-oh.

I'll just have to keep monitoring my hair for any issues.

 

[ChristmasCarol]

Thanks ladies. I'm starting to see a pattern here. The ladies who have issues with wet bunning seem to be those with thinner strands. Uh-oh.

I'll just have to keep monitoring my hair for any issues.

Just to clarify, I have thick/coarse strands, but I wasn't taking any chances with wet-bunning! If you want to hold onto your relaxed hair for a few years, you cannot afford ANY setbacks - no matter how minor. By the time damage is noticed, you could have a chunk of relaxed ends missing. Then you'd have to BC earlier than expected.

ETA: I just noticed that you only want to transition for a year. You should be fine in that case. Sorry for being totally off-base. Reading is fundamental

 

[Britt]

@mahogany_horizons

I bunned through a 3 1/2 year transition without issues. I usually bunned on blow-dried hair. Wet-bunning can lead to serious breakage, so I rarely did it.

Buns can be fabulous! I wore over 30 styles during my transition. Most are documented in my LHCF Albums.

Good Luck!

@mahogany_horizons If I continued to blow dry, bunning wouldn't be a problem b/c my hair would be easier to comb and smooth from root to tip. IME, the kinkier the new growth coming in the more difficult it was for me to continue to wet bun. For example, if my new growth were a uniform 3c throughout I could be able to wet bun longer, but it's not and the areas that aren't started to break at the demarcation line. I'm currently wearing a twist out, I prob could be able to comb out this twist out and smooth my hair back into a bun (thanks for the idea ) and slick down my edges with a scarf, if I'm able to do this, it's only b/c my new growth has already been somewhat stretched from a braid out and twist out. You have to play around with your hair and see what works for your texture.

 

[Evolving78]

I found this old thread. So I guess as my new growth comes in, I will tension dry with the blow dryer, then bun. I don’t care about looking cute right now.

 

[Alma Petra]

I found this old thread. So I guess as my new growth comes in, I will tension dry with the blow dryer, then bun. I don’t care about looking cute right now.

Heyyy what? Ladies in buns cannot look cute?

 

[Evolving78]

Heyyy what? Ladies in buns cannot look cute?

Oh no! I heart buns, but I know I’m going to be looking rough for awhile! Lol

 

[BlessedXs2]

I air dry in braids to stretch my roots and the bun while Slightly damp. I’m able to get it smooth enough.