What Are Your Reasons for Going Natural?

[Risingsun]

Did you go natural because you never knew what your hair looked like, think it's a trend, awakening of self, hated the perm, or had bad perm issues? Whatever you reasons are I'd like to hear from you. My reasons were shedding mixed with awakening of self. Peace

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Hair Grade A+ (Groomed & Healthy)
I have several textures!
Find Me on YouTube:https://www.youtube.com/Moorevolve​

 

[MizzBFly]

I am now 6 months post and the only reason I have waited this long are as follows: I cannot formulate the perfect mixture, alloted time or ingredients to give me the perfect texlax CONSISTENTLY..lol I have some strands that are crinkley but then get straight in 2 portions. IF I do persue being a natural I will be a lightly flat ironed or blow out natural. My hair is thick as is, for real. With 2 young kids, 3 including my husband, a new house 1 child starting grade school and the posibility of me going back as well..I really don't have the time or patience.

 

[reeko43]

I always secretly wanted to be natural again whenever I would see someone with natural hair. I just think natural hair of all textures is absolutely beautiful. I thought, for some crazy reason, that I wouldn't be able to pull it off. Also, as I get older, I am afraid that my hair will start thinning so I didn't want the speed up the process with chemicals. Lastly, when I moved from Illinois to Maryland I could not find a stylist that I liked so that finally pushed me to do what I have wanted to do for years.

 

[Anonymous1]

My hair started thinning badly and I started having scalp issues. Went to the dermatologist and she basically told me to stop relaxing or go bald. The relaxers when just too strong for my scalp and the years and years of relaxing was breaking my scalp down.

 

[faithVA]

I just got tired of spending hours in the salon waiting. My appointment was at 4:00, it's now 4:45. I'm ready to go I just got impatient and stopped wanting to pay my money to wait.

 

[ckisland]

The first time was because I had never seen or experienced my hair texture, and when I thought about it, I didn't see a reason why I should be going out of my way to relax. This time it was because I didn't feel authentic with relaxed hair (I kept feeling like I had someone else's hair vs my own), relaxers caused mad dandruff, and relaxed hair took more upkeep than my natural hair and I hated the wiry texture. Relaxing made me realize how soft and shiny my natural hair is. My relaxed hair was so dang rough Blah!!

 

[Fenaxa]

I began to read a few hair blogs talking about natural hair and big chopping and it occurred to me that I don't have to relax my hair. Throughout the years when I was relaxed, it was just a thing for me to do whenever my new growth looked "nappy" smh.
Anyway once I saw how beautiful natural hair is, I couldn't understand why I was even pining for that straight or wavy look for my own hair.. I figured that I could have a beautiful BAA someday so I was done with relaxers and felt bad for ever thinking that strong, healthy new growth was bad.
I just never had a reason to not go natural basically and didn't realize that until years later.

 

[Channy31]

At around 15/16 I permed my hair, but it damaged it horribly. It was around shoulder length but was horrid.

I was on hhj so had to have my hair in a bun a lot and avoided straightening it, I really hated having my hair up in a bun all the time so got weaves for about a year and half.

I took out my weave ready for my new one the next day but to my amazement I had waist length hair, I chopped off the broken relaxed ends and had shoulder length natural hair.

That was two and half years ago

So, for me, my natural hair is stronger and nicer looking than my relaxed hair.
I wear my hair straight a lot but it is shinier and stronger now then it ever was relaxed.

 

[kandake]

I've always admired big curly hair. When braidouts and twistouts became popular I thought maybe I could achieve it with my relaxed hair, which wasn't the case. Then I started watching natural hair tutorials on youtube. At that time I didn't think natural hair was for me. But one day I just randomly decided to BC. I was four months into a six month stretch. Although I love my natural hair. I'm upset that I still can't achieve big hair cause my density is low.

 

[BranwenRosewood]

The first time I went natural (2009-10) I was in my senior year of high school and I just didn't feel like getting touch-ups anymore. I had to get up too early and stay at the salon for too long. I also hated paying that $70 because I only worked during the summer at that time and I wanted to save my money.

I relaxed again 1/1/13 because I learned I could self-relax. I BC'd 9/2/13 because my hair was over-processed. I had bleached it while natural and didn't realize that relaxing colored hair was a bad thing.

I'm texlaxed now and I'll probably start my next transition to natural in 2 years. I like my hair when it's natural and relaxed and I'll probably switch every 3-5 years for a while until I decide stay natural permanently.

 

[NaturallyATLPCH]

I work out profusely five days a week, so going through the motions of having to restyle my hair everyday was not the business. At least if it's not braided or twisted up I can just wash and let it air dry and not have to deal with styling it every day or every other day.

 

[starchgirl]

When I found out I was pregnant I decided not to get any touch-ups. I previously got touch-ups religiously at 10 weeks. Then I went into kinky twists for three months after delivering. When I took those down I felt all this crinkly hair at my roots from 11 months of new growth. I went in for a touch-up and immediately missed my crinkles! (Sometimes I get so mad that I missed out on those extra 5 inches of natural hair! LOL!)

I also knew that I could no longer afford the money and the time to spend at the salon with two small kids at home so I decided to see what a whole head of those crinkles would look like. That was 5 1/2 years ago and I don't regret it one bit. My hair is longer, stronger and healthier than it ever was with relaxers/texlaxes.

 

[bluenvy]

When the time came to touch up, I look at my natural curl pattern and wanted my whole head like that. I felt it grows out naturally like this why not wear my natural tresses. So I stopped relaxing two years ago and chopped off relaxed ends last year. Still working on the beautifying process. But I like the challenge and variety of styes I never could pull off with an relaxer. My hair is multi textured and is happily growing

Here is my hair from September 2013 to present

 

[Dabaddest]

I was doing a long term stretch for 6 months. I saw how pretty my new growth was compared to my relaxed hair. I also saw so many women with beautiful natural hair on YouTube that I admired. I couldn't retain length even with protective styling and my dandruff was out of control. I had huge flakes of dandruff and my scalp would bleed from the dandruff buildup and me scratching it. Smh. Once I stopped get relaxers and started washing and dcing my hair once a week. The dandruff was gone ASAP. I never even considered it could be the relaxer that was causing me problems. Lesson learned!

 

[TeeBee]

I wanted healthier, longer hair. At the time of my transition (2009) I had given birth to my daughter. I knew I didn't want to relax her hair, so why should I keep relaxing mine?

 

[crimsonpeach]

I got tired of hating my own hair. My permed hair looked like trash. Thin, lifeless. One week after relaxing it was back in a struggle pony. When I first lurked on this forum, I was relaxed and really improved my healthy hair practices but my hair never got to where I wanted to be.

I had tried everything but go natural. Three years later, I haven't mastered my hair but it is leaps and bounds healthier and more attractive than my relaxed hair. My close friends say that the best thing I did was go natural.

 

[mywinborne]

I was 18 and it was purely superficial at that time. I figured I would get married around 25 so I wanted to grow my hair out before i met my future dh so it wouldn't be an issue. I mostly keep my hair straight (it retains better this way) but I have been working out more so I haven't used much heat lately.

 

[Risingsun]

The first time was because I had never seen or experienced my hair texture, and when I thought about it, I didn't see a reason why I should be going out of my way to relax. This time it was because I didn't feel authentic with relaxed hair (I kept feeling like I had someone else's hair vs my own), relaxers caused mad dandruff, and relaxed hair took more upkeep than my natural hair and I hated the wiry texture. Relaxing made me realize how soft and shiny my natural hair is. My relaxed hair was so dang rough Blah!!

There is nothing like looking at your real hair and accepting it. Peace

 

[SuchaLady]

Couldn't tell you if I tried.

 

[Risingsun]

When the time came to touch up, I look at my natural curl pattern and wanted my whole head like that. I felt it grows out naturally like this why not wear my natural tresses. So I stopped relaxing two years ago and chopped off relaxed ends last year. Still working on the beautifying process. But I like the challenge and variety of styes I never could pull off with an relaxer. My hair is multi textured and is happily growing

Here is my hair from September 2013 to present

Wonderful, keep going! Peace

 

[Risingsun]

Couldn't tell you if I tried.

Alright, thanks for being honest. Peace

 

[cravoecanela]

I went natural after the 8th grade. At the time (this was in 2006) there was an email going around with a woman whose scalp was burned because of an improperly executed relaxer. I didn't want that to happen to me, so I told my mom that I didn't want a relaxer anymore. There was also an old woman who went to the same hair stylist as me, who was like 60 years old and still relaxing her hair (her hair was gorgeous don't get me wrong, but I did not want to be 60 years old still getting a relaxer, lol. I could have barely lived with relaxed hair.) I didn't want to have to keep doing that every few weeks.

 

[Ravenhairedbeauty]

I went natural because I hadn't had a relaxer in a long time and I washed my hair got out the shower and seen these pretty curls. I didnt even know my hair could curl. I fell in love with my natural texture and bc shortly thereafter.

 

[Risingsun]

I was doing a long term stretch for 6 months. I saw how pretty my new growth was compared to my relaxed hair. I also saw so many women with beautiful natural hair on YouTube that I admired. I couldn't retain length even with protective styling and my dandruff was out of control. I had huge flakes of dandruff and my scalp would bleed from the dandruff buildup and me scratching it. Smh. Once I stopped get relaxers and started washing and dcing my hair once a week. The dandruff was gone ASAP. I never even considered it could be the relaxer that was causing me problems. Lesson learned!

In my relaxing days, my dandruff was also out of control and nothing worked to diminish it. Peace

 

[Risingsun]

After having two daughters of my own, I understand that all too well. Peace

 

[hnntrr]

I was really against it for a long time. My mother and sister went natural two years ago and are both about MBL. I fell in love with their hair and after stretching for 8 weeks I decided just to do it. I had also been told since I was a teenager I had "good hair" (as problematic as that is) and told I didn't need a relaxer. So I just decided to BC. I am really happy with the decision minus not having a ton of hairstyles available to my hair length atm.

 

[Risingsun]

I got tired of hating my own hair. My permed hair looked like trash. Thin, lifeless. One week after relaxing it was back in a struggle pony. When I first lurked on this forum, I was relaxed and really improved my healthy hair practices but my hair never got to where I wanted to be.

I had tried everything but go natural. Three years later, I haven't mastered my hair but it is leaps and bounds healthier and more attractive than my relaxed hair. My close friends say that the best thing I did was go natural.

It looks healthy. Peace

 

[Risingsun]

I went natural after the 8th grade. At the time (this was in 2006) there was an email going around with a woman whose scalp was burned because of an improperly executed relaxer. I didn't want that to happen to me, so I told my mom that I didn't want a relaxer anymore. There was also an old woman who went to the same hair stylist as me, who was like 60 years old and still relaxing her hair (her hair was gorgeous don't get me wrong, but I did not want to be 60 years old still getting a relaxer, lol. I could have barely lived with relaxed hair.) I didn't want to have to keep doing that every few weeks.

Yes, it was bothersome to have to tackle the new growth every month as if it was something bad happening to your scalp. lol

 

[Risingsun]

Beautiful curls. Peace

 

[Risingsun]

I went natural because I hadn't had a relaxer in a long time and I washed my hair got out the shower and seen these pretty curls. I didnt even know my hair could curl. I fell in love with my natural texture and bc shortly thereafter.

Yes, if you stretch a perm out long enough, you can get caught up in those healthy springy curls!