PROs & CONs of Natural hair & Relaxed hair...(pics welcomed)

[BomBShell♥]

Heyyy Ladiessss.....lol. Ok, I already know what most of you guys are saying...."why doesnt she just go research it through the threads already created" ....just to let you know....I HAVE! & im still wondering what to do...actually there are a lot of us still wondering.

Anywho...these questions are for my natural & relaxed ladies...
♥.What are the pros/cons
♥. How much length on an average can your hair state retain?
♥. How long does it take to normally style your hair?
♥. What is one reason why you would rather have the opposite of your hair state? ex: if you are natural what is the one reason why you rather be relaxed...and vice versa...

Thank you ladies so much in advance for participating in this thread....I promise this would be so much help for lost souls like mine...

 

[BomBShell♥]

....too soon to bump?? l0l

 

[My Friend]

Anywho...these questions are for my natural & relaxed ladies...
♥.What are the pros/cons
♥. How much length on an average can your hair state retain? I feel like I'm not retaining as much as the progress pics I see of other women.

♥. How long does it take to normally style your hair? I wear a half wig so 5 minutes or less

♥. What is one reason why you would rather have the opposite of your hair state? ex: if you are natural what is the one reason why you rather be relaxed...and vice versa...

It looks as though relaxed heads retain more length than me. Relaxed = No SSK and no detangle sessions. Relaxed heads retain more moisture.

 

[NaturalBeauty<3]

Hmmm. I'll Bite, lol.
I'd say one of the major pros to being natural is not having to limbo between that "how far can I get without relaxing before I see breakage"...stage.
or having to wait before I color so I don't over process....
..or if i can scratch my head because I'm getting a relaxer soon......lol. Ahhhh my relaxed days.


The grass always seems so much greener on the other side.

A few pros for relaxed is its easier to show length, no (or less) ssks.... easier to detangle.....rollersetting can be easier...etc.

As for my hair...it takes about two minutes to style. lol, keep in mind that all im doing is cowashing, hopping out the shower and bunning though...so I might not count. When i was flat ironing, *tear*...... it was a nice 2 hour process, with shampooing, deep conditioning, blowdrying n flat ironing. HTH, Love.

 

[ms.blue]

Anywho...these questions are for my natural & relaxed ladies...
♥.What are the pros/cons
I'm natural and the major pro for me is that my scalp issues are not as serious as when I was relaxed. The con w/ natural to me is that straight styles are seasonal to me and I'm not very good at styling my natural hair.
[/COLOR] ♥. How much length on an average can your hair state retain? Since putting the scissors down I have retained all the growth since late April which was 1.5 inches.
♥. How long does it take to normally style your hair?
When wearing my half-wig about 2-3 mins but for tomorrow since I'm doing a twist out maybe 5 mins.
♥. What is one reason why you would rather have the opposite of your hair state? ex: if you are natural what is the one reason why you rather be relaxed...and vice versa...
Having less tangles, using less heat to have straight hair, less frizziness and not get dumb stares from strangers when they see my natural hair.

I think I answered everything.

 

[BEAUTYU2U]

Pros: Natural
No Perm Schedule
No Perm Smell
No Perm Scabs

Cons: Natural
Other People's Attitudes
Finding New Staples
Length - if you BC

I never got to shoulder length as a relaxed head - I relaxed for 11 years - as a natural head I am well on my way to shoulder length after 2 years. Then again, I wasn't focused on the health of my hair during my relaxed time.

As a relaxed head, I hot curled my hair every day - usually in spirals. I loved that look - I still kind of miss it - lol. As a natural, I wear lots of braidouts/twistouts. Twistouts are my favorite, it gives me soft waves like the aforementioned relaxed style.

It takes me less than 15 minutes to do my hair - in relaxed or natural state. One reason I would go back to relaxed is to showcase my actual length. That's about it (lol).

 

[JJamiah]

Anywho...these questions are for my natural & relaxed ladies...
♥.What are the pros/cons - I am relaxed, and I don't have to worry about my hair reverting in the heat, yet my curls will drop , lol
♥. How much length on an average can your hair state retain? all inches unless i cut them off!
♥. How long does it take to normally style your hair? I wear half wigs, and phony ponies usually no longer than 1 minute. When I roller set and take out it takes 5 minutes.
♥. What is one reason why you would rather have the opposite of your hair state? ex: if you are natural what is the one reason why you rather be relaxed...and vice versa...

I could save a nice amount of money from going to get relaxers. Otherwise I love my relaxed hair.

 

[Esthi777]

I'm not sure if I'd be any help with this because I've always been natural and because my hair will dry straight if I just comb it back, I don't think I need/want to be relaxed BUT I can say that I feel I don't retain much length because my hair is so very very fine and fragile. That was one of the reasons I've joined, to actually see if by putting away the heat, how much I can retain. It takes me about no time to style with WnGs and maybe 5 min after it air dries to pin up or pin my hair back. Sorry that I'm no help but I'll bump for you!

BUMP!

 

[BomBShell♥]

ok ok...so im learning that it is easier to keep healthy hair if you are natural...however if you want to showcase your length more frequently then relaxed may be a better choice. hmm...Also that with Natural hair you have a lot more ssks and tangling...so if im an impatient person natural may not be the thing for me. thanks ladies! keep it coming!!!

 

[Nonie]

I'm natural.

♥.What are the pros/cons

Pros of being natural:

• Versatility--I can pull off just about any hairstyle I want and have long hair one day and short the next. LOVE IT!!!!!
• Independence--I do not need to depend on outside eyes for the caring and maintenance of my hair.
• I believe my hair is a lot healthier in its natural state.

Cons of being natural:

• I personally don't have any but I'd say for a newbie who's never had natural hair, 4B hair can be quite a handful, especially if one isn't listening to her hair but is trying to copy styles from others who don't have the same type of hair. I'm sorta spoiled in that I have had and lived among 4B natural hair for about 30 years. So I know how to avoid tangles and knots by keeping my hair stretched and detangled at all times.
• If you hate shrinkage (which I LOVE) then that's another burden you have to deal with.
• If you like WNGs (I don't care for them) then you may find tangles and knots are commonplace.

Pros of being relaxed:

• I guess styling hair can be done in a jiffy.
• If you are one of those who NEEDS to know how long your hair is often, then straight hair affords you that.

Cons of being relaxed:

• Dependence on a stylist to be your eyes and ensure minimum overlap during touch ups--a risk I'm not willing to take.
• The constant headache of having two textures to deal with and needing to make sure you match the old hair when you touch up.
• Risk of overprocessing and underprocessing and getting burned.
• Maybe I would feel differently now but back when I was relaxed, it seemed I was always "treating" my hair to keep it from breaking--as if I'd caught some incurable disease. The slight weakening from chemical processing seemed to require more work from me to keep the hair on my head.

♥. How much length on an average can your hair state retain?

With trimming 1/4 every 6-8 weeks religiously, I can retain about 4.5 inches a year. When I don't keep this up, I retain less. And now that I'm past SL, I retain even less because I am too lazy to PS and yes, I'm not as focused on trimming as I used to be.

♥. How long does it take to normally style your hair?

Less than ten minutes. I just undo my night-time braids and comb to get a puff:

If my hair is straightened, about 5 minutes to put it into a style like this one:

​

About an hour to put it into twists like these:

And then CWing within a minute each morning and walking out with them dripping wet so they'd hang down.

Or if I spend 3 minutes putting them up as shown below, then in the morning it takes under a minute to put on the puff and since I don't do anything but take the puff off and baggy at night, every day I wear that style it takes me under a minute just to put on the puff:

Or if I take 3-5 mins in the evening to put my hair up like the pic below then Saran wrap, then it takes me seconds to take the plastic off each morning and sport the same do every morning:

​

Between 8 and 10 hours to put it in braids like these:

And then depending on how hard I feel like working, I could spend zero to an hour styling my hair each morning.

Zero time if I just wear it as it looks when I put the braids in.

Under 5 minutes to cornrow it while damp like this:

....so I can sport a braidout when my hair is dry--takes a minute to undo the cornrows for this:

​

About an hour to put in Curlformers:

....and then when my hair is dry about ten minutes to take them out and sport this:

♥. What is one reason why you would rather have the opposite of your hair state? ex: if you are natural what is the one reason why you rather be relaxed...and vice versa...

Just the ease of combing and whipping the hair into a different style daily. But I get that when I straighten so to be honest, for me, I'd not RATHER be relaxed for that. I'd rather be natural with all the things I can do including pulling off what relaxed hair can do WHEN I want to.

 

[Chaosbutterfly]

I'm a relaxed 4a/4b, and my answers are in bold.

♥.What are the pros/cons

+ It's easy for me to manage and style my relaxed hair.
+ I don't have real issues with SSK's and knots. I get them once in a blue moon.
+ I like wearing my hair straight (it works better with my face), and with relaxed hair, I can get my hair straight without using direct heat.
+ I like that my length is more easily shown. Like there's no shrinkage and stuff.
+ I spent a ton of time getting to know my relaxed hair. I know what it likes, what it doesn't like, how to treat it, and how to calm its tantrums. After all that, it's not an attractive prospect for me to have to learn an entirely new head of hair, even if technically, it's the relaxed hair that is new.
+ New growth makes it easier to track how much my hair grows in a given time.
+ And going back to the straight style stuff, I can go on vacation and swim, walk in the rain or go to a party without worrying about reversion.

- It costs money, even if someone relaxes at home.
- There's always a risk of something going wrong with the relaxer and it causing a setback. So it's kind of scary.
- Relaxers can give you burns and thin out your hair.
- Relaxed hair (IMO) requires a bit more attention, in terms of protein and moisture balance, and taking care of the ends.
- I can't color my hair, because I relax, and double processing on my fine hair is a no-no.

♥. How much length on an average can your hair state retain?

I find that when I do everything right (moisturize, deep condition, protectively style, wear my silk scarf), I can retain most of what I grow. I generally grow about .25 in. a month, and my hair gets longer by the same degree in general. So I don't think relaxing has affected my retention negatively.

♥. How long does it take to normally style your hair?

In the mornings, it takes me about two minutes because I bun. I take off my scarf, spritz my hair with moisturizer, smooth the front with a boar bristle brush, and hit it on down the road. And on days when I want to wear my hair out, it also takes a small amount of time. I take down my wrap/pin curls, smooth my hair, put a little serum on the ends, and go. I think it's very easy to do my hair in the mornings.

♥. What is one reason why you would rather have the opposite of your hair state? ex: if you are natural what is the one reason why you rather be relaxed...and vice versa...

lol, I have a few reasons. I think natural hair tends to be more dynamic and multi-dimensional than relaxed hair. The styles that can be done with natural hair are incredible (I love the fro-hawk especially). And not having a relaxer would save me money, time, and peace of mind because I wouldn't be worrying about what if the relaxer is old, or what if it's not applied right, or blah blah blah.

Good luck with whatever you decide to do, OP!

 

[Americka]

Pros of Relaxing:
1. Hair can be quickly styled
2. Hair can be quickly detangled
3. SSKs are rare
4. Length is easily seen

Cons of Relaxing:
1. Determining when to end a stretch
2. Switching products as the stretch deepens
3. Finding styles to blend two hair textures

I retain about 4 to 5 1/2 inches a year.

It takes me less than 5 minutes to style my hair. I ALWAYS set my hair at nite using sponge rollers or pin curls.

I would love to be able to do a beautiful wash n go.

 

[BostonMaria]

Natural Hair here (Avatar is my latest picture)
Pros: My hair retains way more length with natural hair. I retain at least 4-6" a year. If its curly my hair takes 5-10 minutes to do if that. If its straight, it takes a few hours (DC, rollerset, dry, flatiron) and will last a few days.

Cons:
Picture says it all LOL

I don't want a relaxer ever again, but since I have to pick a reason I'd say I miss not having frizz. My hair frizzes up if I don't gel it up. And if I straighten my hair in the summer it reverts in a few minutes.

 

[NaturalBoss]

I'm natural...

♥.What are the pros/cons
Pros:
-It's very inexpensive to take care of my hair
-I have more versatility
-My hair is stronger
-I can color my hair w/o worrying about double processing

Cons:
-......I can't think of any right now

♥. How much length on an average can your hair state retain?
I don't know actual inches because I don't measure, but I don't experience breakage or shedding, and my hair doesn't tangle, so I would say I retain all of it

♥. How long does it take to normally style your hair?
Approximately 2 minutes. I bun (or puff) daily

♥. What is one reason why you would rather have the opposite of your hair state? ex: if you are natural what is the one reason why you rather be relaxed...and vice versa...
I have no desire to be relaxed. When I was relaxed I wore a ponytail 95% of the time. I have sensitive skin and my scalp/hairline/neck got burned almost everytime I got a touch up no matter what precautions the hairstylist and myself took. My hair was bsl a lot of the time but it was thinner back then. I could not do my own relaxers due to laziness and not being able to avoid overlapping, so I always had to pay $75 for someone else to do it. I'm the type that likes to have highlights ALL the time, so my hair was very dry when I was relaxed. No matter what conditioners I used, my drain would always be clogged up after I washed my hair. Now that I'm natural, I only see a few occasional strands in the shower.

 

[-PYT]

I agree with all of the ladies here, and don't have much to add save for the fact that while doing my hair, I don't have to use rubber bands because my hair curls around itself at the ends. That's what amazes me most since i've BC'd

 

[LayneJ]

I'm natural.

Pros:
* Versatility--long and straight (flat-iron), long and curly (rollerset w/ flat-ironed roots), short & kinky (natural ), short & curly (flexi-sets), and anywhere in-between (fro-hawks, twists, bantu-knot outs, blowouts, etc)
* Tremendous pride--I know that I'm working with (and loving) the hair texture that grows out of my scalp (this is a big one for me)
* Peace of Mind--no timing touchups, no worrying about burns, etc.

Cons:
* Shrinkage (doesn't bother me at all, but could possibly bother you)
* Time--it could take you awhile to figure out your hair and what it wants/doesn't want
* Detangling--I spend a good 15 min. detangling now. Again that doesn't bother me, but I can't just run a comb through my hair and be done with it

How much length on an average can your hair state retain?
* 4-5in.

How long does it take to normally style your hair?
* On the daily--about 5 minutes (WnGs & Buns, usually)

What is one reason why you would rather have the opposite of your hair state?
* Honestly--I wouldn't.

I spend the same amount of time on my natural hair as I did on my relaxed hair.

Relaxed hair: Flat-ironing/blowdrying, rollersetting/drying, etc; these things take the same amount of time to do as twists, flat-ironing/blowdrying, flexi-sets, etc. on natural hair. The difference is my hair is longer now. It took me a good hour before, now it takes about an hour and a half. And of course my puffs and buns take just as little time as my ponytails and relaxed buns took.

If I wanted straight hair and all the benefits of having straight hair (no knots, less time detangling, etc) I would heat train; worry-free, 24/7 straight hair, IMO.

ETA: Pics of my natural hair/styles attached.

 

[BomBShell♥]

Thank you ladies for all of your wonderful opinions ♥

 

[nikolite]

♥ Pros:
1. Versality - I can wear my hair curly, straight, fro-y, etc. Its the best of all worlds.
2. Styles - I love big, fluffy hair, so its wonderful to get to wear afros, puffs, WNG's, twist-outs and such with lots of volume.
3. Protective styling - I can wear my hair one way for a week to a month at a time without manipulating or dealing with it too much beyond daily spritzing and tying down with a scarf at night. That's great for those days/weeks when I am too busy to even cook myself a meal (and that happens very frequently in grad school).
4. Stronger hair - My hair never grew this long when relaxed. Its much stronger and retains length much easier, even with what seems like more manipulation. Its still hard to do that though regardless!
5. Confidence - For me, being able to wear my hair in its natural state is a huge boost in my self-esteem/confidence. It makes me feel more accepting of me and its nice to feel that my hair is beautiful as is.

♥ Cons: Tangling and SSK's - When I do wear WNG's, puffs, or twists these cannot be avoided. But I rarely have this problem anyway because I rarely wear these styles and have a very good detangling process for when I do.

♥. How much length on an average can your hair state retain? Much more than when it was relaxed. See #4 above.

♥. How long does it take to normally style your hair? Since I am usually in protective styles, it takes less than 5 minutes on a daily basis, but about an hour or so for a 1-2 week style, and 6 hours for my 1-month style (box braids).

♥. What is one reason why you would rather have the opposite of your hair state? Hmmm.... well, straight hair's plus is that tangling/SSK's would be nonexistent, which would help in retaining length. But I've pretty much mastered this problem as a natural.

 

[Kindheart]

3B transitioning:


♥.What are the pros/cons
Relaxed hair
PROS

• Easier to COMB
• Hair looks shinier
• it has a neat look
• You can show off lenght

CONS

• Breakage
• Thinning of hair strands
• Shedding (like crazy)
• Hair loss
• Chemicals gets into your bloodstream
• Scalp damage
• If you get tired of relaxing you have to CHOP the whole lenght off.
• Lack of volume ,the glued -on-scalp effect
  .
• More money spent on Hair products that REPAIR and protein tretments that PREVENT damage .

With all that said I ve seen some beautiful relaxed heads around here but what aggravated me in the first place when i used to chemically straighten my hair is the thinning ,it looked as if i had less hair .
Natural hair:
I must say my natural texture is probably easier to deal with than 4b but it has its pros and cons

Pros:

• Freedom of washing as often as i want to without worrying about damaging my strands.
• Faster growth
• Very few split ends
• Moisture retention.
• not being worried about my hair reverting on a humid or rainy day .
• Freedom of sweating without ruining my Do .
• Easier to style ( i just airdry and bun it or rollerset if i wanted straight)
• Overall feeling of doing something good for myself and my hair.

CONS

• Frizziness
• Flat ironing takes a bit longer (risk of heat damage )

Curly hair can easily look untidy if not tamed with some sort of product
You can forget about "bangs"
♥. How much length on an average can your hair state retain?
about 1 inch a month
♥. How long does it take to normally style your hair?2 to 5 minutes if i keep it curly ,about 40 mins if i straighten it
♥. What is one reason why you would rather have the opposite of your hair state? ex: if you are natural what is the one reason why you rather be relaxed...and vice versa...
Hm to be honest i m tired of relaxed hair ,it sheds alot more than in its natural state and you always have to look for breakage and trim those split ends caused by relaxer+heat damage(like in my case) IMO its much easier to get to MBL being natural cuz your overall hair health is better and the strands that are sprouting from your scalp dont get harassed by chemicals to break its protein bond therefore grow healthier and faster.

 

[Mazza64]

Heyyy Ladiessss.....lol. Ok, I already know what most of you guys are saying...."why doesnt she just go research it through the threads already created" ....just to let you know....I HAVE! & im still wondering what to do...actually there are a lot of us still wondering.

Anywho...these questions are for my natural & relaxed ladies...
♥.What are the pros/cons
Pro's Natural
Retaining length
Less money spent.No trips to the salon every other week
Looks very healthy
Con's Natural
I have very thick hair so styling it is a learning curve. ♥. How much length on an average can your hair state retain?
In it's natural state my hair does seem to be rataining it's length. When I was relaxed my hair would always break so i never got past SL.
♥. How long does it take to normally style your hair? Thats my biggest issue at the moment .In it's natural state tooo long. Even an afro puff takes to long.So I revert back to twist wigs and Cornrows with phony ponys. I am waiting to get a bit more length which hopefully will make styling easier.
♥. What is one reason why you would rather have the opposite of your hair state? ex: if you are natural what is the one reason why you rather be relaxed...and vice versa...
Styling relaxed hair was much simplier. and looks more glam for specail occasions.

Thank you ladies so much in advance for participating in this thread....I promise this would be so much help for lost souls like mine...

.......................

 

[DDTexlaxed]

For me, relaxed hair is all I knew, but I wanted to be natural. My problem is length and knots. I had a twa that would tangle around the other. I don't know how to braid or twist well, so that was the con for me. On the other hand, my hair retained length more faster and I just loved how my natural hair felt. It was easier to style. I just washed and goed. I even wore busted twists. I will be going back to natural hair once my hair is long enough to bun. This time, I will long transition so I can bun my natural hair if my other style efforts go sour.

 

[Sianna]

I only went natural about six months ago so my experience is limited. But, since you asked, I'll share!

Being Natural

Pro's

* Healthier, stronger hair
* My natural hair retains far more moisture than my relaxed did
* Hair is growing/retaining length much better
* Don't have to worry about double processing when I decide to color
* No more torture sessions with the chemical burn cream!!
* No more dandruff!
* No fear of WATER (rain, swimming, ect)
* No more sweeping dry, broken off hair (and dandruff) off my shoulders and floor after combing my hair
* Scalp feels healthier
* BIG HAIR!! (or at least it will be once it gets a little longer. I LOVE big hair)

Cons

* Shrinkage can be a con depending on how you look at it, what style you're trying to achieve, and if you want to show your length. Right now I overcome this by brushing my damp hair down at night and then immediately wrapping it with a satin scarf/headwrap. It is always nicely stretched and detangled in the morning. As my hair gets longer, I will continue to keep it stretched, by twisting, braiding or banding.

Relaxed

Pro's

Umm... For me, there really weren't any. I might have said showing my length, but I didn't really have any to show.

Cons

* Breakage, breakage, breakage!!!
* Scalp usually felt irritated
* Ends were always choppy and uneven
* limp, lifeless, over-processed hair

♥. What is one reason why you would rather have the opposite of your hair state? ex: if you are natural what is the one reason why you rather be relaxed...and vice versa...

Honestly, I would never fully relax again. If I ever put another chemical in my hair again, I would lightly texlax it. While I can appreciate the appeal of bone straight, shiny hair, it has never been my favorite. I have always loved the look of natural textured hair that has been stretched, ie blown out. I love huge fluffy hair, so IF I ever decide that I want to reduce my natural shrinkage, I would consider texlaxing my hair. This would (presumably) allow me to easily wear curly or straight styles. I could do WNG's still and I would also be able to do straight styles without using a lot of heat in my hair.

I think I forgot to mentions some things, but... well, I can't remember what they could be right now. At any rate, HTH and please keep us posted on whatever you decide to do!

 

[LatterGlory]

___________________________

 

[Junebug D]

Relaxed

Pros:
-Quicker, easier daily styling
-Better length retention
-Breakage and splits are easier to see & easier to combat
-Neater, more sophisticated look

Cons:
- the possibility of scalp burns
- $$$ for a stylist because I'm too chicken to do my own relaxers
- Hair gets weighed down easily

Natural

Pros:
- it can "hide" thin hair and damage
- didn't have to style daily when wearing twists

Cons:
- have to keep stretched to avoid knots & tangles & breakage
- non-stretched styles inevitably lead to damage or breakage
- long time to do stretched styles
- bad hair days look extra bad
- puffs can damage hairline
- so much time spent on hair, hardly any compliments; nothing to show for all the time & effort
- perpetually crispy ends

Personally, I never made it past SL as a natural. I would cut it off whenever the con list above became too overwhelming (usually around NL) and start again, in a neverending cycle. Last year I relaxed it and recently reached APL for the first time ever. I guess I'd rather be natural again just because I didn't have to go to the salon. I guess I can learn how to do my own relaxers, but I'ze chicken. Otherwise, I'd consider being natural again just to loc. But loose natural and longer than a TWA? I don't think that's happening again ANY time soon.

 

[VictoriousBrownFlower]

I'm texlaxed

♥.What are the pros/cons
pros
*minimal shrinkage
*detangling is a breeze
*can easily go from textured styles to straight with minimal heat

cons
*thin hair
*inconsistant texture throughout
*even though I only relax every 5-6 months the process is time consuming
*results are inconsistant
*can't do certain styles because the last 1/4th of my hair is completely straight because of either relaxer runoff or henna( i really think it was henna because i completely cover my relaxed ends with conditioner when I relax and never had a prob with straight ends before hennaing)
*I've had to trim alot because of thin ends so I retain less hair as a relaxed head than I did as a natural

♥. How much length on an average can your hair state retain?
As a relaxed head maybe 3-4 a yr because of constant trimming/cuts
As a natural 5-6 inches a yr

♥. How long does it take to normally style your hair?
On average 5 mins if that ( I just finger comb it in a bun most of the time)

♥. What is one reason why you would rather have the opposite of your hair state? ex: if you are natural what is the one reason why you rather be relaxed...and vice versa...
I'm actually transitioning because:
*I want bigger thicker fluffier hair
*I want a consistant texture from root to tip
*I want to be able to do styles like braidouts twistouts twists and wash and goes without having to manipulate the heck out of my hair to get it to blend right at the ends
*I want thick ends
*I wear textured styles 95% of the time ( i only straighten for length checks)
* I retain more length as a natural
* My hair is stronger

 

[Lynnerie]

I've been natural since Dec 08. I transitioned for 8 months.

Being Natural

Pro's

-I always wanted to have curly hair and now I finally do!
-I feel that my hair is growing faster maybe because my retention is much better.
-I can style my hair fairly quickly I just wash n go.
-I don't have to think about new growth and lines of demarcation.
-I don't mind getting my hair wet.

Cons

-Shrinkage
-Knots
-Tangles

Relaxed Pro's

The pro of being relaxed was being able to show length and easy rollersets. But I didn't have any length really. Just shoulder length hair.
Cons
-Breakage
-Always worrying about stretching relaxers and then getting more breakage
-Uneven results from processing. Always over processed or under processed.
-Avoiding rain, swimming, and humidity.

♥. How much length on an average can your hair state retain?
Not sure how much length I retain but its more since going natural.


♥. How long does it take to normally style your hair?
It takes about 5 minutes to style my hair. I wash n go in the shower and when I get out I apply some gel and either put it in a puff or leave it down.

What is one reason why you would rather have the opposite of your hair state? ex: if you are natural what is the one reason why you rather be relaxed...and vice versa...

If I ever considered relaxing again I would only texlax, silken, or texturize. I just love curly hair too much so I'd have to keep some texture.

I included some pics the 1st 2 are of my hair relaxed and the last 3 are natural pics.

 

[Lynnerie]

More pics of my natural hair

Another pro of being natural is versatility.

 

[prospurr4]

Anywho...these questions are for my natural & relaxed ladies...
♥.What are the pros/cons
(my "Pros" and "Cons" hinge heavily on the fact that I am texlaxed):

Pros
- Versatility - I can wear so many styles (natural-ish and relax-ish).
- Ease of Styling - I can create the above-referenced styles in very little time.
- No More Direct Heat - I don't ever have to blowdry/flatiron my hair again. It's just waayyy too time-consuming for me.

Cons:
- Ummmm....the only "con" I can think of is that I have to touchup 4 times a year...I don't really see it as a "con" but I felt I needed to list something here....

♥. How much length on an average can your hair state retain?
- about 3/8"-1/2" per month, if I care for my ends properly. To be honest, I don't always do that.

♥. How long does it take to normally style your hair?
- Oh...just a few minutes...that's what I love MOST about my hair!

♥. What is one reason why you would rather have the opposite of your hair state? ex: if you are natural what is the one reason why you rather be relaxed...and vice versa...
- Oooo, let's see...well, I have been natural, so I know what that's about. If I were to return to natural, it would be because I didn't want to keep up with my touchups anymore...I don't see that happening anytime soon, though.

 

[BomBShell♥]

hahaha i thought this was suppose to make the decision easier!!! ....this is getting harder and harder

 

[yvette]

♥.What are the pros/cons
♥. How much length on an average can your hair state retain?
♥. How long does it take to normally style your hair?
♥. What is one reason why you would rather have the opposite of your hair state? ex: if you are natural what is the one reason why you rather be relaxed...and vice versa...


I just recently became natural after transitioning for one year.

Pros for natural: I am still learning so I can't really be of help. However, a sure pro has to be that I am no longer using chemicals and my hair is in its natural state. I am also enjoying my natural curls, just wish my hair were a bit longer.

Cons: I already hate the shrinkage. It irritates me.

I can not answer the retention because I just recently became natural. When I was relaxed, I had no problems with retention. I had APL length hair. Now, I am barely grazing my shoulder in some areas.

It takes me about 5 minutes to style because I wear wigs and half wigs

I LOVED relaxed hair but I was recently diagnosed with CCCA and the dermatologist told me I had to stop perming. I like the way my hair looks with permed hair. I am one of those people that likes my hair to be bone straight, at least around the edges and kitchen...lol