Those who transitioned - QUESTIONS

[Mook's hair]

Everytime I wash or cowash, I am waiting/hoping for the natural sections of my hair to show some type of curl clumping or curl pattern.

I look in albums and I can see photos of other ladies who's hair does this when wet and it shows the relaxed pieces hanging at the ends.

I believe my hair to be 4B/4a mix

My question is for those who transitioned,
Did anyone else experience this or are the dry relaxed ends just preventing the waving & clumping of the coils & curls?
If my hair won't curl /clump now. Will it refuse to do that when I'm all natural?

This is driving me crazy and I'm allowing it to cloud my judgement and therefore question my transition-to-natural fortitude.

And one more thing. My natural hair seems more fragile and seems to have less thickness then the relaxed hair. But most ladies notice thicker hair as a natural...What gives? Is it an illusion?

 

[ajoyfuljoy]

Good questions. I'm eager to see what type of responses you get. IDK if this helps, but I"m maybe 11 weeks post and a lot of my new growth comes in as little spirals and I can feel them, other parts are just more naturally frizzy, springy (but not in a defined coil, more like they are all coiling on their own) and feel like thick hair.

 

[ladylibra]

you could do what i did and snip all the relaxed hair off a small section to see what happens as far as the coil/clump thing.

i didn't think your natural hair looked thinner... but you said it seems more fragile... i wonder what that's about? any major changes going on... diet, stress, etc?

 

[loulou82]

I hope someone with your hair type responds. I noticed a tight curl pattern around month 2 or 3 and it has stayed that way throughout most of my head. My hair sounds similar to ajoyfuljoy.

IA with LL. You could snip a patch to see what your natural hair does.

 

[LunadeMiel]

Everytime I wash or cowash, I am waiting/hoping for the natural sections of my hair to show some type of curl clumping or curl pattern.

I look in albums and I can see photos of other ladies who's hair does this when wet and it shows the relaxed pieces hanging at the ends.

I believe my hair to be 4B/4a mix

My question is for those who transitioned,
Did anyone else experience this or are the dry relaxed ends just preventing the waving & clumping of the coils & curls?
If my hair won't curl /clump now. Will it refuse to do that when I'm all natural?

This is driving me crazy and I'm allowing it to cloud my judgement and therefore question my transition-to-natural fortitude.

And one more thing. My natural hair seems more fragile and seems to have less thickness then the relaxed hair. But most ladies notice thicker hair as a natural...What gives? Is it an illusion?

When I was transitioning (I only transitioned for about 6 months so...) my hair did not clump or coil well. I didn't even attempt to make my hair clump. It wasn't until a couple weeks after my BC that my hair started really clumping.

 

[winterinatl]

Are you committed to the transition if the curls/waves are not what you wanted?

I am always wondering about transitioning. I am 12 weeks in (I think) and like what I feel up there so far. But i don't like the big poof at the back of my head. My hair is brastrap and I don't want to do a big cut; but neither do I want half big-half skinny (relaxed) hair.

This is going to take forever. I am impatient. I wonder should I just relax again and then cut a big chunk off at a later date....

 

[audacity.]

Everytime I wash or cowash, I am waiting/hoping for the natural sections of my hair to show some type of curl clumping or curl pattern.

I look in albums and I can see photos of other ladies who's hair does this when wet and it shows the relaxed pieces hanging at the ends.

I believe my hair to be 4B/4a mix

My question is for those who transitioned,
Did anyone else experience this or are the dry relaxed ends just preventing the waving & clumping of the coils & curls?
If my hair won't curl /clump now. Will it refuse to do that when I'm all natural?

This is driving me crazy and I'm allowing it to cloud my judgement and therefore question my transition-to-natural fortitude.

And one more thing. My natural hair seems more fragile and seems to have less thickness then the relaxed hair. But most ladies notice thicker hair as a natural...What gives? Is it an illusion?

Mook, my hair is the same way. I have a SLIGHT wave on the NG and maybe a few coils here and there, but overall, no clumping or anything...you COULD do what SouthenTease did and cut the relaxed ends off of a (hidden) section and see how your hair reacts. I've got a small section on the left side of my hair where it is nothing but NG/Natural hair and that hair behaves MUCH different than the rest...I got this section by either breakage or a knot that I had to resort to cutting out...

I can understand your frustration. I get annoyed every time I hear about a transitioner doing a WnG...

You are doing SO GREAT with your transition! I think that the "thicker" hair is because the hair isn't bone straight when compared to the relaxed ends.

Honestly, I think it is going to be VERY hard to tell what your natural hair is and isn't until you are finished transitioning. Relaxed hair has given us all kinds of false realities, not that it is good or bad, just not true about our (individual) hair.

I like to think of the transitioning process more like a DISCOVERY process, y'know?

I have rambled on and on, I hope I've helped

ETA: based on what I've seen, your hair is more 4a and less 4b...

 

[lsw29]

When I transitioned, I definitely could see the difference between my natural hair versus my relaxed hair. My natural hair was very wavy and thick while my relaxed hair looked kind of thin and straight. Once I BC'ed, the waves I thought I had turned into curls, I think my permed hair was just weighing down my hair.

Anyway, Ladylibra's idea of cutting a tiny piece of your hair to test it out seems like a good idea. I did this too while transitioning. I did a little piece in the front and back just to see. The piece in the back turned into a coil when I saturated it with water and the piece in the front kind of spiraled. It gave me something to look froward to before I actually chopped.

Good luck with your hair as you transition.

 

[winterinatl]

you could do what i did and snip all the relaxed hair off a small section to see what happens as far as the coil/clump thing.

i didn't think your natural hair looked thinner... but you said it seems more fragile... i wonder what that's about? any major changes going on... diet, stress, etc?

This is a good idea! Where did you cut? I mean what area of the head?

 

[LunadeMiel]

you could do what i did and snip all the relaxed hair off a small section to see what happens as far as the coil/clump thing.

i didn't think your natural hair looked thinner... but you said it seems more fragile... i wonder what that's about? any major changes going on... diet, stress, etc?

I tried to do the above and ended up going too far... In other words.. I BCed...

 

[ladylibra]

This is a good idea! Where did you cut? I mean what area of the head?

a few spots in front and in back.

I tried to do the above and ended up going too far... In other words.. I BCed...

well it happens!

 

[Mook's hair]

Ladies, Thank you for your responses and suggestions.

This spot right here on both sides in just natural hair, no relaxer hanging on. and I had to put a glop of leave-in on it to get these to curl like this.

Maybe I need to chop a larger area somewhere in the middle of my head to see **** happens there.

Right now I'm feeling uncommitted to this transition but Still I keep pressing on.

I'm very excited though because my SAA will arrive this week. Yippee!

 

[loolalooh]

deleted. repeated much of what was said above.

 

[ladylibra]

well you've seen my naked hair pic right? some of my hair clumps on its own better than other parts. but with a leave-in and some manipulation (brushing) i can get it all to clump somewhat uniformly.

i think the little coilies at your temples are cute

 

[audacity.]

deleted. repeated much of what was said above.

you didn't repeat, you reinforced

 

[ajoyfuljoy]

I think this thread is very encouraging about what you go through as a transitioner with trying to discover your hair. Almost makes me feel silly thinking that I know everything there is to know about my hair b/c i stretched for 3 months.

It makes me want to push a little further and see what happens. Thanks ladies!

 

[gymfreak336]

I think this thread is very encouraging about what you go through as a transitioner with trying to discover your hair. Almost makes me feel silly thinking that I know everything there is to know about my hair b/c i stretched for 3 months.

It makes me want to push a little further and see what happens. Thanks ladies!

You too huh? Since scorpian posted the link for that amazing fotki on straightening natural hair, I have been thinking about stretching longer. I have been washing daily and bunning without any problems so I am wondering how long I could simply do that for