What Tempted You To Want To Relax: Transitioners, Naturals, Relaxed(previous..

[Ballerina_Bun]

For those of you that are transitioning, natural or now relaxed but previously one of the first two, what tempted to you to relax? Or, what tempted you to want to consider it?

If it the temptation was only humidity/weather related, did the “urge” pass once fall and winter approached?

 

[FearfullyMade]

Good question I've been been on LHCF for almost 3 years, and I haven't decided yet whether I want to perm or not, I have a few inches of permed ends and I'm between MBL and WL. What's tempting me is some of the ssk that I occasionally find, I think I'd be a natural that would have to keep my hair stretched.

 

[sunnieb]

Ballerina_Bun - You know you want to join us on the "dark side"!

Come on and relax, you know you wanna, come on and be with us.....it's fun over here.......:assimilat

 

[Rocky91]

I'm natural and will likely stay natural for the rest of my life, but...
it's those flyyy short cuts that keep tempting me, man....

 

[kaytorry]

One word: Shrinkage! My last texlax was in march, but I have been debating for a month or so if I should continue with my transition. When I texlaxed, I feel like I have the best of both worlds, curls and length. I'm kind of scared to texlax now because I'm afraid I will get a lot of breakage. My stylist claimed that waiting too long could lead to breakage. Because of that, and discarding my progess (currently 2 inches of new growth) are the reasons why I am still on the fence.

 

[fifi134]

I miss feeling my hair down my back. I know a flat iron can achieve this for me easily, but flat ironing is a long process for me.

 

[lustrous]

ultimately- detangling and maintenance. There was actually a defining moment lol. I was in the computer lab in my sophomore year of college. It was fast approaching 2 am but I was on a roll with my studies and planned to crank it out.

That's when i realized that my hair was about 2 weeks overdue for a wash and re-twist. I still had to drive home, (30 min commuter drive) wash my dirty dirty scalp, blowdry since i had no time to air dry, then spend 4 hours retwisting i had class at 8 am to boot. That was the straw the broke the camels back. I relaxed within two weeks. this was around 2 yrs ago. my length retention has been on point ever since and maintenance has been a joke.

my natural hair was approaching full shoulder before i cut and relaxed. my relaxed hair now is APL and soon to close in on bra strap. this length check was the january 2011 and the other pic is a texture shot wayyy after my first and only big chop to natural hair.

what i dont miss: frequent trims/cuts because of ssk's, dry hair, wash days, not being able to see length, going through products like it was my job.

what i do dearly miss : my twists. they were beautiful. i had people (colleagues, BSS owners, friends asking if they were my real hair) i miss my coily lush twists the most. its ironic because i was so sick of wearing them by the time i relaxed and now i shed a tear for them

 

[kupenda]

Maintenance. I stretch my relaxers abt 10 to 12 weeks. My new growth is adorable but it tangles very easily and I'm prone to ssk's. I hate detangling. It takes forever. So I relaxed. I have way too much going on in my life to devote an hour or two every week strictly to detangling. And I like how I don't have to always style my relaxed hair when I wear it straight. My natural hair needs to be styled


Sent from my iPhone using LHCF

 

[Ballerina_Bun]

@Ballerina_Bun - You know you want to join us on the "dark side"!

Come on and relax, you know you wanna, come on and be with us.....it's fun over here.......:assimilat

You are so wrong for this ... lol

Funny you should "pop" in here. I was just reading another thread and someone had mentioned that your posts helped. I think she was natural and started relaxing again. I can't remember the specific thread, as I have been researching a lot of different threads with this theme. Going to look ...

Just out of curiosity, which relaxer do you use and is it lye or no lye?

@ the others posters - what are ssk's? I need to keep up ... lol

 

[lustrous]

ssks = single strand knots. basically you have a bump along the hairshaft that has formed from a single hair coiling in such a manner that it actually makes a knot. They, in my experience, are impossible to undo due to their miniscule size. They have to be cut. even if this knot is inches away from the end of the shaft. they eventually caused me breakage.

 

[nzeee]

i haven't succumbed yet and likely won't (i'm afraid of thin hair and scalp irritations and what not) but sometimes i want to texlax to show length... i'm only CBL natural so that's basically eyeball length w/ shrinkage

 

[Kirei]

For me it's not being able to get a nice straight look! The flat iron does not work for me and I need high heat, a blow dryer and a brush to get me hair flat!

I got my hair done at a salon by a friend in April and she was like "Why won't your hair get straight!?" She had to work and I mean wooooorrrrkkkk it out on my hair to get it relaxer straight!

I want to be able to switch my hair from curly to straight without so much work so yeah, I have given the creamy crack the "eye".

I also live in humid SC so the weather is not my friend when I flat iron...

 

[blondemane]

Single. Strand. Knots aka spawns of satan lol. And now I know that's possible to have healthy relaxed hair. I may do it again. its just hair, if I want to go natural and cut it again

 

[I Am So Blessed]

Single. Strand. Knots aka spawns of satan lol. And now I know that's possible to have healthy relaxed hair. I may do it again. its just hair, if I want to go natural and cut it again

wow, you just reminded me of why i relax..... single strand knots, i cant rememebr the last time I even seen one of those on my head. I almost forgot i use to be a natural.

 

[Your Cheeziness]

ultimately- detangling and maintenance. There was actually a defining moment lol. I was in the computer lab in my sophomore year of college. It was fast approaching 2 am but I was on a roll with my studies and planned to crank it out.

That's when i realized that my hair was about 2 weeks overdue for a wash and re-twist. I still had to drive home, (30 min commuter drive) wash my dirty dirty scalp, blowdry since i had no time to air dry, then spend 4 hours retwisting i had class at 8 am to boot. That was the straw the broke the camels back. I relaxed within two weeks. this was around 2 yrs ago. my length retention has been on point ever since and maintenance has been a joke.

my natural hair was approaching full shoulder before i cut and relaxed. my relaxed hair now is APL and soon to close in on bra strap. this length check was the january 2011 and the other pic is a texture shot wayyy after my first and only big chop to natural hair.

what i dont miss: frequent trims/cuts because of ssk's, dry hair, wash days, not being able to see length, going through products like it was my job.

what i do dearly miss : my twists. they were beautiful. i had people (colleagues, BSS owners, friends asking if they were my real hair) i miss my coily lush twists the most. its ironic because i was so sick of wearing them by the time i relaxed and now i shed a tear for them

+1 This was my exact reason. LOOOOVED my natural hair, hated the maintenance. I miss my coils and kinks and will likely transition again at some point. I know . But, right now, it's what works best for me.

 

[mEmYSELFaNDj]

Great question!! I've been natural bascially my whole life, but I have been getting very tempted lately especially since my hair is longer now. Im tempted because skrinkage kills me. Braid outs, bantu knot outs, and wash n go's look horrible on my natural unstretched hair, But braids outs and bantu knot outs look great on my flat ironed hair. So I figure if I relaxed/texlaxed it would cut out the need for the flat ironing part and I could wear those styles and it would look cute and long. Oh and I would love to do a wash n go on my hair, im sure it would look nice if I were texlaxed, but on my natural hair it shinks up so bad, matts up and looks a ham I could never ever do a wash n go with natural hair.

The only reason I have not decided to relax is because Im afraid that my hair will break off. And I really dont want to regret doing it, especially after having grown out my hair to WL.

Eta: Well I guess I have more than one reason why I havent texlaxed/relaxed: I actually like my hair texture, I dont have a hard time with detangling or styling it.

 

[Raspberry]

@Ballerina_Bun - You know you want to join us on the "dark side"!

Come on and relax, you know you wanna, come on and be with us.....it's fun over here.......:assimilat

Oh my gosh that smiley is awesome

 

[sunnieb]

You are so wrong for this ... lol

Funny you should "pop" in here. I was just reading another thread and someone had mentioned that your posts helped. I think she was natural and started relaxing again. I can't remember the specific thread, as I have been researching a lot of different threads with this theme. Going to look ...

Just out of curiosity, which relaxer do you use and is it lye or no lye?

@ the others posters - what are ssk's? I need to keep up ... lol

Ballerina_Bun - I use Design Essentials Sensitive Scalp. It's considered to be no lye.

 

[Ballerina_Bun]

Great question!! I've been natural bascially my whole life, but I have been getting very tempted lately especially since my hair is longer now. Im tempted because skrinkage kills me. Braid outs, bantu knot outs, and wash n go's look horrible on my natural unstretched hair, But braids outs and bantu knot outs look great on my flat ironed hair. So I figure if I relaxed/texlaxed it would cut out the need for the flat ironing part and I could wear those styles and it would look cute and long. Oh and I would love to do a wash n go on my hair, im sure it would look nice if I were texlaxed, but on my natural hair it shinks up so bad, matts up and looks a ham I could never ever do a wash n go with natural hair.

The only reason I have not decided to relax is because Im afraid that my hair will break off. And I really dont want to regret doing it, especially after having grown out my hair to WL.

Eta: Well I guess I have more than one reason why I havent texlaxed/relaxed: I actually like my hair texture, I dont have a hard time with detangling or styling it.

Your signature picture is pretty

 

[keepithealthy]

I was tempted for a minute to texlax because of ssk's. I hate them! I didn't even know they existed until a year or so into my journey. But, I've gotten ssk's under control for the most part and now that I am keeping my hair moisturized detangling is not that time consuming.

 

[DDTexlaxed]

I think for me it is the ease of styling my hair. My hair just needs more looking after as a natural and shrinkage is evil. It's taking forever for me to be able to bun my hair. Detangling is not so bad. It's the lack of length and the need for extra heat to straiten my hair. Working out daily is making my hair look like a Monchici troll. I miss easy ponytails and a simple co wash and ponytail style.

 

[lustrous]

OT - @ DDTexlaxed your hair has grown since your last siggy pic. i'm loving your flat twists. nice progress. Don't worry about "lack of length" it comes regardless. the length youre at in your siggy was, IMO a fun length. i did comb coils/twists and puffs. each length brings its own trials and tribulations that change as you move forward. enjoy them!

 

[Napp]

i dont really care for my natural texture but i do like afro styles. i still toy around with the idea of relaxing. i rarley wear my hair in its natural state at this length and i feel that the styles i do like to wear (tight rollersets and straight hair) can be done easier on relaxed hair. i hated having to deal with two textures and relaxrs in general which is why i havent relaxed. one i give myself a nice bone straight press the feeling subsides quickly. i havent had a nice press in a while.

 

[SmileyNY]

I was natural for 8 years. I didnt dislike my natural hair. In fact, I loved it. I was just ready to try something different. I texlaxed last year. For me, it wasn't a "temptation" to relax. I made a conscious decision to Texlax. After I made that decision, I spent a year doing research & making sure that it was the best decision for me....
And it was. My hair is thriving & I am so thankful that it has worked out well for me.


Sent from my iPhone. It does EVERYTHING ...except make calls