Grow Out Decision
Printed From: HairBoutique.com
Category: African American Hair
Forum Name: African American Hair
Forum Description: Devoted to the special needs of African Americans.
URL: https://talk.hairboutique.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=35689
Printed Date: November 04 2025 at 9:22am
Topic: Grow Out Decision
Posted By: aries_mami05
Subject: Grow Out Decision
Date Posted: September 24 2005 at 9:49am
| My name is Taelor and I have been getting relaxers all my life. I have 4a relaxed hair. Ive decided to go natural because Im just tired of using chemicals on my hair because they cause breakage and damage. I havent had a relaxer in a month going on two months. Now, I always do a roller set on my hair and let the rollers dry and then grease the curls and over the days the curls will kind of fall and its so pretty. I plan on gettin my hair pressed with a hot comb every other week but not every week because I plan to roll my hair everyweek. I wash my hair weekly and keep it greased. I wanted to know do yall have any suggestions on my decision? Plus I run track and I figured I need to get in the habit of drinking water for my hairs sake and tracks sake. But umm please post back with any advice or suggestions. |
Replies:
Posted By: canopy44
Date Posted: September 24 2005 at 10:50am
|
hey aries, you kinda sound like me when i first started out. i used have a perm but then i noticed my hair was breaking so i switched from that after years of chemicals. then i pressed my hair every 2 weeks with a hot comb. my hair looked so beautiful and soft after i did that -- but whenever i worked out, my hair would start to curl up or get hard because of the sweat and water. For me, my problem was I never knew how to comb my hair properly or how to maintain new growth. I always thought new growth was a bad thing (i didn't realize my hair was curly until i started reading message boards like this...i just thought natural hair was frizzy and hard to deal with). One thing that I didn't do was wash my hair that often...it would only be touched with water when I went to the beauty shop. Now I realized that way of thinking is incredibly misguided. Now, you can imagine how gross my hair must have been after two weeks of sports and NO washing....I greased my hair and rolled the ends at night, tied it up with a silk scarf...that much i did right. But I know now that washing hair only 2x month is downright harmful for growth. In my opinion using a hot comb is great if you can go to the beauty shop weekly for treatment But, personally, I prefer the home route more. I use my ceramic flat iron and get great results. Plus, I decide when I wash my hair, there's no line, and it's a lot cheaper than going to the salon every week. It's actually not as hard to care for one's hair as I originally thought. I would say that if you can work with natural hair or don't want to be so dependent on another person's schedule, then ceramic wouldn't be that bad of an option. Also, I'm learning how important it is to know what's going on your head. I used to use blue magic all the time (that's some good head grease right there). But I've learned through this site that it's not wise to use grease directly on the scalp. Try using products that are more natural. I've discovered shea butter and I love it (it's so creamy and it just melts, I just can't get enough of it. It's really producing a difference, I can tell). But if there's one thing that hair needs, it's moisture!! Adding more moisture to my hair has made it softer and it just feels healthier. Something else you may want to consider: you are transitioning and that could bring up unique problems sometimes. If you don't know that much about hair (like me), it may be best to stick with your stylist until you grow out your perm. Also, if you decide to just go to a professional, find somebody who knows how to work the hot comb -- or else it's gonna hurt like crazy! I just started managing my hair and that's just my two cents, I'm sure others will weigh in with some better advice. Congrats on your new journey and sorry for the length of this post! |
Posted By: bellezanegra921
Date Posted: September 24 2005 at 1:49pm
| I wish you the best of luck with your transition. Throughout highschool I was natural and I got my hair pressed every week or everyother week. My hair looked nice when I didn't sweat, but since I did cheerleading, my hair didn't look good for long. A lot of the things that help maintain styles for perms do not work on natural hair for example setting lotion, spritz, and other hair lotions. Anything that has even a drop of water will make your hair revert. When I came to UNC, my hair would not stay pressed becuase of the humidity. I found that I did more damage to my hair by trying to press it everyday so that I would look presentable for class. Just keep focused on whatever you do and perhaps look into natural hair styles that do not involve getting your hair straightened. HHG! |
Posted By: aries_mami05
Date Posted: September 24 2005 at 5:32pm
| thankz canopy, but i used blue magic grease before.. But I want to start using the Shea Butter also. What brand of shea butter do you suggest I buy? But do you suggest any good leave in conditioners, shampoos, and what about chlosterol?Dang, I know its gonnna take a while for me to grow out my relaxer but Its what I wanna do. But yea, I play basketball and run track so Iknow my roots are gonnna be kinda ruff. But Im not going to play basketball or run this year. But Im still going to sweat..My friend was telling me of some conditioner that had egg and mayonaise and you let it sit in for about 1-2 hours and your roots will be soft. Im not sure about that but I will have to do a expiriment. |
Posted By: carameldiva
Date Posted: September 24 2005 at 6:24pm
|
good shampoos- Saloncare shampoos and Conditioners- come in the one gallon size and come in many fruity flavors- they can be purchased at Sally's Beauty Supply. Deep conditioners/protein treatments- cholesterol , lamaur's bone marrow or jr (jheri redding) professional Natural protein conditioner oils: evening primrose oil, rosemary oil, apricot kernel oil, wheatgerm oil, castor oil(pre-shampoo treatments), jamaica black castor oil and shapley's m-t-g moisturizer: glycerin/ water mix i'm 100% natural and these are the products that i use. ------------- Me and you, your cousin and your momma too rollin on da strip on bow's |
Posted By: BrownEyez2
Date Posted: September 24 2005 at 8:41pm
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Good luck on your transition to natural, aries_mami05!! ------------- ~~  LIVE YOUR BEST LIFE!~~
|
Posted By: Renee
Date Posted: September 24 2005 at 10:07pm
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goodluck!! im not sure how hard transitioning is (didnt do it for so long) but having natural hair is so stress free and so easy. you dont have to press and you dont have to wear an afro. you can do twists, braids, braid outs, twist outs, bantu knots and bantu knots. wash and go too. very versatile......im enjoying it even though i only do bantu knot outs (easiest for me). once again, goodluck!
PS....check out my hair album and see my reviews on products. unfortunately, my hair no longer likes oils so i stay away from them ------------- |
Posted By: aries_mami05
Date Posted: September 26 2005 at 7:41pm
| when i am fully natural how can i style my hair? |
Posted By: cmesweet
Date Posted: September 26 2005 at 10:13pm
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You can style your hair any style just like you did when you were relaxed. ------------- Natural BC May 9, 2004 |
Posted By: aries_mami05
Date Posted: September 26 2005 at 10:40pm
| o0o ok,...thankx!! do you know how long willl it actually take to grow it out fully? |