Bored with curly hair....should i relax?

ok so basically I've been natural my whole life. i relaxed once in high school and once more in college because, well, i just felt like it. never did touch ups or any of that, just did it the one time. i find it interesting that everyone is all of a sudden intrigued by natural hair (i guess its never been a big deal to me but thats another story). anyways, im bored with my hair and it being big all the time, and im trying to decide if i should flat iron it or get a relaxer to rock the straight hair for a while. i would think that since iver pretty much always been natural it would be hard to get my hair straight with the flat iron without continuously going over and over it, which would obviously create damage. relaxer= chemicals but we're exposed to more chemicals in the air daily than a relaxer would produce...other option is a BKT or some other keratin treatment....any suggestions????

With all of the tools and the products we have today you do not need to put the relaxer in your hair trust me you will regret it completly. We may be exposed to many chemical in the hair , but you put something in your hair that will not only damage it but also can cause you damage. I say get a great flat Iron like FHI or Solia, I have FHI platform and they work excellent and you will see that what a chemical relaxer can do these tools do better. Also you should research about it some more have you seen the movie good hair I found that to be very informative.

i have an FHI. flat irons generally dont work well on my hair because it doesnt hold heat. so even if i were to get it done at a shop, it wouldnt stay straight for long. i am just wondering what i can do to wear it straight for a while. natural hair takes so much time to do, i guess im just bored with it and need something easier to do while im in nursing school. the relaxers i got before never damaged my hair nor did i have problems with breakage while growing it out....thanks for your opinion...

I was natural all my life before I got bored and relaxed around like age 14, I got bored of the relaxer in less than a few hours though honestly, if I had know what texlaxed was then I would have just had that done lol. and didn't like hair flying in my mouth. Both natural and relaxed looked pretty boring to me. I never had any issue or bad reaction to the relaxer. My hair relaxed and natural now and before the relaxer has always grown with no problem.

But it's your hair, do what you want with it. It's just hair at the end of the day. Don't let the "you'll regret it" types make you rethink anything YOU may want to do with YOUR hair. LHCF has plenty of 'bone straight' relaxed women with more hair on their head than most of the women here, and yes have healthy thick long hair because they take care of it like anyone else with any hair on their head should be doing. Most of them seem to have no issue growing their hair with the "evil relaxer" in it.

Fact is relaxers aren't "bad" they are just an option and the fact that more than half of LHCF is relaxed with long healthy thick hair they are very proud of obviously proves that yes you can have nice healthy hair with a relaxer, texturizer, ect. Natural is just another option, not the only option.

People end up with bad relaxers because...

1. They didn't put it on properly, or someone else didn't.

2. It's just how their hair (and skin maybe) personally reacts to certain chemicals.

3. They didn't take care of it properly.

Obviously you just don't just let ANYONE put anything on your hair, and this is just me but I wouldn't try it myself if I wanted to relax >.<

i feel you and agree...i was just wondering if there was an alternative. i too have seen quite a few relaxed ladies with more than healthy hair that is versatile and well cared for. its all in the care and maintenance you choose to put into it. what u put in is what you will get out of it..."evil relaxer" lol, thats hilarious...

Empress8606 wrote:i feel you and agree...i was just wondering if there was an alternative. i too have seen quite a few relaxed ladies with more than healthy hair that is versatile and well cared for. its all in the care and maintenance you choose to put into it. what u put in is what you will get out of it..."evil relaxer" lol, thats hilarious...

Alternative to a relaxer? or to chemicals in general? well the alternative to chemicals in general would be to use heat consistently, which would annoy most people. [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.] but if your hair is like mine it will just laugh at the heat and resist it lmao. [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

As far as other chemical treatments, there is thermal reconditioning, texlaxing, texturizers, that BKT thing. That's all I know of so far.

Texlaxing is what alot of women on LHCF have right now actually, it's basically using oil as a buffer in a relaxer and leaving it on for half the time, or less. One woman on LHCF who lives in Japan had the Thermal reconditioning done, it looks good and she got really lucky it came out so nice, but I hear alot of salons aren't properly trained to do it on more kinky hair. >.< some wont even do it on 3c hair lol

I'd try the BKT. It lasts for weeks, but you won't have to worry about cutting off relaxed ends and all that shiz [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

Texlaxing is a good idea..or just a straight up texturizer if you are really bored with your hair. ive been permed since age 13 and been transitioning for about 5 months my hair has always been long and thick and everyone thinks its soooo healthy because its bouncy and has body but really its so damaged theres just a lot of products out there to "mask" damage. I have split ends so far up you cant even call them ends anymore but be careful and do you.

I hear that you are saying that you only want to wear it straight for a while. Once you get a relaxer, it will be permanent until your new growth comes in. If you wanted to wear it curly after that, you would either have to do a big chop or transition until your curly hair is once again at a length that you desire. There are some other options such as a roller set. MahoganyCurls on this site has a YouTube video where she roller sets her hair and wraps it and is able to achieve a look just like a relaxer would give. Good luck with whatever decision you make, just make it wisely and carefully. Hope that helps.

ChiselleCouture on Youtube also has a great video on how to get your hair straight without heat.

interesting thoughts... @juices-n-berries i never had to big chop last time i relaxed, just grew it out normally. i actually wore it curly more when i had the relaxer, i would jus wash and go. it could have been that it wasnt bone straight thats y, cuz it curled very nicely when i wet/washed it. im going to check out the vids. ive tried roller setting before, my arms started to hurt cuz of all this durn hair and it looked like i jus blow dried it as opposed to it being straight...

(HAHAHAHA @ ameenah shirt)

i feel u empress on ur arms hurting! thats why im so lazy and my hair aint even long, lol. i say do you!! u've been relaxed n natural wit no prob so u obviously know how to manage and maintain the 2 from goin back n forth. i have nothin against relaxers myself becuz my hair was definitely healthy n didnt have no problem with growth. i just made the choice to go natural cuz i was gettin bored wit a perm and got tired of lookin like everyone else. i've always wanted big hair. i love the results, my skin, body and hair look and feel amazing!!

Karyn wrote:I'd try the BKT. It lasts for weeks, but you won't have to worry about cutting off relaxed ends and all that shiz [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

Ditto this. If you want something that won't completely revert, but is not permanent, I would definitely look into a keratin treatment. It's temporary, but would really give you a chance to enjoy the straightness for weeks on end.

Empress8606 wrote:interesting thoughts... @juices-n-berries i never had to big chop last time i relaxed, just grew it out normally. i actually wore it curly more when i had the relaxer, i would jus wash and go. it could have been that it wasnt bone straight thats y, cuz it curled very nicely when i wet/washed it. im going to check out the vids. ive tried roller setting before, my arms started to hurt cuz of all this durn hair and it looked like i jus blow dried it as opposed to it being straight...

I can feel you on the hands hurting. Even twisting my TWA makes them hurt sometimes. As far as your previous relaxer. That's very interesting that your hair stayed curly. What type of relaxer were you using? And how long did they leave it on?

@ juicesnberries, girl u have no idea lol...it was a complete workout 4 my arms lol...not sure what kind of relaxer, whatever she happened to have lol...she left it on maybe 10 min? i dont remember it was back in like 2004. i loved it cuz i could wash and go and have nice curls/waves or wash and blow dry it straight. so easy to maintain...ohhh the memories lol

Sounds like that was more of a texlax as it was only left on for a short amount of time. It may be a good idea to find out what she used because if you use a different one, it could possibly make your hair bone straight. Or just opt for the texturizer if you so choose.

yea good question juices cuz i used the bentley of all perms...Affirm!! left it on for a good 30 min and my hair was pocahontas straight!!

is there a specific "texturizer" or is it just a relaxer left on for a shorter amount of time??

Also, how are you wearing your hair. I've found natural hair to be quite versatile. Perhaps some creative styling options might serve your curly hair as well.

Empress8606 wrote:is there a specific "texturizer" or is it just a relaxer left on for a shorter amount of time??

I guess it depends on how you look at it. There are products that market themselves specifically as texturizers. But at the end of the day it all boils down to the chemical known as sodium hydroxide. While texturizers may contain a different strength, the ultimate goal of both is to permanently change the texture of your hair. Therefore, the results you get may depend on each idividual's hair and what it can tolerate.

lol, no i would never let anyone's specific response telling me to get a relaxer cause me to get one. ive asked friends and family and am just looking for different opinions. short hair unfortunately is not a good look for me, as in my opinion you have to have a certain bone structure to pull off that look and i dont have it lol. jus made a post wondering if anyone had suggestions to something maybe i havent tried yet.

Why don't you get a straight weave and wear it like that for a while. Instead of relaxing, since you said you want to do it for a time. Which means not to long, and with a weave you can just keep taking it out after a time.

I wouldn't relax because I've never found one that stuck and actually kept it straight. I mean it was straight but not as long as others. My hair laughed at that and heat. The keratin treatment sounds like a win. I feel your frustration. Heat does less for my hair than relaxers ever did and my hair is all sorts of funky lengths.

natural813 wrote:Why don't you get a straight weave and wear it like that for a while. Instead of relaxing, since you said you want to do it for a time. Which means not to long, and with a weave you can just keep taking it out after a time.

i was gonna say that.