When are you officially natural?

My question is when do you consider yourself officially natural? Is it when you got your last perm? or when you BC'd?

I consider myself natural on the date of my last perm which was january 19 2010. so I am 2 months 2 weeks and 6 days natural. If I counted form my BC date, I am 4 weeks natural.

Which is correct? [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

I think when you cut off the relaxed ends off, is when you become natural..the date of your last perm, you are transitioning.

Some chime in if I'm wrong.

I agree with Tamren. [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

Yeah, Tamren is right. You're natural after you cut off the relaxed ends.

i agree with tam and latoya

also the day of you're last relaxer doesnt really make sense because most people go atleast 6-8 weeks before a retouch anyways. even ppl who transitioned for like a year or more and didnt cut their ends off yet are technically not natural.

ok thanks ladies

Hey Rosebud,

Great topic. I have a question too. Are you still considered natural if you chemically color your hair?

~Dva

DvaAuNaturel wrote:Hey Rosebud,

Great topic. I have a question too. Are you still considered natural if you chemically color your hair?

~Dva

Great question.

@ Dva and Rosebud - I say yes, you are still natural if you color your hair.

Hi, regarding hair color, I would say yes, but not technically...I'm confusing myself...lol. It depends on what one means when they say 'natural'. If we are saying that we are natural because we don't put chemicals in our hair, then the answer would be no. I can honestly say that I used to say that I was natural, even though I
chemically dyed my hair once since cutting the relaxed ends off (August '08). When I would discuss healthy haircare with relaxed women, I found myself sounding contradictory when I would talk about the harsh effect of chemicals in our hair, but I was using a chemical to color my hair. I have been using henna for color/conditioning qualities since then, since I'm ultimately trying to wean myself from all chemicals in my haircare regimen.

DvaAuNaturel wrote:Hey Rosebud,

Great topic. I have a question too. Are you still considered natural if you chemically color your hair?

~Dva

Depends on who you ask. Some people think natural means no relaxers, some think it means no chemicals at all, some say anything that alters your texture (including henna) means that you are no longer natural. I say just decide what it means for you and forget what anybody else says.

I say you're officially natural when you cut off or transition the relaxed ends completely. The day I BC'd was my official crossover.
I also believe you may still be natural w/hair color.

thats a toughie lol b/c some colors can change curl pattern and texture but i still consider them natural because people get relaxers with the intent of altering the structure of their hair, but no one chemically colors their hair (not henna) for the purpose of changing their curl pattern or texture. hair color is like an accessory.

@ iri - well said.

TMS wrote:@ iri - well said.

agree ^_^

TMS wrote:@ iri - well said.

SighSidhe wrote:

TMS wrote:@ iri - well said.

agree ^_^

thanks

i was wondering this the other day too. i mean i know of course your officially natural when you officially BC. but lets say you transitioned for a year, and have about 5 inches of natural hair, in addition to your relaxed ends then BCed, and have been completely natural for lets say a month or so... then what?

i would hate to see someone's hair that says they BCed only a couple months ago, but has long enough hair that really took a year to attain that length. i would be so discouraged lol. (does that make sense? lol)

DeltaAce2006 wrote:i was wondering this the other day too. i mean i know of course your officially natural when you officially BC. but lets say you transitioned for a year, and have about 5 inches of natural hair, in addition to your relaxed ends then BCed, and have been completely natural for lets say a month or so... then what?

i would hate to see someone's hair that says they BCed only a couple months ago, but has long enough hair that really took a year to attain that length. i would be so discouraged lol. (does that make sense? lol)

i think you would just say i transitioned for however many months but i've been completely natural since whenever you BC'd.

Ok.. I used to think that you are natural with no chemicals period. So I used to be like no heat, no color, no weave no nothing. I was going HARD.. Until recently I was at a church picnic (my church is basically nothing but curlys and locs) and this chic had the PRETTIEST COLOR and it was locs and I melted!! I then went to my stylist and told her about the girl hair and she was like oh yeah... we did that.. Sooo I am seriously considering that color or coloring my hair period. It was a redish orangish (yes I said orangish) color. I have a pic of it I will have to try to find it when I get to my room. I had to sneak a shot because it was BOMB..

The color thing is all depending on who you ask, but I am now all for color. I said I will do that once I find a new job, I think I am tired of shocking the others at my job.

DeltaAce2006 wrote:i was wondering this the other day too. i mean i know of course your officially natural when you officially BC. but lets say you transitioned for a year, and have about 5 inches of natural hair, in addition to your relaxed ends then BCed, and have been completely natural for lets say a month or so... then what?

i would hate to see someone's hair that says they BCed only a couple months ago, but has long enough hair that really took a year to attain that length. i would be so discouraged lol. (does that make sense? lol)

This is exactly how i look at it. I say that I have been natural since January because when people look at my hair, i want them to see how much "natural" hair has grown since I stopped perming it. I do not go by my BC date, I go by my Last perm date.

RoseBud wrote:
This is exactly how i look at it. I say that I have been natural since January because when people look at my hair, i want them to see how much "natural" hair has grown since I stopped perming it. I do not go by my BC date, I go by my Last perm date.

In that case, all the ladies walking around with relaxer are natural too. If they havent had a relaxer in 4 weeks, according to you, they are natural.

Lynnieluve wrote:

RoseBud wrote:
This is exactly how i look at it. I say that I have been natural since January because when people look at my hair, i want them to see how much "natural" hair has grown since I stopped perming it. I do not go by my BC date, I go by my Last perm date.

In that case, all the ladies walking around with relaxer are natural too. If they havent had a relaxer in 4 weeks, according to you, they are natural.

^co-signing lynnie.

iri9109 wrote:

Lynnieluve wrote:

RoseBud wrote:
This is exactly how i look at it. I say that I have been natural since January because when people look at my hair, i want them to see how much "natural" hair has grown since I stopped perming it. I do not go by my BC date, I go by my Last perm date.

In that case, all the ladies walking around with relaxer are natural too. If they havent had a relaxer in 4 weeks, according to you, they are natural.

^co-signing lynnie.

I understand what you ladies are saying but for me when i hear people say i have been natural for 1 month and they have a head full of hair..... I am like noooo, you have been perm free for how long? I just would like to get a better understanding of hair growth because you did not get all that natural hair in one month. does this make sense?