A Diplomatic Solution between competing textures!!

If my hair could talk they would be in a all out brawl by now! I am almost four months natural and have chosen to transition until I feel ready. Anywho I am trying to find good products for both textures, while one product is great for my relaxed hair it is really drying to my natural. As of now my natural is most important however I don't want to walk around looking like a grease ball. I'm a guru with my relaxed but in retard land when it comes to my natural hair. My staple look is the braid out sooo, my dilemma. My hair will only hold that for about a day til lights out because I have a very fine relaxed texture but alot of it. So a little something to give it definition and a great hold works well. I have used CURLS hair creme brullee I think its called with IC olive leave in with some water and conditioner. I just learned about sealing today but I dont think my hair could have handled another product. Now for my natural hair hoorah I have such well defined ringlets underneath but my relaxed hair looks like i put my head in some chicken grease. Is anyone who have transitioned or transitioning having this problem if so HELP!

have you tried a twist & curl or braid & curl? That might help your relaxed ends match your texture a little more so they're not stick straight...or even doing a rollerset (still trying to perfect my own lol). In the past week or so I've also learned that the 'pineapple' method of tying your hair up a night is also helpful (basically pilling all your hair in a high, loose ponytail for bed instead of just slapping on a bonnet). I'm currently transitioning too so I know what you mean!
Not sure how long your hair is but another thing to consider might be to get gradual trims instead of waiting to do one BC -- this has helped me tremendously as I don't feel so overwhelmed w/ the yucky relaxed ends.

New here, and same thing going on with my hair, 2 enemies going at it! LOL
I need to be watching this thread for tips!

thats what caused me to bc when i did. my styled hair would be really cute but the permed ends wouldnt hold the curls for as long (in a rod set) or it wouldnt be uniform, or the natural pair would absorb moisture really well and my ends would be a wet oily mess.
if you have a product that works for the natural texture i would stick with that apply mostly to the scalp and SPARINGLY to the ends to prevent breakage. you can braid or twist and then rod it which usually hides the ends really well.

@ blkbeauty2010..great suggestion. Like duh how simple was that. My staple style is a braid out and it looks good today. My natural hair is moisturized with out the ends looking gross.

@ kiana yes I am too! You are not alone haha. I am having a issue with dryness first starting are you having the same issues with your natural hair? Blkbeauty suggestion worked well for me. I changed my products last night because I realized that the stuff I was using contained mineral oil and the stuff I was greasing my scalp with had petroleum in it so my hair probably wasn't getting any moisture. Along with my all time fave serums loaded with silicones. I wasn't quite ready to lose my old hair products but i tossed those suckers last night. But for my braid out I used a olive oil leave in with a tinge of some aloe vera juice, with some conditioner (hello hydration) and water. I did have any oil to seal with but I tried jane carter nourish and shine. Its a butter, so for now that would work. I applied most to scalp first massaged it in and did sparingly toward the relaxed hair. So overall good hair day. Lets see how day two fairs tomorrow!

@ swtsunny..pineapple method i looked that up. I will give that a try to see if my braid outs fair longer. Normally, I would sleep on it and they would be flat next day. Yea my hair is pretty long. Its to my bra clasps. Im doing gradual trims which I got about 4 weeks ago. I will get another in a about month or so.

Tpayne, I am a 9 month transitioner and I have encountered that problem as well. I identified several styles (braidouts, twistouts, flexi rod sets, various updos, etc. If I feel like a braidout and I have some part of it that remains alot straighter, I just go immediately into another style. Really, I have discovered that curlformers, flexirod, and strawsets mask the 2 textures very well.

One more idea, I don't know where you are, but if the weather is not too cold, you could try the scarf braidout. I have done it, but again, my hair is very thick and it is a little too cool for me to do that now. If you are not familiar with it see: zanandrob.com

Good luck!

Thanks naturalnolagirl! That looks like a great idea. Yea its still 70 in the day around here so that would be a great way to get more definition in my braid outs! Yea I did the rod set once and it was just alot of work. I'm a art student so I need something really low maintenance but that scarf thing looks awesome!

whats a scarf braidout?

zanandrob.com

Check out that site! That seems like it would give much better definition than a braid out.

Tpayne -

There is a slight learning curve to the scarf braidout, but I really like it. The width of the scarf strips will determine the depth of the curl pattern. If you can imagine braidout vs twistout, you will get what I am trying to explain. Make sure the scarf is satin and make sure it is long enough. I found out the hard way, a strip too short affects the results. Also, the only tricky part for me was learning how to tie the end so it results in this really cute curl when you remove the scarf. Once you get the hang of it, it is a quick process. I never perfected the knot at the bottom, so I would cheat and place a perm rod at the end sometimes. Hope my comments are not making you shy away. Really, it is a neat style as long as the hair is allowed to completely dry. If you try it, let us know what you think. I will revisit this style in warmer weather only!

Oh no not at all I love a challenge. Yea I'm sure I will get sooner or later! I definitely will let you know and I know exactly what you mean with the braid out vs the twist out, that makes sense.

Hey naturalnolagirl,

I tried the satin scarf braid. It worked out really great. My hair dried alot quicker parting it into smaller sections. I had smoother definition so its a definite keeper for me. Thanks for the suggestion!

Glad it worked for you! I thought at the stage you are now, that one should do the trick.