Permed Ends

I have a question: how can you really tell if all the permed ends are gone. I transitioned for some time. My last perm was July 08, but i did not make the decision to be natural til December 08 and from that point i slowly got my ends clipped about two inches at a time about every couple of months. Fast foward to a couple of Fridays ago: I went to CVS purchased a pair of $20 scissors (OMG still cant believe i spent that much on scissors) and i went home washed my hair and cut all the straight ends i could find, most were left in my bang area. Now when my hair is wet all i see are CURLS, it looks a lot different than when the visible permed ends were there. Im confused however, because when i twist as well as when i coil, but not so much with the coils, all of my hair does not curl up at the ends, some of it is straight. Initially i would keep cutting, thinking that it was permed hair i had missed, but I am now at the point where i cannot keep cutting.

So i know this is confusing, but i am just looking for some clarification: my friend who is natural says that all of my ends will eventually start to curl up, but that it takes a while and that my hair is going to change now that there are no more permed ends. Is this true? I want to believe that there are no more permed ends, because It really bothers me to think that i still have the perm. (Thats very interesting and odd to me that that bothers me, but it does) I feel like i cant call myself "natural" if I'm not all the way perm free.

Im still trying to find and go to style in this beginning phase, my twist are always flat in the morning and the coils are hit or miss. I've never been that great at styling and im hoping this will change. Ugh this is just so much, my brain is on overload.

What do you guys think??

I kind of have the same issue. I'm about 99% sure all my permed ends are gone, but here and there I find pieces that don't curl up all the way. They seem to be slowly curling up, I guess it comes with time. I would just say let it be for now and in a couple weeks/months if there are still pieces that look like they could be permed, then trim then. That's just my opinion though, HTH.

As for styling... yeah I'm no good with that either. My flat twists always look like crud in the morning and I have yet to wear them out of the house lol. I guess practice just makes perfect lol.

Thank, mstokes. I guess practice does make perfect. What does HTH mean. LOL

Hope that helps.

Same here, I was cutting my hair thinking I still had permed ends and i was confused. I had to stop cutting because i may have been cutting my natural hair. Remember its been a long time since we hve seen our natural hair, give it some time, you never know what may come out of there.

You probably do have some straight ends left. That's natural. Also, your hair may or may not curl completely up on the ends. As Rosebud pointed out it's been awhile since many people have seen their hair in their true and natural state, so they really don't know what it's supposed to look like. A lot of it is trial and error. After I BC'd in Feb I had to go back in March to get the remaining straight ends cut and get my hair shaped up some. If you're really concerned, you might want to go to a professional stylist. That's why I didn't self BC because I knew I might get scissor happy and didn't want to cut too much. Just a suggestion. HTH. It'll all work out.

All hair doesn't grow at the same rate, so it's possible you could still have some permed ends. I agree w/DvaAuNaturel about going to a professional stylist also.