Is natural hair easier than relaxed!

Well, when I wore a relaxer I did a lot less and it showed! My hair looked dried but it was long and I kept it in a pony tail 90% of the time! But since going natural I spend a lot more time on my hair and it shows. I get so many stares and compliments on my natural hair than I ever had on my relaxed hair.
I think if you want healthy hair it takes time; if you want jacked up hair it takes no time at all! My opinion

my routine as a permie is not much different now as a natural. i didnt have a huge dent in my pocket relaxed. the lady who use to perm and style my hair did it every 3-4 month for 40 dollars. in between relaxers i cowash,deep condition and protective style every week just like i do now. to me the only difference is i detangle faster relaxed.

@dajewel! You hair, miss lady! Oulala! It Looks so nice and thick....
Keep up the good work!

ty @fanmnatirel!!!!

Relaxed hair was easier for me but not the healthiest choice. The health of my hair and scalp out weighs the ease of wrapping my hair. I can see the difference in the strength of my strands without a relaxer.

Thanks DaJewel. I'll have to give that a try. (I have some eggs in the house too--go figure! )

I must admit that my relaxed hair was a lot less time consuming than my natural hair, partly because I didn't take care of my relaxed hair like I care for my curls.

Detangling curly hair ain't no joke, especially after I've worn it down and out.

The benefit of the time and effort is length retention and less breakage so I'll make the sacrifice!!!

i find dealing with my natural hair easier than dealing with my relaxed hair. Although i didn't ever have a relaxed hair regimen i was always flat ironing, curling, coloring, cutting or doing something to that hair. With my natural hair i don't feel the need to do all of that. I do WNGs most of the time and even though i do spend more time on washing and conditioning now, i don't mind. Its kinda like therapy for me and i look forward to it. its part of my me time. I hated doing my relaxed hair. Because it was so time consuming to get it straight or right. With natural hair getting it to look right is not an issue. I just let it do what it do. Also what makes it easier to me is that I find that I can really tell what my hair needs now like if it needs more moisture or protein or whatever. When I was relaxed i never could tell all that because my hair felt the same all the time.

For me I would say its equal. When relaxed, I wore a short pixie cut and I would have to go to the salon on a regular basis to maintain the style. I didn't do anything to my hair on my own. While natural, I have been reintroduced to doing my own hair; that's something that have'nt done in years. Being natural has been easy on my wallet. I have discovered that my hair loves the cheaper hair lines that I would not have tried if I were relaxed such as Herbal Essences, VO5 and Suave. I was used to spending around $15 per product and about $80 every six weeks on a touchup.

courtrhapsody wrote:I think it depends on what you are good at. I am much better at styling my natural hair (which I am still not great at). But I am very uncomfortable with a flat iron or curling iron, and doing my relaxed hair was a pretty big stress/chore for me.

My sentiments exactly!! I DID NOT take care of my relaxed hair. Therefore, if I didn't go to a salon I didn't deep condition or do protein treatments or spend a second of my time researching healthy hair practices. I washed it every 2 or 3 or 4 weeks (when I say I was lazy I'm not joking!) and had to have someone else, like my sister or my mom, blow dry/press/flat iron my hair. I was, and still am, a little clumsy with the blow dryer. I'm just not good at it! And it was the biggest hassle trying to flat iron or style my hair. I couldn't even get a slick ponytail because I could not style my hair relaxed.

Now that I'm natural I enjoy every second of styling! I can't tell you why because it's just something I like to do. I love seeing my hair wet and I don't mind detangling and figuring out what to do to my hair is fun to me. So even though the time I put in is extensively more than when I was relaxed, I don't mind. You have to remember that I am a recent college graduate living at my parent's home with no kids and a temporary job so I have the time to nuture my hair lol

All in all, it depends on what you are good at which was stated before. I was not good at styling straight hair nor did I enjoy it so although it takes a substantial increase in time, it's alright with me

When I had relaxed hair I did nothing at all to it. I washed when I was felt I wanted to so yeah that made it easier. Whenever I did wash it, it broke in my hand it big pieces. Now with my natural hair I put more time into it and it is healthy and happy. No more hair breaking in my hands

I do not like to take care of my hair at all. Anything I do to it feels like a chore I'd rather skip. That being said, I feel like I have to do more to my hair now, but I think it's actually that I'm more *aware* of my hair now. When it was relaxed I didn't pay much attention to it until it was time to wash it or get a retouch. I wrapped it at night (infrequently) and more often, combed it out in the morning and used a curling iron. Through this neglect my hair still grew to shoulder length straightened, mainly, I think, because I was young.

I'm not a spring chicken anymore and my body overall reacts more strongly if I neglect it; this includes my hair. So to get it growing I'm having to pay more attention, and also, as a natural, there is no 'comb out and curl with heat' in the mornings. I am living in a puff right now while I figure out alternate styles and get myself in gear to spend even more time with my hair.

The TWA I had after my big chop was heavenly. THAT was easy. No wonder I cut it all off three times. I'm trying to hang in there now because I do prefer a lot of hair.