What made you decide to go natural?

[domokey]

I think the final straw for me was when I watched chunks of MY hair go down the drain. Thats when I decided enough was enough. I spent countless hours looking through my old photos remembering how long & my healthy use to be & seeing how bad it gotten only made me want to find a solution quick to my problem. I had always wanted to go natural before during high school but I always had that friend saying "naw girl you need a relaxer asap" so trying to stay up with everyone, I just continued to get them even though I hated getting them. So nearing the end of my senior year I started doing some research on this site and countless others and made the decision to go natural. One of the best decision I have ever made! My last relaxer was March 2007 I transitioned for 4 months and made the BC July 12, 2007 been natural every since....going on 3 years :)

[Fuzziwuz]

Workout friendly hair

[Lady.Capri]

I decided to go natural when I got bored of straight hair and I wanted to do more with it and it was too much work trying to get my hair not to break even by combing it!! I wanted big hair with texture and I thought about getting a weave then I was like HOLD UP my natural hair can do that! I was so conditioned to the perm every month b/c if it wasn't relaxed on time I couldn't comb it and the relaxers never lasted me more that a week and a half of workable hair anyway!

[JaeFuma]

Hair started falling out and I hate getting my hair done. Plus, I wanted to keep my money.

[FallBeauty]

Getting tired of having to go to the shop every 2 weeks, having stringy, straight hair. And wanting my natural texture back!

[paranoia]

I just got tired of going to the salon. Plus, it was painful. Also, I started gaining weight because I couldn't work out and play sports like I wanted to. I'm kind of restless so its not normal for me to be inactive. And I gain weight easily if I'm not always on the move. My mom would get upset because I'd sweat out my hair too fast after a salon visit, so I just started doing less. Big mistake. But now I'm getting back to my old self. I never wanted a relaxer anyway. I had no idea they even existed until my mom had me get one in 5th grade. I've never had any problem with my natural hair.

[cookie12]

ive always wanted puffy afros and i would pick out my straight hair after i washed it so that it would look like an afro and always wondered how people got there hair like that. and i finally disovered how my sis's hair grows her hair so fast. cuz she natural!!!
lol i know this sounds stupid but it never accured to me that people with afros and curly hair were naturals i thought they had to get perms and other stuff. but then it just came to me while looking at my pictures of me when i was like 4 or 5 that i had an afro and that those things my mom put in my hair were straight.

[Browniestar]

This is my third time attempting to go natural ( My charm), my last 2 attempts failed because I did not do my research and got frustrated and permed again. I decided to go natural again because one night I was about to go to bed and I suddenly looked into the mirror and thought to myself " this is not me, why am I trying to be something I'm not!" that was the last straw.

[Maat]

I was bored with the straight look. I was deciding to go natural about a year or 2 be4 I actually did. Around this time I was already weening off the perms anyway. I remember going from every month..to like every 6-8 months. I just didn't care anymore, I became realistic and asked myself "whats the point of all of this" theres no point. My hair was taking a turn point also, it was breaking off sooo bad..one side was shorter than the other, this was another reason why I thought I needed a change. My hair had never been like that. It will almost be 2 years for me once July hits..and I can say I am never going back, u can't do crap with straight hair.

[Nikib4eva]

mine was a spur of the moment decision... When I was 13 I had about 4 months of new growth... and I just left it alone... I never had a dramatic BC experience of any of that. More power to those who did though :)

[brinatural0988]

My mom did my relaxers and I was like "what am I gonna do when I move out? *which is soon* I am not tryna pay 60 bucks for a relaxer... No Ma'am
Plus I had this super short patch in the back of my head from i dont even know... Was annoying..

Basically 1. healthy hair 2. saved money 3. can do way more with "nappy" hair :)) Love It!!

[domokey]

bump *keep em coming*

[FaithPatt]

I remember being six and having nappy hair until my mom decided to give me a perm i was so happy i wouldnt have to cry when i was getting my hair combed i didnt know about what i would have to do to maintain that.. Every month i would have my hair "burned" just so i could maintan my " white people hair" thats what i called it.. haha
I then got a jerry curll.. Went back to permm.. My hair literally fell off.. LIKE i coulddd pull it out myself.. if i wanted too.. I then went into protective styling to regain my natural hair.. Chopped off some..and now its been a year and 4 months since i started my journey.

YAY AU NATURAL.

[CoilyCarly]

^ I'm glad your hair's growing back!!!

I decided to go natural (though I'm not completely there yet lol) because I got tired of new growth honestly. I only had a relaxer for about 2 years and two years was enough.

I've always had my hair straightened or in braids. It never occured to me, until college when I saw a bunch of females with their natural hair, that I don't need my hair to be straight. I'm still surprised about how ignorant I was about my hair.

But better late than never, right? #teamnapptural

[princessai16]

I want to go natural because I want to have more than a day with bsl hair XD lol I want to be able to play sports and not worry about my hair. I want to be able to go outside and do something fun and not worry about my curls dropping and I look a hot mess. I want to be able to walk in the ran, not run and not have to worry about looking a hot freakin mess afterwards. I want MY soft shiney hair. I hate always have to put my relaxed hair in a style and not being able to just cowash and leave it alone. It's like I always have to do something to my hair braid out, twist out, straighten, and I am a lazy lazy person. So wng will be all I'll be doing...

[beauti-of-mee]

i decided to go natural when everytime i got my relaxer i felt my hair was shorter . the only time i saw new growth was wen i didnt perm it yet.with my hair being damaged and always dry . i knew i was time for a change and im so excited .:D



***wish me luck ladies***

[Frosephone]

Once I moved to college, I realized there were no good black salons around to do my hair. And being a new college student, I was broke, so I couldn't afford it anyway. So I eventually decided to just let my new growth grow and started to transition. Besides, I was so busying studying, I really didn't give a crap about my hair anymore so I let it be and let it do it's own thing. I had tests to pass- hair was not a priority, lmao!

I was pretty bored of my permed hair anyway- it never grew past a certain length and I had essentially worn the same hairstyle for most of my life! I was ready for something new and I decided to give it a try. I finally BC'ed in August after almost a year of transitioning, and so far I'm loving my hair! It's easier to maintain, cheap to care for, and beautiful. What more can a girl ask for?

[NaturallyTD]

After years of wearing wigs, my hair became lifeless. I continued to perm it thinking this would help it grow and avoid breakage. I was so wrong...I went from wigs to ponytail extensions which broke off the crown of my hair terribly. I was desperate, so I stopped perming it and began to braid it underneath the wig and taking hair vitamins which made it grow. The more people I talked to about my hair issues, the more I learned about the benefits of natural hair. I wanted the transition to be easy, so I didn't feel like stressing with the grow and cut process. I decided to do the BC 8/9/2010 and have no regrets. I am learning patience and really appreciating all of the tips during my grow out process.

Finally 100% natural and my journey begins!

[browncoco]

I was tired of my hair never growing and the SAME STYLE lol .Also because of my STiff hair lol and the fact that i thought it would look better on me.Than permed hair ;)

[reallythinkingaboutit]

Im with you fuzziwuz. I had been thinking about going natural for a while but was scared to do it. I work out 5 days a week and my hair is a mess afterwards. Transitioning for 3 months now.

[BumbleBii19]

I was just tired of sitting in the salon chair for hours on end, getting my hair ,permed, blowdryed, and styled etc. It was so annoying and frankly it was damaging my hair quite a bit. I just got to the point where I said I'm cutting this ish off, and I did. LoL

[cj17]

i went to a school with practicaly nothing but white people. hence i was laughed at all of the time. they called me ceily (you know from the color purple) so i permed it. at the end of my jounior year in high school i just decided i was going to be me. heck that's why i don't ware make-up why destroy my hair with a perm to be someone i wasn't?

[natural*nichelle]

Actually it was after my (newly ex)boyfriend started growing his locs. From there I became very interested in natural hair...then I found this site & it was a wrap from there :D

[whatdoesitlooklike]

I have been thinking about ending the relaxer game for over 2 years. I have not done it before b/c of fear of what my natural hair looks like. I remember thinking one day that being afraid of my natural hair was simply UNnatural :-). The final straw came this summer. My 5 year old daughter told me she wanted to have flat hair like me and the girls at the pool. That did it. I resolved then and there that she would not grow up thinking her beautiful, curly, cottony hair was not pretty, and I could not model natural beauty for her with creamy crack in my head every 8 weeks.

I'm 3 months in and I'm determined to stick with it. Goal is to make it to December and do the BC :-)

[shd89]

I despise getting my hair done! And it seems like majority of the females around here are "permies" and I never did like looking like the crowd I'm surrounded by! I love me so why not love ALL of me!! :) And it is ALOT cheaper to maintain my own hair

[Fronomenal]

I had a really bad perm in my senior year of high school. A whole patch of hair as big as the palm of my hand fell out. I was devastated. I vowed never to get a perm again and transitioned via kinky twists. After a while, I got bored with the twists and BC'd during winter break of my freshman year of college. It was love at first sight. I no longer had to suffer the emotional roller-coaster of feeling happy when my hair was "nice" and sad when it was a hot mess.

My hair makes me feel more like me (if that makes any sense). I love being able to take care of my hair without a hairstylist, mix up hair products and experiment with styles. I love that going natural has led me to use more natural personal care products and even to vegetarianism (If I can so much about what goes on my hair I should care about what goes in on my skin or in my body.) I love my hair so much so that I'm glad the hairstylist messed that relaxer. Going natural was the 2nd best decision I've ever made (after my choice of college).

[tayrenee]

I decided to going natural because Im just super lazy. LOL. I hated getting perms and then a couple hours later my roots were wavy. Im constantly sweating through my hair, so keeping my roots straight was a real task. Im also low maintenance when it comes to my hair because half of the time Im pulling it back into a ponytail, which is a big no-no. And Im in college, so I really paying to go to a hair salon every 2-3 weeks.

I havent had a perm since aug 13 2010, so im seeing some progress. I dont want to do the BC juss yet, I was going to put some extension braids for a couple of months till the new growth is were I want it.

Besides... being natural is such a beautiful thing!

[Yekomod]

just finished reading a few responses, seems like everyone kind of have similar reasons lol

[iwantlnh_15]

I decided to go natural when i saw some of my friends w/ beautfiful curls. I also noticed that people that get their hair straightened as a natural looks prettier than someone who has a perm and their hair strightened <-- just my opinion. My best friend has waist length hair[she's black] that WAS all natural. Since she got the texturizer, its not as long. I mean it's still LONG, but not like it used to be .

[Keran2000]

I decided to go natural again because I'm tired of going to the salon every week. Plus I didn't like my hair being so straight, my edges and crown started thinning and my hair didn't grow longer, which meant it was getting cut. But I remember that when my hair was natural 5 years ago, it grew and realized I missed my natural hair.

I made up my mind when I got my last perm. My stylist was perming my hair and another stylist was perming her client. They started saying creamy crack. That stuck in my head and I didn't like that thought.

[trueimage15]

I couldn't stand straight hair that was only straight because of harsh chemicals and the artificialness of it, esp when my friend went natural and her hair looked ALOT better in the way African Ams hair is naturally

[ThePrototypeEve]

I had a change of heart, I'd rather represent afrocentric beauty... now i think locs, afros and curls are more beautiful than straight hair. Something switched and now straight hair is just boring to me *shrug

[bettycakes]

I went natural because I had a severe burn and allergic reaction to my last relaxer. It took about the whole year Ive been natural for it to heal. It was so painful and all my edges and most of my hair was all over the bathtub so I decided enough was enough. I went natural and Ive never looked back! :D

[Pokestar]

Ive always been natural myself and more so my mom is a strong believer that you need to respect and love yourself, black or white. Curly eeds to be curly staight hair needs to e straight.

[SunsetsinBlue]

I decided to go natural when I got bored of straight hair and I wanted to do more with it and it was too much work trying to get my hair not to break even by combing it!! I wanted big hair with texture and I thought about getting a weave then I was like HOLD UP my natural hair can do that! I was so conditioned to the perm every month b/c if it wasn't relaxed on time I couldn't comb it and the relaxers never lasted me more that a week and a half of workable hair anyway!

I so agree, Lady Capri! I was getting a relaxer every month sometimes every 3 weeks because I exercise (sweat my hair out) and my hair just grew fast. My hair would itch like crazy before I got my relaxer and once I did my hair would only be straight for about two weeks. ALSO: My hair was very long as a child, but after I got my first relaxer (age 5 or 6) my hair began to grow more slowly on account of breakage and the chemicals. I never realized why my hair fell out when I was 12-13. It was so long and then it just kept getting shorter. I am currently a young adult and my hair is just beyond shoulder length but I know now that it is damaged because of relaxers. I am currently transitioning (yay).

[Mojito Chica]

My beautician stopped doing hair on my day.

[Kurliez]

I got tired of having bald patches and short, brittle hair for many, many years. I wanted to see my nature texture, heal my scalp, and get longer, stronger hair. I'm happy with my decide to go nature...I only wish I went nature many years ago.

[Jaye2011]

Money--I could no longer afford to go to the salon.

[Olahh]

Chemical burns, breakage, cost and accepting my real hair.

[Precious Curls]

Severe breakage and curiosity. I saw pictures of natural hair, fell in love with the texture, and decided that I WANTED IT! :)

[bdm]

I'm very busy and my hair needs to be done weekly to get all the oil and dirt build up out. It's getting expensive and my hair is very thin. Just started transitioning a month ago.

[cham3571]

Chemical burns, breakage, cost and accepting my real hair.

I agree with you. The breakage was def. the last straw for me. Then I saw a video on Tyra Banks about black women and young black girls not accepting their natural hair. This one woman was saying that she perms her hair so that she could have the "white girl flow" because every time she moved her head her hair would move with it. Then a little girl said that the afro is the worst hairstyle and that she wanted to have straight hair like white girls. It bothered me so much. Then I thought about myself and how I never really appreciated my own hair. That is when I truly decided to go natural and embrace what god gave me.

[Veviticus]

Honestly....approaching 40, and just not giving a &#*# what anyone else thought about me. I just had to "DO" me.

[lilshanteray]

I used to have long hair almost to my waist when I was 13. That was when I was getting a texturizer. When I turned 13, my mom decided i needed and a relaxer. I went along with it because what could I do? My hair immediately started to break off. Partly because I had two different chemicals in my hair, the texturizer from before and the new relaxer on top of that. When i turned 14 my hair went from waist length to shoulder length. That's when i decided to go natural, during my freshman year of high school. I'm 15 now and have been naturalfor a year.

[orangegoldfish]

I find relaxed, permed or texturised hair far too expensive and high maintenance. The last time that I had my hair texturised it fell out. I am never going down that road again.

[~GAN~]

bump.......

[dria_unique]

I decided to go natural when i got micro braids back last April. I mainly got them because my hair was breaking off and i didnt know what else to do with it. I got my last perm before i got my braids. Then i decided i didnt want to get a perm anymore. My hair was constantly breaking off, and it wouldn't grow to the length i wanted it to. I took the braids out around june and did the BC in September

[trueimage15]

^^^^^^^bump