"What Are Your Thoughts On Going Natural?"

"I recently received a comment on one of my wash day posts regarding my shedding issues. Along with this was a question asking 'What are your thought on going natural?' " 

Okay....okay, the picture above is is NOT how my hair would look if it were natural - but one can have dreams ....right?!  If my hair would look like this I would have been sporting natural hair a long time ago....!

Anyway, back to the original question which came through anonymously .  Along with wanting to know what my thoughts were on 'going natural', the commenter also stated that she 'would love know my reasons and thoughts!'.  So, I thought I would oblige.





Truthfully it is something that I have thought about on and off over the past 3 years of my HHJ.

If I am being totally honest, I think it might work on making my hair appear thicker, partly due to the lack of the harsh chemicals in relaxers. Another plus point would be that I would no longer have varying hair textures to contend with (i.e. coily new growth, tangling texlaxed hair and currently a mixture of relaxed and some lovely under-processed ends - oh joy!).  

Quick somebody pass me that damn afro comb!!! 

 Just kidding....

All jokes aside, I know that it's not really the right option for me right now. Also, I don't think it would have any significant effect on combating my shedding woes.

I already spend ages (sometimes too long!) on my hair each week and think that I would spend even longer on it if I were to 'go natural'. Personally, I think it would be too much hassle for me.

I have 'unintentionally' gone natural before - way back in my early 20's and my hair was actually tameable at that point, but with the use of heat. I have always had a ridiculous amount of shrinkage since I was a child and also no real curl pattern to speak of, just super coily hair fine textured hair. It may have changed a bit though over the years, as it usually does every 3 years or so, but I'm not ready to find out!

Also, if I am honest, I don't really want to jump on the 'I'm cutting off all my hair and going natural' bandwagon or cutting it off because I have become frustrated with it during a particularly stressful wash day.  For me, no longer relaxing my hair and big chopping is something I would need to think about more and see how it fits into my lifestyle and commitments on my time.

One thing I know for sure is that I would not have the patience or inclination to transition for any longer than 6 months and that 6 month transition would have to be done whilst in protective styles.

I love checking out the YouTube pages and blogs of the beautiful ladies who choose to no longer use relaxers and have either done dramatic big chops early on or transitioned offering great tips to others on how they have accomplished their goal. I think it's great and for many of them it has been the best thing both for them personally and for their hair! I know that if I went natural now I would regret it soon after and probably wouldn't even last a year before turning back to relaxers so I just don't have to deal with it anymore - not unless my hair was constantly in long term protective styles! For me I don't see the point of me cutting my hair free of a relaxer - just to go back to in within months or a year or two.

Lastly, in the back of my mind I do wonder how many of the ladies who have 'gone natural' will continue to have completely natural hair (not heat-trained or texturised in any way) in 3 or so years time? I suppose as with anything, there may be a percentage who start to relax or texturise their hair again for whatever reason. I know I would definitely be one of those people! (",)

Ladies, what are your thoughts on going natural?  Is it something you have considered?

Thank you 'Anonymous' for the blog topic!

Ciao 4 Now