Fighting Nature

[MestizoGypsy]

Hey y'all! I just saw a thread about which hairstyles and updos make you feel most powerful, and it gave me a thought.

How do you feel about your natural hair texture/color? The way my hair looks in my sig pic is my natural hair, straight straight straight, and slick- it barely holds bobby pins, thank God for spin pins. For years and years I fought it. When I was old enough to decide what pretty was, I started curling it into spirals or waves every single day, because I didn't think I looked pretty with straight hair. It's taken a while to undo that damage, and it's still a process for me to think my natural hair looks nice.

Does anyone else have any experience with this type of thing or were you always able to embrace your natural hair texture and color?

[GlennaGirl]

I have finally embraced it. I always wished it were either wavier (or curly), or perfectly straight. Why? My hair is loose and free and having fun. :) I'm leaving the wave pattern alone now.

[Lostsoule77]

I'm learning to embrace my natural hair, but that is since finding this place. As a child my hair was 1c/2a and I yearned for curly hair. When I hit puberty my hair turning into what it is now (sig pic is natural state), but I didn't know how to care for it. It was a frizzy mess unless I tamed it with tons of mousse. I longed for my straighter non-frizzy hair back! LOL Since coming here I've learned some great methods for taming that frizz & I now love my waves! :D

[Madora]

Always embraced my hair's natural texture..but wish I had inherited more of my mother's gorgeous red hair!

[CurlyCap]

It took me a long time to learn that my hair will always win. So, in the name of grace during battle, I had to learn to work with it instead of fighting it.

My hair is dry? It's dry. Condition the crap out of it.
My hair is curling more on one side than the other? Updo day!
My hair didn't clump last night and is now HUGE? Add giant hair toy. Wear bright colors. It's gonna be a loud day. :D

I love my hair. I wish it were more predictable because I know people think that I choose to have odd styles on certain days. But whatever. It's healthy. I finally know how to work with it. It's all good.

Now, onto skincare....lol....

[HintOfMint]

I mess with my natural texture every day. I don't have a naturally even wave pattern, so I damp bun my hair to loosen the waves and make them more uniform. It straightens my hair a bit too.

Honestly, it's not so much about fighting nature as much as not really knowing how to work with it. I can't avoid touching my hair when it's drying, there's just too much of it and at some point, I have to put it up. Goodbye natural wave pattern, hello frizz unless I damp bun with oil in it and then comb it out.

I was better with my natural texture when I lived in New Orleans and it was so humid that my hair was much more wavy all over.

[Tisiloves]

I've finally accepted that my hair will not hold a wave/curl for more than 10 mins, doesn't stop me damp bunning in hope, though.

[jeanniet]

When I was old enough to decide what pretty was, I started curling it into spirals or waves every single day, because I didn't think I looked pretty with straight hair.

I think it's pretty interesting that you felt this way, since so many curlies think the same way about their hair! Yours is very beautiful, BTW--I love stick straight hair, but I suppose we always covet what we can't have.

I wouldn't say that I didn't like my natural hair, but I sure didn't like having to deal with it. I spent way too many years fighting the thickness and curl; I wish I had figured out what to do with it a long time ago!

[fridgee]

I'm still learning to love my natural texture. I love my hair straight and miss straightening it, but 7 months on I've finally today managed to get practically frizzless wurls after many many attempts, so now I've learnt how it needs to be handled I think I can enjoy it more. LHC has totally helped me appreciate what I've got, this place is amazing! :)

[MestizoGypsy]

I think it's pretty interesting that you felt this way, since so many curlies think the same way about their hair! Yours is very beautiful, BTW--I love stick straight hair, but I suppose we always covet what we can't have.

I wouldn't say that I didn't like my natural hair, but I sure didn't like having to deal with it. I spent way too many years fighting the thickness and curl; I wish I had figured out what to do with it a long time ago!
Thank you =)
Honestly I wish I had just grown my hair long at a younger age, instead of trying a new chop every time I had a bad hair day in middle school and highschool. I always wanted to look like Pocahontas, and the longer my hair gets, the easier it is to embrace the straight. Being on here has definitely helped!! My big sis is a curly girl, and always loved playing with my straight hair.

[EtherealDoll]

I like my hair's natural texture. When it gets frizzy I just put some oil on it and braid it. I used to really want super straight hair when I was in school because my hair was always cut short and it stuck out in different directions but after I started growing it out I liked the waves that when it got longer.
I hate my natural colour though. Couldn't wait to dye it, and having tried quite a few colours I finally found the colour that I love.

[Tota]

I started fighting nature at 15 and stopped when I was 25. At 25, my hair was fried, short and thinned out. As unhealthy as it can be. At that stage I just decided to leave it alone and embrace whatever my hair will become. Now, three years later, my hair is MBL and virgin. I love it and will never fight nature again :)

[LaFlor]

I have a love/hate relationship with what I have naturally.

I was in love with my curling iron and like to have waves and curls, but sometimes I really enjoy how straight my hair is naturally.

I don't love my virgin color... but I don't hate it either. I would just prefer it to be lighter or darker.

[Arden]

..............How do I deleat... this double posted and I cant find the deleat botton

[Arden]

Until I found LHC I didnt even know what my hair type was. I was always told it was stright and always treated it as if it where stright. As if there was no other way in the world to care for hair. As far as I knew there wasnt. I figured "white girls" did one thing, "black girls did another", "native americans" did another, etc... my views where super limited... I never even really gave it much consideration beyond that. And while to some degree this is in part true, as dominatnt genes tends to denote hair type, there is no exact rule to hair, persay...

Your hair is unique to you personally. My hair is unique to me. I love that. The whole experience has not only taught me about hair and better ways to embrace your naturalness but has also opened my eyes to how diffrent cultures really arnt as diffrent as the world would like us to belive.

Now that I'm working with my hair rather than aginst it I am learning to love it more. I am also learning that a bad hair day in the eyes of one, may not be in the eyes of another. Beauty and ther perseptions of beauty are as unquie as we each are as individuals. My hair is only "bad" if I allow myself to belive it is bad. If I nuture, love it and accept how it might be "feeling" that day.. I can work with it to make it "behave".

For me embracing my hair type means peace, acceptance, broadened ideas of beauty and never having another "bad hair day"

[ladylowtide]

Warning! Incoming 1b rant!

Lol, but really I loathe my natural hair texture. Its dead straight with a random kick somewhere depending on it mood. Maybe 1 in 14 days it does something nice on it own. I usually smooth out while its we to make it look more 1a. Or it looks dead and lifeless while still not straight, and then I do the braid waves! I only ever appreciate my hair texture when I am doing updos. But even then, its really slippery... meh. At least it looks long fast.

I long for 2b hair. But I doubt that will happen naturally.

[TheMechaGinger]

I spent a long time doing the same thing you mentioned, I have really straight hair too and I spent a few years sleeping in mini-buns or sponge rollers every single night. I did it so often that on the off chance I was too tired to do it and my hair was straight, people assumed I had to straighten it to make it look that way and that curly was my natural texture. My ends were totally trashed, even though I wasn't using heat the constant manipulation was giving me split ends out the yin yang. Last year I finally chilled out and embraced my straight hardly-ever-has-volume hair. And I had to cut the bottom 7 inches off because when my hair was straight then you could really see all the damage I did to it =[

[petali]

My hair was always in between wavy and straight. I longed for slick-straight hair. Then, one year, I wore a ponytail at the exact same spot and got a very random curve in my hair. It wasn't even nice looking. I am finally enjoying my hair for what it is and not for what it could have been.

[GlennaGirl]

Its dead straight with a random kick somewhere depending on it mood. Maybe 1 in 14 days it does something nice on it own.

LOL! I'm just a tad wavier than you naturally (I like the waves in your siggie, are they braid waves?), and I always used to say, "My hair doesn't wave. It bends." That's seriously what it is. It...bends here and there. :p So I hear ya, though I've come to terms with it at this point. I do color it.

[luxepiggy]

OK, I must be the weirdo, 'cos I LOVE my hairtype! Love love love. Always have. It's shiny and sleek, and barely requires any styling at all. Most days I just tumble out bed, apply a spritz or two of shine spray, and off I go. For fancy occasions it takes less than 5 minutes to create some kind of updo and secure it with hairsticks. I haven't even owned a brush or comb since high school.

I think the key, really, is to embrace what you've got. Trying to make your hair (or any other part of you) into something it's not meant to be just results in a lot of frustration and feelings of inadequacy. Lots of straighties complain about their hair looking "limp" or "flat" - but I view my hair as "sleek" and "frizz-free". Everything is a matter of perspective.

I wouldn't swap my hair for anyone else's in the whole world (^(oo)^)v

[FrannyG]

I became a teen in 1974, and by 1975, it was all about Farrah Fawcett hair. I had my hair permed, layered, and I used a curling iron every single day of my life.

Then the '80s came, a time that was all about big hair. Again, I spent so much time using product, hot rollers, curling irons and crimpers on my hair. shudder:

It really took me until I was in my 40s to truly embrace my straight hair, if only because I was tired, really tired of trying to fight nature. I was also tired of having split ends on hair that was above the shoulder. Now I have NO split ends.

I can't imagine having any other hair type now, nor do I want to. It took me a long time, but I learned to really love my straight, very fine hair. :crush:

[lundmir]

I love my texture, and the thickness, and even the color. I should be content with what I have naturally.

And yet, I bleach, dye and henna it various shades of red. I seriously can't stop, I love red too much.

[Iolanthe13]

I've never really hated my hair, though the natural colour always seemed a bit dull, and I wished it were either curly or stick-straight. I used to try to blow-dry and flat-iron it, since straight hair was such a necessity for teenaged girls in the '00s, and then in college I unwittingly fried it with red box dyes.

I really started to love my hair last year when I started getting salon haircuts - my long layers meant I could roll out of bed and not have "triangle hair". But then the battle against fading dye began. Now, henna gives me a colour that feels more "me", and I realised recently that 2b/c hair is probably one of the most flexible types - I can get it down to 1b or so just by combing it wet and using some oil, but it takes well to no-heat curling, too. And on a good day, the natural texture gives me those beachy waves some people covet.

Of course, there are stringy days, frizzy days, limp days and tangly days, but that's just an excuse to try a new updo, right? I am looking forward to losing the split ends and gaining some healthy length, though.

[MestizoGypsy]

OK, I must be the weirdo, 'cos I LOVE my hairtype! Love love love. Always have. It's shiny and sleek, and barely requires any styling at all. Most days I just tumble out bed, apply a spritz or two of shine spray, and off I go. For fancy occasions it takes less than 5 minutes to create some kind of updo and secure it with hairsticks. I haven't even owned a brush or comb since high school.

I think the key, really, is to embrace what you've got. Trying to make your hair (or any other part of you) into something it's not meant to be just results in a lot of frustration and feelings of inadequacy. Lots of straighties complain about their hair looking "limp" or "flat" - but I view my hair as "sleek" and "frizz-free". Everything is a matter of perspective.

I wouldn't swap my hair for anyone else's in the whole world (^(oo)^)v
I love your hair, looking at your sig pic- gorgeous! I'm glad that I'm finally warmed up to my stick straight hair. Once my layers grow out more, it becomes so much easier to deal with. I'm so glad I'm finally able to embrace it instead of trying to make it something it's not.

[lapushka]

When I was a teen, I thought I had straight hair, but straight hair that wasn't like everyone else's hair. It behaved funnily, frizzed up when it was even a little bit misty or moist or whenever it rained (and boy did I hate that). I used to blowdry it straight with a roundbrush every time, and I even got it permed a couple of times. Back then you either had straight hair, or you had curls, there was no inbetween. It was a revelation when I discovered the curly girl handbook by Lorraine Massey! My hair didn't have much of a wave, but it wasn't straight either, so that's when I stopped fighting my natural texture, way in my thirties. It took me as long to accept my natural hair color too. It's a dark ashy blonde/browny color. It's been blonder and it's also been much darker, even blue-black. No more dye for me (also because of a couple of bad experiences).

[Amapola]

Funny. My sister has the hair I always wanted - fine, thick and curly. Mine is fine, thin and stick straight. So I used to perm it all the time, finally had to cut it all off and start over with my real hair. Meanwhile my sister has been straightening her wonderful hair! Grass is always greener, I guess.

[Allychan]

I always wanted hair like my older sister, she had curls. So at age 13 I had my hair permed. From that age until last year my hair has not been in it's natural state. So for nearly 25yrs I fought my hair's natural state:horse:. It is only now that I have forgone the fight that I realise my hair is exactly how I like it and looks best without the dyes and straightening/root perms/blowdrying etc

[BlazingHeart]

I always wanted to try curls. When I was in my teens, I asked my trusted stylist if she could perm my hair, and she told me no - because with hair as thick as mine, if she curled it, the volume would be completely uncontrollable.

My hair won't hold a curl from a heat or no-heat methods. It just goes back to doing what it always does. I'm kind of a closet wavy, though, because my hair gets down to a 1c or so when I brush it. It only shows its zig-zags if it's never brushed or combed. And then it feels rough and coarse and unpleasant, so I basically never look as wavy as I really am.

I also wanted it to be redder. I had deep, intensely red hair when I was around a year old, and I always look at those pictures and wish that THAT was my hair color as an adult. My chestnut color isn't bad, but it isn't that color.

Don't get me wrong, I do love my hair. I love that it's super easy to care for, and that it's virtually indestructible. I like the way it looks, and I love that it's got body and all. I don't know that I'd actually like having curly hair, but I think it would look great... if any of you remember the TV show Felicity, I wanted Keri Russel's hair. But I'm not unhappy with what I do have. (Though if it would dry faster, and be easier to put up...oh would I ever love that!)

~Blaze

[Arden]

When I was a teen, I thought I had straight hair, but straight hair that wasn't like everyone else's hair. It behaved funnily, frizzed up when it was even a little bit misty or moist or whenever it rained (and boy did I hate that). I used to blowdry it straight with a roundbrush every time, and I even got it permed a couple of times. Back then you either had straight hair, or you had curls, there was no inbetween. It was a revelation when I discovered the curly girl handbook by Lorraine Massey! My hair didn't have much of a wave, but it wasn't straight either, so that's when I stopped fighting my natural texture, way in my thirties. It took me as long to accept my natural hair color too. It's a dark ashy blonde/browny color. It's been blonder and it's also been much darker, even blue-black. No more dye for me (also because of a couple of bad experiences).

I'm so with you here. When I was a teen I kept my hair short, but when I got into my 20's I wanted to grow it out... Like you said, it just didn't "behave" right... I always thought I had stright hair... I always treated it like stright hair.. but it never laid right... I only just recently learned about CG but it has changed my world as far as hair care is concerned.

[neko_kawaii]

My mother has curly hair that is an amazing rusty orange brown and as a kid I wanted hair like hers. It didn't help that someone once compared my hair to the color of cardboard. Other than wishing my hair was like my mothers I didn't spend much time with it, rarely brushed it, occasionally had it cut in a pixie.

It was when I saw a picture of me next to my mom with her hair draped over my head like a wig that I realized I looked horrible with her hair color. I must have been a senior in high school. It wasn't until I started college that I realized my hair had darkened and could no longer be compared to cardboard.

I took a minor interest in my hair and learned to do a good english braid and a messy bun. I learned that when my hair was shoulder length I could get it to curl if I clipped back the sides while wet and left it alone, but otherwise I didn't experiment with or care about the texture. It did what it did and as long as it was out of my face and off my neck in the heat that was fine.

It is interesting to know a bit more about my hair but most of the time I don't have the patience to apply things like curly girl to coax out the curls so I end up with frizzy waves from finger combing it while it drys or else I bun it and redo the buns until it is time to wash it again.

I suppose I ignore nature to do the easiest thing, rather than fight it.

[Arden]

I learned that when my hair was shoulder length I could get it to curl if I clipped back the sides while wet and left it alone, but otherwise I didn't experiment with or care about the texture. It did what it did and as long as it was out of my face and off my neck in the heat that was fine.

It is interesting to know a bit more about my hair but most of the time I don't have the patience to apply things like curly girl to coax out the curls so I end up with frizzy waves from finger combing it while it drys or else I bun it and redo the buns until it is time to wash it again.

I suppose I ignore nature to do the easiest thing, rather than fight it.

I dont really look at CG like i'm applying things. I have managed to work out a routine with the right poo and conditioner where I really dont need the gel or anything unless I really want defined curl.

With my hair, washing with sulfate free shampoo, cone free or cone light products, finger combing to detangel in the shower and plopping (or plunking) seems to keep my waves in fair order with minimal frizzing.

[sparrowswing]

For the first half of my life, I thought the "perfect" hair was long (longer than waist-length), platinum blonde, with spiral curls (blame the Barbies my mom kept bringing home in the late 80s). So my straight, dark, BSL hair was pretty far off the mark. And no amount of curling, heat-setting, and product would make my hair hold curl for more than a few minutes.

As a teen I wanted a bright, bold color, but my hair doesn't take bleach at all, so I never managed anything except a few medium-red streaks that faded in about a week. I even tried twice in high school to get a spiral perm, since I still thought curls were gorgeous, and both times - even the second when they did a double treatment - the curls fell out in 2-3 days. I must have some of the least porous hair possible. I also thought updos were awesome, but my hair slips out of pretty much every updo. After watching a few dozen tutorials in the past month, I finally came up with a bun variation that will stay, but until then even tightly-bound ponytails would fall. The best I ever managed in high school was a tight ponytail coiled into a cinnabun with hairsticks and bobby pins holding it in place, and I'd still have to redo it a couple of times a day.

So I've been wanting to fight nature my whole life, but I've never been particularly successful. Now I've reached a point where I love my hair so much I can't even commit to henna, despite a desperate wish for red hair.

[GoblinTart]

I kinda fight it, kinda embrace it. I've done a few Perms due to the fact that i have curly hair, but my curls aren't wild a spirally. They're kinda...limp. Bleh. My $100 perm lasted about a month though, before falling back into limpness. Dying my hair burgundy was awesome, for about 2 weeks before fading into a weird brassy color. I've grown out all that chemical damage now thank goodness. And I've grown out most of my heat damage from chopping my hair off and realizing my hair is a poofball at chin length.

I've discovered henna. Thank you LHC! I get the cheap jamila henna hair quality for $1.50 a box. But I love it. Just did my 3rd application a couple days ago, and my hair is getting to that burgundy color. And i haven't had any new splits AT ALL since I chopped off a few inches. But that could also be due to my discovery of coconut oil. Who knows.

I usually just brush my hair. It's poofy, but i like it better than my.limp curls. When I'm feeling fancy, I do pin curls. Small ones give me big hair and tons of curls, or I can brush them out and have a 50s glamour do. Big pincurls give me big hair, but in a soft wavy way. I call it my Peggy Bundy hair when I wear a headland.

I guess I just embrace what my hair can do now, and don't try to force it into something it can't.

[spirals]

I don't think it was so much fighting it as not knowing I had it. I always thought it was misbehaving straight hair. "Why doesn't it stay straight when it dries?? I combed it straight!" Then 10 years ago I moved from the desert to a humid climate, in June. "What is THIS?" I promptly gave up my flatiron and found NC.com. That's where I first heard about this board, about 5 years ago.

[palaeoqueen]

When I was a teen, I thought I had straight hair, but straight hair that wasn't like everyone else's hair. It behaved funnily, frizzed up when it was even a little bit misty or moist or whenever it rained (and boy did I hate that). I used to blowdry it straight with a roundbrush every time, and I even got it permed a couple of times. Back then you either had straight hair, or you had curls, there was no inbetween. It was a revelation when I discovered the curly girl handbook by Lorraine Massey! My hair didn't have much of a wave, but it wasn't straight either, so that's when I stopped fighting my natural texture, way in my thirties. It took me as long to accept my natural hair color too. It's a dark ashy blonde/browny color. It's been blonder and it's also been much darker, even blue-black. No more dye for me (also because of a couple of bad experiences).

You sound like me, on both the texture and the colour. I've also finally stopped fighting in my thirties, if only I'd stopped sooner!

[Jing]

I've never counsciously fought my natural texture, but last time I had long hair, the way I treated it made it straight anyway. I only recently discovered just how wurly my hair is, when I started using sulphate-free shampoo. It was crazy wurly at the ends from chin to shoulder, but after that it all settled for wavy. I'm very pleased with it's real texture.

The colour is another matter. Depending on the light, it takes on a silver, gold, or copper/red tone. Silver I love, gold I can deal with, but I wish I could rip the copper out. Red hair looks marvellous on other people, but it is not for me. I refuse to dye it, though, because of the root upkeep and the massively increased shedding I get from dye.

[catamonica]

My hair is straight to. I wear braids. When I wear it down, it's wavy. But after I wash it I pile it
on my head for one to two minutes. Count to one hundred. Let it down & there is a slight wave in my hair. It might be because my mom has natural curly hair.

[Demi-Plum]

I've never had too much of a problem with my hair. I've always loved long fairly straight hair and that's what I have. The only thing I could possibly wish for is for it to be thicker. Not only are my strands fine, but my hair is also fairly thin. But not stringy thin or anything of that nature, just a bit thinner than I would like. I don't mind the look of it so much as when I go to do an intricate style. I simply don't have enough thickness to cover things or have my hair look nice and full. But hey we get what we get. I just want it to be very long and healthy!

[catamonica]

Demi-Plum, I read online, to mix dehydrated minced onion or chopped onion to your shampoo. One or two capfuls. It makes the hair thicker. I tried it. My hair felt thicker. Hope this helps.

[jacqueline101]

I've always wanted dark straight hair.

[gillybeanxo3921]

I used to hate my hair. I wanted it to be straight so bad. I flat ironed it at 475 degrees every day for the longest time. After a while I realized because of all the heat damage, I was trimming off faster than I was growing. My hair was steadily becoming shorter and shorter.

Once I figured that out I gave up on my flat iron. I don't even look good with straight hair when I think about it. It's been almost a year (next week actually) and I got rid of nearly all the heat damaged ends that I had left over, and I have about an inch and a half of growth.

The longer my hair gets, the more accepting I am of its texture. I hate it when it's short, as it gets reaaally curly and frizzy and poofy. Ew.

[Ticky]

I like mine. Sure, there is the occasional wish for curly hair (it doesn't want to get curly :horse:) or something similar, but all in all, I am happy.

[lapushka]

Demi-Plum, I read online, to mix dehydrated minced onion or chopped onion to your shampoo. One or two capfuls. It makes the hair thicker. I tried it. My hair felt thicker. Hope this helps.

Pieces of onion, in your shampoo? How the heck do you manage that? :)

[Hollyfire3]

I dye my hair two shades darker (medium golden brown dyed to dark reddish brown (think dark chestnut) and have no issues with it, I just don't like how my natural color looks, plain and simple. Now, my curls are another issue, ever since I was little, I HATED this thick mop of curls called my hair. so when i was around 11 I decided to start straightening them until about a year ago. I am currently growing out ALOT of damage (which included months of curl loss and terrible hair!) and microtrimming the ends monthly or so to prevent breakage at the damaged ends. I have not flat ironed for about a year, but I still some days hate my hair texture and want smooth, sleek straight hair (or even sleek curls) but hey, I guess that's what DTs and no heat curls/waves are for right! I'll get it some day..I'll fix it.

[gillybeanxo3921]

I recently found coconut oil, and I use it almost daily now. It makes my hair soooo much less frizzy, softer, smoother, and shinier.

I'm definitely not fighting nature as bad anymore(:

[HairySherry]

I've never had too much of a problem with my hair. I've always loved long fairly straight hair and that's what I have. The only thing I could possibly wish for is for it to be thicker. Not only are my strands fine, but my hair is also fairly thin. But not stringy thin or anything of that nature, just a bit thinner than I would like. I don't mind the look of it so much as when I go to do an intricate style. I simply don't have enough thickness to cover things or have my hair look nice and full. But hey we get what we get. I just want it to be very long and healthy!

Demi-Plum, I have the same exact problem. When my hair is down, it doesn't look as thin as it is but when I braid it my braids are so scrawny. Most of the time when I see someone whose hair is in pigtails, one of their pigtails is thicker than my entire braid! I'm so jealous! :( I'm willing to give this onion business a try... what can it hurt? :shrug:

[Vivalagina]

I always ended up chopping my hair because when it's between APL and BSL the waves are very difficult - all my hairs seem to go in a million different directions and sticks out everywhere. And unless I colored my hair (I like to call my natural color plywood because it's kind of a chopping mix of browns and blondes that I have a love/hate relationship with) it is very slippery when dry. So one million directions + slippery hair = why can't I make one braid that doesn't look like my hair's trying to fight its way out?

But every time I go for the color/highlights/cut I realize that I am way, way too lazy for that kinda of upkeep. So longer than BSL virgin hair seems like the winning solution to me. :)

[cwarren]

I hate my natural texture. My curls never hold. It always frizzes. It dries out at the drop of a hat. It hates oil. It hates most shampoos/conditioners.

If my hair was more manageable, I'd be able to deal with the rest.

[earthnut]

I've always had natural hair, and I've always accepted it for the most part. I've had passing fantasies of straight or colored hair (always wild colors, or red) but have never followed up on them. I started graying at 15 or 17 and always accepted it, even reveled in it.

I accepted my natural hair for two reasons: I'm pretty easygoing and accepting of natural states in general. I'm also much too lazy and cheap to keep up with dyes and electric appliances. I even hated the smell of hairspray and so I never used that either. :tongue:

However, I had no idea how to care for it for the longest time. For most of my post-puberty life I had terribly frizzy hair and hated the frizz. I'm hoping CO will give my hair what it needs, but I'm not completely sold on it yet.

Frizz is the only thing about my natural hair that I don't accept. If CO doesn't work, I'll have to work on accepting that though. :boohoo:

[Tia2010]

(Most days) I like my natural texture... there are some days I wish it was ultra curly or pin straight instead of just wavy..but overall I like it :D

My natural color on the other hand...we're not on good terms :p

[spirals]

I fought it my whole life until I moved from the desert to a state that's very humid in summer. I moved in June. Then I had to learn to work with it. Thing is that I had always wanted either straight or very curly hair, and with what I had been doing to it, I had misbehaving waves. Then I discovered the loose curls, which were not tight enough for me (never satisfied). I've finally learned to appreciate my texture due to all the compliments I received after learning how to take care of it. I like all textures, but I'm glad this one's mine.

[MestizoGypsy]

I was just pondering this again tonight, as I wound my hair up around pieces of cloth to make "S waves." The first time I did it, I made them too small and ended up with tight, frizzy curls. This time I'm hoping for the pretty waves in Elainehali's tutorial. As I got more and more frustrated trying to get the hair to wind around the fabric just right, I thought to myself, why am I doing this? Where did I get it in my head that I don't look good with my natural straight hair? Sigh, it's a constant battle of self acceptance I suppose.

[CurlyCurves]

I am in LOVE with my natural curl pattern now :love:

Before, when my hair was very damaged, I hated my natural curl pattern. It looked limp and flat, and I used to yearn for big, curly hair and the natural ringlets I have now. I used to look at my childhood pictures and lament that I 'missed my hair'. I never thought I'd get it back. I used to blowdry it to 100% dry every time I washed it, because I wanted the big curly hair.

When I went natural, big chopped and started caring for my curls, I was astonished!

Now, I am the happiest with my natural hair that I've ever been :cheese:

[Amber_Maiden]

My hair is very thick. I've tried to thin it, but layers look horrible in it. It also waves. I prefer y hair straight, and I put tons of oil in it to make it straighter and to make it look thinner. But I need to embrace the way it is- lion's mane poofy.

[Dandelion6]

I mess with my natural texture every day. I don't have a naturally even wave pattern, so I damp bun my hair to loosen the waves and make them more uniform. It straightens my hair a bit too.

Honestly, it's not so much about fighting nature as much as not really knowing how to work with it. I can't avoid touching my hair when it's drying, there's just too much of it and at some point, I have to put it up. Goodbye natural wave pattern, hello frizz unless I damp bun with oil in it and then comb it out.

I was better with my natural texture when I lived in New Orleans and it was so humid that my hair was much more wavy all over.

Wow! This sounds just like my hair. I learned long ago (before I ever discovered this forum) to stop blow drying and trying to straighten my hair. It just got angry and started to rebel by frizzing and waving in weird ways. Letting it air dry and do it's own thing, not touching it worked well up until nearly BSL length. But it would always go through a weird poufy phase before it eventually settled down.

I am so happy now to have discovered the joys of damp bunning. On a wash day I'll leave it in for about five or six hours, then I might choose to let it down and dry on it's own (depends where I am and what I'm doing that day). I get a more uniform wave pattern and it is pretty much frizz resistant at this point.:p

[see_turtle]

I'm getting there...my hair is pretty difficult it tangles easily and gets frizzy and crazy. wearing it up and away helps me not resent it. I long for sleek straight hair!

[KwaveT]

I always took care of my hair as defacto straight hair. My mother has always cut my hair short. I knew that I did not have straight hair because it would try to wave when it got near haircut time again. I finally got to the point that I wanted to embrace my natural hair. I have let it grown and has got more wurls and spirals the longer that it gets. I embrace my natural hair now but am still learning how to take care of it. If I comb and brush it frizzes and explodes. I am doing my detangling and removing sheds before I wash or wet my hair and let it airdry so my curls aren't messed up.

[Lostsoule77]

Wow! This sounds just like my hair. I learned long ago (before I ever discovered this forum) to stop blow drying and trying to straighten my hair. It just got angry and started to rebel by frizzing and waving in weird ways. Letting it air dry and do it's own thing, not touching it worked well up until nearly BSL length. But it would always go through a weird poufy phase before it eventually settled down.

I am so happy now to have discovered the joys of damp bunning. On a wash day I'll leave it in for about five or six hours, then I might choose to let it down and dry on it's own (depends where I am and what I'm doing that day). I get a more uniform wave pattern and it is pretty much frizz resistant at this point.:p
What kind of buns do you do for this? I tend to go to cinnamon bun, but that just make my hair one big knotted twirl for some reason.

[Dandelion6]

What kind of buns do you do for this? I tend to go to cinnamon bun, but that just make my hair one big knotted twirl for some reason.

I do a lazy wrap, that's my go to for damp bunning...I haven't had any luck getting a cinnamon bun to stick:rolleyes:

[Lostsoule77]

I do a lazy wrap, that's my go to for damp bunning...I haven't had any luck getting a cinnamon bun to stick:rolleyes:
Thanks! I'll give that a try next time I want to damp bun. :)