That’s a bunch of BS….I know for a fact having your hair natural is easy I’ve been natural and I’ve had relaxed hair and natural is by far the best and no slam to the people who don’t know how to maintain their own freakin hair in its God given state but come on, give me a break.  Its not hard at all to put some moisture in your hair and twist it or wear a fro or braids.  We grew up on that as kids. So anytime I hear someone say its hard or you have to have someone else take care of your hair it just sound so foreign to me.  You may need someone to cut it into a shape but so far as the maintenance you can do that yourself.  I agree with LaLa

This is exactly why I’m having conflicting moments when it comes to my hair.  I have pressed, relaxed, permed, cut, let it grow back, put it in a ponytail, braided and gelled to no end.  I am TENDER HEADED (yeah I know but it gets the point across) which means I really don’t want someone touching it but I’ve done research and talked to several people who has locks, twists, short hair or a non fuss hairdo and the decision is very hard for me. Besides going bald, which will not happen, I just don’t know what would be the right thing for me.  I can find other things to do with my time in the morning than dealing with my hair only to have it mess up because of the weather, heat or flash! Help anyone???

LMAO at the lie suggestion! I think that great! 
I have to say that I agree 100% with the premise behind the article. I have been natural for 26 years of my 27 years on earth and I count that 1 year of relaxer as a bad lapse in my aunts judgment… I used to get my hair pressed out every 2 weeks, so I would go to the salon right along with my relaxed sistas and I’ve definitely noticed that as more women are moving towards embracing the natural hair movement, salons are definitely charging more for natural services. I now embrace my curls so I very rarely straighten my hair anymore, but even when I do, I do it at home and it looks just as good. I agree with Imani Finn, you live with your hair, just learn how to work with it and it will do what you want it to do. Good luck to all ladies!

I have been a stylist for 15 years and everyone hear has used the concept of relaxed hair incorrectly by classifying it as a measure to make the hair straight (yes, this is the result but not the concept of its origin)  which has allowed the natural stylists who advocate against looking European by excessive attributes with straight styles. However, it has been at the excess of the our trampled natural beauty by the overall marketing and media industries that relaxers have caught such a bad wrap. Technically and professionally we are taught that relaxers are made and aide to maintain a more manageable mane. Yet, if you all be honest when we didn’t see every nap, fried, dyed, and laid to the side….if there was once nap showing we told the stylists and others the relaxer didn’t take or Child, she didn’t know what she was doing. Again, relaxers were never designed to make straight hair. Relaxing of the hair is a straightening process to !help! make the hair manageable and excessive manipulation of the product can produce can cause irritation, hair loss, and injury to the scalp listed on all relaxer instructions for professionals and non-professionals alike. I promote healthy hair ….Point Blank Period…straight or natural because both client pay with green money.

I don’t go to the salon- don’t like the process, the way they do my hair (some have a rigid way of doing things), and of course the cost isn’t worth it (to me). So I’ve been doing my hair all my life. I cut it myself, I trim it myself, I straighten it myself, and when I don’t straighten, I wear it in it’s natural texture. 

For those who like to wear their hair straight more often than not, I developed a routine for how to make straight look last longer.

A week after straitening is when we start to feel compelled to “touch up” with the hot comb or flat iron. But I like to keep heat usage to a minimum, plus sometimes you don’t have time for all that. So what I do is wash my face at the sink before I shower. For some reason, trying to wash your face in the shower even with a shower cap on and a scarf on underneath, still gets your edges wet. I found washing my face separately  helps a lot, and immediately stepping out of the bathroom after taking a shower b/c that warm, humid air will revert the edges or cause you to sweat, which will revert the edges anyway. I wrap my hair at night, but I don’t use a scarf. I actually use a hairnet-type thing that I tie over my hair so that it can breathe and not be so constricted. Scarves make me hot, and there’s nothing more frustrating to me then waking up and taking off the scarf only to find some huge wave in my hair from sweating during the night. However, after so much time, it’s inevitable that your roots will start to get wavy, so instead of fighting it, that’s when you twist or braid your hair at night, take it out in the morning, tousle your hair a bit, and style it so that you will have a textured hair style that blends in with random waves or wrinkles. When my straitening starts to get “old”, that’s when I really start to have fun experimenting with styles b/c I know I’m going to wash my hair again soon anyway. Also, if you’re the type that needs to wash your scalp b/c it gets itchy, oily, etc., then you can try to put your hair in the high (but loose) pony tail and wash the scalp (just the scalp) in the sink using a cup to rinse the hard to reach areas, like the back of your head. I’ve done this plenty of times when I wanted to wash my scalp but didn’t want to straighten my entire hair again (I like to keep heat usage to a minimum especially on my ends). I make sure to keep the ponytail dry as possible, so I only need to blow dry the hair closest to my scalp, touch up with a hot comb, then voila, I washed my scalp without having to straighten the entire length of my hair.

I can’t stress how important it is to use hair moisturizers that truly moisturize their hair from within, not just coating it with something. Raw shea butter is really great, so is avocado oil (they just don’t have pretty smells). If you wear your hair very textured, then you can use these liberally to enhance the texture, but if you plan on straightening, then a little will go a long way, especially applied to just the ends. 

As far as trimming goes, there are a lot of really good tutorial videos on youtube on how to give yourself a fool proof cut, even if you want layers. I’ve been cutting my own hair for about 15 years and no one would ever guess that I do it myself. Most are shocked when I tell them and some ask if I can cut theirs lol. But I tell them no b/c I only know how to do my own hair lol.