Should I continue going natural?

I have Afro-Ameriacn hair and I'm in transition of going natural. I haven't had a perm for 8 months, and I have about 1-2 inches of natural hair and the rest is permed. I just took my braids out, and it was extremely tangled and hard to manage. It took days to comb out, wash and straighten, not to mention how painful it was. Will it be this hard to maintain when I cut my permed ends off? Did the braids cause or contribute to the tangles? Or should I just give up and relax it?