This poor neglected blog....

Man! I haven't did a hair update in like forever! I a relaxed on June 15 and I'm 6 weeks away from the next one.

My hair is a little fragile right now for some reason, but I'm enjoying the growth. I wore it down for 2 weeks but up it goes into my protective ponytail tomorrow. lol

I'm doing a protein treatment and a moisture conditioner. I'm actually looking forward to the break. I can just get up and go.

I think my hair vitamins and JBC are working. I'm still on track for mid back by December.

Relaxer Day! 11-6-11

This post has been in the queue forever oops!

I relaxed today at 9.5 weeks! I used my usual Soft and Beautiful  relaxer (regular strength) I used creamy Vaseline around my hairline for protection and it helped a lot! I tend to get relaxer all over my neck and ears.

I used the Motions conditioner to cover my previous relaxed hair to prevent over processing. That conditioner is super thick!

I started the relaxer and applied it to my new growth and smoothed it in the allotted 20 minute time frame using the stop watch timer on my phone.

It took me 5 neutralizer washes to rinse out all the relaxer. The shampoo kept being pink. It was weird. After my final rinse I applied my VO5 moisturizing for about 5 minutes because my poor hair felt stripped.

I then used semi permanent color Beautiful Browns in midnight black under the dryer for 45min. It seemed as if the formula for this has changed too. It was really inky black. Me no likey. I think I'll use dark brown next time.

After the color, I conditioned with my Silk Elements Mega Moisture conditioner under the dryer for 30 min. rinsed and t-towel dried and applied my Infusium leave in. I air dried, detangled and protective styled with twists.

So that's it 3 weeks late. 5 weeks until touch-up time.

If at first you dont succeed...

Keep trying!

I started using the Infusium and Queen Helene cholesterol conditioner in August and saw immediate results. Both products combined did great things for my hair.  I washed my hair, and deep conditioned with the QH for about 30 minutes under a hood dryer.  After that I moisturized with Silk Elements MM for an additional 30 minutes.  After my conditioning treatments I then used the Infusium as a leave in and styled. I highly recommend these products!! Get you some son!

My hair was softer, more manageable and easy to detangle and grew so much from August to September. It was thick, healthy and felt so strong I was VERY pleased with the results.

You would think with all this progress I would continue my weekly regime to continue to reap the benefits of the products but I did not. Sadly I slacked off after my relaxer September 4^th and my hair immediately showed the difference! My hair tangles easily when I don’t constantly care for it. With a relaxer one of the key components is maintaining moisture in the hair. Without moisture the hair gets dry, brittle, sheds more and will break off.  Because of my laziness I did seemingly shed more than usual resulting in thinner hair.

I keep learning the same lesson which is achieving long healthy hair is truly a journey. There are no shorts cut. It is a maintenance system that must be sustained if you want to see results. Any deviation from your plans can result in hair loss.

 I am currently on a castor oil challenge to thicken my hair and try to recover the thickness that my hair was finally starting to show.

Relaxer Day!

Okay so I decided to just go ahead and relax today at 5.5 weeks! My hair was having a hard time with the two textures. Lots of ridiculous shedding and it was soo course.

I used my usual Soft and Beautiful (regular strength) I based my scalp the night before with creamy Vaseline and it helped so much! I only felt irritation in the spots where I couldn't resist scratching. LOL!

I used a cheapie conditioner to cover my previous relaxed hair to prevent over processing.

I started at 6:59 pm and I tried to apply the relaxer and smooth it in the allotted 20 minute time frame. I usually only like to leave the relaxer on 15 minutes but this time I went the full time.

I parted my hair in four sections (thanks Bajan for the reminder) and started by applying the relaxer in the back first. I covered all  4 sections in about 7 minutes. I went back over my whole head with relaxer in the spots I missed which took 5 minutes. At 7:12 pm I started the smoothing process. My hair seemed pretty straight already. It is here that I think I am over processing and rinse too early. I held on for the last 8 minutes and started with rinsing the front hairline. I have a fear of losing my hairline as well...but once I started rinsing it all looked smooth and straight. Yaaay!!

This recap was just as much for me as my readers...because I swear I forget how to relax my hair every time I do it. I am still kinda missing the shop for this step in my journey. This is my 4th time giving myself a relaxer with only 2 successes including this one LOL!

It grew but I don't know how thick it is with all this shedding. It looked right at or right above bra strap length BSL. I was like... really hair Really?  WOW! LOL! I don't know what happened but I got about 2 good inches of growth. I currently have about 16 inches of length. I need about 2.5- 3 inches to be at full (BSL). My sides don't grow as fast as the back of my hair, but am pleased with the overall turnout/progress of this relaxer. I can finally tell it has grown.

I am hoping to reach full BSL by July 4th including my 1 inch trim... I plan to wear my hair out for our family picnic. My family has not seen my hair not in a protective style since Feb of last year after my big chop.
CORRECTION: I wore my hair down for my birthday in March. Its been up ever since.

I must be INSANE!!!!!!!! and UPDATE

Why do I keep going back and forth on relaxing my hair?? Why can't I accept that I can't stretch my relaxer like people with thicker hair?? I must relax at 10 weeks period! I feel like I lost a lot of hair unnecessarily because I'm trying to stretch until the Saturday  the 12th. I should have started preparing to relax on the 26th and relaxed this week  on March 5th. I washed today so now I have to wait. My hair was a tangled mess.

I co-washed with V05 conditioner, I did a 10 min ORS Hair Mayo conditioner for strength then I DC over night with Hello Hydration and Silk Elements Mega Moisture. I had to scraped the jar hence the mix. I also added a bit of coconut oil. So far my hair is LOVING the coconut oil. My hair was really moisturized. It felt strong, soft and smelled great! But tangled. I air dried and did the long tedious detangle process.

I'm all out of my products.

I need to buy more Silk Elements MMC, Hello Hydration conditioner, Shi kai full size tea tree conditioner, the largest rollers I can find for my roller set, and my semi permanent black haircolor in blackest black.

I'll be back next week with my relaxer update! Take care!

Update week 9

I'm in week 9 of my stretch. My new growth is visible and my hair is officially tangley. I watched a few youtube reviews for the Tangle Teezer after a suggestion from P.S. I Love this and I think this is something I really should get. Especially now when my hair get's a tangled mess! Anything that can prevent hair loss while detangling I'm all for!

This week I prepoo'd with grape seed oil and another tea tree conditioner I picked up at Wh.ole F.oods called Shi kai.  It's really a good conditioner and stopped my itching scalp. Shut it down! LOL!

I co washed with the Giovanni Tea Tree conditioner I reviewed last week. Further cooling comfort for my scalp.  But it didn't get my scalp as clean as I wanted so I washed just my scalp with the Giovanni Tea Tree shampoo. I really like this shampoo! I think I'll just re-purchase that. I like the Shi kai tea tree con better!
I am being extra cautious with my scalp because my relaxer is coming up in 2 1/2 weeks and my last relaxer I really burned because my scalp was in such an irritated itchy state.

After I rinsed the shampoo my hair was stripped so I conditioned with ORS con for 10 minutes then I deep conditioned with SE Mega Moisturizing Con my favorite staple. I didn't sit under the dryer this time. I walked my treadmill for an hour and let it condition an additional hour. I rinsed and did my leave-in with a mix of aloe vera juice and S-curl no drip and air dried. Once dry, I detangled. Then I moisturized and sealed with 6 and 1 Leave In moisturizer and coconut oil.

This week I'm protective styling. I'm bunning until my relaxer March 12, 2011.

Best bun I've ever done!

UPDATE WEEK 6

I am in my 6th week of this relaxer. I plan to relax at 10 weeks but if my hair is doing well I may stretch to 12 weeks. I know I keep switching up but I really want to stretch to 12 weeks each relaxer. I always get tangly around 9 weeks so that will deterimine if week 10 will be my relaxer week.

Last night I pre-pooed my hair with olive oil and EQP Intense. Today I washed with Hair One for dry hair. I like the tingle of this product and my scalp is really clean.  I DC with ORS Hair Mayo for 30 min. It is a light/ med protein. I felt like my hair needed some strength. I hope I did not protein overload my hair. I then moisturized with  Aphogee Balancer Moisturizer for 10 min  and Silk Elements MM for 5 min.

My hair felt so soft and strong after I air dried. I wanted to know what my hair would feel like without a leave in and it feels GREAT!!!

So  I will be washing with Hair One weeks 1-6 and I have to find a really good detangling shampoo or conditioner to wash with weeks 7-10 or 12. Any suggetions??? I miss the original version of CON!

My next step is to begin a vitamin regime for strength, health and growth. My blog friend at P.S. I love this... told me about the use of  B vitamins and how they help your hair. So I plan to follow Traycee from K.I.S.S. vitamin plan she used to go from APL to WL with relaxed hair.

This came straight from K.I.S.S.

GNC Women's Ultra Mega Vitamin

Super B-Complex with vitamin C & Folic Acid -
Helps Convert Food Into Energy Supports energy production
Helps offset the wear and tear of stress
Assist homcysteine metabolism

Specifically the B's are responsible for the health and maintenance of nerves, eyes, digestion and skin, as well as the processing of carbohydrates, fat and protein, growth, the production of hormones and digestive enzymes, prevention of anemia, maintenance of the sex glands, sebaceous glands and bone marrow.


MSM
provides Sulfur that is a building block for joints, cartilage, skin, hair, and nails, and methyl groups,
that support many biochemical processes in the body and energy production


Biotin is also known as Vitamin H or B7...It helps skin , and hair health..It is important for metabolism of carbohydrates,, proteins and fats

Fish Oil Omega-3....Great source of protein
Doesn't have high saturated fat that fatty meat products have
Omega-3 fatty acids benefit the heart of healthy people and those that are high risk of cardiovascular disease

UPDATE week 2

First and second wash and length check

Hello All!!

I did my first wash with Creme of Nature shampoo for fine hair. My scalp was jacked up from my relaxer. I had no idea I burned that much! I'm glad there wasn't any hair loss. I conditioned with Intense by EQP. I know I said I don't like it but I didn't have any other conditioner *shrugs* My scalp was still healing and shedding so it didn't matter. I put it in a ponytail and left it alone so it could do what it needed to do.

I did my 2nd wash today Yay!

I used VO5 moisturizing conditioner and really scrubbed the rest of the dead burned scalp flakes out of my hair. My scalp is clean and healed. I deeped conditioned with Silk Elements Moisture intense conditioner. I LOVE this stuff it leaves my hair really soft and silky with minimal detangling needed.

I shedded a lot to me this wash I'm not sure if  it was due to the burning from the relaxer. I plan to do a Aphogee 2 step Protein treatment next wash.

I made my own length check T shirt so that I can measure my hair length. According to the shirt I am 4 inches from BSL(bra strap length) I am super excited about this. I may not reach this goal by my next relaxer and birthday month in March, but surely by my relaxer in May I should be fully BSL barring any set backs. I can't wait. I plan to be slightly bangin by summer. Whipping my hair back and forth!! And by the Fall shoo you better watch out!! LOL!

Geez!!

Oh neglected hair blog so sorry.

I stretched to 17 weeks NEVER again too tangled. I got a relaxer I had a major hair set back because it was to tangled. I should have relaxed at 15 weeks because my hair was not as tangled and I had washed and combed it out.

I will stretch 10-12 weeks here on out I will need to relax on Dec 23. Since it's Fall I'm protective styling until Dec.

I will do protein treatments by Aphogee. I will continue to co wash and I'm re upping on my hair vitamins.
I was full (arm pit length) APL but I trimmed off about 1-2 inches because of the breakage. See a major set back. So my hair is an in between length of  SL and APL

I will be (bra strap length) BSL in 4.5 inches. I'm trying to grow that this stretch. I'm babying my hair and keeping it moisturized.

I measured. It will take about 10 inches to get to waist length. Only 6 inches once I reach BSL.

Update week 10

 I'm currently in my 10th week. I 'm still wearing my protective style. I've kept my hair moisturized with S curl No Drip Moisturizer! I read about this on a few hair blogs and Wow! It really is a good product. Normally my scalp gets really dry but it's been really moist. I love this product and it will be added as a regular to my product list.