Before my relaxer
I finally got my relaxer! After a 17 week stretch :) my longest stretch so far. It was tough, my hair was tangling sooooo much towards the end of my stretch, I couldn't wait for it be relaxed lol. During my stretch I didn't notice much breakage, it was very minimal.
After relaxer :)
I decided to bring my own relaxer to my hair appointment: Olive Oil Relaxer, and my own neutralizing shampoo. The only bad thing I have to say about the relaxer and stylist was that he relaxed my hair bone straight. I never liked bone straight hair, mostly because my hair is already thin, but this could be a good thing. Bone straight hair could allow me to stretch about 12 - 16 weeks without experiencing the issues I had during my last stretch (i.e. massive tangling & frustration caused by the tangling). Currently my stretch goal is 12 weeks, right now I'm almost at 4 weeks with no sign of new growth. I also received a minor trim, about 1/4 inch all the way around.
Since my relaxer I've used heat twice, once at the hair appointment and once about 2 weeks later. I have to say lol the stylists freaked me out when they started flat ironing my hair, they were making soooo many passes with the flat iron. All I could think was 'I've come so far with my hair, made so much progress only to get heat damage' lol. But in the stylists defense, they used ample heat protectant and I was on watching for even the faintest smell of my hair lol. And I prepped my hair thoroughly for the appointment, giving myself a light protein treatment a week prior and following up with a good DC. I was so nervous after the appointment that I immediately DC'd my hair the following week. I also noticed that my hair is shedding, not much really but it's noticeable. I think we shed about 50 - 100 hairs per day and I'm definitely NOT seeing that, it's far from that but my hair is not thick so I don't wanna even lose that much lol. So I'm hitting my hair with regular garlic treatments in either my shampoo or DC to try and prevent this. Also I noticed that my hair doesn't lather at the scalp as well as it did before I got my relaxer, I find that this makes it a lot harder to shampoo my scalp and co-wash my hair.
I'm wearing my hair in very loose ponytails for work (not wrapping holder no more than 2 times). It's working, no snapping & no breakage :). I'm working out about 5 - 6 days per week so I'm co-washing a lot more than usual and I'm considering clarifying my hair either once or twice a week. Also, I stopped using castor oil on my scalp and replaced it with coconut oil, I think I'm going to go back though lol, trying to get my thickness.
So this is my updated routine:
Saturday:
- Wash
- Light protein treatment
- DC (either overnight or with steam or heat)
- Apply leave-in
- M&S
- Air dry
Sunday:
- M&S
Monday - Friday:
- Co-wash
- Apply leave-in
- M&S
- Air dry
