When you're on your relaxer stretch, I think there's this sweet spot where you are so content with the way that your previously relaxed hair and your new growth are working together. The sun is shinning, the breeze is blowing and your wash days go by with out a hitch and you begin to think,
"Wow, this relax stretch is a breeze. I think I might wait until [insert some absurd date far in the future that results in a relaxer stretch longer than you've ever contemplated] to relax my hair." For me, I was thinking waiting to Thanksgiving or Christmas, which would have put me at like 5 or 6 months post relaxer.
I think, the exact timing of the sweet spot differs for everyone, but about two weeks ago this was me. I was just over 13 weeks post relaxer and was honestly considering going another 2 to 3 months before relaxing my hair again. Well, let me tell you last week's wash day brought me back to reality.
Before I shampooed, I was detangling with my wide tooth comb and it took a lot longer than normal. Then when I was finally ready to start shampooing, I could feel these large clumps of hairs knotted at the back of my head. I immediately started working on getting those knots out with my fingers -- GENTLY of course. After I got the knotted clumps taken care of I grabbed my Roux Porosity Control Corrector and Conditioner, which I thought would help to smooth my strands and ensure that I'd be able to detangle my hair easily. But nope, that did not happen. I started to notice even more tangles and knots in my hair. I hopped out the shower and got to work detangling again in quadrants and then applying my moisturizing conditioner which helped. It was after all of that I decided that I was done with this relaxer stretch. But first I was going to blow dry and flat iron my hair. While I was deep conditioning, I grabbed my camera and started recording from that point forward. Below you will see the video of what I did, how I straighten my hair, my hair update and my length check:
But for those of you who can't (or don't want to) watch the video...
I'll tell you this. The good news is that I think I'm back at Mid Back Length. Whoo-hoo! The bad news is that my ends are thin again AND as I was watching the video footage of my flat ironing I could really see the unevenness was evident all throughout my hair (not just at the ends close to the longer lengths).
Of course, my immediate thought was to
trim my ends, but that doesn't really do anything to address the issue I am having with these thin ends coming back. When I did
my major cut back in March, I promised myself that I would moisturize/seal daily and
avoid heat tools, which I did. So why am I back in this predicament? I don't know, but I will say that my ends are not as bad as they were in March. Even though they are not in good shape (see comparison below):
March 2013
October 2013
Especially since my ends looked quite respectable after I trimmed them for that March relaxer. See...
After relaxer and trim
Well, now you know my predicament and
if you have any advice for me I would love to hear about it. I will say that I have to give a really big shout out to
Dessy GT for sharing these two blog posts from
Relaxed Hair Health that address some methods for combating thin ends:
- Sealing Your Ends for Ultimate Length Retention and
- More Protein For Your Ends.
She sent them to me after seeing my initial complaints on Instagram (@fancyflairlady). And I plan on implementing both of those techniques into my regimen. I really hope that this helps because I've been fighting to get to waist hip length for a long time. And while mid back length is amazing, I just want MORE! lol.
Labels: Length Check, My Relaxed Hair, Thinning Ends, Videos
