The Healthy Hair Diary: 9 Weeks Post Relaxer

Wash Day Diary – 9 Weeks Post Relaxer

Sunday, February 21, 2016

Wash Day Diary - 9 Weeks Post Relaxer

Tuesday, December 08, 2015

Saturday 5th December

There was no plan for this weekend's wash day. I knew I had to wash my hair and had nothing special planned for Saturday evening, yet I waited until the last minute to start my hair.

At about 7.30-8pm I applied my extra virgin olive oil and extra virgin coconut oil mix to the length of my hair and scalp, covered with a plastic cap and beanie hat and let steam whilst I popped out with my son for snacks and Christmas decorations. When we got back home I removed my beanie hat and sat under the hood dryer for 30 minutes, then once cool, I rinsed my hair and then shampooed using Crème of Nature Moisture & Shine shampoo

After towel drying for 5 minutes, I deep conditioned with Shea Moisture 10-in-1 Superfruits Complex Masque mixed with my castor oil mix, covered with a plastic cap and sat under hood dryer for 30 minutes rinsing once cool.

T-shirt dried for 40 minutes then applied my leave-ins; Crème of Nature Straight from Eden Detangling leave-in, Elasta QP Olive Oil & Mango Butter leave-in, Grapeseed oil and a few drops of Fantasia IC Olive Oil Moisturizing Serum, detangled my hair in sections and then air-dried using my satin scarf to lay my edges.

Once 90% dry I spritzed my hair with a bit of water and spritzed my new growth with Root2Tip Honey Rain Juice, then moisturised and sealed with Root2Tip Triple M Moisture Milk and my avocado oil and lavender JBCO. I put my hair in a loose bun and covered with a satin scarf for bed.

When I woke up on Sunday morning and removed my satin scarf, my hair looked and felt so dry so I spritzed my hair with water and then moisturised and sealed again with Root2Tip Triple M Moisture Milk and my avocado oil and JBCO mix and then covered with a satin scarf again until I was ready to go out later in the day.

Sunday's Hairstyle

Monday's Hairstyle

On Monday, my hair still looked and felt dry so when I got home from work, I spritzed my hair with water and covered my hair with a plastic cap for an hour before going on to moisturise and seal my hair.

Tuesday's Hairstyle

My hair still feels dry and I am at a loss as to why so tonight I will be co-washing my hair to give it a moisture boost.

My new growth is getting out of control and I am only 9 weeks post relaxer. I want to stretch to 11 weeks so think I may need to bring the hair dryer out to help keep my new growth under control. I also think I need to go back to using my Joico Moisture Recovery Treatment Balm to deep condition as it gives my hair so much slip which I need when detangling with all of this new growth.

How was your washday?

9 Weeks Post Relaxer

Hair Update - September 2015

Wednesday, September 23, 2015

It has been over 4 weeks since my last hair update and yet again I am annoyed with myself for letting so much time pass without an update…

So what’s going on with my hair….

I am currently 9 weeks post relaxer and I am surprised at the amount of new growth I have and it's been alive and kicking since I was 6 weeks post. I texlax my hair every 11-12 weeks which is usually my cut off point before I start to experience breakage, I plan to texlax in 3 weeks’ time when I am 12 weeks post.

Wash days have been pretty simple and co-washing has really helped with my stretch so far as it keeps my hair including my new growth so manageable and moist. I have noticed an increase in shedding over the last few weeks and so have stocked up on green tea for tea rinsing over the autumn/winter.

These are the products I have used over the last 4-5 weeks:

I have been a good girl and have not bought any new products over the last month except for the essentials such as coconut oil, Jamaican Black Castor Oil, Elasta QP Olive Oil & Mango Butter Moisturizer and shower caps.

I am currently trying to use up my existing conditioners before buying anything else as my stash is ridiculous and I am running out of space in the bathroom, however, I have just purchased the Joico Moisture Recovery Treatment Balm as I have heard good things about this conditioner and as it is officially Autumn now, I need something with a bit more of a moisture punch for the colder months than the conditioners I currently use.

My ends will continue to be hidden away in protective styles for the next 6-7 months whilst the weather is cold and wet. In this time, I hope to recover from my setback of breakage to the front and nape of my hair which I intend on keeping very moist and babied to help it grow back. The front and nape of my hair suffered the most when I accidently under-processed my hair to the point where some sections were completely natural and no matter how moist I kept my hair, slowly but surely I started to notice the breakage and found this so upsetting.

My hairstyles over the last 4-5 weeks

Being on the castor oil challenge will hopefully help me to thicken my edges and nape area and I have decided to start taking both fish oil capsules and hair skin and nails tablets each day. I am not a fan of taking any form of tablets but healthy living starts from within and it will be worth it. I was in two minds about taking these tablets at work as I have my breakfast each morning when I get to work but then weekends arrive and I will end up skipping two days so I need to get into the mind-set of taking tablets each evening with my dinner, in fact I will set a daily reminder in my phone to keep me on my toes.

Lastly let’s talk about my ends of my hair… My ends are regularly dusted and trimmed but of late I have noticed just how straight and thin the last 2-3 inches of my ends look compared to my texlaxed hair and it’s killing me to the point where I randomly decided to trim off an inch on Monday evening and I am glad I did as it has made quite a difference already. For this reason I am glad that autumn/winter is here as my ends will be tucked away every day in a protective style. I will trim an inch or two of my ends with my relaxer touch-up next month and then from there see what straight ends are left and decide if I want to get rid of these all in one go or in stages.

What is going on with your hair? Have you suffered a hair setback recently?