Hair & lifestyle blogger, influencer, & professional hairstylist teaching healthy hair through great products, lifestyle, and healthy living.
Wednesday, January 8, 2020
The Only Way To Have Healthy Relaxed Hair Is To Do This!
The only way to have healthy relaxed hair
In a world full of women who have ditched their relaxer and decided to embrace their natural hair, I am one of those women who chooses to keep my relaxer. If you ask any natural woman, they will tell you that their hair is much healthier without a relaxer. I'm here to tell you that relaxed hair does not equal unhealthy hair. While it definitely is possible to damage your relaxed hair, it is also very much possible to damage your natural hair as well. One way to ensure that your relaxed hair becomes and/or remains healthy is to stretch your relaxer.
Relaxed hair should be thick from the root to the ends
Typically, it was customary and acceptable for women to get a relaxer touch every six to eight weeks. Relaxer stretching means going longer than six to eight weeks for your touch up. I personally recommend that my clients go sixteen weeks in between relaxers, or, whenever they get two inches of new growth, whichever comes first.
5 months (20 weeks) of relaxer stretching!
Why relaxer stretch? Having a relaxer means that your hair has been permanently, chemically straightened. Since this is a permanent process, it does not have to be repeated on the same hair. Only the new growth is supposed to be touched up. When receiving a touch up service, hair that has been previously relaxed should not be relaxed again. Doing so would cause overlapping, which leads to over processing. Over processed hair becomes damaged, gets very thin and brittle, and eventually breaks off. This is why it is crucial that overlapping does not occur.
I go a minimum of 6 MONTHS (not weeks) in between relaxers
Hair typically grows at half an inch per month. A month is typically four weeks. At six weeks the hair has not grown a full inch. In my professional career, I have noticed that when a relaxer touch up is being given, typically about two inches of hair gets processed. It is my theory that if two inches of hair gets processed at a touch up service, then you should have two inches of new growth before getting a touch up. It takes sixteen weeks (four months) for the hair to grow two inches. If you get touch ups every six weeks and get two inches of hair processed each time while only growing half an inch of hair, that means one and a half inches of your hair is being over processed EVERY TIME YOU GET A TOUCH UP!
Relaxed hair that is stretched is the healthiest
Over time, continuing to get a relaxer every six weeks, even every eight weeks will cause damage to your hair. You'll start feeling like your hair is not growing and is either stuck at one length or keeps getting shorter. In actuality, your hair is growing but the hair on the ends is the oldest hair and often the most damaged. If your hair is over processed, you'll always have split ends that need to be cut and you may notice that your ends are extremely thin and/or see through. Since your hair is always having to be cut due to damage, you are cutting off all of the hair that you grew. So, the issue is not that your hair isn't growing, instead the issue is that you are unable to retain length.
Want healthy relaxed hair? You HAVE to stretch it!
Stretching your relaxer will allow you to have healthy hair from the root to the tip. Once you begin stretching, you'll notice your hair becomes thicker and stronger. You'll also notice that you are able to retain length so your hair will become longer and longer. Now that you know why you should stretch your relaxer, make it a goal to go at least sixteen weeks (or get two inches of new growth), before your next relaxer. Trust me (the professional), your hair will thank you!
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