New Video! Update - Relaxer, Wig, and Hair Book

Relaxer Prep - The Night Before

If you follow me on Twitter (@kibibihair) then you already know that I am in DC to get my relaxer done.
To prep for my relaxer, I used the following products and techniques.

Relaxer Results (Video)

Relaxer Results Preview

After 1" cut, ends "bumped" under

Relaxer day went great. I did cut 1" because my ends looked thinner that I liked. This probably means that I won't make waist length by the end of the year, but we will see. 

Countdown to My Relaxer: 16 Weeks Post

This has been my longest stretch and things went surprisingly well.  I'm super excited to see how much length I've retained, and I hope that my ends don't need anything more than a light dusting. For my new readers, here's a recap of what I do the week leading up to my relaxer.

Relaxer Results (Video)

Waist Length! (And a Hair Cut)

Blow dried, before hair cut

If you follow me on Facebook, then you may already know that I reached waist length after my relaxer yesterday. But I was waist length for less than 5 minutes because I promptly got a 3" haircut.

Relaxer Results

My relaxer day went very well yesterday.  If you follow me on Facebook, then you know that Reniece had to talk me out of cutting 3"(LOL) so I got a light trim. In my January Hair Update, I shared how my ends were being damaged by the clear bands and I still have the thinner ends from that setback. The ends bug me, but I can mask them from myself by wearing wavy and curly styles.  

Relaxer Day is Tomorrow!

New-growth in back

I always get very excited the night before my relaxer. I compare the excitement to unwrapping a present, you don't know what you will get but you hope it will be good. Since I haven't straightened my hair in almost 10 weeks, this will be the first time since my last relaxer that I will get to see my true length.

I just sprayed my roots with Sta-Sof-Fro and will do a light detangle after the shower (without the shower cap). The shower's steam will help to soften my new-growth.

[More pictures below]

New-Growth Picture

Here's a picture of my new-growth at 8 weeks post relaxer.  I washed and let my hair air-dry in 4 twists.  My hair came out very fluffy and soft. I didn't have time to cornrow it, so I'm wearing my hair out again this week. The temperature isn't too cold outside, today was 60 degrees and the rest of the week will be in the high 50s.  Last week was actually warm. So I don't feel too guilty about going 2 weeks without my wig.

Everything is okay in moderation.

Countdown to My Relaxer

My hair is currently 8 weeks post and I will relax at 10 week. My appointment is in two weeks and I'm so excited about wearing my hair down.  I will wash and deep condition my hair today, then next weekend I will start implementing a slightly modified version of my usual Relaxer Prep Routine. Since I'll be wearing the wig, the difference is that I will remove the cornrows on Thursday before I spray the roots.  But everything else will be the same.

I have a good amount of new-growth right now. I'll post a picture after I wash my hair tonight. My ends look like they need a trim but I'm fighting the urge to trim.  I will at least wait until my next relaxer in May before I trim.  Maybe I'll do a birthday trim (big smile).  At the rate that I keep *wanting* to trim, I'm not sure if I'll make waist-length by the ends of the year.  But personally, I'd rather have full mid-back length than have a "V" waist length.

I usually relax at 12 weeks, but I will be going to Jamaica this month so I decided to relax at 10 weeks. How many week post are you now?

Relaxer and Hair Cut Pictures

If you follow me on my Facebook Page, then you already know that I cut another 2" when I did my relaxer yesterday.  I'm very excited about getting my blunt ends back, and don't plan to trim at all next year.  That's the only way I will make my goal of waist length hair by December, 2011.  Here are some  before and after pictures.  My ends were not "terrible" by any means but I wanted to finish the year with blunt ends. 

Blow dried hair - BEFORE cut

Blow dried hair - AFTER cut

Flat ironed hair

Relaxer Prepping - Two days before

My relaxer is in two days and this is what I did tonight to help prepare: I lightly detangled my hair, sprayed Sta-Sof-Fro to my roots/newgrowth, and heavily moisturize/seal. 

Sta-Sof-Fro is an old school product that I remember seeing under the bathroom sink as a little girl.  It is very moisturizing, but too much can cause mushy hair (like the time I used it as a leave-in conditioner).  It does a great job of softening my newgrowth, so it will be more manageable on relaxer day.  I spray my roots two days before to ensure that my roots and scalp have enough time to dry completely before the relaxer application.  I buy Sta-Sof-Fro from Walmart. 

Relaxer Prepping

My relaxer is scheduled for next Saturday and I'm so excited (and a little anxious to see how much I will need to cut).  Relaxer day is always so...relaxing LOL (pun intended).  Since I only go to a stylist for my relaxer, it is a welcomed break from doing my hair myself.  I get to sit back and let someone else have all the fun of doing my hair. 

There are some things you can do before your relaxer to help you have a successful relaxer application.  Here is my plan for the next week:

• Sunday: Chelate/clarify, reconstruct, deep condition, and air dry
• Monday - Wednesday: Moisturize as usual but avoid scalp
• Thursday: Gently finger part and spray StaSoFro on roots
• Friday:  Coat length of hair with Chi Silk Infusion
• Saturday: RELAXER and cut!!!

I'll post details on Thursday and Friday for what I do that day and the rationale behind it.

Who else is getting a relaxer next Saturday?  

Cut 7" in one year?

Yep, I'm going to go ahead and get another hair cut.

I think I need to cut another 2" to regain my thickness.  I have an appointment to see Reniece in October for my next relaxer and haircut.  This will make a total of 7" that I've cut this year.  I go through different phases with my hair - length obsession, shape obsession (ex. V shape vs. U shape) and now I'm in the blunt ends obsession phase.   

After my last relaxer, I went back and reviewed all my progress pictures.  There is a stark difference between when my stylist, Reniece, relaxed my hair and when I self-relaxed.  I take great care of my hair between relaxers, so when its time to relax, I've always been able to retain all my length and thickness. 

 January 2007 (Relaxer and cut); finger at top of bra strap

May 2007 (Relaxer)

Reniece did my relaxers in the pictures above and I retained about 2".  Please note that I didn't stretch for 4 months, she also did my relaxer in March 2007.  When I look at these pictures and then compare them to my self relaxer results here, its clear that self relaxing caused me to lose thickness.

Relaxer day is critical to your regimen and even stylists can cause damage (see below).  My last setback was the main reason I decided to try self relaxing.  Why pay someone $130 to leave me with thin ends when I can do that myself for free? (LOL). 

     December 2008 (Relaxer hair loss caused by a new stylist) 

I still believe that self relaxing can be done successfully without adverse effects.  Although I can probably change my technique to avoid breakage, I decided that it isn't worth the risk of losing progress.  Not to mention that it takes me 8-10 hours to self relax, blow dry, and flat iron (that includes taking breaks to eat and watch my shows lol).  So after doing the cost-benefit analysis, I decided to stop self relaxing for now (I may try again in the future).

Relaxer Day Pictures

Hi friends!

Sorry for the delay.  My internet has been malfunctioning all week; it is reminiscent of dial-up service circa 1998.  Anyway, without further adieu...

Here are the pictures of my blow dried and flat ironed hair. 

                                      July 2010                                      

 May 2010

I'm inclined to say that in the July picture, my hair was more spread across my back, thus making my ends appear thinner.  But I'm not sure if that is me trying to rationalize in order to feel better (lol). What do you think?  

On a positive note, I'm excited that my July flat ironed hair, has the same sheen as the May flat ironed hair, when my stylist did it.  I'm getting better at flat ironing my own hair.   

I already told my stylist that if my next relaxer causes thinning, then I'll be making the trip to DC every 3 months so she can do it.  She agreed that if I'm losing progress, then I should go back to her.  Isn't she awesome? Few people comprehend my hair journey.  But, I've been going to her since 2004, so she has witnessed my progress and setbacks.

Q&A: Why the shedding on relaxer day?

Reader S.B. asked a great question on my Facebook Page that I thought would be helpful to everyone.

Q: Why do you think your hair sheds so much more when you do your relaxers?

A: It wasn't shedding. It was breakage from the manipulation of making small horizontal parts to apply the relaxer. The relaxer sort of makes the strands stick together, so when I go through and make diagonal parts, it caused breakage.

~

I hope this clarifies what I meant in my last post about losing hair while relaxing. The relaxer itself didn't cause me to shed. I suspect that's what happened the last time I relaxed also. Lesson learned.

Relaxer Day!!!

Hi friends,

I did my relaxer today, and I blow dried and flat ironed to check my length and thickness. I'm not very pleased with the outcome :( I do notice length increase but I lost some thickness. On a positive note, the relaxer application was successful - no over processing and no scalp burns.

I learned a new relaxer technique: By making bigger parts and apply more relaxer to each section, I drastically reduced tangling (and thus broken hairs) and saved 6 minutes during application. Fortunately, I figured this out in time to apply this new technique to the front of my hair. Unfortunately for the back of my hair, I didn't make the realization until after I relaxed the back. Here's a picture of the amount of hair lost from the back vs the front. So I lost some thickness in the back and on my "weight/hem" line.

Hair lost from the back (left) vs front (right)

I wouldn't call this a setback per se. But if I have the same problem the next time I self relax, then I will go back to my stylist in DC to do my relaxers.  I might need to hide the scissors for a while too, I'm very tempted to cut another 2".  I will probably wear curly styles until my next relaxer.  Curls give the illusion of thickness, so I'll be less tempted to cut.

It's after midnight and I'm beyond exhausted. I will post pictures of my hair tomorrow.

10 Weeks Post Relaxer Update

I'm currently 10 weeks post and my newgrowth is actually manageable right now.  I planned to do my relaxer this weekend but my scalp started itching, and I'm sure I scratched it while I was asleep.  So in the interest of not having scalp burns, I'm going to wash my hair today and then apply my relaxer next weekend.  That will put me at 11 weeks post, which is well within my goal range of relaxing every 10-12 weeks.

I also bought a new length check t-shirt, so I can better track my growth progress.  I'll take lots of pictures and will try to record some video as well.

Hair S.O.S. - "I did my relaxer and now my hair is breaking!"

I got a call from my best friend this morning about her hair and thought it would be helpful to share her experience and my advice to her (with her permission).  Here's a brief recap of our conversation:

T.J.: "My hair is falling out!"
Me: "What happened?"
T.J.: "I did my relaxer on Sunday with my usual relaxer, and now whenever I touch my hair it is breaking and falling out."
Me: "How many times did you neutralize and how long did you let the neutralizer sit on your hair?"
T.J.: "What's that?"
Me: "Uh oh"

The shampoo that comes with your relaxer is not a regular shampoo.  It is a low ph shampoo that stops the chemical process and restores your hair to its proper ph level.  A regular shampoo may not have a low enough ph to stop the chemical process.  Without neutralizing the relaxer, the chemical process continues until your hair reaches its breaking point and thus starts to break.

My suggestion to her was as follows:

• Buy a neutralizing shampoo, a light reconstructor, and a moisturizing deep conditioner,
• Wet the hair and apply the reconstructor for 5-10 minutes; rinse,
• Apply the neutralizing shampoo and shampoo 2-3 times, making sure the shampoo is on the hair for atleast 5 minutes,
• Deep condition with heat for 30 minutes,
• Air dry and do low manipulation styles for the rest of the week.

I suggested applying the reconstructor before the neutralizer because until it is neutralized, the hair follicles are still open.  With the hair follicles open, the reconstructor is better able to penetrate the hair and deliver its strengthening benefits.  When I relax my hair, I apply the reconstructor and then neutralize.

If you realize that you do not have neutralizing shampoo or you run out before you can properly neutralize your hair, then vinegar can be used to neutralize.  However, I strongly suggest that you get neutralizing shampoo immediately, and thoroughly neutralize your hair.

It has been two days since she relaxed her hair without neutralizing it.  Hopefully, she does not suffer a major setback.  I will keep you posted on the progress of her hair.  I hope this is helpful.