Wash Day -1 week post

Initial texture after co-wash

After a week of silky straight hair I was ready for a wash day last weekend. I was happy to retain a lot of length from my last stretch, but I am always paranoid that my stylist did not leave me enough texture. I was pleased to find out that I was left with a nice amount a texture, which was very consistent with my last relaxer in December. This week was my 2nd and last heat pass for this stretch, so I can enjoy my hair for 2 weeks before I return to the wigging challenge.

After doing hot yoga on Saturday I did a quick co wash with Hello Hydration by Herbal Essences, after doing a quick coconut oil pre poo. I let my hair air dry and kept goddess braids in my hair until my wash day a few days later.

WASH DAY

• I started my wash day with a 1 hour pre-poo using Coconut Oil. After abandoning EVCO for so long, I'm glad I came back to it this last stretch. It is really great with detangling and controlling tangles during shampooing.
• Washed with Organix Awapuhi Ginger Shampoo and lathered twice. This has pretty much been a staple, it does a great job of cleaning my hair with stripping and tangling. 
• Once I got out of the shower, I t-shirt dried for about 10 minutes. Then when I applied my deep conditioner (Silk Dreams Vanilla Silk Cream Moisture Dream), I separated my hair into 3 parts and focused the conditioner on the ends. Sadly, that was probably my last application since I still have not ordered more Silk Dream products :/. I left the conditioner on overnight because it was late and I needed to be up early the next day.
• The next morning, I rinsed the conditoner out of my hair. I followed the rinse with my smoothing conditioner, Paul Mitchell's Super Skinny Daily Conditioner and left it on for 3-5 minutes. 
• After rinsing, I t-shirt dried for about 15 minutes and followed with my leave-ins. My leave-ins this week were Aphogee Keratin & Green Tea Restructorizer and Paul Mitchell's Super Skinny Serum. I continued to air-dry for another 30 minutes
• Since I was flat ironing this week I used my Silk Elements Heat protector before lightly blow drying my roots. I separated my hair into 4 parts and used a paddle brush with my blow dryer. I really hate blowing drying because my arms always get tired, I'm so glad my blow drying days are far and few since being on a hair journey. 

  

  After blow-drying

• Finally I flat ironed after applying another coat of my heat protectant on a medium heat setting. Unfortunately I was in such a rush to get out the door that I did not get pictures of the final result. It was very full and thick like a press and curl lol. I've long given up on trying to achieve salon silky results and I actually love my hair both ways. I can never get the body that my stylist gives my hair, but she never gets the fullness that I do. Either way it was a successful wash day(s).

Relaxer Update 2.1- first relaxer of the year

Hair is my hobby :)

On Saturday March 15th I relaxed my hair at 12.5 weeks post. This year I will be sticking to 12 weeks to get me through my wig challenge for the year. Anyway, I visited my regular stylist back home with detangled and pre-pooed hair. I meant to time the application of the relaxer but I always forget to look at the time when she first begins lol. She quickly applied the relaxer and even though I experience NO BURNING, I was anxious to get to the sink because I wanted to keep a little texture.

The relaxing experience was great, I have no complaints and my scalp does not feel bothered. My last relaxer left my scalp feeling a little tight and raw, but I believe I was not oiled properly. After she neutralized me, I went under the dryer with a protein treatment for about 30 minutes. From there she rinsed and blow dried my hair, then proceeded to style. The one complaint I do have from my visit is the fact that she blow dries my hair while it is still dripping wet. Personally, I hardly ever blow dry my hair, so it makes me cringe when she does this.

7 months since hair cut & no more layers

 Progress over 7 months/ official length check tee- between lines 2 & 3

Once my hair was straightened out my stylist cleaned up my hemline to give it a nice clean look. I wouldn't considered it a trim, but my front was a lot longer than the rest of my hair and she even it out a bit. My ends are still looking great, and I feel like I am retaining a lot of length each stretch even with the light trims each relaxer. In my opinion I am very close to shoulder length hair, and I will be willing to claim SL around my next relaxer in June.

My next stretch will consists of...
1. 12 week long stretch ending in June
2. Wigging weeks 2-12
3. Continuing to  apply castor oil to edges & pre-poo with hemp and coconut oil
4. Washing in braids beginning around 4 weeks post*
5. Continuing to take silica supplements*
6. Alternating each wash day with shampoo and a cleansing conditioner*
*New things I'm taking from the last stretch

Last Weeks of my Stretch!

11 weeks post washing in braids

This weekend I will relaxing my hair at a little over 12 weeks post relaxer! Since cutting my hair in August, I have slowly been extending the amount of time I stretch my relaxers. I did not want to do extremely long stretches with really short hair so I've finally made it back to 12. I will be updating soon on the results :)

After rinsing out DC... Back is catching up with front

These last two weeks it has been s0 hard to keep my hands out of my hair lol. Am I the only one who is guilty of playing in their new growth? I did something a little different in my wig prep this week instead of cornrows I put my hair in 2 strand twists to keep the new growth stretched before my relaxer this weekend. I've also been loving washing my hair in braids, especially when I have about 2 inches of new growth in some sections. I've been learning the less I manipulate my hair the better off it is.

To prep for my relaxer this weekend, I took down my two strand twists and detangled my hair with my Mane and Tail Detangler. The only oil I had at my parent's house was castor oil so I smothered the ends with that to protect my ends from overlapping. After 10 weeks of wigging I am sooo ready to wear my hair out for 2 weeks before I begin wigging again. Looking forward to my relaxer update!!!