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Showing posts with the label Relaxed hair

How To Grow From Thin To Thick Relaxed Hair

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Relaxed hair care seems to be one complicated journey but when you get the hang of it, you'll be so relieved. Why does relaxed hair get thin easily? A case in point is my own struggles with thin relaxed hair. The few lessons I've kept in my pocket this time around are : 1. Trim regularly. Have a schedule to get rid of the thin ends. I plan to trim every touch up. That's approximately every 12 weeks. I've learnt from so many setbacks that I'm bent on getting it right this time. 2. Longer stretches. A major problem I've had for the past two years and not going beyond 6 weeks. That thinned my hair out like crazy. This time, regardless of the short length, I'm surely going for nothing below 12 weeks. The ultimate stretching is 16 weeks so 12 weeks is a good starting point. There are some who advised starting off gradually with 8 weeks but that's what set me back. You get comfortable with the 8 weeks and moving beyond that it's a challenge. Therefor

Relaxer pH and Why You Need To Know It

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Well,  I came across a post about the relaxer pH, I found them quite interesting. Our hair has a pH of 4.5-5.5 and these relaxers have a highest of 14. That's how strong they are in order to work on our hair. Source : black hair media The pH balance determines how harsh the chemical is. Research has shown that the lower the pH, the less damaging the product is to your hair. Water has a pH of 7. Anything less than 7 is considered acidic. The lower this number gets the greater the acidity. Any pH greater than 7 is considered alkaline. The higher the number gets the greater the alkalinity. A one point difference in pH's could have a significant impact on your hair A product with a pH of 13 is 10 times more alkaline than a product with a pH of 12. This same product would be 100 times more alkaline than a product with a pH of 11. The pH levels even tend to vary among the same products from batch to batch. A relaxer that worked great for you the last time you touched up, may cause mo

10 relaxer application tips

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Over the years, I've leanrt some things about relaxers and today, I share 10 relaxer application tips. 1. Don't mix lye and no lye at the same time 2. Always neutralize properly 3. Protect previously relaxed parts using petroleum jelly or sheabutter to prevent the relaxer being washed out from processing the already straight part. Simply put, relaxer over run can cause thin hair and breakage. 4. Know your texture so you choose the appropriate relaxer. 5. Follow instructions 6. Always deep condition after relaxing to restore either protein or moisture back into the hair. You can use either a moisturizing or protein based deep conditioner. 7. Don't mix different brands of relaxers 8.Let your stylist know what you want 9. Store relaxer properly 10. Avoid relaxing in the afternoon: you tend to sweat when the weather is hot. Sweat can cause your scalp to get irritated.

Product Review: One Step Leave In

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  Full name : One Step Corrective Nourishing Leave-in Conditioner Cost : 8gh Cosmetic shops What it claims : One Step Corrective Nourishing Leave-in Conditioner is a must leave in styling conditioner for natural and chemically treated hair. This is multi-action formula leaves hair softer, easy to comb, smoother cuticles, stronger and vibrant. It repairs hair where needed most, leaving it healthy looking, shiny and manageable. Directions : for daily use- pour a generous amount into palm, rub hands together and work from roots to ends, style as desired. After shampooing, relaxing, or colouring-towel dry hair and apply a generous amount to wet hair. comb through. Do not rinse out. Ingredients: (first five) water, gylcerin, olive oil, mineral oil, polyquaternum-32 etc How I use it when moisturizing, daily or once every two days, I apply it to dry hair and seal with my oils After washing the hair, I apply it as a leave in to either wet hair if am at the salon or semi dry hair

Personal Hair care: Can A Student Do It?

--> I’ve had a post (see   here  and here ) on this topic but I decided to do one related to the context of Africa/West Africa/Ghana where a majority of my readers are in tertiary institutions. I started my hair journey whilst I was in school (University of Cape Coast) so I can relate to challenges that come up. How do you combine hair care with studies?   First of all, create a budget- see my post on how Imanage my products . Having a budget is crucial in preventing and avoiding frustrations with handling your hair whether on a daily, weekly or monthly basis. How much do you have to spend on hair? What are your wants and needs? How long will you be in school and will the budget be a one time or monthly thing?   Are those products easily available on campus, if not, get alternatives! Have protective styles you want to wear? For weaves and braids, you may choose to wash monthly. If wigs, you can get corn rows for as long as you intend to wear them. If you want to wear out 50% of

How I Manage My Regimen

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--> If you missed my post on how I manage my hair care products , then, kindly check it out.   I know we are accustomed to hair dressers attending to all our needs thus we tend to complain of our inability to do our own hair. However, the advent of hair care videos and blogs/websites have revolutionized the reliance on hair dressers. I have developed a system to manage my regimen for each process of my hair care: Washing   Shampoo wash Most of my washes are on Fridays into Saturdays since am mostly at home by 4pm on Friday and available on Saturday morning by which time I’d have dried hair

Caring For Relaxed Hair In Harmattan

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I was thinking of the stares I get from some people each time they see my hair daily whilst they are in braids and weaves because of the harmattan. It occurred to me that it's possible my empresses may also be wondering how I'm dealling with my own hair in this dreaded season. I learnt not to fear this season because there are ladies abroad who wear their own hair during the winter, which is far worse than our harmattan yet don't suffer any setbacks. Regardless of any protective style, if certain things are not done to the hair, you'll still experience major breakage. What I  picked from my blogger friends is their winter hair routine, which basically focuses on moisture and protecting the ends. Applying these things, I haven't had any major shedding nor breakage that usually comes with the harmattan and I don't foresee that problem. What I have been doing is:

Relaxed And Natural Hair Pyramid

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It's feels so good to be alive on this beautiful 12-12-12! Thank God we have witnessed the last calendar combination of this century! On to the biz of the day. I have been reading about this hair pyramid and fortunately, I got to see the pyramid in the course of reading a post by a member of hairlista. I had to share it with you, ladies (and possibly gentlemen)! These pyramids serve as a guide to achieving a balance in the hair care process. 

Growing The Edges With Miconazole/Daktarin

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Yep! I posted this on our  facebook page  this afternoon and decided to share it with you. The one I bought is the foot cream; not the vaginal one. It contains miconazole nitrate 20mg per 1.

Do You Know Why Your Relaxed Hair Is Breaking?

-->   Once upon a time, I didn't know why my hair never got past my collar bone. Then, I took matters into my own hands when I couldn't take the nonsense  unwarranted breakage I was always experiencing. Fortunately for us , Dr.Fomsky's series on why your relaxed just won't stop breaking  has come to solve this problem for you. She discusses the levels of breakage, how to curb it using deep conditioners, hair care practices that contribute to breakage and how to curb this problem. Read   Thesizzlingmommy.com

Weave Failure: Not My Fault

Well, this isn't new for those who interact with us on facebook. If you've also noticed, the current protective style widget is gone but not forever. I failed and as much as I want to blame myself, I won't do so; I'd rather blame the weather.  I hate this HOT weather!

How I Washed My Weave!

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It's been two weeks since I got the weave installed and I felt it was time to give my scalp some treatments. I'd wanted to go the salon to get it done but I'll do that during the x'mas period so I can have it flat ironed and cut into a bob for the festive seasons. I tilted the hair backwards so the washing was done that way. I wet the hair, applied the shampoo and rinsed.

How To: Curl Using Gel

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As far as my hair journey is concerned, my hair has NEVER been this healthy and because I love it now, I venture out into hair styles that I haven't bothered to do. I bought some gel to slick down my edges. Then, I thought of using it as a hold for twists in order to have some curls. I got this idea from my previous attempts without using a gel for hold where the curls lasted for only a few hours. This time, I knew it could take me through a whole week but I had to wash the hair. Ok, let's move on to how to create yours.

Hair Confessions!!

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It's been one year and four months since I embarked on this hair journey and I must tell you, it's been full of ups, downs, surprises, joy and unpredictable results.  Let me open up some hidden thoughts. I am not a product junkie not because I can control myself but due to several reasons. I always read everything into details before I take a step.

Can Chemical Relaxer Stretching Damage Your Hair?

By Audrey Sivasothy Chemical relaxer stretching is often promoted as the key to any healthy hair regimen that involves the regular use of chemicals. Unfortunately for some, stretching chemical relaxers can become a hair breakage nightmare. If stretching is executed incorrectly, or with techniques that just don't suit the stretcher's hair, hair breakage problems can crop up during a relaxer stretch and end up damaging the hair more than helping it. Read on to learn more about what causes hair breakage and hair loss during relaxer stretching and what you can do to prevent the downfalls of stretching! Read more

Relaxer Dos And Don'ts

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It's fair to say caring for relaxed hair is not as simple as my fellas think. It's not about sit, slap the relaxer on, wash and see you in 4 weeks time for another rendezvous. These are the few things I've learnt about relaxed hair. Protect your ends with conditioner, oil or grease. The rational behind this is that in the process of washing out the relaxer, the water definitely runs over the already processed hair. As this increases, you eventually have the already processed hair becoming weaker and also causing overprocessing. The protector can be applied a day before the relaxer or right before the relaxer. I use sheabutter.

Tutorial: How to Flat Iron Relaxed Hair

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TGIF!!!You know what goes on here on Friday so let's get CREATIVE! If you are like me and have experienced flat ironing in the hands of a hairdresser, the experience might be quite unpleasant. However, you can flat iron your own hair with help from  crystalroselove .  Watch and learn.

Bantu knot-out On Dry Relaxed Hair

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By  tamekans PS: I hope to put up a post on the challenge day 9. Stay tuned Emprezz

How to Texlax Your Hair

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--> Properly "texlaxing," or gently underprocessing, your hair is an art. But done correctly, texlaxing can be extremely beneficial to your hair. This article will describe techniques for "texlaxing" your hair to perfection every single time. What is Texlaxing? "Texlaxed" hair is a term that was coined in the Internet hair world to describe a hair texture that falls between texturized curls and chemically relaxed, straight hair. "Texlaxing" is the intentional underprocessing of hair with a relaxer chemical, and is typically done to create volume, body, and texture in relaxed hair. Popular Texlaxing Methods There are many methods for texlaxing the hair, and most center around reducing initial disulfide bond breakage in the hair fiber. Disulfide bonds are the bonds that cause our hair to have a naturally curly, or kinky texture. Breaking these bonds prepares them for straightening in the smoothing stage of the relaxer. An alternative

How To: Shampoo and Condition Relaxed Hair Properly

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--> How can you shampoo and condition relaxed hair without causing damage?  Relaxed hair doesn't necessarily have to be washed at the salon all the time. You can wash your own hair in the shower and style it afterwards.  To wash your hair, it may be a bit tedious the first time but with time, you'll get the hang of it. When washing, remember to be gentle in order not to cause breakage.  Watch and Learn from  crystalroselove  (I use a similar method in the shower). PS: For those without shower heads, pour the water from your shower pail in the same direction to avoid knots and tangles.