Relaxer Update 1

what's done is done, there's no turning back...

Got my relaxer today.

The stylist used Mizani. She based around my head and the tips of my ears, as usual. Then she started putting in the relaxer. I noticed she was very sloppy when doing it. She would slap the relaxer into my hair then run her fingers through my hair. Yes, there was relaxer on her hands. So part of my already relaxed hair got relaxer on it. I didn't want to be rude and tell her how to do her job, so I continued to silently watch in terror of the damages she was doing. It started to burn quickly so she rinsed it out sooner than planned. I was worried my hair wouldn't be bone straight like I like it to be. However, it relaxed nicely.

So then it was time to style it. For whatever reason I chickened out and didn't ask for the four braids to the back. Why you might ask? Who does that? Who goes to the salon just to get four braids? I knew she would have looked at me funny and asked why in the world I would have wanted that. What would I have said? "Oh, I'm on a hair journey and I'm currently in a challenge to not use heat for two months for health reasons so my hair will grow." She wouldn't have taken me seriously. Probably wouldn't have braided it anyways. Sigh.

So then they sat me under the dryer (which I was fine with) and put me with a magazine of hair styles. Nothing really caught my eye until this girl was on the page with half her hair twisted and the other half curly. Not really a style I like, but this was the first style that my hair seemed long enough for and I was ready to leave.

Apparently that style would have cost me an additional $55 to the $45 I was already paying because of the curls. A roller set would have been expensive too. And flexi rods. So, the only thing I could get done was a darn wrap. Yup. She flat ironed it. No, she didn't just flat iron it. She sat me under the dryer, blow dried it, then flat ironed it. No heat protection. Not what I wanted. All I could afford.

So I'm done with the heat challenge. I don't see a point in continuing to do it since I already broke the #1 rule. This does NOT mean I will start using heat on my hair regularly though. This just means I can use direct heat on my hair once or twice a month if I choose to. I will use indirect heat for roller-set saran wrap methods though as often as I want to. (Ulovemegz-youtube-does the same thing)

I'll post pics later. I'm too upset to do so now.

Relaxer Tomarrow!!!

YAY! I'm getting a relaxer tomorrow (finally!). 13 weeks post...I think. I've gotten to know my natural texture a lot better on this stretch. My hair is a lot curlier than I thought it was. I always thought was just a 'fro, but it actually has a nice curl to it. A super tight curl. If I went natural then I would just need curl activators and my hair would do fine. Not sayin I'm going natural anytime soon, but when I do I'm glad it won't be just a fro. 

Tomorrow I'll get a relaxer at the salon and four braids to the back. Therefore, I'll just wear a braid out Thursday and Friday to school. (no heat) I hope the stylist doesn't look at me crazy when I ask for it. If she convinces me not to get that, then I'll get flexi rods. I've always wanted to try them but I'm scared of looking crazy if they go wrong. The stylist will surely do them the correct way and I'll get to see how to do it. Yes, I will have to sit under the dryer to allow them to dry, but that's not a terrible thing because I allowed myself to use indirect heat during the second month of my no-heat challenge. Excited! :)

Relaxer.

Technically I'm supposed to get a relaxer next week. I really don't think I need to relax so soon. Instead of relaxing every 8 weeks, I'll relax every 10-12. My NG isn't that bad, I can still manage it pretty well actually. I don't want to relax every 8 weeks just because my eight weeks is up. From my understanding, the less you relax your hair the healthier it will be. So if I relax every 10 weeks then I'll only need about 5 touch ups in a year, but if I get it every 8 weeks I'll need 6. Not much of a difference, but once I learn to manage my NG better I'll only need 4. It's just a small reduction, but will make a significant difference in the health of my hair.

super late hair update pic...oops. :)

11/08/10

So i took this picture on 12/9/10. it doesn't look like much growth from the last picture I took but when I brush it to the front it looks a lot longer than it did before. I think some of it had to do with the relaxer getting rid of my shrinkage. I believe I will definitely be full shoulder length by February 2011. I went to the salon to get my relaxer but this time I don't know what kind of relaxer she used. All I know is that it was in a white bottle with pink writing. I really liked the relaxer because it didn't burn and it made my NG lay down extra flat.

Friday I washed my hair:
Pre-pooed for 30 minutes with Pantene curly hair series DC. I really liked it.
Aphogee shampoo- 1 wash
Aphogee 2 min recon. (i used it as a regular rinse-out conditioner and didn't leave it in for two minutes or put on a plastic cap)
lustrasilk shea butter and mango- 2-3 minutes
Then I DC'd for about 2 hours:
lustrasilk mango butter
Silk elements mega silk olive oil moisturizing treatment (NEW)
SE intense conditioning mayo
fantasia frizz buster
Eucalyptus oil
coconut oil
When I DC I put saran wrap around my hair then put on a plastic cap. Then I sit under the dryer for the last 20 minutes.

The newest thing that i have bought for my hair is One n Only argan oil. I've been wanting to try argan/morrocan oil on my hair since omgitsvictoriaXD (youtube) said she used it on her hair and liked it. I used it last night as a sealant and liked it, but i want to try it more before I give a full review on it.

HJ- update

So I finally made an appointment to get my hair done next Tuesday. My plan to get a relaxer every 8 weeks has failed because instead of eight, now I have accidentally stretched for almost 10 and by the time i get my relaxer it'll almost be 12. So I proved that I can actually stretch longer than 8 weeks, but I just don't want to because, well.. IDK. Its just my choice not to. And because I thought I was going to get a relaxer 2 weeks ago, I haven't been washing my hair because I didn't want to be scratching and rubbing my hair too much while washing it. I did that the last time i washed my hair and it burned like crazy. It could've been the type of relaxer (Silk Elements) or that i washed my hair or a mixture of the both.

Because my hair doesn't have a lot of NG, i feel like i failed a little bit. I thought I would have a lot of NG but i really dont, less than a 1/2 inch. If you saw my last length pictures, you would've noticed that my hair didn't grow that much. :( That's kind of sad. I don't want to start co-washing because I'm not great at doing heat less styles. My bantu knot outs have been getting worse and worse. And when I do a bantu knot out I always do it on flat ironed hair. And when I air dry over night, i do plaits then take them out in the morning. My hair doesn't look good at all after that. The curls aren't defined and my hair gets super frizzy. Next time I air dry over night I will M&S then use my frizz buster.

Aphogee:
I still like aphogee. One time I used it it made my hair hard. The time after that I pre-pooed, then I washed with Aphogee shampoo and conditioned with Aphogee 2 minute and Silk Elements moisturizing conditioner. After that I DC'd for a couple of hours. (the first time I DC'd for more than 1 hour! turned out great!) After I rinsed my hair felt super soft. I went to sleep woke up and my hair felt hard again! -_- So I DC'd AGAIN and my hair has felt soft ever since. So that means one of two things:
-I need to DC for a supppperrrr long time once
-or use Aphogee shampoo and a moisturizing conditioner, or Moisturizing shampoo and aphogee 2 min (i think i said that in a past post..)
Or it could just mean that I should only use it every now and then. I'm not sure.


Pre Poo:
As I mentioned before I tried to do a pre-poo. To keep it short it went terrible. I used
honey
olive oil
jojoba oil
and Herbal Essences Hello Hydration conditioner.
I think it was the hello hydration. Next time I'm going to be using Pantene Curly Hair Series Deep Moisturizing Treatment. I decided to get this because I really liked the Shampoo and Conditioner. Also I figured black hair is naturally curly and because this is extra moisturizing.



Jojoba Oil:
I got jojoba oil because my hair really liked Pantene relaxed and natural daily moisturizer which had jojoba oil in it. (i stopped using it b/c it had mineral oil in it). When I used this to seal it didn't do anything but sit on my hair.

Wave Nouveau Finishing Lotion:
Hate it. It just sits on my hair and weighs it down. Never again. I added Jojoba oil into to hopefully water it down and also as an attempt to get rid of the oil. LOL. but now I've decided to just put it in the bathroom and hope that my mom and sister will use it. I hope it works well for their hair.

1 month since I've gotten my relaxer

It's one month since i've gotten my relaxer and i really don't feel like i need another one. I used to think I needed to get it every six weeks but my roots are still manageable. I might stretch for 10 weeks or longer because I don't think I need it all he time like i used to get them. I remeber last year I got a relaxer and some girl told me 'You shouldn't have got it, you didn't need it.' and I said 'Yes I did, it's been six weeks.' lol. Just shows how much I didn't know at that time.

And I was thinking that when I run out of my Silk Elements I'll use a Aphogee regimen. I want to switch b/c SE is only availble at Sally's and Sally's is no where near my house. And I'm not going to continue to pay $5 shipping and waiting 5-11 business days for my products to get in the mail. Aphogee is sold in a store right across the street from my school so i can get that anytime i want.

With aphogee, I heard that you have to watch out for your hair drying out because its a lot of protein in it.
I moisturize and seal every night so i shouldn't have a problem with that and i DC every time i wash. But if i do have problems with dryness I could always use a moisture based shampoo every now and then and I'll be fine. But its only a thought and I'm not sure if i want to actually use it.

HJ- FINALLY got my relaxer todayy! And SALONS DON'T MAKE YOUR HAIR HEALTHY!

AHHH! i finally got my relaxer today! yayyy! i got there at about 4 and ain't leave until 9:30. but it was worth it b/c my hair is cute! I even used a silk elements relaxer so its like i'm still on the Silk Elements regimen when I go to the salon. (SEMS relaxer w/ shea butter in normal- brown tub) My hair is super soft and 'like silk'- but i don't think I would use that relaxer at home b/c it BURNS so bad. I didn't itch my too much for it to burn that bad. but 8/10 times i go to the salon for relaxers any ways so its not that big of a deal. I just got a trim and a simple wrap- I used to get detailed styles but then I figured out that wraps are easy to take care of b/c all you have to do is wrap it at night and it'll look good. But styles with twists and curls and lots of hair spray don't last as long when you go to sleep. Now its time for an 8 week stretch! And I said before that I thought my hair grew, after the trim its about the same length but thats okay b/c it'll benefit me in the long run!

P I C T U R E S ! :


look at them roots! lol



cute lil flip!

Salons Don't Make Your Hair Healthy (well, not all of them):

All of the salons I've been to (including the one that did my relaxer) focus mainly on looking nice instead of healthy hair. Like I've never been to a hair salon and the stylist used a heat protectant. And they use a lot of gel in the hair that can eventually break it off. (another reason why I only get wraps) Just b/c you come in with broken off hair and leave with it looking shiny and what-not doesn't mean your hair is healthy. They just are trained to make it look that way. So if you come in with unhealthy hair, you're still leaving with unhealthy hair. It just looks better.  (if you put a dress on a pig, its still a pig). I used to think going to the salon would make my hair healthy, but the only way to know for sure that your hair is at its peak health is if you take good care of it at home as well. Not that salon is a terrible place, but it definantly isn't want you want to rely on to make sure your hair is healthy.  I'm not saying that all salons are aimed for looks instead of heath, b/c i haven't been to all of the salons. But out of the ones i've been too, this is what I think.

-I'm still going to MS my hair, but i'm going to use very little SAO (b/c its a light oil) and use very little moisturizer (HE LTR).
-SEMS- silk elements mega silk
-SAO- sweet almond oil
-HE LTR- Herbal Essences long term relationship leave in conditioner