The struggle is REAL

Hi peeps!! Happy new year!! It's been a while...I'll be reviving this blog because some of y'all want some occasional hair tips :-)

So first things first, I'm going back to fully relaxed. Why? Taking care of texlaxed is a lot of work, especially with my relaxed ends which I'm reluctant to cut off. *sigh*

I've enjoyed my two months of texlaxed - especially the FULLNESS which I'll lose when I go back to relaxed. My next relaxer is the 2nd week of March and I'm excited! I'll be doing a corrective relaxer on my texlaxed and a full relaxer on my new growth.

Stay tuned for my next post: Homemade banana moisturizing deep conditioning!


A bientot!
Bisou bisou! xxx

Texlaxer Day

I will keep this post short.

The previous two days, I did the following:
- Washed hair, did ORS protein treatment, and DC with moisturizing conditioner
- Moisturized and sealed

The day after, I:
- Applied Shea Moisture leave-in as an overnight treatment (with shower cap)

D-day:
- Did not rinse off the shea moisture leave-in! I feel this slowed down the processing.
- Added a cap of olive oil to my relaxer mix
- Coat already relaxed hair with coconut oil
- Relax as I'd normally do! 45 mins max


...and that's how I got my first texlax result which I'm loving right now! My washday, I hardly have tangles. I can see the curl pattern in my hair and my hair is definitely fuller.


Next relaxer: March 10

Until then xoxx

I Finally Made My Decision

It is now 12.44am, NZ time and I'm going to try and make this post short.

I spent the past week deciding whether to go natural, texlaxed, or stay relaxed. I've been on an unintentional stretch for 5 months now (unintentional because I kept putting my hair in protective styles and didn't bother to relax). So after taking out my twists earlier this week, I noticed I had an incredible length of new growth. My new growth had grown to almost 3 inches, and the next few days was tough as I've had to wash-day through my textures. In addition to that, I also noticed I had texlaxed hair in between my natural hair and my bone-straight. So I had a decision to make - Relax all, cut off bone-straight and texlax all, or cut off bone-straight and texlaxed hair and go natural.

I rang up one of my hairdressers who advised me to texlax and possibly colour the ends of my hair and go roller-setting. I visited another hairdresser or mine who said colouring is a bad idea. My mother was against cutting my hair because in her words, "Don't you know your hair is your beauty!?". I went on YouTube and all the hair blogs possible to find type 4C bloggers who I can get as much info as possible from to make my decision. I was leaning more towards texlaxed and natural as my bone-straight hair appeared incredibly thin against my natural growth.

Long story short - I chose to stay relaxed. Why?

1. I am blessed with a head full of hair coming out of every hole on my scalp. For this reason, my new growth was incredibly thick difficult to comb unless I moisturized and conditioned continually. I thought to myself: If I was to go natural and it grew a couple of inches more, do I really have the time to struggle with it? The answer was no.

2. Flat-ironing. I know there are so many styles one can do with natural hair. However, I would love straight hair from time to time. So if I were to flat iron my natural hair from time to time, wouldn't the heat damage it? The answer was yes.

3. Tangling. Many naturals have noted that natural hair tends to tangle more. Knowing my fragile hair, I'm totally not ready to deal with tangles. Even so, my texlaxed has been tangling with my new growth and I don't like it.

4. Texlaxed - prone to different textures. They say to do a strand test if you want to go texlaxed so you can get texture consistency. I'm really afraid of this and it would be time-consuming if I were to do a "corrective relaxing" for when I don't get my textures right. Besides, again I have loads of hair so texlaxed which basically feels natural wouldn't be easy to deal with.


On these basis, I headed out to get my favourite relaxer - ORS No-Lye Relaxer in Normal strength...and so my relaxed hair journey continued.


Next post: Relaxer day regimen.

Texlax Journey

Back and energised to continue blogging! Whoop.

My relaxed hair got too much to deal with. It's so difficult to retain length on fragile 4c relaxed strands. So I've decided to go texlaxed.

How would I do that?
For every inch of new growth, I axe an inch of relaxed hair.

When will I apply relaxer to texlax?
After I achieve 2.5 inches of new growth. Due Date: October 10 (5 months post relaxer)


HAIR CARE REGIMEN

Wash day regimen (Saturday)

* Friday night: divide hair into 4 sections and apply Olive Oil to whole head using Roots Only applicator. Cover with a shower cap and go to sleep.

Saturday:

* Dilute Crème of Nature Moisturizing Shampoo with water and wash scalp.

* Tea rinse (1 bag each of green & black tea –warm) - prepare tea night before

* DC afterwards (add 2 spoons of Roux Porosity Control + Coconut oil to DC)

         Option 1: RPC + Coconut oil + ORS Replenishing conditioner

         Option 2: RPC + Coconut oil + Aphogee 2 min reconstructor + moisture mask

* Wash out and tshirt dry

* At 80% dry, apply Shea Moisture Leave In + Paul Mitchell Skinny serum

* Before bed, part into 4 sections to moisturize & seal

To tackle high porosity (sunk strand test): ACV rinse after DC.

When new growth is thick and noticeable: Co-wash during the week (Herbal Essence Moisturizing Condish) then DC with Aussie 3 minute deep conditioner

'If I have no time' DC: Aussie 3 minute deep conditioner

3 times a week

Moisturize (S-curl) and seal (Coconut oil or JBCO, preferably the latter)

Occasionally

Scalp massages with peppermint oil + jojoba oil

Once a month

Clarify (ORS Olive Oil Creamy Aloe Shampoo) and follow up with protein treatment (ORS Mayo or egg/mayo/honey/olive oil mix)

Texlaxing

Coat hair with oil, dilute relaxer with oil, apply normally, don’t smooth, leave for shorter time, use ORS lye relaxer in Mild/Normal strength.

Vitamins!!! Daily - take. Daily. take. Daily!


REMEMBER NO.1 RULE!!!!
Always check the moisture+protein balance of my hair. This is the MOST IMPORTANT part of a healthy hair journey.



Pictures!

Root to tip = thick to thin
Difference between my hair textures - 1 inch of new growth and the rest is relaxed.

Cleaning scalp and moisturizing: Diluted ACV + tooth brush, and more!

So I watched a couple of youtubers talk about how they maintain a clean scalp with braids on without using shampoo. I decided to use ACV to clean my scalp as I've got crochet on. I used:

* 2 glass cups of warm water
* 4 caps of ACV
* Medium bristle tooth brush


I dipped the brush in the mixture and scrubbed each line gently (I used that opportunity to tighten the crochet loops). I hope it works. I felt refreshed after the clean and itchiness stopped. But we'll see what happens in a few days!

Also, after cleaning a track, I applied my moisturizer (s-curl) and oil (coconut oil). Then I did a little trimming. And that's it! I'll be repeating these on my washdays.

Crochet is ON!

Crochet braiding is a GREAT protective style because your hair is secured underneath to minimize potential breakage from exposure. You can also moisturize your corn rows and clean your scalp whenever you require. So I've installed CROCHET braids to carry for 2-4 weeks.

I used Freetress Loose Deep. I've used these braids before for 'pick & drop' style and carried it for 2 months. I got compliments literally everyday AND the braids lasted (didn't tangle; kept its curls) which is unusual. Besides, it looked GORGEOUS in pictures. So I decided to bring back these feel good points by installing them again but this time, as crochet.

This will be MY FIRST TIME installing braids on myself (ain't nobody got money for hairdressers in this economy...). It literally took 2 days of fiddling with it to get it right. Here's the final look:

The same braids a year ago:

Learn how to CROCHET braid here

Protective styling: Bun with aloe vera gel finish

All you need:

Aloe Vera gel is optional.