I don’t know if any of you relaxed ladies also follow the Relaxed Hair Health blog. If you do, you will already have seen the interview that Nadege did with Miss “HairRoots”. I thought I’d heard of all the long haired chicas out there but Miss “HairRoots” must have passed me by because I wasn’t aware of her until I saw the interview.
I think I’ve written before about how so many ladies are in the ‘stuck at BSL’ brigade. Not to rain on anyone’s parade, BSL is without a doubt ‘long hair’ by anyone’s standards but it usually takes something extra special to get to waist length and beyond.
Here are the main points that I picked up as main reasons for Miss Roots’ success in growing her hair to hip length.
1. She does epic stretches, her most recent one was 24 weeks! It seems that no matter how careful you are, 8 weeks between relaxers is just not long enough to give you the same length retention that stretching gives.
2. She has recently started texlaxing her hair by adding oils* to the relaxer before processing. No big secret there then, Jeni from Just Grow Already is also ‘transitioning’ to texlaxed hair. With texlaxed hair you get more thickness and because of the stronger hair, you are also getting added length.
3. She takes vitamins* and water daily. Vitamins of course increase the growth phase of your hair. Longer growth phase = longer hair.
4. She doesn’t claim that one individual product has been responsible for her success. Nope, in fact she’s a self confessed product junkie. Her success is clearly in her regimen rather than in her products. She does confess a love for Jamaican Black Castor Oil however.
5. She moisturizes and seals her hair daily regardless of how tired she is.
6. She wears the same style week in week out (100% braid outs) but just over half way through her stretch, she switches to protective styles, mostly buns. Here is her take on protective styles:
Protective styles would be ideal to minimize breakage, so don’t try to be extra cute during the retention of length phase.
Great advice for those of you with itchy fingers right!
7. She does not use heat at all, no flat irons*, curling irons*, blow dryers*. Nada. The only heat she gets is from her steamer or heating cap
8. She self relaxes using Design Essentials time release relaxer which means that she doesn’t have to worry about over-processing her hair.
9. She deep conditions weekly and sits under the dryer for an hour each time. She also clarifies monthly.
10. She keeps manipulation down to a minimum by detangling 1-2 times per week, no combing every day here!
One thing that strikes me is that she was at BSL for so long even though she has 3c type hair (which people assume grows long easier). I would also have liked to know if/how she gets extra protein into her regimen, aside from her conditioners which seem to have some protein in them anyway.
Ok ladies, hop on over to the RelaxedHairHealth blog to read the interview in it’s entirety.
Does this lady have a blog or youtibe channel?
24 weeks between relaxers? Her hair is practically natural then….might as well stop relaxing altogether! Her regimen is very similar to what us natural girls do.
It’s called a stretch I do a 6 mos stretch and going natural is still a big difference from doing a stretch. Also you do know the so called natural regimen has been done for years by women of color.
I dont care what anyone says…if youre only doing 2 relaxers a year thats as close to natural as u can get! Thankfully everyone has freedom to choose! I can recall my hair never getting past BSL when i was relaxed….no matter how u try to sugar coat it, relaxers are extremely brutal on our hair and unless u wait months between retouches its almost impossible to retain length. So happy to be creamy crack free!
To each is own you can’t say that for everyone because all of our hair textures or not the same. I permed every 6 wks i retained length and my hair didn’t break. I also had a stylist for a Aunt who had me on a very low maintenance hair regiment. I believe it depends on the person but that’s just my opinion.
What is a very low maintenance hair regimen for thinning hair?
Relaxed hair is just inherently weak. No way around it! U definitely CAN retain growth but u always have to treat it with kid gloves. It was just too much for ME, but definitely to each his/her own! We are all STILL beautiful at the end of the day…relaxed or natural….. and its just hair! 🙂 Be blessed, my sista.
I agree!
I’m hip length and I stretch my relaxed hair for many months! I’ve been long, thick , and relaxed for 22 years with no problems. By the way my hair is easy to maintain, requires minimal products, and always looks good . I do not baby my hair.
Why does my hair break off soon as it reaches shoulder length?
You are probably over processing your hair..
I only relax it 4 times a year
Same problem I had with perms, I went natural and now my hair is almost bra-strap length