HOW I GREW WAIST LENGTH RELAXED HAIR IN 4 YEARS

Many of you may-not be  conversant with the term “Relaxer”. A relaxer is a  process that involves the application of a chemical cream substance to curly, coily and kinky hair to give it a straighter appearance. Relaxing is a common practice among Black people but is also practiced by people from other ethnicities.

A number a health experts and hair care professionals have advised that relaxers be used discreetly as there can be many negative effects from relaxers. These negative effects include scalp burns,breakage Alopecia and stunted growth to name a few. However, it is possible to maintain healthy relaxed hair if you know how to care for it as you will gather from the interview we had with this wonderful woman called Lade and her impressive waist-length relaxed hair.

Please read more about Lade’s  relaxed hair journey below:

Please introduce yourself :

Hello, My name is Lade and I am proudly Nigerian.  I lived in the UK for over 10 years and moved back to Lagos, Nigeria in September 2012.

How did you begin your hair transformation:

I began my hair transformation about 4 years ago.  I stumbled on a few black hair care videos on Youtube and decided to give it ago.  I spent three months researching and learning how to care for black hair before officially starting my hair journey in October 2009.
Over my four-year hair journey I have successfully transformed my hair from a damaged shoulder length to a healthy waist length.

What made you realize that you wanted longer hair and you could grow it out?
When I started my hair journey it honestly wasn’t about long hair.  I started my hair journey in fear of permanent hair loss because my hair was breaking severely and I did not know why.  I didn’t know what I was doing right or wrong.

I watched women on Youtube who transformed their hair from extremely damaged to healthy so that was the main goal of my hair journey.  I learned that healthy black hair could grow to lengths I previously thought was impossible.

When my hair stopped breaking I definitely caught the length bug and aimed to grow my hair to Armpit Length.

People’s reactions to your current length:
It varies, some refuse to believe it’s my hair, some stick their fingers in my hair looking for extension tracks (this isn’t nice because it feels really invasive when it’s a complete stranger), some just assume I have got a weave and some decide to start their own hair journey which makes me really happy.

Your Hair Routine
I relax my hair every 20 weeks.  After relaxing my hair, I wear it out for about 8 to 10 weeks.  During those weeks I follow the hair regimen below.

• Shampoo once a week
• Deep condition with heat for 30 minutes once a week
• Use leave in conditioners once a week after deep conditioning
• Air dry after every wash
• Moisturize and seal daily
• Wear protective styles 90% of the time
• Sleep with hair covered with a satin scarf every night
• Comb on my wash days only which is once a week.  Rather than combing daily, I use my fingers to detangle and remove knots 3/4 times a week

 

From weeks 11 to 20 I wear wigs and follow the regimen below.

• Hair kept in 20 Calabar (Pigtail) braids under wigs.
• Shampoo every 3 weeks
• Deep condition with heat for 30 minutes  after washing (moisture and protein conditioners used)
• Use leave in conditioners after deep conditioning (moisture and protein leave-ins used)
• Air dry after every wash
• Put my hair back in 20 Calabar (Pigtail) braids and carry on wearing wigs.

Any product recommendations?

In recent years, so many great products for black hair have been created.  There are too many to list however I am happy to share the products I use on my hair.
Shampoos
Elasta QP Crème Conditioning shampoo
Organic Root Stimulator Uplifting shampoo (used to clarify every 5/6 weeks)

Deep Conditioners
Moisture:- Motions Moisture Plus Conditioner
Protein :-Vitale Olive Oil Hair Mayonnaise or Aphogee Keratin 2  Minute Reconstructor.

Leave-in Conditioning
Protein:-Aphogee Keratin and Green Tea Restructurizer
Cantu Shea Butter Leave in Conditioning cream
Moisture:- Luster’s S-Curl No Drip Activator moisturiser

Daily Moisturizers
Mixture of Cantu Shea Butter Conditioning cream and Lusters S-curl

Oils/Sealants
Nutiva extra virgin coconut oil (sealant)
Extra virgin olive oil (sealant)
Jamaican black castor oil (scalp oil)

Peppermint oil ( few drops added to castor oil)
Rosemary oil  ( few drops added to castor oil)

Extras
Mane n Tail detangler

Advice to women who want to grow their relaxed hair long

The first advice I would give to women with relaxed hair is that they should be aware that their hair is weaker than healthy natural hair.   However it is still possible for relaxed hair to thrive with proper hair care practices.
The second advice is to encourage relaxed women to have a healthy hair regimen and to be consistent with their hair regimen.  It may seem a little tasking or much at first but with time taking good care of your hair will become second nature.

Where can we find you?
You can find me on my website REHAIRDUCATION, I have a very detailed guide on my website on how to care for black hair.
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