Your Guide To Healthy Relaxed Hair

Contrary to popular belief, it's a reality that relaxed hair CAN be healthy too! It takes a load of work, patience and determination though but you definitely can have the long strong swishy hair your heart desires.

In order to have healthy relaxed hair you have to be super careful. You may want to visit a professional in order to get your relaxer applied unless you are absolutely certain of your ability to do it on your own. Remember though, that the longer your hair gets the harder it will be to apply the relaxer to your own hair, so keep that in mind. I relax my own hair at the moment, its not super long so i am still able to tackle that regrowth.

When applying your relaxer, make certain you do not keep it on longer than needed, but if it burns before while you are still smoothing, my best advice is to wash it out to avoid chemical burns. Its not pretty!

Protective styles are your best friend. i know the pain of always wanting to wear my hair out but i have seen through experience that this does no good for your hair in the long run. wearing your hair out all the time causes your hair to be fully exposed to the elements like the sun, wind, and cold air as well as fabrics which your clothes rub against which breaks your hair of slowly. keeping your hair in simple stylish low buns or high buns, braids or a weave protect your hair. I am not one for weaves or braids however, I normally opt for a low bun (student life) and i am slowly recovering from my fierce addiction to leaving my hair out, its a process!

A very important tip is to ALWAYS wrap your hair up at night. Oh how I have made this mistake, sometimes you just feel too tired to do it, but your hair will break off if you don't wrap it and you have cotton sheets that will snag your hair strands and cause massive breakage. That was the cause of my first devastating setback. At that point I was not really on a hair journey but I still tried to look after my hair, It was probably 2009 and I was 16 years old. Make sure you have a satin pillowcase if you don't like the feeling of a scarf on your head but try to keep it in loose ponytail or bun while sleeping.

Moisturise your locks as often as you need to, as you progress with your hair journey, you will get to know your hair better and learn to see when it is in need of moisture. You need to keep your hair moisturised in order to retain length, if your hair is dry it will not get longer, simply because your hair will break off as fast as it grows. Moisturise your hair with plain water or with a moisturising product of your choice and seal with a good natural oil such as coconut oil, which isn't too heavy but a little goes a long way.

Do not manipulate your hair more than is necessary. It may be tempting, but you don't need to brush your hair throughout the day getting it to lay just right, but over time it could lead to thin ends and breakage. If you need to fix it during the day, try finger combing. You should only really comb all through your hair, from tip to root, on your wash days when your conditioner is in it to provide enough slip.

Try to stretch your relaxers as much as your hair will withstand without suffering breakage. Stretching your relaxer for more than 8 weeks will result in thicker stronger hair and as the hair has grown longer, there will be a lesser chance of overlapping the previously relaxed hair. Constantly re-relaxing hair that has already been processed results in thin wispy ends.

Happy Hair Journey lovelies!