I find that when I am fighting AGAINST my newgrowth trying to make it act like relaxed hair it rebels. Newgrowth ain't relaxed, so it should be treated like relaxed hair.
A lot of ladies try and maintain that super straight-fresh relaxer look, which can make them run into problems also. You hair doesn't
have to be super straight/down and flowing. I am not one to manipulate my hair with heat, blowdriers, flat irons, special concotions, etc, so I won't give you that kind of advice.
Contrary to what other ladies have been saying, the best way to win the 'battle' with my newgrowth is to let it win.
And for me that means, stop manipulation/combing/washing too often. I now wash once a week and do a very intensive DC on wash day. I detangle in the shower while rinsing out the DC, add my leave-ins and detangle again thoroughly with two different sized combs to make sure all the knots are out. I airdry it in a ponytail using my scarf method (check out my fotki for details
http://public.fotki.com/telletell ) and I don't comb it until the next week. All I do is moisturize it daily and re-apply my bun/baggie and scarf.
It only makes sense to avoid a battle, if you don't want it. So washing/cowashing too often isn't going to do anything but get you more frustrated.
It doesn't have to be the big "battle" unless you make it be that way. If you are gonna try and stretch you are gonna have to learn to deal WITH the newgrowth not AGAINST it. It's not the debil, it's YOUR hair and it needs love too.