Please help me form my regimen

Chimma

New Member
Hello everyone,
I've recently started posting on this forum, and I love it so far- both lurking and reading. It seems to be a classy environment filled with educated friendly black women which is something that brightens up my life.

Anyways, I decided about a year ago to grow my 4b hair out from a relaxer. I started relaxing in 7th or 8th grade, and at that point my hair was extremely thick, full, and longer than shoulder length natural - I had never gotten it pressed so I don't know the maximum length. I completely want this hair back, and now that I know how much natural hair shrinks, especially my natural hair, I long for that length as well. But this year has been hard going in terms of cute hair styles, and so I am coming here for advice.

I was thinking of just doing a big chop, and cutting all my hair except my natural hair over winter break. It's about 6 inches long stretched and like 3 inches kept natural, but I really don't like short hair much and I have never had my hair shorter than it is now (somewhere between shoulder and bra length straightened.), and if I cut it, I will have an awkward transition going from a semi-short fro to longer look, and I believe that may be even harder than what I'm doing now and will probably last for a very long time. I'd love the ease and convenience, but I don't even know if I would like the look. I was also thinking of keeping on transitioning for about 1 and a half more years, but starting to press my hair semi-frequently. But that almost defeats the purpose of going natural by damaging the hair. I don't know how to press well anyways, and it would probably take a lot of heat to straighten my hair frequently.

What should I do? My long-term length goal is waist length straightened. I don't know how long my hair is now - somewhere between bra-strap and shoulder-length straighened. I'll guess about 2 inches from bra-strap length. I love straight hair and natural hair although I long for my natural style.

So what kind of regimen do you think I should keep? Currently, I conditioner wash frequently- whenever I feel like it, which ranges from every single day to once every two weeks. I do a deep conditioning treatment once a week. I have started the vaseline challenge. I put my hair in a poofy bun daily. I tried over the summer to learn how to do a straight roller set, but for the life of me, it didn't work and I don't know why. I can't transition with braids, because I can't afford to get them redone so frequently.

Any advice from someone with long hair who knows about how damaging heat is or someone with natural 4a/4b hair that has been in the same situation? Or anyone who feels that they can help me out? I would be eternally grateful. What kind of regimen should I be following for the next 3 years (time it would probably take to achieve my long-term goals)? And pretty please let it be a regimen that lets me feel cute every once in a while.
 

nbcgurl22

New Member
Hi,

I just wanted to say that I think that you are off to a great start with the conditioner washes. You might want to start alternating btw a moisturizing deep treatment and a light protien treatment. The moisturizing one every two weeks (or every week if you have time) and a light protien one once a month or so.

Also make sure that you moisturize your hair daily.

I am sure some others will chime in but this is a start. Good luck and congrats on going natural again
 

Chimma

New Member
I forgot to mention that I try to do a deep conditioning treatment once every week where I basically put my hair in deep conditioner and put a shower cap on top and leave a towel on my head for about 45 minutes.

Thanks for the congrats.
What is a light protein treatment though? And by moisturizing every day, do you mean with a leave-in conditioner or water or oil? I must admit that I'm not great with the moisturizing- my hair doesn't seem to respond to most traditional black hair care products, they make it still feel dry but greasy at the same time. I bought infusium-23 and it doesn't do much either, but I put it in my hair with some olive oil (which makes it a little shiny but it still feels dry) so I really don't know what to use to get my hair soft and moisturized all the time.
 

skegeesmb

New Member
Another good place to check out regimens are on the main pages' features of the month. Every month you get to see the regimen that current feature does to their hair.

We have 3 naturals that I know off the top of my head who have been features of the month. One is Den1 who is 4a/4b, Leejure is another with 3b hair. Den has a very comprehensive routine that is worth looking at. There are so many routines to look at and get a feel of what you might like to do.
 
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