Thinking of Relaxing -What do I do?

[Aviah]

Hi.

I'm actually not Aviah - I'm a friend of hers and I'm just borrowing her account for this evening. She reccommended me to this site so I thought I'd check it out from a third person perspective. So far, so good. ^_^

But anyway, I have a question. I'm thinking about relaxing my hair. I once relaxed my hair at 13, but didn't take care of it properly. The back broke and so I went back natural to grow it back. The issue is, I've never really been good with hair. I'll put my hand up right now - I'm lazy. That said, I think my natural hair is a bit too much for me, which is why I'm thinking of relaxing it.

Only issue is, while it'll be easier for me to comb through, I don't actually have a clue about hair maintenance. Yes. It's embarrassing. I'm 21 years old and completely clueless. I could probably list twenty question, but basically, I'm just looking for the whol hog. How should I go about taking care of my hair when I relax it?

 

[Embyra]

http://keepitsimplesista.blogspot.com/

http://www.hairliciousinc.com/

these 2 blogs both the women have grown and retained there relaxed hair

i dont think anyone should ever relax their hair until they have learnt how to deal with there own natural hair..... with relaxed hair its not like you can just slap on chemical and be done you need to look after it all the same otherwise like you stated your hair will break again

Also alot of people stretch there relaxers on here to maintain length avoid over lapping relxers etc once you learn how to maintain your own natural hair should/when you get a relaxer you wont find stretching a ordeal and wont suffer big set backs

 

[Aviah]

Yeah. I know. Hair means maintenance whether natural, relaxed of texturised.
At this stage, I'm not bothered about hair growth per se. Just the maintenance. But thanks for the blogs. I'll definitely look into those.

 

[LatterGlory]

Learn to roller set

 

[LadyRaider]

If your reason for relaxing is "because it's easier" then I think you are off base. I don't think it's much easier.

Reasons to relax: You really prefer straight styles all the time and don't want to flat iron weekly, your new hair is just too unmanageable to deal with. (I doubt this for you since you've been natural this long.)

 

[Aviah]

I already know that maintaining relaxed hair can be/is difficult. This is why I'm asking for advice.

 

[goodmorningruby]

Newbie Manual: Links to Useful/Important Threads:
http://www.longhaircareforum.com/showthread.php?t=389082

Self-Relax Support Thread:
http://www.longhaircareforum.com/showthread.php?t=157899


Sistaslick's Hair Breakage 101 Thread:
http://www.longhaircareforum.com/for...ad.php?t=84746

There are others, but you will find a lot of information in the Newbie manual...

Moisture, moisture, moisture! Low Manipulation. A limitation in the usage of direct heat. Protecting the ends of the hair. Choosing an appropriate relaxer. Etc etc etc. HTH

 

[NYAmicas]

In addition, make sure you make great use of neutralizing shampoo!!! I think when I used to self-relax back in the day I didnt take this step seriously and I usually had major breakage. Now I dont have that problem and ^^^ yes, moisture is essential. Make friends with some deep conditioners.

 

[nymane]

Newbie Manual: Links to Useful/Important Threads:
http://www.longhaircareforum.com/showthread.php?t=389082

Self-Relax Support Thread:
http://www.longhaircareforum.com/showthread.php?t=157899


Sistaslick's Hair Breakage 101 Thread:
http://www.longhaircareforum.com/for...ad.php?t=84746

There are others, but you will find a lot of information in the Newbie manual...

^^^ Yup I agree those are great threads to read through...once you have the knowledge the rest will be fairly easy